putting a Ford Aerostar radiator in a 4-dr. Matador

[Doug Dornbos <dornbos@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi gang

For the pictures that go along with this post, go to:
http://community.webshots.com/album/543327793DUwTuX

I recently put the radiator and trans cooler from my 1992 Ford Aerostar
into my 1973 4-dr Matador. I had both spare Aerostar parts sitting
around from the last one I junked (I have owned three of these vehicles,
drove them all into the ground, and have one left that I use for a wood
hauler.) After putting the radiator in, I noticed that the radiator in
my wood hauler was twice as thick and sort of remembered that it had the
heavy-duty trailer towing package or some such thing on it, or maybe
it's just because it had the 4 liter instead of the 3 liter, whatever, I
swapped it out and put the thick one in the Matador.

I put 1" steel spacers in the front crossmember where the top mounting
bolts go through. I bought the spacers from Ace hardware in the hardware
isle. I mounted the radiator in the very center which became an issue
because the fan was nicking the shroud when I started it up. Seeing as
how it wasn't real severe and seeing as how the fan is metal and the
shroud is plastic, I figured the noise would go away after a few miles
and it pretty much did. Note: the fan does not sit in the center of the
shroud opening which doesn't concern me at all. I did have to take a
little bit off the bottom of the shroud to clear the pulleys but I wish
now that I would have used a grinder or a Sureform planer or sum such
thing instead of the Sawzall because I really removed a lot more than I
had to with the big power tool.

Speaking of the Sawzall, I used it to cut out the sheet metal that
formed the old radiator support bracket and then I folded and pounded
the edges over so they were smooth. Also note that there is only 3/4" or
so clearance from the radiator cap to the bottom of the hood.

I made a couple of bottom brackets and used the grommets from the
Aerostar to insert into them. The radiator isn't really designed to be
fastened at the bottom.

The bottom hose utilizes the original Matador hose. The bottom hose for
the Aerostar is a PERFECT fit for the top hose on this radiator on the
Matador ... it's almost as if they had it in mind when they made it.

I used the Ford trans cooler totally in place of the trans section of
the radiator. I like it that way. I used brass fittings to convert the
fittings in the existing metal radiator lines over to rubber hose and
ran it to the trans cooler which is conveniently mounted in front of the
radiator. For a catch can, I used the ever popular Simpsons water bottle
which was laying around my garage left over from the kids. I think it's
perfect. It sat in it's spot rather well and with a slight bend of the
horn bracket, it's wedged in there pretty tight.

That's it I think. If you have any questions, please ask.

Doug