Mystery plus ignorance: May 1979 with A/C bracket and lower radiator hose union?

[3_puppies]

hmmm....the offset center to center of that is more like 3/4 inch instead of 2.25. That is the specified hose
and the one I thought was correct....but my radiator being a non a/c radiator may be screwing me up.

Certainly willing to order and try.

I replaced my radiator 8 years ago with a non A/C (smaller) radiator reusing the original lower hose like this one with no issues so it should be fine.

I thought about this last night after my last post
talking with Mark A 15 years ago about a/c and non a/c rads, it seemed all the width was gained on the US passenger side.
the lower port of the rad would be off, between a/c versus non a/c rad
I was unsure if you could gain enough with the short zig zag hose

@fjc-man did you change the rad "U" mount also? or how did you attach the rad in the wider mount?

 

[wimberosa]

it seemed all the width was gained on the US passenger side.
the lower port of the rad would be off, between a/c versus non a/c rad
I was unsure if you could gain enough with the short zig zag hose

This is exactly where I am. My U mount AND radiator are the short version. Thus I've gained no width to the passenger side and no movement of my radiator outlet. I removed that bottom hose several years ago when I started this refurbish ... rust and calcified "alien looking" blobs were choking my whole coolant system. Now i don't even have an old hose to compare.

Bottom line I'm getting into "one-off" territory that should affect few others (i.e. an A/C setup with a short non a/c radiator). I ordered the standard hose for A/C setups (1657161071) and will post back if i can make it fit. Otherwise I need to go find a hose at the parts store with a bigger zig in the zag.

 

[fjc-man]

I thought about this last night after my last post
talking with Mark A 15 years ago about a/c and non a/c rads, it seemed all the width was gained on the US passenger side.
the lower port of the rad would be off, between a/c versus non a/c rad
I was unsure if you could gain enough with the short zig zag hose

@fjc-man did you change the rad "U" mount also? or how did you attach the rad in the wider mount?

I cut the side mounting flanges off old radiator and attached them to the new one to span the difference.

 

[fjc-man]

You could alter the side to side mounting position of the radiator by my method of adding metal strips and then make the mounting hole pattern approximately 1/2 to 3/4 inch to favor the direction you want to go. The shroud mounts to the “U” shaped radiator frame so the clearance between the fan blades and the shroud doesn’t change.

 

[wimberosa]

@fjc-man I've basically got no wiggle room to shove the radiator over in the u mount assembly. I'd have to cut off one side completely and try to jam it into the well of the assembly....won't really work.

I have a general question though about how this might look on the wide radiator U mount assembly. Mine just lines up really nicely with the bar attached to the battery stand. My U mount assembly also has unused capture nuts on the front that look plausibly usable for mounting a condenser. Yes...yes...i'm absolutely NOT doubting there is a wide assembly U mount and wide radiator....and we're only talking about an 1.5 to 2 inches wider....but its just weird i have significant parts of the A/C mounting system but not a wide assembly. Here's a pic of mine as it lines up with the battery stand.

Does your setup look somewhat similar?

 

[wimberosa]

who knows....maybe the PO had two trucks with A/C and was trying to salvage A/C out of one for the other. Anything is plausible I guess for how I ended up like this. These questions are just further education for me and documentation for an owner beyond me (hopefully in the far far future). I totally have multiple ways out of this situation... a) find a bigger zig zag hose b) go to a non a/c union pipe and hose instead of the a/c union pipe. c) maybe the normal a/c hose has enough wiggle to make the short radiator work. partsouq says they've already shipped that hose.

 

[fjc-man]

I’m losing track here, how wide is your radiator core Dave? Mine (nonA/C) is only 20 inches. The frame is 23 1/2. The space between the frame rail and radiator mount is the same as yours, maybe you do have an A/C radiator?

 

[wimberosa]

Mine:

Radiator is 20" (non A/C) same as yours
U mount is 22 (non A/C) 1.5" shorter than yours

Such a small difference (1.5") its perhaps not noticeable in the pics. You're radiator brace bar mounts up to the battery stand like mine and looks plausibly the same?

 

[fjc-man]

Mine:

Radiator is 20" (non A/C) same as yours
U mount is 22 (non A/C) 1.5" shorter than yours

Such a small difference (1.5") its perhaps not noticeable in the pics. You're radiator brace bar mounts up to the battery stand like mine and looks plausibly the same?

Yes, I also seem to have the compressor clearing battery stand.

 

[wimberosa]

Final result for posterity...

In the unlikely event that anyone else in the world ever ends up in this situation
(i.e. 1979 lower a/c union pipe with small (non a/c) radiator assembly) there are
two possibilities.

1) The 61071 hose could work (less than optimally). I tried it and it did not seat well
due to the long offset stretch. I felt it was likely to leak.
2) Some judicious trimming of the offset elbow out of a Gates 21851 hose works
much better. The gates hose has almost too much offset but you can make it
seat and seal much better.

 

[S.CarolinaFZJ80]

Final result for posterity...

In the unlikely event that anyone else in the world ever ends up in this situation
(i.e. 1979 lower a/c union pipe with small (non a/c) radiator assembly) there are
two possibilities.

1) The 61071 hose could work (less than optimally). I tried it and it did not seat well
due to the long offset stretch. I felt it was likely to leak.
2) Some judicious trimming of the offset elbow out of a Gates 21851 hose works
much better. The gates hose has almost too much offset but you can make it
seat and seal much better.

View attachment 3779186

@wimberosa
I am in the same boat, factory AC with the smaller non-AC radiator in the larger AC rad u-channel
Appreciate the post. Thanks!

 

[S.CarolinaFZJ80]

I picked up the Gates 21851 and it looks to be a great solution with trimming.

@wimberosa
How is your radiator offset in the radiator channel?
Evenly spaced or off to one side?

My current plan is to evenly space my non-AC radiator in my wider AC radiator channel using 2 1/2 wide flat stock.

 

[wimberosa]

How is your radiator offset in the radiator channel?
Evenly spaced or off to one side?

My current plan is to evenly space my non-AC radiator in my wider AC radiator channel using 2 1/2 wide flat stock.

I believe mine is set far to the driver side. I also think @fjc-man did effectively what you are doing with flat stock
as alluded to in the complete thread.

 

[S.CarolinaFZJ80]

Following up on this topic.
I cut the mounting tabs off of my leaking CSF radiator.

Thinking of tacking studs to them, facing forward. This way I can bolt them on to the back of the new radiator.
This will allow normal install of the shroud without modifying it or the radiator.

Note that the radiator is askew in these pics as it's just sitting in the channel.
This mounting solution should have it roughly centered in the channel.

 

[S.CarolinaFZJ80]

I finally got around to making adapter plates to mount the non-ac radiator in the AC u-channel. I ended up not using the CSF radiator tabs and used 1/4 flat stock steel.

However, since I centered my rad drain valve roughly centered in the u-channel hole the Gates 21851 when trimmed down still has too much offset to work.

 

[S.CarolinaFZJ80]

The adapters have M6 treaded holes in them to mount to the radiator flange. The adapter then bolts to the u-channel with the backside flush so the shroud can sit flush without having any modification.

 

[S.CarolinaFZJ80]

@3_puppies I've confirmed in the past that the engine serial lines up with something produced in May of 1979. I didn't directly say this previously but I truly believe this is an original engine.

Interesting points on the radiator brace, battery and radiator length side to side. A couple of further confirmations. Take a look at the radiator brace part numbers. You'll notice here that there is an overlap of parts and they are using the "W/Cooler" term again. So I am in agreement that they must have changed the battery mount (which the brace connects to) and the brace itself to clear the A/C compressor.View attachment 3774588
The W/Cooler term is also being used to talk about the A/C cooling system instead of the oil cooler.

And here's some more smoking gun that says this may be an A/C ready 1979. That battery mount and brace looks like its specifically skewed away from where an A/C compressor would sit in the bracket. The bracket on the other side connects to the frame.
View attachment 3774590
You mention the union pipe being from the FJ60 era. But its ACTUALLY different than the FJ60 union pipe. The bolt flange for the union pipe on this 40 is shorter and has a round hole where the FJ60 has a slotted clip flange and is slightly longer.

Now...the last smoking gun picture. Outside bolt flange of this radiator is 22 1/8" inches across side to side. @3_puppies can you measure your radiator from the same spot?


View attachment 3774594

Confirming your assessment on the
difference between the AC cooler pipes of the 40 and 60 series. I don't recall this part number as I've had it for a long while. It is the same as the one on my 60 series.

The 40 mounting tab is higher up the pipe. I bent my mounting tab with pliers into the u shape, as shown and it now aligns with bottom of the motor mount vs. the top as it originally came on my 40.
Just bolt it in from the bottom.

 

[S.CarolinaFZJ80]

Here are the approximate dimensions of the discontinued 16571-61071lower radiator hose for Nippon Denso factory AC 40's

 

[S.CarolinaFZJ80]

Trimmed it a bit more and it fits.
Made some alignment marks for the reinstall with clamps

 

[S.CarolinaFZJ80]

Got it installed.

If I was to do it again, I wouldn't have trimmed off as much hose in corner. It should be square when mounted not sitting loose on a table.