72' F250 CS "Rex" Sold! -update

[Coupe5oh]

I bought one from their American eagle line with fans for my truck. Can't say how it will hold up but the welds look nice and it fit really well. Supposedly American engineered/ built overseas. Very similar in looks to the northern one I have in my 68 mustang.

[mcheath]

The radiator shop wanted 481 clams to recore the old rad, so no go on that. Ordered the aluminum one today that I linked to, final price of 180 delivered and taxed. Supposed to arrive later this week.

Took the old rad and heater core to the recycling center for scrap. Had to knock the steel sides off the rad, once I did it was worth $1.40 a pound. If I'd left the steel sides on they were going to only pay $1 a pound. They came off in a minute or less of good solid hits with a hammer.

Total scrap value was $49.49, including the steel sides. Not bad.

A few pics.

The rad and heater core without the sides knocked off.

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The sides knocked off.

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This is where all the radiators are going. They had several stacks of them. Some are really old, some pretty new.

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[mcheath]

Forgot to add that I went to Pick a Part and found nothing. Every single vehicle that might have worked had the rad gone. Now I see why, it was half off day so they were selling for $24 dollars each. Take it right to the scrap yard and get your money back and 100% profit. Find a bunch of such radiators and have enough for tickets to a Giants game.

[tylerb43]

mcheath, That Champion 433 radiator is what I just bought as well. It should show up Thursday (11th) Coupe5oh (http://fordification.com/forum/viewtopi ... 60#p645632) has one in his truck, so I pm'd him about it and he said the fit was great and it performs well so far, so I pulled the trigger. I was surprised I could get a quality aluminum radiator for so little. (fingers crossed). I'm definitely taking my old one to the recycle place - thanks for the tip on the steel brackets.

Keep us updated!

[mcheath]

So the radiator arrived today, only one day after I bought it, and I put it in. It works well, no leaks, the truck runs the same temp as before. The fit was a little off, and I can't use my fan shroud, this radiator is smaller than the original one.

Here are a bunch of pics.

Here it is as it arrived:

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Close up of the welds. They look good, rather industrial.

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Installed.

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[mcheath]

Now the mounts were not a perfect fit for my truck. Instead of fitting exactly on the old mount points I had to jury rig it a bit. I added spacers, which you can see in this pic, in order to get it to clear the tranny cooler and AC condenser.

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Here is another look down at how this worked out.

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Went to the hardware store and got new stainless bolts and washers and spacers for this. All the bolt holes lined up properly, I did not have to drill or cut anything on the radiator. Only needed to add the spacers due to my two extra coolers, if you did not have those it might be a perfect fit.

I do wish my shroud had fit, but I would have to cut it up quite a bit to make it work and I'm leaving it off for now.

Also, I filled the system and it only held 3.25 gallons of coolant, which is about a full gallon less than I drained out. (I used a five gallon bucket to catch the old, and very dirty, coolant) Tomorrow when the system cools I will see if it needs more added, that will be interesting.

It was pretty painless over all, and I'm pleased.
Final look.

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[mcheath]

So it's been a couple of days since the install, hot days as usual with afternoon temps in the low 100s, and the radiator has been fine. The dashboard temperature gauge, stock one, is pretty much in the same places it was before the old rad started leaking. I had one small drip from the upper hose and a quick turn of the wrench fixed that.

Added a little more coolant, it now has 3.5 gallons in it. I don't have a heater core installed at the moment, it's bypassed, so once that's back in I'm guessing that this new rad will be almost a full gallon less of capacity than the original. Not sure what to think of that.

One other thing, I added a can and a half more freon to the AC system after fixing the leak. Pressures are now 40 on the low and 215 on the high, which seems more normal. Temps are much lower coming out of the vents, around 40 degrees less than the outside air temperature. Here's a pic of the air temp today driving about, it was mid 80's outside when I took this.

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[fireguywtc]

Looks like the AC is working better, that's great. That is about what mine does also so it is likely that your system is working as efficiently as possible. Mine seems to get about that cold even in the 100's but it takes a bit longer to get there. One thing nice about our trucks is the regular cab doesn't take very long to cool off.

[mcheath]

Fixed the heater today. The core was leaking, and I'd bypassed it for a time. Even though it was 101 degrees outside today, winter will be along so today seemed as good a day as any to fix it.

Got a new core from O' Reilly's Auto. $25.99 plus tax. Made in Mexico, looks to be well made, has a lifetime warranty.

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I'd pulled the heater box out a while back. That was a chore because of the underdash AC, which blocks and interferes with the box. I took the box apart and cleaned and painted it all, and lubed all the moving parts.

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Put it all back together on the workbench. I'd forgotten how some of it went together, and lost a few screws along the way. (every year I seem to lose more)

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[mcheath]

Getting it back in under the dash was a royal PITA. Took off some of the AC brackets, but it really needed the entire unit dropped to make it easy and I did not want to do that.

Special merit goes to the heater control cable connections for Exceptionally Impossible To Reach Or Work With.™ I've marked one of them with the red arrow in this pic, but the other one that you can't see is real prize winner. Can't be seen while you try to insert the cable, attach the hook on the stay, and tighten the screw. The cable won't stay in place, nor fit through the stay with the screw all the way loose, so you have to take off the stay and etc.

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Got it all in, hooked up and working. No leaks, and my thermometer said it was throwing out air in excess of 145 degrees before I gave up cuz it was too damn hot to continue. A good fix for 26 dollars and a can of black spray paint.

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[mcheath]

Noticed a sudden leak, red fluid so it was trans. Was the back seal on the extension housing and it was leaking quite a bit. Rumor has it that's not a good thing, so after researching here it seemed a pretty simple fix so I ordered a seal from O'Reilly and set at it.

Figured this would be an hour long job, tops.

Problem one, getting the yoke nut off. Didn't have a 1.5 inch socket, tried a hammer and chisel and that did not work. Loewe's had the socket for seven and a half dollars, which of course was another trip to the store, and more time lost.

Could not get the nut loose, not even with a long cheater bar. Did King Kong torque these babies down?! Hmm, think think think. Idea! Got the air gun out and shazam, the nut was off. Uh, how to get the old seal out? Hammer and screwdriver!

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Wait a minute, this seal looks different. Old seal on the right.

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I may be slow, but I'm pretty sure that they gave me the wrong one. Off to O'Reilly. Long conversation with counter guy, who was confused, he went and got the manager, he was confused. They looked at parts on the computer, went back in the stacks and looked, and told me that they did not have one.

But it would not be in until the 2pm afternoon shipment.

Okay wait. Putter on this and that on the truck, greased this and that, touched up some paint, checked the chickens for eggs, had lunch.

2:30, I go by to get my seal. No truck arrived yet. "Come back in an hour".

Okay.

Puttered some more.

3:30. Guess what? It's the wrong seal that the infamous and long awaited truck brought!

But they can get the "right" one tomorrow morning. Sure you can...

So I go to the Ford dealer. More driving around. Unlike the O'Reilly krewe they recognize the part right away. "C-6 rear seal". But, naturally, they don't have one. They could, maybe, have one tomorrow, maybe. Not sure about that as it's late in the day, might be two days from getting it. "Try the transmission shop down the road" they implore helpfully.

Okay.

More driving around.

The trans shop is an old establishment with a long history, I've taken cars there in the past and they do good work for what seem like fair prices.

Same distractingly pretty secretary is working in the office as last time I ventured in. (2010 to be exact) She recognizes the part off the bat, the owner comes in, he not only knows what it is but even calls out the part number to the secretary as he goes off to get one. Comes back with one in a moment.

It's slightly different, he says it's a "heavier duty" version of the seal, and it does seem to be built better.

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9 dollars later I'm on my way home with the right seal. It's now after 4pm.

[mcheath]

Wack wack wack, new seal installed. Put some silicone one the spline threads as those in the know here say to do. Called King Kong in to put the yoke nut back on, he did a great job.

Buttoned it all back up.

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It was now close to 5pm, and I'd started at 10am, another successful day!

Drove around the hood, came home, no leaks.

So it's an easy job, if you have the right socket, the right new seal, the arm strength of a gorilla or an air gun, some high temp silicone, and an extra quart of trans fluid. In other words if you are better prepared than I was.

[mcheath]

Decided to redo the floormat. A new one would have been great, but they are pricey and not in the budget. So what to do???

My brother in law recently bought a 73' Blazer which has had all the plastic/vinyl interior surfaces covered in bed liner. That sounds crappy, but it actually looks good.

Hmm.

So I bought a quart of bed liner from O-Reilly, and a brush, and some masking tape, and had at it.

Here's a before shot of the floormat. Discolored, and had a ripped out section on the passenger side that I patched with a chunk cut from a wreak at Pick A Part. Lots of small cracks and splits as well.

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And here it is after.

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Came out pretty nice, I think.

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[sargentrs]

A definite improvement. Looks good!

[mcheath]

Found some hubcaps at Pick A Part last weekend. They were on a late 90's E-250 that looks like it ended it's life as a migrant labor transport van. Had extra rows of jury rigged seats, the CA law code stuff on the doors, and was pretty beat from a hard life.

But it had all four of the angle spoke 1990's Ford hubcaps on it. Not even a crack or break on them. Someone was a careful driver. I scored them for 22 bucks.

Took them home and sprayed them with O'Reilly's Dupli-Color Chrome. Original on the left, "chromed" on the right.

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Here's a close up. They are reflective and you can see yourself. They don't look like really good chrome, and no idea how it will hold up.

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