May have been, my 77 just had it bolted to the inner fender (steel on that one) and Darth the same way. Makes me wonder if the heat issue didn't arise until the 1980 body change when the metal inner fenders went away.

 

That would make sense, Bill. Those metal inner fenders would dissipate a lot of heat.

 

Got one thing scoped out, one bad thing discovered, and another thing sorta fixed:

• The Good: I finalized the plans for the front hitch receiver. Just a bit more prep and I can weld it up, powder-coat it, and install it. And, I've realized it is gonna come in very handy when loading Dad's truck onto a trailer to go to the car show in September. All I have to do is hitch the trailer to the front receiver and use the winch to bring Dad's truck right on.
• The Bad: The radiator support is badly rusted. And, given the butchering it's already endured I think it will have to be replaced.
• The Croaky: I fixed the horn problem by replacing the dead one with one that works 90% of the time. But, the other 10% of the time it croaks. Given that the horn I used came from Dad's truck, I'm going to have to at least get one, if not two, "new" horns.

Here's a shot of where the receiver will go and how it will be mounted. In the next shot you'll see that I'm lowering the crossmember 1/2", and with that there's no need to cut the receiver. I'll weld 3/16" angle to the crossmember either side of the receiver, as shown, and bolt through it to secure the rear end of the receiver. And the 1/4" plates have been cut and are in place in this shot, but will be drilled to take the bolts to the winch and then welded to the receiver.




This shot shows the bolts that are meant to secure the crossmember to the frame. "Meant" because the ones shown were finger-tight. But, I'll put 1/2" spacers here, use longer bolts, and torque them down.




And, here's the bad news. While replacing the horn I found a pile of leaves and vacuumed them out, exposing this. Obviously the truck did have an auxiliary battery as the acid did its work on the metal. Given the metal cut out of the support for the oil cooler hoses and this damage, I think I'm going to have to replace the radiator support

 

Gary, is that a difficult-to-find core support? Do you want me to look around in my Arizona yards? The diesels have two types (AC and non-AC) but I have no knowledge of the different gas engine versions. Anyway, I'm happy to look for you if you would like.

 

Jonathan - I don't know if it is difficult to find as all 85-86 gas engined trucks should have used the same one - E5TZ 16138-C as shown here: Radiator Support - ???Gary's Garagemahal.

We don't have many Bullnose trucks in the salvages here, so I'd love it if you would look. And, your trucks are usually better preserved than ours. But, it's a lot of work to pull a radiator support. And then to transport it? That's a lot to ask, and I don't want to take advantage of you. Thanks for the offer, but.....

Edit: NPD has a repro unit that supposedly does the 80-84 and the 85-86. So, if that one can be used for either then maybe I can use the 80-84 one I have in the attic. I don't know what all differences there are, but I do know the radiator mount is different, and Big Blue's radiator is new, so I want to keep it. And, the cool air openings are in different places.

But perhaps I can make this one work. So, before you go to a lot of work, let me check things out.

 

Check the differences Gary and let me know what you think. I wonder if the repro somehow incorporates both mount types and vent features to make it a universal fit? Anyway, if the 1984 model is not suitable my offer still stands. I am aware of what it takes to pull a core support but I'm not afraid of wrenches and you are more than deserving of a little helpfulness karma! I hear that most of the repro body stuff is very light weight and inferior to OEM, so if it's an original 85/86 core support you need I will find you one.

 

Thanks! I'll check it out, for sure. NPD says:

1985 - 1986 F150-F350
MUST RE-USE BRACKET FROM OLD SUPPORT

But I don't know what bracket, so I will call and see.

 

The radiator supports do look different between my '81 F100 and the '85 F150; both powered by 300's. Do you want some close up pics?

 

PLEASE!!!! And, if you don't mind, I'd like to use the pics on my web site so we document this once and for all time.

I have the one out that I had blasted and painted for Dad's truck, which is probably from an '82, and I'm trying to compare to the one in Big Blue. But with all of the stuff mounted I can't really see the differences. So, pics of bare ones would be marvelous.

The difference I'm aware of are how the radiators attach at the top and the way they sit in at the bottom. Plus, there's a difference in where the fresh air openings are, both which side as well as how far out from the radiator. And, there's an implication in the catalog that the 1980/82 version had a smaller opening for the 6 cyl trucks than for the 8's.

Thanks!!!!

 

I'm in the market for a core support too. The right side's "base" where the bolt from the bushing comes through has rusted through.

I have an '82 so I'll probably be buying something from NPD.
But my 82 has a 460 swapped in it, so it's really more like an '83. And I have "extra cooling". What size should I be looking for?

__________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ ________________________________

The parts descriptions are confusing.

Is the E3TZ-16130-F (25-5/8 x 31-1/8) for "Diesel with extra/super cooling only", or "Diesel" or "Gas with extra/super cooling"?

Why is there no size given for the "D" model?

I assume anything '87 up is not going to fit since the body styles changed in 87.

What is the width of the E3TZ-16130-C (29") when trimming? Meaning what is the max size?

 

Size? As big as you can get, if you mean radiator.

E3TZ-F is diesel only. Dunno a lot of things about he catalog, including why "D" doesn't have a size. And '87 up isn't going to work.

As for E3TZ-C's max width, I'll check on mine to see if I can tell.

 

I meant what is the correct part number Rad Support for my truck (with the extra cooling option, 7.5L, and AC)? But it looks like there is only one Radiator Support Assembly available (the "C") so I guess it doesn't really matter.


BTW - off topic, but this TSB may be helpful to some on your website. It is all the wire color codes and circuit numbers used with circuit descriptions. So if someone finds a strange wire on their truck this chart gives some indication of what it might be for. http://www.revbase.com/BBBMotor/TSb/...adPdf?id=53166

 

Yes, there's only one for the gas-engines 85 and 86's.

And, for the record, I measured the 82 support I have, and the 29" measurement mentioned in the catalog is the width, and the height of the opening is 20 1/4".

As for what I did on Big Blue, I got the receiver itself welded up. Here's a shot of it mounted, but you can see that while I have the angle cut for the crossmember it still needs to be welded on. And, I still need to make the 1/2" spacers. Last, media-blast and powder coat everything.




And, I got the bracket in for the coolant reservoir as well as the j-bolts and bracket for the auxiliary battery. Here's the bracket mounted and holding the reservoir:




And, I put the aux battery in place:




And then I realized that the aux battery sits much higher in the truck than the main battery. And, as you can see below, it looks like the hood will hit the battery when closed. So, tomorrow I'll call and see if they'll take the battery back and get me a shorter one.

 

Mike - I forgot. But that info on circuits and color codes is great. So it'll so up on my web site soon. Thanks!

 

Gary is your auxiliary battery tray different than the one used in the diesels? On mine the batteries sit at the same height, I believe.

Were you able to tell if your early style core support will work for Big Blue?