ntsqd's '71 Wagon

[rocklaurence]

Thanks for the Kudos and call out regarding the steering.

[ntsqd]

You're welcome!

[ntsqd]

Good grief but those top studs on the front corner light assemblies are painful to get at! I'm ~20 minutes in and I've only got one off. Seems like a miter cut on the top flange of the core support would go a long ways towards access.
Trying to remove the grill so that I can more easily mount both a PS cooler and an aux. trans cooler.

[Yeller]

It’s less painful to pull the radiator

Following what you do for a PS cooler. I just have a small one mounted near the pump in the fan wash similar to 70’s ford’s so far even with hydroboost and assist temps haven’t exceeded 160 in the Oklahoma summers according to my no contact thermometer

[ntsqd]

It would be if the radiator mounted like it should. Removing this one involves small sheet metal screws and doing so will reveal to me just how badly it was done and force me to fix it. To be very clear, this is NOT the work of the original builder. His work is well thought out and executed. This is the work of someone who followed him. Whose work isn't as well thought out and is much more poorly executed.

I have a small stacked plate aux trans cooler that I'm planning to use. It's overkill for this system, and likely will still be when I get around to H-B. I'm tempted to place it behind the LH pie plate opening in the core support. I found it as an OEM part on a Ford truck in the JY many years ago. Never seen another one quite like it. It went to Baja on the first square Sub in '01 as it's PS cooler and has been kicking around waiting for a new project ever since I had to scrap that truck.

[Yeller]

Those are nice pieces. Used a lot of them over the years.

[ntsqd]

Well, while attempting to modify it's mounting bracket I scrapped it. So, I'm thinking of one of these:
https://www.summitracing.com/parts/der-33601

[Yeller]

I used that one on TX SS’s LS swap, it worked well on his bronco

[ntsqd]

After two iterations that still don't sit quite right I gave up and used the first one to mount the PS reservoir on the inner fender. I'd really rather that it was mounted to the engine above the PS pump for better hydro-static head on the pump, but with the tight serpentine bracketry the bracket to hold the reservoir where it needs to be had to bolt to the engine on the inboard side of the alternator and hold the reservoir on the outboard side of the alternator and have some clearance creating offsetting bends in both plates. Just too complicated for now and maybe ever.

I have the PS cooler linked & pic'd above in hand. Now to figure out how and where to mount it. Plan for the vehicle calls for the A/C to get fixed, which means that I need to leave room for the condenser that I don't have and can't see any evidence of how the missing one was mounted. I am very temped to 'hide' the PS cooler behind the false grill and expose it to air thru the pie plate opening. Mounting it there looks to be pretty tricky for working access. AND I need to do something for a trans cooler as I do not trust the heat-sink type that someone between Mr. Floyd & I has installed. So I'm looking at mounting two coolers while leaving room for a condenser that I don't know exactly how might need to mount.

[ntsqd]

On a different topic, do these dashes unbolt from the body, or are they welded in place?

[rocklaurence]

On a different topic, do these dashes unbolt from the body, or are they welded in place?

The dash has fasteners at the bottom of the front glass and a couple at each side next to the front door jams

[ntsqd]

Thank You!

Saw an Early Bronco dash that had been covered and it looked REALLY good! A long ways off, but am pondering if that is even possible with these dashes.

[Srdayflyer]

the later model fsj's that have the padded (crash pad) are removable their a big pita there 4-6 fasteners that sit under the windshield gasket , the front windshield removal is the easiest way to get at those screws, then their are 5-6 studs with PAL NUTS that secure the front of the crash pad to the removable stamped steel dash i think if i remember correctly 63-70 model years had n padded dash, if you dig thru the older posts you will see padless dashes. hope this helps

[ntsqd]

Mine is painted steel, no pad. Has holes where I've assumed that the pad used to mount with, now filled with green LED's.

[tgreese]

Yep. A pad was required by NHTSA by that time. Parts book shows a pad in the 230 era; likely all years had one.

[ntsqd]

Finally some progress worth reporting. Carved out enough time to get the PS cooler mounted & partly plumbed. I had SCS make me some shallow channels to mount the cooler with and tagged them onto another order. Previously I'd had Lee Power Steering in Santa Clarita rebuild the pump and the box. Somewhere out there in the not (I hope) too distant future is a Hydro-Boost conversion, so I am plumbing this to make that an easy thing to do.

I placed the PS cooler behind the DS "pie plate" opening. Pre-existing were some holes in the core support that maybe passed PS cooler lines or aux trans cooler lines thru it. I decided to use them as they were close to where I'd have put in holes myself. Putting it there means that the plumbing will be tight. It took several iterations before I came up with an orientation the worked. Good thing that this coil of tubing was free.

[Srdayflyer]

thats a very nice install ,very nice, good to see people doing things right, there are so many HACKERS out there slapping things together do get it done , for the short term and not the long haul, saw a guy with a gorgeous bronco with a hack trans cooler install at a 4x4 show, heard from a friend the cooler broke loose sprayed trans fluid on the exhaust and well he burnt the thing up, you gotta remember these rigs are 40+ years old and 1. cant be replaced cheaply anymore, 2. there are so many OEM issues that need addressing because the factory didnt always do it right themselfs. keep them running

[Yeller]

Nice install TS! It will get plenty of air there for sure.

[ntsqd]

Thank you, both!

The steering box to cooler supply bulkhead plumbing I ran in ATF/PS Cooler hose using Push-lock/Barb-tite hose ends, but the return bulkhead to remote reservoir plumbing I ran in more AL tube. It is about 20" long as the reservoir is on the fender liner at about front axle centerline. I'm not sure that I like it that way. The tube parallels the exhaust manifold for some distance and isn't terribly far away from it. I might convert it to more hose, but I'm not usually a fan of that much hose length unless necessary. Maybe just some heat shielding on the tube and move on to doing the trans cooler plumbing.

It may not be easy to see in the pics, but it is plumbed so that the hot fluid enters the cooler at the bottom and exits at the top. Makes the cooler self-purging of air.

[Pressingonward]

What I've found with the high flow t-stats is that they don't have as much restriction to coolant flow. That's obvious, what isn't obvious is that a good coolant pump can generate well above cap pressure inside the block. One guy on Classic Broncos did some experiments and it's been a while since I read that thread, but what I recall is that at high RPM it can be above 40 psi. This makes local hot-spots in the coolant jacket much less likely to boil the coolant.

When you reduce the restriction to flow the pump can't generate those high pressures. This part of why running w/o a t-stat or restrictor usually results in the engine running hotter. Without the restriction the pump can't generate those higher pressures and the hot-spots flash the coolant to steam.

That has been my observation and experience anyway. YMMV........

AND, a great theory partly shot to pieces. The t-stat in the Wagon is stamped 195°

I just started your thread so I haven't read everything yet, but I found this post very thought-provoking. As a mechanical engineer I've always thought the common forum posts warning about making your cooling system too free-flowing so that the coolant doesn't have "time to cool down as it goes through the radiator" were complete nonsense that have become "common knowledge" through repetition, as I never saw anyone actually experience the issue or have any test data to support this claim and the basic heat transfer theory says that a higher flow rate increases cooling in direct contradiction to the claim.

I hadn't considered the significant pressure differentials that must exist within the cooling system, and it makes perfect sense that high pressures within the block would prevent cavitation (localized pockets of steam) on the cylinders' outer surfaces and ensure efficient heat transfer to the coolant so that it can carry that heat to the radiator.

Removing the t-stat would certainly decrease the peak pressure in the system and therefore increase the risk of localized overheating (which can then lead to things like detonation, blown head gaskets, cracked and warped heads or block, and general overheating).

Based on this I'll have to adjust my assessment of those common forum warnings - not complete nonsense, but a misunderstanding of the actual root cause of an observable problem with removing the t-stat.

Thanks again for your post - I feel like I learned something today . I look forward to catching up on the rest of the thread