A few Bronco questions

[LEB Ben]

Yo fellas...I have a couple of newbie questions for you guys.

1) I know it's been covered a million times but there's always conflicting answers. Would a Super Cooling radiator be a direct bolt in on a Bronco with a 400? Some guys say yes, some say mounting holes are different, some say tranny lines need to be adjusted. Anyone care to weigh in on their experience? And the upper and lower hoses will definitely have to be swapped, right?


2) Can someone with a Bronco look at their rear seat brackets and latch post and let me know if there is a nut on the other side of the floor on those bolts? I couldn't get those bolts to break loose yesterday, so I'd imagine there are nuts. Luckily one bracket was just sitting there...but I wasn't gonna crawl around under that Bronco with as many snakes and big ol' spiders I saw in the surrounding area.


3) If a brake booster goes bad, will it whistle? Yesterday, my brakes got really spongy and if I got on the throttle really hard or braked really hard I'd hear a really loud whistle from what sounded like the booster and the old girl would start stumbling really bad. So there's obviously a pretty decent vacuum leak somewhere, but I didn't know if I should start with the booster or look else where.


Thanks for any help.

 

[smokey]

3) If a brake booster goes bad, will it whistle? Yesterday, my brakes got really spongy and if I got on the throttle really hard or braked really hard I'd hear a really loud whistle from what sounded like the booster and the old girl would start stumbling really bad. So there's obviously a pretty decent vacuum leak somewhere, but I didn't know if I should start with the booster or look else where.

Yepper that sounds like the booster or the grommet that the vacuum hose attaches to it.

 

[Truckin4life]

My first guess is grommet, then booster. I like to check in order or cost...
Grommet then booster.

 

[LEB Ben]

Alright...thanks fellas, I'm really kinda hoping it's the booster to so I can feel justified when I go with the 3-fiddy upgrade.

 

[m78]

I've had carb. gaskets whistle. If I remember correctly, Bill said the radiator support was differant for the super cooling radiator. But don't quote me on that.
Seems they hang low also, so on a 4WD might not be good

 

[LEB Ben]

I've had carb. gaskets whistle. If I remember correctly, Bill said the radiator support was differant for the super cooling radiator. But don't quote me on that.
Seems they hang low also, so on a 4WD might not be good

That was what it looked like to me, but I know Lee and Dan have done this in their trucks...so I was hopinh it would just be a matter of drilling some holes and bending some tube.

 

[1985 Ford F-150]

It was a direct bolt in on the 76 all I had to do was bend a piece of the flange on the radiator out of the way of the frame so it would go down low enough you shouldnt have this problem cause your frames wider. It stuck down maybe 2 or 3 inches lower than the old one but it was protected by the bumper. I also did a fan clutch and it actually did make a differnce in power and how quick itll rev up. I used a 460 fan shroud for that one cause of the bigger fan but the 72 didnt need the bigger shroud.

 

[LEB Ben]

Thanks Dan...which brings me to my next question, do I need to grab the fan too? Or will the one off the 400 work fine?

 

[1985 Ford F-150]

What motor does the truck have that the radiators comin out of? Well id grab it and the shroud if it has one anyways along with the little aluminum spacer behind it.

 

[LEB Ben]

What motor does the truck have that the radiators comin out of? Well id grab it and the shroud if it has one anyways along with the little aluminum spacer behind it.

The radiator is coming off a 460 and will be swapped on to my 400. The shroud was pretty eaten up and split down the middle. Guess I didn't realize the fans were different...maybe in length I thought. Will the 460 fan pull more air?

 

[1985 Ford F-150]

If its a fan clutch its differnt but if its just a mechanical one it should be the same. The fan with a clutch that I have has 7 blades on it and its a bigger fan thats why I needed the 460 shroud but I put the same fan on the 72 and that shroud is the right size. Id measure em both and count the blades as well and then see if theyre the same size and then get whichever one has more blades.

 

[LEB Ben]

Alright...but even if I don't get the fan from the 460, will there be any fitment/clearance issues with the 400 fan?

 

[1985 Ford F-150]

If theyre the same size fan then no there shouldnt be any problems. Im not 100% positive on that since I did it with an FE. If Lee did it to his white truck hed probly be more help.

 

[LEB Ben]

Alright...appreciate the info bud. Just did some reading on FSB...doesn't look like the fan is going to be an issue and the extra height of the rad isn't gonna be an issue. Should just be a matter of new hoses...so thanks for the info folks.

 

[LEB Ben]

To anyone with a Bronco...still interested in getting this question answered:

2) Can someone with a Bronco look at their rear seat brackets and latch post and let me know if there is a nut on the other side of the floor on those bolts? I couldn't get those bolts to break loose yesterday, so I'd imagine there are nuts. Luckily one bracket was just sitting there...but I wasn't gonna crawl around under that Bronco with as many snakes and big ol' spiders I saw in the surrounding area.

 

[73F100Shortbed]

The only one I can answer with any certainty would be about the booster. It does sound like the booster going bad. But check the grommet first. Maybe you can get a booster from the yard. Seems like you had some good luck on finding parts you needed.

 

[LEB Ben]

Alright...thanks Sean...I will check the grommet so I don't go out and drop $150 on a new MC/booster prematurely, but I plan on going with the 350 upgrade, so now would be about the best time for the booster to go out...or maybe hold on two more weeks until the next paycheck.

 

[73F100Shortbed]

Yeah if you are planning upgrades that is definitely the best time for parts to go bad. Hopefully it is the grommet so you won't spend to much if you decide to wait before the upgrade. But $150 doesn't sound too bad if it is the mc and booster together. Where is that from?

 

[LEB Ben]

But $150 doesn't sound too bad if it is the mc and booster together. Where is that from?

Haven't priced them in a while, but that was about the going rate everywhere I checked about 6 months ago. Right around 30-40 for the MC and 120-140 on the booster...but it's definitely less than $200.

 

[fatherdoug]

I'm a little late, and maybe you have resolved the radiator/fan clutch issue. I'm not sure what a "super cooling" radiator is. I did swap radiators on my truck from the smaller size( 19" by 26" to 24" by 26"). The mounting required no changes. I was concerned about the extra height of the radiator, but the bottom of the radiator is still about 2 " above the front cross member, so it is still protected. I did have to go with a different lower radiator hose, and I had to tweak the tranny fluid lines to fit. Everything else remained the same.

The radiator I have now has an upper tank of about 4" in diameter. Oh, I also had to purchase a new shroud to fit the new radiator.

The fan is a 7 blade fan and the clutch is a heavy duty clutch. I tried a severe duty fan clutch, but I was told that you need at least 2 1/2 inches of pitch on the fan to get the severe duty clutch to work properly. I didn't see any advantage to using the severe duty clutch.