Radiator overflow tank mounting height

[Nowik35]

Need help again. So I bought a universal radiator overflow tank on Amazon and without thinking just mounted it where most convenient. Anyways a coworker warned me that I should have mounted it flush height with the radiator cap for proper functionally. Is that true or where mine is located should work fine? I think the system works more off of the vacuum created on the radiator rather then gravity?
https://flic.kr/p/2pfQst8

 

[NJBronk]

Shouldn't matter. Stock was higher than radiator cap. Works via expansion/contraction of fluid with heat/cooling.

 

[Wild horse 75]

Height doesn’t matter. The system will bleed to it when it over pressures and draw back in with vacuum when it cools off. I would also make sure the fan won’t hit that hose once the engine is running.

 

[DirtDonk]

And always monitor your battery location, side to side AND height.
It's probably just the angle of the pic that makes it look so close to the fender, but it does appear that you're still using the "Ford" post orientation, with the positive post over on the passenger side, closest to the sheet metal.
I think they did that for clean wiring with the positive down to the starter relay/solenoid, but it also put the positive too close to shorting to ground through the metal under the wrong circumstances.
Of course, it was fine most of the time. Just a warning that many of us reversed the post orientation the next time we bought a battery, to keep the ground side near the metal and the positive side far away from it.
I guess hoping that we were more likely to be bouncing around off road, than having a wrench fall over and touch the positive. Or a fan blade!

If the battery is solidly mounted with a good style of mount, it is not usually a problem of battery shifting during bouncing around. But if it's ever loose, magic sparks can fly!
It also looks awfully high from this angle. Is it all stock mounting stuff? Does the hood close with plenty of clearance?

Paul

 

[jamesroney]

And always monitor your battery location, side to side AND height.
It's probably just the angle of the pic that makes it look so close to the fender, but it does appear that you're still using the "Ford" post orientation, with the positive post over on the passenger side, closest to the sheet metal.
I think they did that for clean wiring with the positive down to the starter relay/solenoid, but it also put the positive too close to shorting to ground through the metal under the wrong circumstances.
Of course, it was fine most of the time. Just a warning that many of us reversed the post orientation the next time we bought a battery, to keep the ground side near the metal and the positive side far away from it.
I guess hoping that we were more likely to be bouncing around off road, than having a wrench fall over and touch the positive. Or a fan blade!

If the battery is solidly mounted with a good style of mount, it is not usually a problem of battery shifting during bouncing around. But if it's ever loose, magic sparks can fly!
It also looks awfully high from this angle. Is it all stock mounting stuff? Does the hood close with plenty of clearance?

Paul

Great post Paul!!!

But I disagree with your reasoning for the stupidity. I think that Ford used the Group 24F battery with the reversed polarity in their passenger cars with the positive terminal oriented closest to the starter relay. You can imagine the benefit in an Early Mustang, or any car with the battery rotated front to back. When they rotated the battery against the core support in the Bronco, they SHOULD have applied the standard Group 24 battery. But for commonality of parts, some genius decided to standardize on the 24F. 50 years of welded wrenches, melted aprons, and shorted batteries later...it's still horrid.

The best thing that ever happened to an Early Bronco battery was to swap it for a normal one. Or even rotating the 24F 180 degrees with a longer cable. Anything is better than stock.

 

[ba123]

Yeah, that does look awfully close... I did it reversed for that reason but also not using a starter "solenoid" switch.

 

[73azbronco]

That is the tallest battery I have ever seen. Yeah battery to tall

 

[DirtDonk]

When I said “clean wiring“ what I really meant was, make it short so it’s cheaper.
Which is not horrible logic when you talk about a few pennies times many millions of vehicles.

 

[Nowik35]

Good news the hood closes no problem. Battery might be mounted a little high but when I was welding up the body I just welded the battery tray supports best fit without really thinking height.. Rooky mistake luckily everything clears. Even the radiator I mounted a bit to high. The cap barely clears the hood, but everything closes no problem.

 

[DirtDonk]

Great news!

 

[CabinCruiser]

Weird question for you.....I haven't build my tub yet, so I can't just go to my garage and look.... would you have had the space between the battery and the radiator to mount this particular overflow tank on the passenger side of the radiator?

 

[DirtDonk]

My 68 has been modified too much to do any good, but I don’t remember a whole lot of space for mounting anything between the stock battery tray, and the radiator.
Others with current set ups can confirm or deny that rumor though.

 

[Oldtimer]

Maybe 2.7" between stock battery tray and stock radiator.

 

[73azbronco]

No, unlkess you move it aft a little, then you run into interference with the belts. EB's are like jenga. I wish they had a stretched body 5 inches longer in the engine bay.

 

[Johnnyb]

Wild Horses Optima battery Tray secures the Optima batteries nicely. I put one on the driver side as well for the winch and that puts the positive terminal close to the sheet metal. I plan on securing a sheet of rubber to prevent the possibility of any smoke escaping the system.

 

[DirtDonk]

At one time I thought that Optima offered the reversed terminal configuration. If they still do, then the next time you replace one, you can take care of the issue.