Cali bronco II build

[janderson4010]

*****in ride man, have you considered a 1356 for the tcase? I'd take it over a 205 for sure, you could do a 1356-205 doubler.

 

[benny92lx]

I have, however, im not sure the magnesium case and chain will take the abuse that i have planned for this rig down the road. I think the 205/203 doubler will be reallll nice. I also want to be able to twinstick. which as far as im aware of, i dont think thats possible with the 1356. also, i think the 205/1356 doubler will take way too much real estate But again, at this point. The 208 will suffice until i get her running and, well, break it. Hit me with alink for the 1356/205 doubler.. im interested!

Well, ive gone n' done it. Recently took a road trip up to Northern California to pick up an engine for a buddies FJ40. Well i made the mistake of a looking on craigslist a couple days before the trip, i found what i wanted. After haggling with the guy for a couple of days and him threatining to sell it from underneath me, I called his bluff and came home with this bad boy for 75 bucks and a few fine norther cal beers.

All the guy seemed to think it was, was a early f150 dana 44. nothing else. after inspection when i got it home and looking at the casting number and casting in general, i found out that its a 1978 ford f150 dana 44 High Pinion (I didnt think it was a high pinion when i picked it up) With disc brakes, axles, snouts, disks, panhardbar, deadlink steering shaft and pitman arm with 5 on 5.5 lugs which should compliment my new wheels. Super stoked, time to get rid of the ibeam and upgrade to older equipment.

I also picked up an oil filter adapter so the engine would fit in without hitting the damn steering box. #v8problems

And I also picked up a mustang dual sump pan and pick up from one of my fellow mustang compadres. Now time to Media blast this front end, Hit up KOH grab my transmission from my buddy, and get to work!

 

[janderson4010]

Dude have you ever pit a 203/205 in? It took 3 guys last time we did it. The 1356 is a stout unit man, you run the 1356 as the range box and the 205 is the back case, the behemoth and DD doubler kits both have cutouts for the twin stick.

So are you gonna run the stock ford radius arms? I just got done with an extended set I did for a 69 f100 i'm building. If you're interested I can post up a pic .

 

[benny92lx]

haha, yea they are rediculously heavy. hit me with alink for a 205/1356 combo.

As for the radius arms, i think im going to track down some stockers for now, but id like to heim joint the chassis side and wrist the axle side. Post up some pictures!

 

[janderson4010]

http://www.behemothdrivetrain.com/s...rain.com/STRONG_BOX_UNDERDRIVE_KITS.html#2934


http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/ford/940873-new-bw-1356-doubler-kits-449-a.html

Couple links for the doublers, i have a DD machine kit ad I was satisfied with the customer service all the way through. I'm building a full size bronco for a guy and we ordered the behemoth range box about 3 weeks ago for him and haven't heard anything back.

 

[janderson4010]

This is the only pic I had on my phone, I must have deleted the others. After this we plated over the square from the joint of the two pieces of tube up to the stick radius arm piece so its all smooth, i'll try and get a finished pic so it makes more sense.

 

[benny92lx]

Why are you choosing to go stiff arm as opposed to wristed? i feel the wristed would net you more flex.

 

[janderson4010]

Yeah wristed arms def flex more, but this is a 69 f100 long bed, its not a hardcore wheeler. More of a driver/mild wheeler.

 

[benny92lx]

Yeah wristed arms def flex more, but this is a 69 f100 long bed, its not a hardcore wheeler. More of a driver/mild wheeler.

Thats how it starts out haha

 

[janderson4010]

Its should be pretty good, deaver springs, chrv 63"s out back. We are doing sliders, bumpers, and bed protection.

 

[benny92lx]

Im going to have to invest in some 63"s. they seem to be all the rage. Even have a buddy running buggy dual 63"s. post up some pictures!

 

[janderson4010]

They flex really well , you can get them for cheap from any junkyard, pretty long in a BII but it could be done. I'll snap a few pics of the rig when I'm at the shop again.

 

[benny92lx]

Making some progress! Went to King of the Hammers last weekend, pretty fun time.. Better yet, I met up and grabbed my transmission.

I also made some harness headway. My plan is to use the stock 2.9 EEC-IV harness so that i dont have to butcher a mustang harness. The mustang harness is configured differently between 87-93 and 94/95 so it would have been counter productive to rewire the fox engine bay harness to accept the 94/95 mustang engine harness. (or in my case, the T-bird/cougar harness)

A couple of improvements that I wanted over the 93 and Pre were the upgraded distributor and external TFI module. Heat tends to kill the distributor mount TFI. This required me to make a custom harness for the both the distributor and module. no biggie. Made a run to willies electronics and picked up 8-10 different colors of 18 AWG primary wire and pins and got to it.

This is what I started with while trying to solder, cut wire length and figure out pin association on the tfi module, the distributor and stock Bronco II harness.

Here is my final product minus wire wrap.

 

[RockRanger]

Looks good.

 

[janderson4010]

Very nice

 

[benny92lx]

Holy smokes there is alot of drive train in this bad boy. The 302 went it pretty nicely, same with the aod. The np208 barely fit between the frame rails. With the engine in, it completes one main question.. will all this fit into the cute little package. When that was answered, it opened up about 50 new questions. exhaust, engine height, drive shafts, and clearance between the engine and radiator.

Anyways, here are some progress prictures. The engine mounts are just temporary at this point to figure out where I want to place the engine for permanent mounting. hit me with your guys's thoughts!

Making some temporary adjustable engine mounts for locating the engine.

This is what im working with as far as room for the exhaust. Im thinking right now, ill use cast manifolds then down the road pick up some conversion specific headers.

As you can see, im about half an inch off the radiator. that is way too close for comfort.

And a side shot to see the stance with the new drive train. not too much difference..

What have I gotten myself into.

 

[benny92lx]

For those of you with an AOD and 4x4, could i ask for some exhaust pictures, primarily on the driver side? Im looking to see how much room i have for the drive shaft and driver side header collector. id like to try and use the shelby Tri-y headers with modifications of course.

Thanks!

 

[blindtoe]

Starting One

I have Bronco 11 2.9 5 speed Put the same radiator in. It cool's, perfect, with 180 thermostat, with air on have a hard time, getting up to 180. I mounted it with the 0ld bottom mounts. Top I used the plate that came with my 16" Electric fan, [puller]. Hope all works well.

 

[benny92lx]

Well the bronco has been put off for long enough. Ive been working long hours and saving what I can. Im finally bring the bronco home so that i can at least get it running. After having to work with other peoples schedules to even work on it, and a 45 minute commute one way, I finally had enough. We cleared out some space here at mi casa, sold off some cars and finalized some other projects, now its time to get the show on the road. i have a 2.5 week deadline to get her running under her own power. Hopefully I can make that happen! Let the beads begin

 

[Scott B.]

If you are still looking for headers, have you looked at L&L?

Of the 4 sets I tried in my Ranger, the L&L ones fit with the least amount of extra cutting. I only had to slightly modify the firewall (but I have my engine sitting a little high.)

However, the driver's side would not work with the plate style engine mount. I had to get a set of their mounts.