When I bought this Bronco II, it had a rebuilt transmission and a bad motor. The previous owner stated that the engine began making noise after he had the transmission rebuilt. The vehicle had already been converted to a 302 V8, and somebody had done a good job on the conversion. At $350.00, and a chance to take a road trip to Virginia, I couldn't resist the project. Especially since I had a healthy 302 that needed a new engine bay to call home.

Here is the 302 V8 that was in the Bronco II when I bought it.

What a dirty, greasy mess.

Inspecting the engine, I found a kinked lower radiator hose that was cutting the coolant flow off to the engine. This is most likely why the engine started making noise for the previous owner. No coolant flowing in to the engine.

Here's the replacement engine. It's the 302 out of my 1983 Ranger (TRS-1). Despite the appearance, it's actually a pretty healthy engine.

After cleaning, some new paint, and some new valve covers, the engine is ready for the Bronco II.

If you look closely, you'll see that I've added an oil cooler with an electric fan on the driver side inner fender.

Dealing With The Lower Radiator Hose:

I couldn't find a flexible lower radiator hose that wouldn't kink after being installed, and I couldn't find a factory fit hose to make the proper connection between the 1970 302 V8 and the radiator in the Bronco II. The closest hose to being correct is actually the lower radiator hose off of a 1989 Ford Ranger with a 2.9L engine and manual transmission.

The problem is that the inside hose diameter on the engine side isn't big enough to fit on to the water pump. The inside diameter of the hose is 1-1/2". That fits perfect on the radiator, but the hose needs to widen out to 1-3/4" for the water pump. The solution was to cut off the end of a 1-1/2" radiator hose that widens to 1-3/4", and attach it to the factory Ranger hose. I cut off some of the factory hose at the water pump end to make room for the piece I was going to add. I used a 1-1/2" exhaust pipe adapter and slid it in to  both hoses and joined them. It will all then be held together with hose clamps.

(Factory 1-1/2" ID Ranger hose on the left, 1-1/2" radiator hose that widens to 1-3/4" on the right)

Here you can see where the hoses were clamped together.

You may wonder if the hoses will get blown apart by the cooling system. The water pump actually draws the water through the lower radiator hose and in to the motor, so it's actually creating a suction here versus forcing water out, so it should actually help hold the hose together.

Click HERE to return to The Bronco II Project Main page.