I just pulled the radiator out tonight so I can take it to a shop tomorrow to get repaired. Meanwhile, while I have it out of the truck, a few questions popped up. Would this be a good time to change the thermostat? With a 460, is there a certain thermostat that would be beneficial? I'll probably replace the hoses as well. I thought they looked pretty good until I looked inside the upper hose. There's a spring in the opening and it looks pretty nasty. Unfortunately, the shroud is cracked in the corner and all the tabs where it attaches are broken as well, so I'll picking up one of those as well. It's pretty open while the radiator is out, so I just wanted to see if there's anything else I should check while I have it out. Thanks.

 

Make sure you get the correct 460 shroud, it's 1973/74 F100/350 w/an Xtra or Super Cooling radiator, 1975/79 all.

D3TZ-8146-D Marked on upper left corner: D4TA-CA or CB

 

Thank you, sir!

 

Yep, perfect time to replace the T-stat & hoses. While you're there, get the garden hose out and give it a flush.

 

You should also check that vacuum advance. It looks pretty shot on the outside. Mine looked like that and i could suck air right through it, vacuum advance wasnt even working. I have a 460

 

I guess I need to look into how to replace it. I've never fooled with the ignition portion of this truck, short of replacing the spark plugs and the electronic ignition box. Is it fairly straight forward to replace? I don't have a hand pump but I did just watch a guy use a hose to suck on to see if the innards of the distributor moved like it should. So if I do that and everything moves, I should be good, right?

Thanks!

 

Yep it's super simple to replace.

To check it just try to suck air through the hose. If you can't, then it's still good (it's sealed). And you are correct, if you suck on the hose and you see the internal distributor parts move, the vacuum advance is still good and working.

If you need to replace it, it's simple just take off distributor cover, take out the distributor "electric rotor" (just pulls up and out) and there are two screws holding the vacuum advance unit in place. There's a small arm coming from the vacuum advance unit that extends into the distributor and hooks on to a post with a snap ring. Super easy to replace it.

 

Sounds like a plan, thanks for the info! I won't be able to drop off the radiator to the shop until late this afternoon, so I probably won't get it back before the weekend. Kinda sad about that since I won't have it up and running for the weekend. The good news is, they're calling for 68 by mid week next week, so it should be back on the road by then. Nothing beats a nice cruise with the windows down.

 

The shop said my radiator was repaired and I swung by there this afternoon to pick it up. Total cost was $117. I was okay with that....anything close to $100 and I could live with it. Damn sure cheaper than a new one, and I know she'll slide right back in and fit like a glove.

And it looks great, they gave it a nice coat of paint as well, which I wasn't expecting. Hopefully I can get her put back together tomorrow. He told me that it wasn't the original radiator but it was the biggest one that they built for my truck. If that's true, I'm glad I was able to get it repaired.

 

Yes replace all the hoses and Tstat.
On that spring it has to be in the lower hose as it is on the suction side of the water pump.
If not in the the hose it will close off at RPM above idle and cause over heating.
BTW new hoses don't come with springs so you need to reuse the old one.
Dave - - - -

 

Where can one acquire the lower hose spring? Is it something special? Thanks.

 

 

I was talking to my dad about it last night and he seems to think that the newer hoses are a lot thicker so the springs are not necessary. The lower one I just bought doesn't come with one and my guess is the upper one I'll pick up today doesn't either. Both that are on the truck each have one, so I may have to remove them from the old ones and add them to the new ones. I don't want to go thru this process twice and I just don't know if I trust that the new ones are thick enough not to compress under pressure.

 

My truck had a spring in the upper hose as well! I swapped it into the lower hose.

 

Black and Blue 78/9,
Got my anti-collapse lower radiator hose spring back in 2017 from CJ Pony Parts (800) 888-6437, P/N HW770 for $8.99, may of gone up in price since then.