This steering stabilizer setup, it looks like an add-on kit. The u-bolts sure aren't doing anything (see the shiny part of the center link, where they've been polishing it).

 

As often referenced by NumberDummy, the plastic bushings on the clutch rod wear out, then whatever the rod end acts upon turns into an oval instead of a circle, and if ignored long enough the clutch rod will break off its end.

On mine, there was NO bushing left on the lower end, and a good worn-through spot on the upper.




I purchased a pair of brass bushing replacements from West Coast Classic Cougar for $16.09 shipped/taxed. They're 3/8" ID and I gambled they would fit; as it happens, they fit perfectly without modification -- as long as you install them the correct direction [rolleyes].




These installed really easily, as long as you have some clutch linkage free play. As conventional clutches wear, the clutch mechanism free play disappears as the disc wears, and mine was waaaay out of adjustment, beyond no play.

Once I backed off the adjuster (screwed it further onto the adjustment rod, at the rear of the clutch fork), so the rod above was loose, then the top and bottom hitch pin clips could be removed and the rod taken out.

On hiccup is that I installed the top bushing in the pedal bellcrank, in the same orientation as the old plastic bushing, then found that it doesn't work that way: the clip's hole is obscured. And I couldn't remove the brass bushing with the pedal installed, so I had to remove the pedal from the cluster -- which is why I have such great assembly pics







Hopefully this is helpful to someone besides myself.

 

Passenger exhaust manifold "before" (valve cover gasket replaced, plug wires cleaned/repaired, as you can do with premium silicone ones):




Bad exhaust leak to the front of the engine:




I had a bad exhaust leak between the passenger exhaust manifold and the head, where that fancy heat-shield-not-a-gasket thing lives. Good thing that I like to buy tools, because it took a lot of 'em to sorta kinda get this resealed -- it's back together but I'm not yet convinced it doesn't still leak a bit, I have other things making racket.

The FT exhaust manifolds have (10) 3/8"-16 bolts retaining them to the head, in three different lengths, two of which are double studs to retain the heat shield and dipstick tube; just rounding up the bolts was a project.

Of those (10) bolts, the short four of the lower six "just came out". From up top I can't see 'em, but I worked them via Braille.
The top two shorties and top two dbl-studs were able to be persuaded to not snap off, using a lot of acetylene. And I mean a lot. Because the previous valve cover gaskets had been weeping for years, there was a lot of fuel around the spark plugs, and even though I'd washed everything at a DIY car wash, I put out fires repeatedly whilst heating the head's ears for those bolts. Lots of red. MAPP gas wasn't even close to getting me there.

That left the two long bolts at the sorta bottom center, that clamp the crossover passage. I couldn't get heat to anywhere near where it'd do good, and they both snapped off. In the head.

The manifold, before the power tools:





Next: how to repair the broken bolts situation?
IME, extractors just don't work. I usually start with left-handed bits, and if it doesn't come out by the time I've graduated sizes up to the thread's minor diameter, I switch to overbore and thread insert ("Helicoil"). But a major problem here is maintaining something like perpendicular to the gasket surface when drilling: those bolts are long, over 3", so any deviation from 90° and the bolt won't even thread in, once the manifold is in place to hold the bolt to 90°.

I ran a tap down the eight other holes, then bolted the manifold back to the head with four bolts, tight. Then I used the manifold as a drill guide, and drilled out the broken bolts, to the size needed for the 3/8"-16 thread insert tap (25/64").

I bought the 1/4" hex-drive 25/64" bit (ended up using only one) from HD, but I already owned the right-angle adapter, Milwaukee 49-22-8510 (no longer in production in 2026) -- it ain't cheap.






Other than having to hang upside down and using a 1x2 as a lever against the back of the Milwaukee adapter, it went rather well. I couldn't apply lubricant from the topside (broken bolts blocking) and of course drill lube would run down via gravity, away from the work, so I'd apply lube to the bit, work it into place, install the 1x2 lever, drill ten seconds, then do it again. Took a while, and a lot of cycles.

Then I freehand tapped the holes for inserts. My very first Helicoil set that I ever bought for myself, around 1978, it was 3/8"-16! Aha, I thought I was set . . . but that old tap was just too dull; I've used it a lot, and sadly I recycled it all this week, and bought a PowerCoil replacement set, that being the brand of thread inserts I settled on about ten years ago; Helicoil ships in crappy vinyl pouches, often without an install tool, etc. etc. The PowerCoil sets store nicely and organized.

Armed with a new, sharp tap, I ran the holes without fuss:



(no pics of installing the two inserts, but one installed perfectly the first time, and the other trashed the first two inserts and I had to burn three to get a good install)

Back to the manifold: I had to (maybe not "had") cut the headpipe flange studs to get the manifold out. I suppose I could have hit the nuts with the torch, sprayed molten crap on me while working underneath, and maybe worked those three 7/16" nuts off . . . but I've done this kind of thing before, and the price of three new 7/16" studs isn't that much. I used a Dremel and 1.5" wheel from the topside and cut 'em off.




Got out the heat wrench and a 45-year-old New Britain (NAPA) stud remover that gets used maybe once a decade these days:






After cooling for a day (learnt my lesson -- expensively -- installing cold stud in a hot exhaust manifold, Corvair 140 HP, in 1978, broke the manifold -- expensive!), I ran the threads with a new 7/16" tap, then installed new studs.





Gasket surface:
I spent a half-hour trying to remove the old "gasket" and failing. Wire wheels, mill file, die grinder with various abrasive compounds, nothing would yield anything close to a flat surface . . . and this does not use a nice, squishy, compliant gasket, only that stamped sheet metal shield thing, so flat is kind of required.

Hardly anyone around here does automotive machining anymore; when I was growing up in this area 40+ years ago, there were three machine shops; last month I had to drive 60 mi. to find a place that would true/resurface two Sienna rotors ($25 ea), and that's all the machining they do (chain auto parts store). Calling around, one business after another "used to do that" but stopped. I finally found a boat mechanic who would resurface the manifold (since it doesn't have A.I.R. tubes or other fancy protrusions) but when I questioned him further, he does his "resurfacing" using a custom-built belt-sander-like device -- what ever happened to Van Norman surfacers? Sheesh.

I sighed, then gave in and did it ghetto homebrew DIY using a 1970s Taiwanese Jet-16 Mill/Drill and a fly cutter. Since I own them. I am not a machinist, but I can play one in the privacy of my home garage. Real machinists can laugh at my setup: maybe you can build a fixture setup to dial in parallel with the world using the lumpy side of an exhaust manifold, but I can't, so wood shims and selective hold-down torque got me through this. Barely. I had to drop out the (R8) flycutter several times in order to get to the ends (bad setup? limited Y-axis travel? Yeah, all of that). A Van Norman would have done this in a quarter the time I spent doing this hokey resurface . . . but this is what I have.








(the tarp keeps the mess localized, much easier to vacuum up)

Is it parallel? Not even close.
Is it flat? Yup.

I used a right-angle air die grinder and Roloc disc, then the carbide-impregnated ones, and tried to clean up the head's gasket surfaces. I was only partly successful, and really the head should come off to do a top-notch job; I couldn't find a better on-vehicle solution than that.

All the bolts (except the dbl-ended ones) were replaced with Gr8 versions from Ace Hardware, nothing fancy. Generally, the to-the-quarter-inch lengths were OK, if not exactly the OEM length.

The double-ended studs should be 379661-S7-8, and they can still be had, but I bought a Dorman 03407B instead, and the included dbl-studs fit well.





Reassembly was the reverse of the above, lol.






I'm still looking for an air cleaner snorkel for a reasonable price, as mine is missing the flap and rod. [later: found one]

 

Carb is D3HF-CA & LIST 6548, Holley 2300G 2V w/vacuum governor. "D3" = 1973.

The basic typical carb diagram, which I've found shows a few options my carb doesn't have:



Holley 2300 2V typical 1973/78


In addition to the carb removal and initial cleanup documented here, and the brake booster vacuum hose with lots-o-cracks leaking vacuum silently here, I've found a couple of surprises as I received the Walker 15524 rebuild kit. For one, it has NO instructions. Even the cheapest Jiffy kits back in the day came with a bad copy of a facsimile that had been driven over in the parking lot; basic stuff with a bad illustration, but Walker gives you nothing.

As I removed the throttle body from the main body, I noticed that the old gasket didn't have some of the passage holes punched quite right.




However, the gasket in the Walker kit is even worse:



I nibbled at the gasket with an X-acto and got it into a condition where I felt OK with it, then after running air and aerosol cleaner through all the base ports, I reassembled that portion.


Next, something looked off about the governor housing. Can you spot it?




The diaphragm cover is on, there's clearly some gasket showing under it, but . . . no diaphragm actuator rod showing on that bellcrank. Better take a look . . .



To quote Shrek . . . "Well... er... THAT explains a lot.". That's a pretty good vacuum leak right there, yessir.

On the carb side of the governor housing, there are two vacuum governor bypass bleed jets, and a housing vent. On mine, the vent hole was solidly plugged up with black crud bad.



Generic Holley 2300 carb reseal kits won't have the governor housing gaskets/seal 9948, 9853, & 9982; the Walker 15524 does, so points for that. That 9853 gasket is triangular and has four holes, and the governor will not work without that gasket in place . . . and mine was missing. More vacuum leaks.




Contents of Walker 15524 carb kit for 5300G, highlighting some of the governor-specific soft parts.


Image from the MPC:



Image from the FSM (Governors section):




Image from the FSM (Carburetor section):





I've ordered a governor diaphragm, which is sold as these numbers: CUD4482, Walker 64-328, Holley 35R-1289A, Ford B7T-9503-A, Motorcraft CM-4. Here's an eBay pic of the Motorcraft part:



Governor diaphragm, Motorcraft CM-4


The inlet filter screen 9938 is missing on my carb, and I think I'll leave it missing; the paper filter in the fuel pump's filter ought to be filtering finer than that screen, anyway. Here's what it looks like:


Motorcraft CM-378 fuel filter inlet screen.

 

I drove it around the block about a month ago. It runs much better, and somewhat quieter with the pass. side exhaust manifold "gasket" replaced. It idles now at 700, but still too lean for 1973 I need to chase that further. Could really use a throttle dashpot, though one wasn't spec'd for that year. I have to either raise the idle or add one, as it likes to die if declutched in some circumstances. Seems the governor is working a little too well, and definitely doesn't allow much in the way of revs. More To-Do.

Later, I changed the trans oil: 4.5 quarts of AMSOil FTF, but I haven't driven it since. I've reinstalled the I/C, and the fuel gauge works (yea!).

Removed the non-functional steering damper from the center link.

I got to thinking about the steering that's so very loose at the box (kingpins, drag link, center link/tie rods are tight): on this design (Ross HF-54) PS box, which uses a linear valve actuator, if the PS pump output pressure is low enough, it wouldn't assist well or at all, leading to the kind of perceived slop in the box that I'm experiencing; this doesn't happen to such a large extent on more modern, rotary valve designs. I have a spare used box, but I really don't want to replace it, because I have to shift the engine/trans over to the right side of the engine bay to obtain enough room to drop out the box: there just isn't room to R&R it otherwise. The Shop Manual states that, too, and I believe them.

This truck came with several mostly-empty jugs of PS fluid in the cab, but nothing's leaking, and there's a suspiciously newer PS hose installed. I wonder if they had a leaking high pressure hose, let the pump run dry a few times, and then finally replaced the hose. That would explain things . . .

I have ordered an older used S&G Tool Aid 34650 Power Steering Tester* set (in a nice, metal storage case, via eBay) so I can test the PS pump's output pressure. I haven't needed to do that in a good, long while, and I'd never bought the test tool/adapters; all the places I'd worked had one.

From the 1973 Ford Truck Shop Manual, pg. 13-01-02 (228):


(I added the blue text, because while it's perfectly legible in the $111 paper reprint Shop Manual, it's pretty crappy in the PDF version, as shown.)

I should see about 1400-1575 PSI at idle with the high pressure port's flow of the PS blocked for a couple of seconds. If that pressure is found, then I'll have to change out the box.

* = I'd wanted to buy an OTC, but . . . $400 for a used one, plus another $80 for the adapter set that includes the 3/8" SAE 45° (thread: 5/8"-18) adapter that's req'd for this box. I love tools, but that's a lotta coin for a single use. The OTC 5079 tool will do flow testing, too, which is nice . . . but I've done without this long. None of the tool rental places around here will rent me one with the correct adapter, so . . . the Tool Aid one got my coin. The same model is sold under the Matco brand as well.

ETA: Chart showing the relationship of SAE J612 fittings' thread size/pitch in relation to the "fitting size", eg SAE 3/8" = 5/8"-18 threads, making it possible to measure eg the OD of male threads (5/8") and ordering the correct SAE 45° fitting (3/8"). Plumbing standards are great!: so many to choose from!

 

Good guess, 6° BTDC. From 1974 Specs from California, using the distributor part number D3TF-12101-CA as lookup, I found:

 

Vacuum Governor again.

After spending quality time with the Holley 2300G (see above), the engine only revs to ~1500. Following the Shop Manual's troubleshooting tree . . .



With the line open, the engine revs OK. With it plugged or connected to the distributor, it doesn't.





Distributor is D3TF-12102-CA
I removed the distributor and disassembled it. Quite a lot of crap blew out of the governor circuit, and the brass weight didn't move smoothly at all.







Strangely, it also didn't have the upper thrust washer installed, 12179





However, reassembly is difficult on this model, as the roll pin for the tach drive is 90° from the roll pin of the cam gear, and once you start driving the tach drive on the shaft, you can't turn it. It would be best assembled using a jig. I managed to break the governor tube off (both sides) during repeated disassemblies to get that roll pin alignment.

I was looking for a good core on eBay, but ran across reman units by Cardone, their number 30-22863*, and after tax. Well, UPS lost track of the one I ordered, so I ordered a second one -- now $68 after tax . . . hmmm. Meanwhile, UPS delivered the first one (with the box relabeled with another tracking number). It's a D2 (1972), while mine's a D3, but . . . it looked OK . . . except the vacuum advance diaphragm leaks and it won't pull the points plate on its pivot no matter how much vacuum/flow I provide. I can't even move the points plate by prying it with a screwdriver, it's bound up. And the mechanical advance is very gritty and won't return to idle position on its own. IOW, it's defective, and all the screws have yellow witness marks on them, so I can't touch any of it without invalidating whatever warranty it might have.

OK, I thought, I've got the second one already ordered, so I'll just send this one back when the 2nd one arrives . . . which happened a few days ago. It's a C7 (1967). The 2nd one's vacuum diaphragm holds its air, the points plate moves fine, and the mechanical advance seems smooth and does return to idle position . . . but what's this in the place where the tach cable sleeve is supposed to go:



Someone has threaded the tach sleeve area and installed a pipe plug. WTF? I remove that plug, and the bore is a mess. I'd never get the cable to seal.

But, what's worse: I cannot turn the distributor shaft. It's frozen. I tried hard. If I'd installed this dist, it might have broken the camshaft.

I put notes in the boxes of both . . .




I sent back No. 1 for a refund ("damaged but package OK") and sent back No. 2 for a replacement (same). Price today is $99 after tax, go figure. I do not expect No. 3 to be any better, really. So, avoid buying Cardone 30-22863 from Amazon, at least. They are sending untested, defective junk.





* = TBF, Cardone doesn't list this distributor for 1973, but for both earlier and later FT engines. I ran into it via an eBay listing that calls out my dist's number, D3TF-12102-CA, as an interchange.

 

Recap: I ordered (2) Cardone Reman distributors via Amazon.
1st = bad vac. adv., frozen points plate, sticky mech. adv.; returned to Amazon for refund.
2nd = frozen shaft -- dist does not turn -- tapped/threaded tach cable port with pipe plug installed; returned to Amazon for replacement.

I've now received the 3rd one. It's so over-bead blasted that the Ford part number prefix can't be read; the governor air inlet port is not tapped; the shaft end play is .062" (spec. is .025-.035", and too much can cause odd timing jumping around, and wipe our the cam gear that drive is; BTDT, 1978). I could tap the housing 1/8" pipe for the gov. inlet, but I can't fix the shaft end play; removing the tach drive gear was what got me into my fix in the first place.

All of them came to me with the oil cups removed, the cotton batting removed behind them, and debris in the oil passage. And no oil cup to install. You can't just pop down to the auto parts store and buy 1/4" drive-in oil cups in 2024; how are we supposed to commission one of these distributors?

To me, these Amazon-sourced dists appear to be customer returns for various issues, that someone is trying to dump via Amazon. None of the boxes looked virgin, their contents has varied, and so far none could reasonably be used; they have not come straight from a distributor testing machine (which I have run, 1979). They are mixing vacuum-governed and velocity-governed, tach and no-tach models all together under one Reman number.

I've just ordered the same Cardone part number from my local O'Reilly's, for store pickup -- at three times Amazon's vendor's price, with core charge -- and I'll check it out on their counter before accepting it.

 

I picked up the O'Reilly's-sourced Cardone 30-22863 "remanufactured" distributor about a week ago. It looks good. The shaft end play is less than spec .025" but I'll live with that. Both advance mechanisms work, though the vac can looks like they just bead blasted a used one then spray painted it silver; I don't know in what world that qualifies as "remanufactured". No oil cup, of course. And what looks like it might be a factory tach drive welch plug is installed.





I drilled the welch plug and used a sheet metal screw and the "body dent puller" attachment to one of my slide hammers, that pulled it clean:






But then I found all kinds of metallic crud behind that plug:





That's all on the "open" lower end of the distributor, so it's easy to flush it all out. If I'd just installed it, that would all fall into the cam drive and sump. Nice thought, eh?


Next, I'd sourced a pack of oil cups via eBay, (4) for $15.




The fit is "OK" but not great, so a bit of epoxy before I tapped it into place:

 

Distributor installed and timed, governed speed was 3700 in the driveway, no load, yea. Test drive was fine for about ten minutes (mostly flat terrain) but then I got into hills and everything really warmed up, and some part of the governor system "sticks". It's clear that the throttle is not opening fully, with my foot on the floor and well under even 3k RPM. I'd let off and back down on the accel, and after a dozen or so times, it's like the back barrels opened up and it pulls good . . . until I let off the accel once. No fun getting home. I backed up a lot of traffic

I'm teeing a vac gauge into the line between the distributor and the carb, and I'll tape a vacuum gauge to the windshield and go drive it again tomorrow. That'll tell me whether the issue is in the distributor (vacuum fluctuates with the reduced power) or the carb's throttle shaft mechanism (vacuum from dist to carb is steady, but I get different/variable power levels).

[A couple of weeks later]
I teed the dist-to-carb line (right side of carb, not the dist gov air intake on the drivers side), taped a vacuum gauge to the windscreen, and drove it another hour . . .








. . . which showed that the intermittent gov operation is the distributor. I gave up on getting the gov to work then, because I'd spent way too much time trying to get a working distributor (see posts above). Therefore, I bypassed the dist vac lines: connect the dist-to-air-cleaner hose to the dist-to-gov-diaphragm hose, and . . . no more governor.


This bypass works because the dist gov controls an air bleed of vacuum to the carb gov. During high revs the dist gov restricts vacuum bleed (airflow) from the carb gov parts to the air cleaner, and that allows vacuum to build on the carb gov diaphragm. When the revs drop below setpoint, the dist gov allows free air to flow and the carb gov diaphragm can't pull the throttle shut.

Bypassing the dist. and connecting the lines that would normally connect to the dist, to each other instead, allows free flow of air at all times, no vacuum can be built, and the carb gov diaphragm can never pull the throttle shut. Gov. disabled.

It's really tricky to reassemble the dist internal gov parts after it's disassembled. I bought special dia. tubing and started to make a jig, before I broke both sides of the gov cross-shaft in the dist and started my quest for a reman dist instead, so I'd have to say that R&R of the dist gov internals is beyond my DIY skills, unless I made a better assembly jig, and this truck doesn't warrant that investment. "No governor" will have to do. I apologize in advance for future owners of my truck, though TBF the gov didn't work when I bought it, either.

 

Gas cap. I filled up the tank for the first time since I've owned it, yesterday. I have a saddle tank that may or may not have come with the truck. It had an ill-fitting locking gas cap, and its gasket wasn't close to clamping against the filler neck. This is what the replacement locking gas cap looks like:






I removed the filler neck and brought it with me; the third storefront I visited plucked one off the shelf that fits well enough. This is NAPA THM (THM = thermostat, go figure) 703-1837 "for older vehicles". NAPA doesn't mfgr things, they relabel and distribute. This is actually made by Motorad and is their model MGC91 ( ). It's furnished with two keys, code "314" in my case.




I wanted a third key, and that turned out to be more difficult than I anticipated.

For future searchers of the correct key blank to use:

Ilco 1611 does not fit. This is a very similar blank and looks as if it should work. It's even got "GAS" embossed on it. But its "cross" (distance from base of bittings on one side to the base of bittings on the other) is ~.030" too high.
Ilco 1640/LD2 (Larson Door) fits, without modification. Not every lock shop stocks this blank -- mine did, but I once had to deal with a lot of oddball stuff.

The above info might be of help, should you need to duplicate a Motorad gas cap key. They make a lot of aftermarket gas caps, all for other businesses -- they do not sell retail, but their stuff is sold by many others.

From Amazon's listing:

This appears to have been sold as Stant 10491 when it was a mostly metal version (Zamac/zinc-ish die-cast body, SS weather cover), but that part is apparently no longer in production, though there are some via eBay, etc. for around twice the price of the newer, plastic one.

 

From this post about an aftermarket radiator . . .

I've gotten to the point of mounting my Champion CC480 in my '73 F600, and surprisingly . . . it bolts up to the radiator support with no modifications. Recall upthread where I mentioned that it has two sets of side flanges; one set mates with the F600 support pretty much perfectly.

Right is engine side:



That pic makes it appear that the alum. radiator would be too far towards the grille (using the flange on the right), that's kind of an illusion, as the core is wider than OEM by a bit, and the top tank a bit narrower.




However, that's only one of several things that have to fit, and unfortunately, AFAICT it's the only one.

1) The replacement radiator (mine, and yours from Summit) have the tank drain on the engine side, where it would be impossible to access with a fan and shroud installed. You can't even reach it from underneath, as you'd have to reach over two crossmembers to get to it. The OEM radiator drain is on the front of the lower tank where it's easy to reach. I installed a remote drain ball valve out the bottom, using an existing oval hole in the forward crossmember, copper tubing, a bit of offset bends, and a ball valve. I put a piece of hydraulic line over the tubing where it passes through the crossmember; though the tubing and crossmember aren't supposed to move relative to each other, I don't trust it'll never wiggle. I cheated and used compression fittings, when I know better, but I'll probably go back and re-do this with flares if it leaks.








Next, the lower radiator inlet is parallel to the ground on OEM and the Summit, but angled ~10° up on my Champion, and that won't play nice with the Gates 20424 (NAPA 7244) hose, even when shortened. It kinks a little. I'll have to come up with a better fitting hose (that's not those awful universal POS things).






There's no way the OEM fiberglass fan shroud can be made to work with this Champion radiator, I think. I'd have to remove too much to have it remain strong enough. Did you get your OEM shroud to fit?

---

I didn't like the way the aluminum looked bright and silver through the grille when mounted, so I took it back out and sprayed a bit of BBQ black on the front side, just to cut down the glare, which looked a lot more appropriate IMO.

 

After butchering a couple of lower radiator hoses, a simple 2" 90° hose, cut back on both legs, fits really well. I used NAPA NBH 8076, $18 (probably Gates 22743).




The hose clamps aren't in position yet in this picture:



The cardboard prevents tool damage to the fins while working on this:



Neither the drain nor the lower hose inlet are really at the bottom of the lower tank; the OEM radiator's drain is much closer to the bottom, and the hose inlet is basically at the bottom, so this is another strike against the CC480.

 

This truck has a solid 4-blade fan that is -- to my ears -- incredibly noisy, and I picked up a fan and clutch pair from a 1982 F700 429 VIN 1FDWF70K5CVA06379, which bolts up to my old and replacement water pumps, Gates 44005. It's a 7-blade fan and looks to be a bolt-on "upgrade" (that's the way I'm thinking of it). It'll be a lot kinder the water pump, as well as freeing up a few HP and quieting the rig down a few dB.

Unfortunately, the pump-to-clutch bolt circle is off by 1/8" dia, so it's not a bolt-up. AFAICT, the OEM D4TZ-8501-M and Gates 44005 replacement have a 1-7/8" BC at the pump flange; the '82 fan clutch I picked up has a 2" BC.

 

I did a not-very-cosmetically-satisfying elongation of the fan clutch-to-pump holes, turning them into slots. As the pilot hole matches the pump's snout perfectly, this is an area where pretty doesn't count, but this did turn out uglier than I'd have liked. I wished I'd spent another hour on it and did it nicer. I could not think of a good way to fixture the fan clutch to the X-Y table. I did remove the fan blades and try, though.




Next up was a second look at making the OEM fan shroud fit. Mine had a small crack on one side and a lot of rust stains, but was in decent condition otherwise. I didn't really want to cut it up, but that's what I ended up doing: cutting a bunch out around the lower hose area. Took a few passes. Skipping ahead to the coolant recovery tank install pic, you can see that the OEM radiator fits much differently than this CC480 Chinesium replacement. There's no way I could raise the shroud and not hit the fan, it's centered really well in this shot.




A few pics of the cutouts.






I had to go back and clearance around one of the (unused) transmission cooler spuds, too.




Pretty much none of the shroud's side flange holes lined up to the rad's flange, but they were close. I just punched new holes or elongated existing where req'd.







The coolant recovery tank I used is a Dorman 603-100. I used a 1/4" ID steel spacer from Ace Hdwe to get the mounting reasonable. Two SS 1/4" bolts through the radiator support.

The radiator neck's overflow port is like 5/16", and the Dorman's port is 11mm, so adapters were necessary. It's ugly, but I've cycled the temp and it is working. I spent double on the fittings/hose/clips than the new reservoir cost!






Radiator support holes. Always use anti-sieze on SS-on-SS fasterners, or they'll gall.