Deer killed my Bullnose... Mangled the front

[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.

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]

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.

Well done, Larry!

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

[rcarlisle]

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.

Wow! Great job fixing it back.

[Nemesis F150]

Wow! Great job fixing it back.

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]

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 =-

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]

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.

Congrat's!!! So, what is left to do?

[ratdude747]

Congrat's!!! So, what is left to do?

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]

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.

Those are the easy things. Well done!

[Machspeed]

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.

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]

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???

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.