Made a little progress today. Got everything painted yesterday, installed it this morning. It' not perfect, you can see where the drivers side bar is taller than the passenger bar with the sheetmetal on. Not a big deal. Might raise the passenger side to compensate, might not I love how the mesh turned out once it was painted. Also made my overflow jug. Got a 1 gallon glass wine jug. Took the label off, scuffed it up, and coated it in about 1/8" of rubberized coating. Masked off 3 X's to make it look like a moonshine jug. I think it's gonna look pretty cool. Plan on mounting it on the firewall and running a line to it. Might have to get a cap that will allow coolant to flow back into the radiator. Anyone know the differences in caps off hand? Thanks for all the help, it's coming together

 

All you have to do is install a nipple on the bottom/side of the jug and a vented cap. The closed system radiator cap which you have from the HHR radiator will then work with it when the hose is connect to both of them.
Something like this:

 

If that moonshine jug is glass, you've got to know what you're doing to drill a hole in it.

Careful.......................

 

Your car is starting to look like this LOL

 

Youtube is your friend. Not hard to do. Here's one:

 

Or go to your local Homebrew store and get a 2 hole cork, leave one open and put your hose all the way down the other.

Today's finest 'shine comes in milk jugs tho.

 

My shine comes in a jar

 

Yeah that's my plan. I'll run the hose from the radiator all the way to the bottom of the jug. Since the radiator I bought was for a truck with an overflow tank, I believe my cap should have the vacuum return vent on the bottom. I'l know after letting it get up to temperature and cooling back off. I considered it Don, but wasn't comfortable with a flimsy milk just

Yeah it' looking a lot like an open wheel modified at the moment. I'm thinking once I wrap the bumper in sheet metal, get the headlights bolted in place, and the fenders on the front wheels it will look a little more like a street car. I know one thing, nothing short of a deer or other large animal is gonna hurt anything up front

 

A closed system radiator cap is going to have two seals. A large one on the cap and a small one that fit in the neck at the bottom.
I do like Don's idea also. It's the K.I.S.S. method.

 

Running the hose to the bottom does the same thing as puttina hole in the bottom of the jug. The overflow jug top does not seal, it is just a dust cap. Not really "overflow" actually "coolant recovery".

A "closed" system would have a surge tank like the early model HHRs