Deer killed my Bullnose... Mangled the front

Progress!!!

There is or was a fix for them trim studs.
Think they are the same for the windshield trim and glass shops may have some for the older stuff so check with them.
Also old body shops as sometimes the screw studs came with new moldings.
Dave  ----

^noted. These weren't screws though... spot welded studs. Worst case I was going to pop rivet the plastic pieces in... as once they're in position, what was used to secure them will never be seen (although it would make future trim removal a bit of a pain?).


---

Had today and yesterday off work for a Guns N Roses concert last night ... while I was out, went back to the JY to grab that radiator (and it's mount bushings.).

Back home today, flushed it out... only to find out it is indeed the wrong radiator, another single core non-A/C unit. The PO of the 1992 truck I pulled from must have swapped the shroud too... as it was a truck with factory air!

At least I have the mount bushings.... not sure if I'll return the radiator for store credit (I already turned in a core, the Ranger's old cracked unit I replaced last winter ) or hang on to it for next year's swap meet. It was $47 but it takes a $35 tank of gas to return it (maybe less marginal cost if I combine it with a "routine" visit to my parents, but still a bit of pain if not doing anything else on that side of Louisville).

Also discovering that the only welded aluminum radiators I'm finding on ebay that are the right thickness are "3 row"... and even they don't have the shroud clip slots in the right place (Same placement as the single core /2 row units). But RockAuto has the right one in all aluminum for $236 plus shipping... yay?  

ratdude747 wrote

^noted. These weren't screws though... spot welded studs. Worst case I was going to pop rivet the plastic pieces in... as once they're in position, what was used to secure them will never be seen (although it would make future trim removal a bit of a pain?).

Also discovering that the only welded aluminum radiators I'm finding on ebay that are the right thickness are "3 row"... and even they don't have the shroud clip slots in the right place (Same placement as the single core /2 row units). But RockAuto has the right one in all aluminum for $236 plus shipping... yay?

Yes I know the factory studs were spot welded in place and if you have a pin welder used for pulling dents it will also do them studs. But you need to have bare metal for the welder to work.
I also know back in the day they made screw in studs as we did not have them fancy pin welders for dents.
It has also been known to pop rivet them clips in place.

What you do is use masking tape to hold the molding in place and run more tape above & blow the molding.
Then remove the molding leaving the above & below tape so you know where the clips need to be placed for the molding.

On the radiator have you checked out Rock Auto?
I think that is where I got mine, 81 F100 300 w/factory AC
Dave ----

Probably just going to rivet them then... easy enough. My idea for lining them up was to measure the wrecked fender's relationship between the stud line and body line... and then mark the fender where the line goes and use such to drill the holes. That will dictate the mask line for the paint work later; thankfully for me, the trim will hide the line (Is this why they used such trim on 2-tone trucks back then? )

If you look in my post, I linked to rockauto. Everything for the 1984 application is out of stock (and I get the idea won't be in stock in the foreseeable future), hence why moving to the 1985 setup is more or less forced. Going to order the radiator tonight or tomorrow to get the shipping in motion.

Today, I got my trailer unloaded, and got some work done:

Cut/drilled the holes for the air intake into the 1981 core support (I checked that my duct will clear the "new" radiator using the single core radiator and the rotted 1985 core support as a mockup)

Yeah, I beefed the upper cut and sliced a bit too far. Might weld it, might pretend nothing happened since the upper valence will hide all that. I cut the bottom so I could bend a lip down to give the bottom of the duct extra support (wasn't needed, it hovers)

Moved the lower valence bracket from the bent center bracket to the good one

Moved the good headlight, bracket, spring, and adjusters to the 1981 core support (made the old core support ready to scrap, other than extracting clips and speed nuts)

The core support is only held in with the two cab mounts (which cheapskate here is reusing )... loosely. Easier to work on in this position; it'll have to come off when the time comes to install the 1985 brackets.

Swapped the hood latch and splash shield

Working on things... will post pics later when done.

In the mean time, some updates:

Bought the radiator and fan clutch. I did go for the aluminum welded rockauto option. Also scored private label closeout on the fan clutch ($17 + shipping), supposedly it's made by US Motor Works for better or for worse; what I could find on them was a mixed bag, but for as cheap as it was, I figured it was worth the gamble

Finding a grille emblem without breaking the bank proved difficult... but funny enough, Ford made several later "7 inch" emblems in the same size with the same (or similar) mount studs. eBay'd a used one off a Ford Expedition for $15 shipped... I think it will work with some mods (maybe). Cheapest I found for the original part is $65 shipped

. Sure, it may not look like a vintage piece, but if I don't like it, I can always remove it and pony up the $65.

Moved over radiator brackets from the 1985 core support... pics on that later, it was a pain (and I had some welding issues, all my fault

Glad you made it home, Larry. Hopefully your trip back was unlike the trip down for the show. Nice meeting you, btw. I was wondering what you were going to do for that emblem in the grille. Indeed, they are expensive. I think it's $20 for the emblem and $80 for the "FORD" script on it....LOL! That decal looks good on your truck too. Keep us posted on your progress here.    

Very busy day today... time for pics, starting with what I meant to post last night:

Pulling the 1985 Radiator brackets: Due to the 1985 core support being already rotten/cut to the point of not having a whole lot of additional use, I opted to use a technique I've used at work to split spot welds without drilling, grind away the side you don't care for!





The other side for whatever reason was MIG'd on... but the same technique works, just a lot less efficiently:



Tired of wailing on things with my grinder, I cleaned the brackets up with a file:



Welded them in place:



(My original rosette weld didn't penetrate the base metal, so I had to grind a groove through the bracket and weld that instead )



Yeah, the welds look like , but considering my joke of a welder (90A Harbor Freight Flux Core), I'll take it. I think they'll hold well enough. I did weld up the cutoff misses on the air intake hole while I was at it... and today, after wire brushing off as much soot/slag/burnt paint as possible, I hit the areas with some primer and auto enamel while I had it out... see below!

Today's stuff: Painting and assembly!

"New" fender masked off and upper trim holes drilled:



I used the trim piece and the body line to figure out the line the holes needed to be on. I then used a ruler to measure the distance between holes and known references and used such to predrill the holes (not critical since they slide on the trim, as long as they're on the right body line).

Fender painted:



I used some primer wherever there was rock chips or surface rust (which I cleaned up with a wire brush). Top coat is Krylon Gloss Black Auto Enamel.

I also painted the hood and lower valance. Didn't get any pics of the hood yet; here's the lower valence:



Once the paint dried, unwrapped it:



Back to that fender: after spending two hours with a hammer, punch, and a vice trying to make the best out of the lower Aluminum trim (it was pretty pretzeled!), got trim and emblems installed:



The trim isn't particularly pretty to say the least... at least it has what I'll call "shopping cart patina" like the rest of the aluminum trim on the truck .

Now we're getting somewhere... and it's looking like I'll have a "decent" truck again! Seriously, it was when I shot that pic that I finally saw light at the end of the tunnel that I was certain wasn't an oncoming train...

After that, I started installing the mostly complete core support (other than the upper radiator mounts, which I haven't fully decided how to fasten- see below!)

My wife helped me remove the mangled hood (finally) and hang the new fender. She also shot some pics of me fighting with the fender:



(Bonus points to the first person to recognize that shirt!)



The look on my face is due to realizing what a pain it is to install a missing speed nut under the splash shield after the fender has been hung and roughly lined up. This be the M8 one whose bolt is accessed from "behind" an opened door (the pain in the butt to access one!) Eventually I won without having to take the fender back off...

I then installed all the fender-mounted items other than the splash shield (ran out of time)... I also tried fitting up the "wrong" radiator to see if the brackets ended up OK (used existing holes to line up)... and it seems were a bit too high after installing the lower bushings:





The cap side will not go, the other side will go if shoved hard. Not sure if this is an aftermarket radiator issue or a bracket location issue... the bushings are fully seated. Worst case, I guess I'll have to file/cut down the lower mount points on the new radiator?

That's where I ended today. Final pics:





Tomorrow afternoon I'll get the splash shield mounted and (maybe) the new hood installed... Otherwise, until I'm done with the new radiator install, I don't dare proceed with installing a whole lot else (other than maybe the grille brackets, but not the center bracket!).

Progress?

Progress indeed. Good job! That’s a lot of work.

Looking good and like a truck again.
I dont see why the hood cant go on as it will need to sooner or later and it will protect the under hood if the truck is outside.
The rest will come together in time.
Dave ----

I had it tarped last night after shooting the final pics.

The hood is more of a "I really don't want to bother" issue... not sure if I want to give the paint the full 48 hours to cure before trying to wrangle it. Also, the paint turned out a bit patchy (my fault, I only wet sanded the existing paint rather than stripping it and starting over) so I dunno if I want to do any more paint work before putting it on the truck.

Dude! I'm glad you didn't get rid of the truck.

Never give up, never surrender!

Installed the splash shield and hood this afternoon:





Yeah, I got lazy and didn't paint the insides of anything... I also didn't prep the hood well enough either, as the finish is rough and inconsistant. All I did was wet sand it until smooth and primer'd wherever there was bare metal. Apparently the white paint didn't agree with the auto enamel. Not the end of the world, but a bit ugly. Not that I was in contention for the best paint award anyway!

Looking good, Larry!  That is a lot of work but it is really coming together.

As for the shirt, that’s one of the NPD shirts from the show.

Correct on the shirt!

The Expedition emblem came in, and it does fit:



Rather than use adhesive like the Expidition did, I used the stakes with nuts. I didn't have any sheet metal ones handy, so I cheated and used some 1/4-20 keep nuts.

Ford Part/Engineering number:



(edit- that number is 2L14-7843156-AA)

Installed:



Something about it doesn't quite look right... although most of the pictures I've found seem to show the same emblem used? Maybe it's the double chrome oval? Or maybe I'm so used to aged faded emblems like on the fenders? (the XL logo to be exact, is faded to pink instead of the original red).

How does it look? Yay or nay?

I don’t know if you got in my head, but it looks different for some reason.

But I like it!

It does look good.  And if it is different I don't know what the difference is.  But this post says there was a redesign in '87 and this is the right one for our truck:

I think the older style is more beveled on the rim.

Gary Lewis wrote

It does look good.  And if it is different I don't know what the difference is.  But this post says there was a redesign in '87 and this is the right one for our truck:

In that case, close enough!