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bats 88 Bronco II Build Up aka Project Second Chance

Three day weekend means lots of work done! Really earned that glass(es) of wine with Sunday Easter dinner.

Dash is complete sans hvac since I broke one of the clips:
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Sorted out the interior wiring. Mounted the 4wd computer behind the passenger seat. Tucked the rear door wiring behind the panels to be used to speakers/accessories later. Attached the wiring using those little squares you stick on a wall and run a zip tie through when wiring up a closet. Screwed them in place nice and tight.

Went from this:
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To this Sunday night:
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Started doing wires and plugs and found that one of the plugs had cracked ceramic. Also discovered I didn't have a gapper. Hopefully that takes care of the tapping. Otherwise the engine sounds beautiful.

So far I only have two leaks: oil level sensor seems to be dripping steadily. Must replace before driving. Second is the seal between the tranny and tcase is leaking. Might be due to me overfilling the transmission. I dunno.

Either way, it's closer and closer to driving.
 



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It's really coming along nicely.
 






This weekend I finished doing wires and plugs. Runs much better but the old gas still isn't out of the system yet.

Tidied up all the interior wiring and started going over little things. I couldn't for the life of me figure out why the brakes/lights weren't working. Thought it was a fuse or relay but they all checked out to be good. Then my dad walks up and points out a harness hanging out under the dash. Sure enough it that was it. I might be a little burnt out at this point....

Fast forward to this afternoon. I drove it around the backyard! The only downside is that some one has to manually crawl under there and shift it into gear. I don't know what it is but the original shift cable and the brand new shift cable I bought bind up and won't allow the cable connector to come forward all the way for park. I broke both cables shifting too hard. Considering an aftermarket floor shifter.

In summary, it drives!
 






AFN's ?
 






Leaning towards no at this point. I haven't even driven it on the street yet and I'd rather not come home on a flatbed trailer.
 






Didn't get to do much work this weekend. Checked out the Englishtown swap meet which turned out to be a bust. Absolutely NOTHING useable/worthwhile except for a nice switch panel.

Still cleaning up miscellaneous wiring. Holy rat's nest batman! There's wires everywhere. My dad figured out how the door harnesses work so I can use the stock Bronco II door/window switches.

Decided to swap in the Explorer overhead light. Had to cut out a little of the roof panel to make room for the backing plate. Found this nasty brown stuff that looked like a mouse nest. Turned out to be the ford factory sound dampening materials. Over the years they just disintegrated. Tore out the entire ceiling/brown ****. Probably had asbestos in it.

Now it really is a tin can. I'll work on a solution for the roof later. Closer to actually driving it but now I've got a weird electrical bug where only the left signal works and you step on the brakes and the headlights turn on. Ugh. Might just wire all lights on a separate switch.

There hasn't been anything photo worthy in a while but hang in there folks. Awesomeness approacheth as does warmer weather!
 






Might want to trace wire from the brake switch that's mounted on the brake peddle? Also LMC trucks has a headlight wiring harness that eliminates all the amps going from stock headlight switch to the headlights which utilizes two relays thus only a few amps will pass through the switch...much safer.
 






I'm baaaaaaccckkkk!

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Took the Bronco for it's first road test!! Got it up to 75 and it shifts and goes like a champ! Drove up and down the highway for a bit and all is well! :D

The ride is just as squirrelly as I remember it and it's more 'screaming metal death trap' than ever. This is definitely not a long distance ride. Still lacks a headliner and there's a bunch of rust holes in the firewall I need to tend too. Whatever dreams it had of being a highway cruiser are gone. Local stops only.

It has heat but no air (A/C delete). When I get up to highway speeds there's enough breeze through the firewall to blow hot air at you, even though the blower fan is off. That's what windows are for, right?

Not sure if I mentioned it but I had a problem with the column shifter. I somehow managed to snap TWO shift cables. Probably due to working on so little sleep. My solution? Aftermarket shifter. Many many hours of research later, I decided on the Sidewinder from Winters (aka Art Carr.) It's actually for a 700r4 but the shift pattern is the same. Everything lined up save for some minor fabrication to attache the cable underneath.

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Just used the existing xmission access panel. Felt solid enough. Overall, I am incredibly happy with it. A very well built product and shifts solid. (Stock A4LD, NOT manual valve body in case you're wondering.)

So there you have it. Time to find some stuff to climb on!
 













Not unless I find a trailer. I have a tow vehicle (old E-350 diesel van) but I've never towed anything more than a 4' trailer. Only 39 days to figure it all out. :/
 






Not unless I find a trailer. I have a tow vehicle (old E-350 diesel van) but I've never towed anything more than a 4' trailer. Only 39 days to figure it all out. :/

Hmm, Dual wheely Dana 70 most likely.
 






First hiccups. Wanted to drive it to work today. Made it to the end of my block and realized it wouldn't shift past second gear. Limped back in shame. I can manually put it in 1,2,D but no driving gear.

Also have a handful of other noises to take care of. Hoping it's just shi!t I forgot to tie down and nothing major.
 






Took out about a quart of fluid. Shifts noticeably better.

On lunch I went to a local spot with my coworker and his jeep. Nothing serious, just a couple of hills and a few mud puddles. I got stuck in the soft sand and just kept digging myself in. Spent the better part of my lunch break being winched up a hill.

Despite that, I'm overall incredibly pleased with the truck! Even in the heat the engine temp stayed in the OK and trans held up fine. Occasionally I have to back off the gas to make the TQ convertor unlock. (I think that's how that automagic thing works.) It's not slipping though and it shifts great otherwise. Probably still over full and frothy.

I should also mention that I don't have a front drive shaft either.

Next thing on my list is some creature comforts because that thing was like an oven in the sun today. My only source of airflow is the vent windows because I haven't quite figured out how to integrate the BII power windows into the Explorer harness. To simplify things, I think I'm just going to tap into keyed power and call it a day.
 






where was that spot? i saw that "pro tip" on facebook haha
 






where was that spot? i saw that "pro tip" on facebook haha

I think it's the spot they're working on. I'll pm you on the Facebooks.

I knew things were going to smoothly. I sorted out most of my noises. Squeeky coil spring, possibly bad bushing on the TTB eye but everything else is tight. The steering box is a little loose for my liking but it always was. Will be replaced soon.

Thought I had hub bearing noise so I regreased both sides. Looked ok. It's just the break pads haven't worn down quite yet so they're a little tight. But they stop and whatnot.

Content with all that, I decided to tackle the two biggest concerns. One was the oil level sensor. It's slinging oil all over the place so it had to be replaced. Have one on order since none of the locals had one. Grrr.

After doing some research I think my t-case is going. Has a grindy/rumbly noise when I let off the gas. Possibly also attributing to my shift problem? U-joints and drive shaft are tight.

Went to replace with the manual one I rebuilt. No 4WD. Said f-it and dropped it off to be rebuilt by a professional and took the rest of the weekend off to chill out.
 






Wow, it's been two months since I've posted and a lot has happened. Can't find my camera cable right now but I have a ton of pics.

Never made it to Carlisle due to being under the weather/stressed and my tow van was having lift pump issues.

I've put about 2,000 actual miles on the truck since the swap and now I'm starting to get into some bigger problems.

That rattle/grinding has been a constant nuisance. Thought it was possibly pinion bearing. Had my gear and axle guy look at it and he said whoever setup my gears (not him, he just did the rebuilt/locker) half assed it. He reset everything and made me a front drive shaft. The rear was indeed making some noise which he fixed.

The 1354M I sent to be rebuilt ended up having a cracked case so they couldn't rebuilt it. They gave me the option of getting a brand new one for $700. Said thanks but no thanks and picked one up for cheap at a junkyard. Put it in and worked amazing.

Now I thought all this would resolve my rattle problem. When I'm in OD and hit about 55 MPH and above it sounds like a grinding rattle. Let off the gas and it does it until it drops below 55. The sweet spot where I don't have any noise seems to be 65 MPH at 2500 and steady gas. If I don't use OD the noise starts a little later but it's still as severe. Transmission fluid doesn't smell burnt but it has been slipping when cruising in OD more frequently. Fluid level is spot on and it isn't leaking anywhere. Planning to have some one take a look at it soon.

Everything else is working great though. My half fuel line clamps are holding up just fine with no leaks. The lower radiator hose clamp wasn't tightened enough and started slipping causing a leak. Drove home slow, tightened it up and we're dry. Oil level sender still spits out a little bit of oil but I it's ok. No noticeable change in fluid level after several hundred miles and a new sensor.

Last weekend I decided to clean up some more of the cabin wiring harness. I traced out the dash wires, tailights, interior lights and power windows. Maybe a total of 15 wires. I cut off the excess harness and capped the ends to prevent shorting. I went from having a wire loom bigger than my thumb snaking through out the cabin to a few easily managed wires. Eventually I'd like to do away with it entirely and wire up aftermarket headlights/taillights and some nice Autometer gauges for the dash. Someday...
 






Pictures!

Aux cooling fan wired up to my aux switch panel. No fancy temp sensing modules here.
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'Twin Stick'
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Leather seats from the Explorer.
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Finally, I took the doors off. Used a mirror from a 64 Buick and mounted it to the fender.
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It never just rains...

Since I finished the engine swap I noticed a grinding from somewhere in the drive train. Starts at about 45 MPH and increases in intensity from there. Almost sounded like ice in a blender. I feared my trans was going. I dropped it off at my mechanic to pin point what it was before committing to a possible unneeded trans rebuilt. Once I got the fluid level correct it's been performing great.

He takes it for a spin and tells me the problem is my locker. Put it on the lift and the left tire spins freely. Well ****.

Took it to my local 'offroad shop' which like most establishments here specializes in lifts and other forms of overcompensation. When I told them I daily drove and never trailered the Little ******* every one looked at me like I just took a **** on the counter. They kept trying trying to push a selectable locker on me. One that was more 'street friendly.' It was cute.

The grinding/ratcheting/whirring noise I heard were the tops of the locker halves rubbing but not actually locking. Unit was not reusable. :mad::mad::mad:

Long story short, some one installed a POSI carrier in the rear. The truck and axle were tagged as open and acted accordingly. It's plausible that some one swapped in a LS that ceased working. Either way I'm getting an OPEN carrier and lock right installed. I just want this done.
 






if you change the carrier you need to have the gear setup done, at least reset the backlash. Sucks though, no one wants to have to spend extra money. Some "offroad shops" are pretty lame, the idea that you can't run an automatic locker on the road is laughable, I can drive my BII all day and it certainly isn't the welded rear that causes me trouble. I would maybe recommend not having that shop do the swap for you, sounds like maybe they are a little lacking in the actual technical aspects of 4x4's.
 



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They're all like that. I called a few shops and they had no idea what I was going on about. One shop gave me the run around for 3 days and stopped returning my calls. If I had the time to do it right I would do it myself.
 






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