MoabB2's Body Restoration Thread | Page 8 | Ford Explorer Forums - Serious Explorations

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MoabB2's Body Restoration Thread

and so you havent looked at my truck yet? I have given Moab a few ideas as well :) hahaha
Once moab gets his axles installed our trucks are gonna be pretty damn similar
 



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Ok Moab....I have to get this out in the open. There is one thing that I really don't like about your BII. Everytime you post pics it gives me new ideas for mine which is costing more and more everyday.

Well that is why we are all on this dang site everyday...to get more ideas on how to spend our money. Like Jamie said, I've gotten a lot of my ideas from here, and other sites. I will say that I had my V8 in before I saw his truck though. Other ideas just come in the middle of the night.

410-I dare say we have the most expensive Bronco II's on the planet. It always makes me feel better knowing that I'm not THE only crazy Bronco II guy.

Axles...hmmmm, I can't get them in fast enough. I wish I could have them in before Moab, I just don't see it happnin' though.
 






Crazy BII guys have been around for years, say since 1984 or so....I have seen some wild ones over the years! I will never claim to be the first guy to do anything, I may have been one of the earlier guys to do the OBD-II conversion but I am guessing somewhere out there somebody else did it before me, we just have not met him/her.
 






Yeah, there has got to be another one out there. I always wonder about that. Shouldn't Robert Pasquale know of someone? He always just tells me to ask you, haha!

At first I was so mad about going OBDII, now I think it is the coolest thing I could have done!

Oh yeah, Free89bII, I love your truck too and it has given me ideas as well, so I think we are even. lol.
 






you still need the gas tank sensor dont you?
I have my fingers crossed you 02 sensor issues are resolved
Doing dual exhaust under the BII should be quite interesting, with 4x4 I am going to tell you right now to pretty much give up on the thought of using a H or X pipe, unless you put it after the t case and thats where your mufflers are gonna go :)

I have thought about running true duals in my BII, using two of the pass side explorer down pipes/cat/02 sensors, but clearing the front driveshaft just aint gonna happen....so i will stick with my crossover pipe and single 3" out

I have driven my BII trouble free for a long time now, so happy with it, more relaible then it has ever been.

Robert lives in So Cal where the V8 conversion is very popular, however MOST people who convert to an explorer engine go backwards, they use the GT-40 engine but put a distributor in it and use the Mustang computer and EFI, not for me no way! I prefer DIS ignition and OBD II diagnostics/tuning anyday. If they want to use the 4r70w transmission like us then they are forced to get a stand alone controller like the Baumman, now the Baumman controller is awesome thats for sure, but this is adding ALOT of work, asking for alot more issues, and requires alot more $$$$ then just simply using the Explorer computer


next for my BII will be a stroker and built 4r70W with a dana 20 t case hehehe (years away, engine only has 60K miles on it right now, trans 8K and e shift 1354 transfer cases are cheap if mine ever explodes)


keep up with the joneses
 






That otta run pretty sweet. Can you stroke your current 5.0, or do you have to go with a new block? Can your 97 ECM still run the 347?

When I was down in Reno and Cali for some car shows I talked to a bunch of people about my swap. Everyone told me to switch to the Mustang distributor and computer. A lot of people here in Utah think the same thing. A dude here at the local Ford dealership has done some work on my Bronco. My dad was in there the other day and they were talking about my Bronco and the dude was telling my Dad that I picked the wrong motor and how I should have went with the older mustang distributor setup. I'm glad I have what I have and I think it provides sweet diagnostics etc like you said. Hopefully an XCAL2 will help out in that department.

I am crossing my fingers too on the 02 sensor issue. I have had countless people spend hundreds of hours looking at the wiring on the 02 sensors. You'd think they would have found it by now. It's only been what, 18 months? I have no clue on the tank sensor. My guys installed it in the fuel line and mounted in my engine compartment. It was throwing codes, i'm not sure if it was because it wasn't in the tank, or if it was getting moisture in it. I ran it that way for about a month without any codes. Then the code kept returning weekly. I think the sensor was just in a bad spot and turned the wrong direction, causing moisture to get in and disrupt the readings. ???
 






All in all......between the 2 BII they are the baddest I have seen......dont worry though, I trying to slowly creep up there with you guys...lol
 






I gave this thread a 4 star rating, you get your 5th star when its all back together and driving!

cant wait to see pictures of her back together!

Also I should have had you send me the wiring harness while the body was apart...the hardest thing to do is go back and find errors though, you have to use maps to ensure the harness is built 100% correct as you are building it
When I was engulfed in my wiring harness project for the 5.0L I would have dreams about the wires and sensor functions...its a big project
 






Cool, but what does the star rating mean?

I should have sent you the harness, you would only have had 5-6 months to work on it though...jk! We have a bunch of maps and diagrams that we have been using. For the past month or so he has just been reading the diagrams and building the harness all over again. One little mistake though, and you have to track it down, what a pain.
 






5-6 months is plenty of time! usually people want them in like 2 weeks and they dont want to pay more then $300, it was such a PITA I quit doing them on the side years ago....unless I really really like you.
hahaha $300 for something I spend 80 hours working on just doesnt seem to cut it!
 






When I had Street Performance modify my harness they had it for about 3 weeks and it was $600 I think. That part of the harness is awesome. It's just the other parts of the chassis harness that are all hacked up.
 






you mean where their harness plugs into your truck is all jacked up?

You see thats the difference, I would have put your trucks plugs onto the new harness, plug and play like OEM

$600 will get me to build yo a complete new harness,I even have an extra 96 5.0L harness laying around, 100% complete :) Would take 2 weeks
 






No, mine has all new OEM plugs and looks like brand new factory. Really I'm not sure where all the hack job is. I guess it has some splices in it where they were trying to track down my performance/o2 sensor issue.

I'll be sure to ring you up for my next swap. haha If I only knew then what I know now.

Note to all thinking of doing a swap: Research for a year or two, then start. I researched for nearly a year, and the swap is still ongoing after 18 months. I should have researched for another 12 months and then the swap would have went smoother I'm sure. What I should have done is found 410 before I started!
 






fingers crossed seriously I hope your wiring is 100% correct!!

Do you still get the fuel tank codes?
 






Yes, I was getting the fuel tank purge selonoid code when I dropped it off for the frame-off.

I dont' recall the code, something to do with the voltage or something going to the selonoid.
 






yeah eventually you will want to add this feature, build a BII tank with the sensor like I did :) That will clear the codes and give the computer the info it is looking for.
 






Question for you Moab....of coarse I could have just read right over it and missed it. What are your plans for the bumpers....painted or coated like the rest of the accessories?
 






I question how well poweder coating will hold up on the tube bumpers, it seems that welded beads dont take to PC too well, If you do PC them check with the guys doing the work and see what they think.
Bumpers that have been powder coated that I see start to peel and rust anywhere there is a weld bead, then you have to re-do the whole thing.

maybe someone with PC'd tube bumpers or sliders will chime in here.

I always found paint much easier to keep updated, on a trail rig anyway

I wanted to PC my Duff bumpers fake chrome :)
 






I have thought about powder coating or even rhinolining them. PC is just so expensive and like 410 says, I think you'd just end up having to redo it. The bumpers take some abuse, so it is nice just to be able to sand them down a bit and hit them with another shot of paint.

For now I just re-sanded and repainted the bumpers shiny black. They actually look really good! A lot better than the first time I painted them.
 



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PC is not that expensive, $110 to do both my bumpers, another $100 if they need to be sandblasted first
 






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