Deer killed my Bullnose... Mangled the front

[ratdude747]

Too late to post pics tonight... but I will give a quick rundown of what I did today:

Radiator and fan clutch came in today. Same "beat up in shipping" issues as with my last aluminum radiator (bent brackets, etc.) Fan clutch was in a Derale box of all things (It was a private label closeout item all right!) and is indeed made in USA.

Confirmed that the fan shroud is a winner with the new radiator.

Installed the fan clutch (reused fan blade), A/C condenser, Radiator and fan shroud. Had to trim the upper mount tabs of the radiator and the lower rubber radiator bushings. A bit of a squeeze, but it fits!

Ran into an issue with the upper hose... turns out the newer radiator inlet is a larger size and 1985-1989 are a different part number (which thankfully is common with non A/C, making it easier to obtain!). Got one ordered to pick up at AutoZone tomorrow. That plus a new overflow hose (or splicing the rip in the old one) will allow me to fire her up for the first time since the wreck (to bleed the coolant).

The only outstanding parts at this point are the above item and the receiver-drier for the A/C; the front end is ready to go back together. Ran out of time since work ran a bit late.

[Gary Lewis]

You are almost "there", Larry.  Well done!

Hope you get to fire it up tonight.  It will be such a great feeling.

[Machspeed]

You're making time on this project, Larry! Next year's Truck show is a bit off so I'm thinking you could slow down a bit if you wish 

[FuzzFace2]

See after the first hurt of it happening it's not so bad is it
Cant wait to see it all together and driving again.
Dave ----

[ratdude747]

Another late night... I owe you'all pics.

But, to make a long story short, here's three pics to tell where I am:







Other than than the A/C, we're on the road again!

Thanks to all who have helped and contributed...

[grumpin]

Excellent! Good job!

[Gary Lewis]

Congrat's!  

[Whisler]

Love a happy ending.

[Nemesis F150]

Looks really good!
I'm really impressed by how you put this "wreck" back together, gathering parts from all over the place, and in such a short time. It was great to look at your postings as the resurrection project went along. Brought back from the almost-dead (kinda like "intensive care" in Covid terms).

There were some challenges along the way, with the A/C yet to fix? Given the season there is no rush for that, unless it is to defog the windshield.
Frankly, it looks really good and I'm glad you kept it.

[ratdude747]

Yep. I missed my F150... Plus the ranger needed some downtime, so getting the F150 back online was a priority.

Been a hectic week and a hectic Saturday (there will be a thread on it!)... hence no pics yet. I'll post some in a bit. The A/C will be later next week as the place I bought from on eBay took a literal week to ship the dumb thing (got a tracking number Saturday, UPS hasn't seen it yet ). I also obtained a new variable orifice tube to replace the stock fixed tube with... it's one of the 105+ severe duty ones, as the Advance Auto Parts one town over had them in stock for $5 a pop. I have the same thing (not recalling what temp rating) in my Ranger and love it... ICE cold. Good for a human polar bear like me.

[ratdude747]

Time for some much belated build pics:

Radiator shipping damage, thankfully I was able to get it straight enough for my purpouses:





New hardware included. Other than the transmission cooler adapters (see below), they all fit fine.



1990 fan shroud fits, no issues:



They didn't include speed nuts for the upper connection. Thankfully I had PLENTY of those from all the wrecked/parted body panels

Fan clutch seems decent and was made in USA... not bad for $17?:



I did have to trim the lower bushings to make everything fit. I notched the side of one of them, and had to shave the inside a bit wider:



For securing the top of the radiator, I ended up drilling the core support to accept the 1985 core support's extra-wide speed nuts for such:





Speed bits are your friend. I couldn't replicate the original square holes due to my nibbler being missing at the time. Ugly but functional (and hidden by the radiator).

I also had to trim the tops of the upper mount tabs (what I straightened per the first two pics)... the fan shroud fan clearance told me not to go lower with the radiator, and it was that or cutting big notches in the core support. If it works, it works.

Radiator and condenser installed:



As mentioned in somebody else's thread, the included cooler line fittings didn't fit. Took longer than I wish to admit to realize the issue. Thankfully, the ones from the wrecked radiator fit no problem... easy peasy.

Next day: I bought some rubber hose for the overflow, but it was too big of an OD to work well. I opted instead to make up an extension out of some copper tubing recovered from a dead kitchen faucet in the scrap pile:



That allowed me to splice the halves of the old overflow hose (which was a hair short with the new radiator anyway)... problem solved.

From here I removed the inaccurate fan thread sticker from the shroud, rebuilt the front end the rest of the way, and bled the cooling system... which is brings us to the last round of pics I posted.

Some daytime pics I took yesterday at my parents' house (while on a massive estate sale bonanza):





Is the bodywork perfect? Heck no! The fenders aren't hanged right (and I can't get there despite my best efforts)... but it's functional. I posted this pic to my facebook page on Friday (taken when I drove it to work) and now everybody seems to think I'm a god or something:



No, I am by no means that good!!! Amazing what sorts of bodywork sins are hidden by poor focusing

I try, at least. I'm not in this to win any contest... Just looking to get my beloved bullnose running again. A/C aside, mission accomplished. Thank you all.

[Gary Lewis]

Well done, Larry!  

That was a whole lot of work, but it paid off.  And, it looks good.

[rcarlisle]

Wow!   Great job fixing it back.  

[Nemesis F150]

The new pictures look great!

And, the headlight alignment looked great, too!
(made the brand new road striping show up good)

I'm in the "now everybody seems to think [You're] a god" club!
Wear your halo with pride!!!

-= John =-

[ratdude747]

Cross the A/C off the list. Receiver-drier came in yesterday... installed. Future reference: UAC ones are junk. The bottom tube is bent too tight and I had to bend the crap out of it to be able to secure the clamps.

Vacuumed it down for 30 minutes, let it sit for 15 (verified that it held vacuum), then charged. Was cold enough last night that it was a slow process... but after an hour or so I was able to get all 4 cans in. 48oz R134A, it roughly takes 44-45 depending on how you convert 3lb 4oz of R12. Technically slightly overcharged but I did the same thing last time and had no issues.

[Gary Lewis]

Congrat's!!!  So, what is left to do?

[ratdude747]

Other than maybe getting the front end straighter so the body lines are better (and so you can't see stuff from the side of the hood) and getting better headlights (the Phillips I was running are too warm and dim, the sylvania left in the 81 core support is a lot better but likely no longer made in such a good fashion), nothing.

[Gary Lewis]

Those are the easy things.  Well done!

[Machspeed]

Good job, Larry! So glad it all worked out for you. Looks like that grill and the headlight surrounds found a good home. Maybe see the fella next year???

[ratdude747]

Houston, we have a problem.

Was testing my recently aquired scan tool and at 3000RPM I destructively discovered I had a bent power steering pulley:



Made one heck of a racket... Sounded like I threw a rod at first

I'm thinking they pulley got dinged in the wreck (remember the thrown yet intact belt?)... And it kerploded right at the goose throttle part of a KOER test.

The good news is all that broke were the two belts and the pulley. The bad news is that pulley is unobtainium... May have to look at junk yards although last time I looked, the few I remember anything about had the pumps taken. Fiddlesticks... Back to being a driveway queen for the moment. This is what we can't have nice things.