Gary Lewis Posted January 1, 2021 Share Posted January 1, 2021 I had a semi-productive day wrenching on the old '80. Seems weird to say...but this truck is now forty-one years old. If you go by the build date and when it arrived at the dealer (October 1979), it's technically 42 years old. Anyway, I had been waiting several days for a new water pump to arrive. The shop lost the original new pump they ordered so then ordered in a reman pump for me, but I did finally get my hands on it yesterday morning. Grabbed a bunch of hose clamps, and some 5/16" copper tubing to make new fuel line with the really optimistic hopes of possibly cranking the engine over this weekend. Then I pull a bone-head move and bust the thermostat housing. So stupid too, because I had just spent an hour breaking the long pivot bolt in the alternator loose. Anyway, I'm not sure what happened...the surfaces seem flat...maybe the thermostat slipped out of place and lifted the lower ear off the head. It's not a big deal...the stupid things are worth something like $10 bucks, but I have to order from RockAuto so it will be a week or so getting here. It's a blessing in disguise, because I need a little time to prepare anyway. Spilled milk. I did get the core support back on the frame though, and that also turned out very good. I rebuilt the bottom of this core support, and installed a used 2 core 1994 radiator that I was worried would not fit. Turns out it fit perfectly, and as wild as the radiator angle looked in the core support, it appears to be perfectly parallel to the radiator fan. All good. I still need to shim it and tweak it a bit, but I ran out of time this morning. I'll pick at it tomorrow and try to get it ready to fire up next weekend. I also need to order some other little odds and ends....bushings and clutch and brake pedal covers, etc. Still, all in all pretty good shape. Been there, done that. Was very upset with myself. In my case it was the thermostat that slipped. But at least you have the right perspective. It'll work out. And at least the radiator and core support fit correctly. Well done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grumpin Posted January 1, 2021 Share Posted January 1, 2021 I had a semi-productive day wrenching on the old '80. Seems weird to say...but this truck is now forty-one years old. If you go by the build date and when it arrived at the dealer (October 1979), it's technically 42 years old. Anyway, I had been waiting several days for a new water pump to arrive. The shop lost the original new pump they ordered so then ordered in a reman pump for me, but I did finally get my hands on it yesterday morning. Grabbed a bunch of hose clamps, and some 5/16" copper tubing to make new fuel line with the really optimistic hopes of possibly cranking the engine over this weekend. Then I pull a bone-head move and bust the thermostat housing. So stupid too, because I had just spent an hour breaking the long pivot bolt in the alternator loose. Anyway, I'm not sure what happened...the surfaces seem flat...maybe the thermostat slipped out of place and lifted the lower ear off the head. It's not a big deal...the stupid things are worth something like $10 bucks, but I have to order from RockAuto so it will be a week or so getting here. It's a blessing in disguise, because I need a little time to prepare anyway. Spilled milk. I did get the core support back on the frame though, and that also turned out very good. I rebuilt the bottom of this core support, and installed a used 2 core 1994 radiator that I was worried would not fit. Turns out it fit perfectly, and as wild as the radiator angle looked in the core support, it appears to be perfectly parallel to the radiator fan. All good. I still need to shim it and tweak it a bit, but I ran out of time this morning. I'll pick at it tomorrow and try to get it ready to fire up next weekend. I also need to order some other little odds and ends....bushings and clutch and brake pedal covers, etc. Still, all in all pretty good shape. Bummer! Truck is looking good! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
salans7 Posted January 2, 2021 Share Posted January 2, 2021 Bummer! Truck is looking good! That truck is looking so good! Great work Cory! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rembrant Posted January 2, 2021 Author Share Posted January 2, 2021 That truck is looking so good! Great work Cory! Thanks Shaun! I’m afraid you would not be impressed if you saw it in the flesh LOL. It is a heap, but if you can see the beauty in a heap then I guess it is OK. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
salans7 Posted January 2, 2021 Share Posted January 2, 2021 That truck is looking so good! Great work Cory! Thanks Shaun! I’m afraid you would not be impressed if you saw it in the flesh LOL. It is a heap, but if you can see the beauty in a heap then I guess it is OK. I understand heaps quite well, as my F350 fits the bill. I can see the beauty in them, but it's hard sometimes because I have to resist the urge to make it perfect. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FuzzFace2 Posted January 2, 2021 Share Posted January 2, 2021 That truck is looking so good! Great work Cory! Thanks Shaun! I’m afraid you would not be impressed if you saw it in the flesh LOL. It is a heap, but if you can see the beauty in a heap then I guess it is OK. I understand heaps quite well, as my F350 fits the bill. I can see the beauty in them, but it's hard sometimes because I have to resist the urge to make it perfect. Looking more and more like a truck every day I found my housing was cracked when I pulled it for anew stat. Now you may want to pick it up local as you could run into a problem of the part that screws into the side. The one I got at Auto Zone the threaded part was to small and I could not screw the fitting in. Someone run it to the same issue and I found he got his from O'reilly's auto parts and it was the right one. Just don't want you waiting weeks and find it is wrong even if it is only $10 Dave ---- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rembrant Posted January 2, 2021 Author Share Posted January 2, 2021 Looking more and more like a truck every day I found my housing was cracked when I pulled it for anew stat. Now you may want to pick it up local as you could run into a problem of the part that screws into the side. The one I got at Auto Zone the threaded part was to small and I could not screw the fitting in. Someone run it to the same issue and I found he got his from O'reilly's auto parts and it was the right one. Just don't want you waiting weeks and find it is wrong even if it is only $10 Dave ---- Thanks for the heads up Dave. I checked with the local shop and they told me there wasn’t a single one in the country and that they’d have to order from the US, which for them would take weeks. Rock Auto has at least a half a dozen different brands, and they deliver in about a week so that is what I did. If the factory fitting doesn’t fit I guess I’ll just have to make something up for it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FuzzFace2 Posted January 2, 2021 Share Posted January 2, 2021 Thanks for the heads up Dave. I checked with the local shop and they told me there wasn’t a single one in the country and that they’d have to order from the US, which for them would take weeks. Rock Auto has at least a half a dozen different brands, and they deliver in about a week so that is what I did. If the factory fitting doesn’t fit I guess I’ll just have to make something up for it. What they dont like 300 six up there to not have at least 1:nabble_smiley_uh: If the thread part was to large it would not have been an issue but it was way to small. Any in the junk yards near you? Dave ---- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rembrant Posted January 2, 2021 Author Share Posted January 2, 2021 What they dont like 300 six up there to not have at least 1:nabble_smiley_uh: If the thread part was to large it would not have been an issue but it was way to small. Any in the junk yards near you? Dave ---- Dave, I guess there's no market for them here. Not many 300's on the road here anymore besides summer cruisers. Might find some EFI 300's at the junkyard, but for $10 I just ordered a new one. I don't need it right away anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rembrant Posted January 2, 2021 Author Share Posted January 2, 2021 What they dont like 300 six up there to not have at least 1:nabble_smiley_uh: If the thread part was to large it would not have been an issue but it was way to small. Any in the junk yards near you? Dave ---- Dave, I guess there's no market for them here. Not many 300's on the road here anymore besides summer cruisers. Might find some EFI 300's at the junkyard, but for $10 I just ordered a new one. I don't need it right away anyway. This picture doesn't really look much different from yesterday, but the core support is secured in place now, and the stone guard is installed. You forget how much time everything takes. I installed a new battery tray today as well as the vertical bracket next to it that attaches to the tray, the fender liner, and the core support. Then I had to tweak everything a little bit to get it lined up. It's actually not too bad...but we will see what happens when I install the hood. Seems I had planned to do a bunch of other things, and getting everything above all lined up and tightened down seemed like forever. Anyway...tomorrow I'm going to seam seal the cowl trough, and install the cowl panel and wipers. After that, wiring and carb install, and maybe even bend up a fuel line and see how that goes. I need to clean up the shop and put everything back in it's place as I will be taking a break until next weekend. Wasn't sure if I told you guys, but I had listed some old 3" spring hangers for sale locally (they came loose with the truck but were for a van E250/E350 and did not fit). Anyway, a guy showed up to buy them as spares for his '89 Bronco. He didn't have a Bullnose, but did have some extra Bullnose parts at home so we worked out a trade, which was even better. I got a set of bumper guards, which I needed anyway (the truck had them from the factory, but the originals were rusted out). My bumper had clear lines where the guards were, so it's nice to have another used set to stick on there (they will match lol). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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