Bricknose Core support in a Slantnose front end

I just got the front sheet metal thrown together on my truck. I took a 85 F350 and swapped in a 7.3/ZF5. I was determined to use the core support and radiator out of my 89 donor vehicle but maintain the slant nose front end. I've seen several people mention before on Oilburners that they would like to use a 87-91 truck and bolt a 80-86 front clip on it. Here's how I would do it.....................

http://www.oilburners.net/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=29839&stc=1&d=1271476873

http://www.oilburners.net/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=29840&stc=1&d=1271476873

The gray painted parts are from the 89. The black painted parts are from the 85. The ditch for the driver side pos. battery cable is there on the top of the core support. The hood latch (from the 85) worked fine on the 89 center section after slotting one of the holes. Had to drill a couple holes for the brackets that hold the outside portions of the grill on. The upper part of the middle brace is from the 85, the bottom part is from the 89. The radiator, AC evaporator fit in there just fine. Hood clears everything just fine also.

Not sure if anyone else has gone down this road before.....

This is my first attempt at posting pictures so hopefully everything turns out OK

So you welded parts from the 86 core support onto the 89?

Correct

It's essentially a 89 core support with the pieces from the 85 core support grafted on in order to accommodate mounting of the slantnose fenders, hood, and grill.

The end result for me is a slantnose front end with the big, bricknose radiator.

Couldnt you have just welded the bottom radiator lip from the 89 fram onto the 86?

gonecrazyi said:

Couldnt you have just welded the bottom radiator lip from the 89 fram onto the 86?

Click to expand...

that can be done but it's a stress crack area to begin with. I've seen many high mile front ends with the sheetmetal flapping in a strong breeze.

I just did that swap a few weeks ago. I did it the real easy way though and just left the 89 core support in place as a whole. I still need to drill a couple holes and add spacers to bolt the fenders to the core support under the headlights but everything fit real well. I didn't even have to change or adjust the hood latch, it just lined up perfectly first shot I was amazed. The only bolt hole that was different is the lower rocker bolt. On the 89 they go in from the side on the 81 they went straight up. I just cut the fender and pulled the tab outward and used the factory bolt hole.


I didn't mess with swapping the core support as I'm using 7" round headlights and led turn/markers anyway.

Nice write up

So, white trash, you put a 87-91 front clip onto a 80-86 truck?

Personally I think the 80-86 fronts are much better looking.

bike-maker said:

So, white trash, you put a 87-91 front clip onto a 80-86 truck?

Click to expand...

Opposite actually. I put an 81 clip and doors on my 89. To screw it up even more I picked up a 92 cab that's going on early next winter after the main summer wheeling trips are over so I don't miss them or the snow runs next winter.