bats 88 Bronco II Build Up aka Project Second Chance

Ended up not doing a frame off job. The other mounts were actually completely solid. It was just the middle mounts on either side that were bad. Replaced all the other bushings and the lift and it's now 2 inches higher. Not terribly noticeable unless you look hard. I think 2" is just right since it gives me more room for.....stuff.

The kit said to reuse your original hardware. Ha! Maybe half of the hardware came off on its' own. The majority had to be sawzalled off. Make sure you plan for this and pick up an extra set of lock nuts and washers.

Just came in for a beer break and figured I'd update. Took the body lift off. Took all of 2 hours from start to tightening the last nut.

I tried the body lift thinking it would help with my fender clearance problems...and future proofing for a possible V8 swap. Well, it didn't solve any problems and I decided against a V8. Just have too many projects going on right now to get involved in another engine swap. The SAS is on hold probably till the winter. I'm still committed to that though.

Have a few wheeling trips coming up in June which I need to get ready for.

Well June is nearly done and wheeling didn't happen. Didn't make it to Carlisle and the trip that was planned for this weekend didn't happen either. The truck has been parked since last update. Seems like every one's **** is broken or broke. I'm noticing a lot of local kids are selling off their rigs. (Mostly Jeeps.) Can't make rent if you're pouring money into a truck that only goes to 7-11 and back. Seems like the offroading community is in a slump out here.

Hopefully that will change by the end of the summer. After these last few upgrades I think I'm going on hiatus from working on the Bronco. I still have that P.O.S. YJ I have to put together so I can get it out of my yard as well as a rat rod I've been working on since high school.

Few weeks ago my friend picked up an Eddie Bau BII that had an engine fire. Fuel injector leaked and *poof.* I picked up a complete interior seats and all for cheap along with some miscellaneous bits. It's like having a truck again and not a tin can on wheels! Down side is I tossed all the hardware for the rear seats.

My steering has been sloppy for a while but I finally took care of it when the steering box blew a seal and pissed all its fluids out. Did a soft rebuild which is just the gaskets. I'll link to the parts and stuff at the end of this post.

Figured I would do the Flaming River steering shaft upgrade while I had everything out. The prices have dropped on the FR parts so the difference between them and the borg brand is somewhat negligible.



Definitely an improvement. Power steering pump still whines like any Ford does. Maybe I'll upgrade that to the AGR one but I doubt it.

Links

Steering Box Rebuild
Steering Box Rebuild guide via TheRangerStation I just called Prosteering.com and asked to order part number 8229.

Steering Shaft Upgrade
Steering Shaft Upgrade - Flaming River

Part Numbers:

FR1856-S Slip & Coll. shaft, 30"
FR1714DD 3/4"-36 x 1" DD
FR1717DD 3/4" DD x 1" DD

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Hello. If you decide to drop in a 302 or have other build questions feel free to drop me a line. I dropped in a 302 in my 84 Bronco II last fall and changed my c5 to a c4. this spring I changed out the c4 for an AOD and other changes. Anyway, I did the same as you, I read all the books out there on v8 swaps and read tech articles etc... Trust me talk to someone who has done it first it will save you time and money. I wish I could have done just that. I will be glad to give you my nickels worth of free advice. I want to hear more about your YJ too. I was building one of them before my bronco II.

Dennis

Thanks for the offer! As much as the 4.0 really woke up the lil ******* I still partly regret not going V8. Should have just fixed everything on the Explorer so I would have a mild off roader that I could still drive on the highway. Shoulda, woulda, coulda.

So the YJ. Bane of my existence since the spring. My buddy picked up a perfectly running, driving and straight 4.0 YJ with the intention of swapping the body from his 2.5 YJ. The frame was half gone in the rear. As payment for using my yard space for a few weeks he let me have the old YJ. Came with a 'new' frame. His body swap went smooth and three weekends and a lot of beer later he drove off into the sunset and left me with a pile of parts.

Since the spring I've been putting it back together, piece by piece. Repaired the 'new' frame. Tons of nickel and dime parts. Nearly everything was rusted. I've never swore so much at a project.

Just got it running and driving a few weeks ago. Everything works except the brakes. Replaced the master. All new lines. Bleeds clean but I can't get the pedal to stay. Takes the pumps to brake and ten immediately loses pedal. Arg.

I had a similar situation. The guy I bought my Bronco II from had replaced the brakes pads and bearings along with all of the front tie rod ends etc. I always had to pump the brakes to stop. Replaced the vacuum booster and the master cylinder twice. I bled the brakes a thousand times. Even changed from old style mc to the plastic body version. I even switched to a disc brake 8.8. No luck. Sometimes I had great brakes then the next time nothing....read all about brake problems and never found the answer. Most forums talked about it but always ended and never said what the fix was. Well mine was that the guy used the wrong bearings. The bearings he used on the inside were too big and didn't even touch the spindle.The bearings he used were for an Explorer or newer Ranger. Once I replaced them I had the best brakes. I dismissed the bearings since they were all new. Anyway it's the little stuff that gets you every time.

Good luck on the YJ. I think about getting another one but then remember how much I like my Bronco II.....and that I need to drive it for ten years to get my money out of it....lol.

Never just rains, does it?

YJ needs complete brake job all around. How my buddy was driving this thing is beyond me.

Enough about the Heep. This is a Ford forum. Over the weekend I took the ******* for a quick woods romping. Tightened up the steering box which killed some of the bump steer I got while bajaing through some woop-de-dooes. Get back to the house and remember I haven't checked the fluids in a while.

Oil was a little low and a little milky. Check the radiator and can't even feel antifreeze with my finger. This is after an hour or so of romping and driving. Expansion tank is bone dry. Also notice it's starting to develop a slight miss when idling.

Milky oil? Disappearing coolant? Yep, bad head gasket. Not sure how long it's been like this but checking it today after driving that coolant is going somewhere and it's not on my driveway.

I'm heartbroken. Once I cooled down I started weighing my options. Rebuilding the top end is not something I want to get involved with. No way. Now you're probably staring at your computer screen yelling 'V8 SWAP, DAMNIT!' and I'd be yelling along with you but I'm not.

Why no V8? Like I mentioned earlier, life is changing for me. I'm not offroading as much as I would like or did when I got into Explorers. These little under the radar romps aren't enough to warrant another full drive train swap. In the time it would take me to source the parts it would be easier to just wait for a wrecked Ex to come by. The Bronco still runs and drives but it's a time bomb.

One of these days I should upgrade to Elite status again so I can post pics.

Sold the YJ about a month ago. It was a fun little toy but the joy goes out of it when all of your toys are crying for your attention.

Which brings me to the *******. Started on the head gasket job. Not so bad. Marking wires and tagging and bagging things. Tried using the Chilton's manual and it ain't worth piss. Compiled a pretty solid work flow based on threads I read here on the forums.

Got down to the block without breaking any bolts. Those Torx bolts on the heads scared me but they came out with minor cursing and persuasion. Most likely will buy new heads already setup instead of reusing mine. Do it once, do it right.

As far as I can tell there was no damage to the heads or block which is a relief.

I fogged out the engine with fuel oil since this is probably going to sit until after Thanksgiving. After that it should be full speed ahead on this. Afterall, Carlisle is 7 months away and I really hope to show my face this year.

bats said:

Afterall, Carlisle is 7 months away and I really hope to show my face this year.

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dont remind me. im looking at another drivetrain swap again and if i can make it there, i might just go for it.......even if i have said for the last 3 years i wont be making it back next year....

I'm not dead yet.

Not much of an update, just letting those of you still following that the ******* is still alive...ish. I've been traveling for the better part of November so nothing got done. Checked on my baby today and it's still waiting to run again.

I lied about the bolts not giving me a problem. Thought I loosened all the bolts but never took the drivers side head off in my haste. Two bolts were stripped not loose and now I'm on the hunt for one of those easy out sets.

Starting to order parts and gaskets. Not having many folks to shop for around the holidays means more money for projects. So there's that.

Despite it being the holidays I managed to hide out in the garage for a while and get some work done. Got the last head bolt out without issue. Helps when you use the right size torx. It's a T55. I had been using a T50 which worked on most of the bolts but would explain why I stripped the last two.

Got the drivers side head off and found the culprit. Middle cylinder had been leaking. Doesn't look too bad but definitely was the problem.

I wanted to order new heads. In fact I did from that link that jd always posts. Placed my order, put my card away and received a phone call that the didn't actually have the heads and were completely out. Major bummer. Did some shopping around and couldn't find any NEW heads at that price point. Gave up and decided to just reuse my heads.

I know it's taking a risk but visual inspection didn't show any damage. Spent two hours per side up close and personal when cleaning the mating surfaces. We shall see.

Got the heads installed and the lower intake manifold and then the temps started dropping so I called it quits.

Advice for anyone else doing this:

1.CLEAN YOUR ENGINE BEFORE YOU DO ANYTHING! Gunk it, brush it, blow all the dirt and crap out. You run less of a risk or contaminants getting in the block AND you'll have a shiny new-ish engine when you're done.

2.Make sure you get the right Torx bit. T55.

3.Read. Read. Read. Print out torque specs/guides/notes and organize your pages before hand so you don't have to run inside to check online for something and get grease everywhere.

4.Take lots of pictures and bag and label your bolts.

Overall I don't think this is a terrible job.

Victory at sea!

Well almost a victory. I put together the last few bits needed and hooked up the battery. To my surprise it started on the first crank! Sounded pretty good... until I noticed the smoke. Had what I thought was coolant leaking down the back of the engine. Got pissed and went inside to defrost for a few minutes.

Went back out to the garage and immediately realized that it was a gas leak and not a coolant leak. Good thing I turned my propane heater off when I went inside. Five minutes of troubleshooting with my dad pointed me at the problem: one of the injectors was pissing gas. It probably just didn't seat right when putting the fuel rail back on.

A minor inconvenience at most and I caught it before anything caught on fire. I'll pick up some o-rings and just replace them all.

In the few minutes that I had the engine running it sounded just as good as before. Can't wait to get rolling so I can start working on my 2015 ToDo list. Lots of fine tuning to be done and even have some trail time already penciled in.

Never just rains, does it? Might change the title of this thread to that.

Ordered new injectors from motorman on ebay. Came right on time despite the east coast getting hit with a snow storm last week. Had the hoses recrimped at a local hose store. Fixed one leak and created another. Reused the original fittings instead of spending $$ to redo it with the proper AN fittings. SOL on the hoses since no one seems to be parting out a first gen.

Might take this oppurtunity to redo the fuel system like I had originally planned. Some nice AN fittings and steel braided lines instead of half @$$ing it with fuel line parts from three different trucks. In my defense, non of them leaked.

dan, are you looking for just the fuel rail, or lines? a buddy of mine has a first gen sitting in his yard that i dont know what he's doing with it. i can ask him if he wants to sell, or give up some stuff from it.

Tim, just the lines going to the fuel rail.

ok, i will ask him if i can grab them if you want.

That would be awesome if you get a chance. Would be good to have a spare. Or in case I screw up with the AN fittings I ordered. I need to get this sucker moving so I can work on the Expedition.

Found a thread on here about some one redoing their fuel line setup for a B2 tank swap which had all the fitting sizes conveniently listed. Use that as a shopping list. Those damn things are expensive but they are pretty. And after looking at the mish mosh of hoses and hard lines.... it's a wonder nothing leaked yet. Figure I'll do one line at a time starting with the leaking supply line.

Reference thread with fuel fittings.

i wounder if 5L lines would work. i know i have a extra set kicking around here for sure

Dropped some $$ to get all the pretty AN fittings and converters. Buggered the fuel pump side fitting which was in the ball park of $30. Said screw it and got some regular high pressure 3/8 fuel line just to get me going. My setup up is like this:

Fuel rail supply side -> converter to -6AN -> -6AN to 3/8 barb fitting -> fuel line to fuel filter.

Fuel line clamp it and done. Put it all back together and still the same injector was leaking from the fuel rail side. Even with a new set from Motor Man. It's misleading since doing a KOEO to pressurize shows no leaks and the fuel rail is pressurized. Start the engine and I get a steady drip drip.

Called it a night. Pretty much gave up at that point. Got a decent night of sleep and woke up to above freezing temps today so I gave the ******* a chance at redemption.

Inspected the o-rings on the injectors and they were all intact. Tightened down the fuel rail, KOEO test showed no leaks. Thinking I just didn't have that last injector seated correctly. Third time's a charm. Put the intake manifold back on, go to crank it and battery doesn't have enough juice to start. I left the key on yesterday.

Fast forward a couple of hours. Let it sit with the battery charger. Finally enough juice to start it. Starts and runs beautifully....except for the knock. And by knock I mean it sounds like a marble rattling around in there. This is new. When I started it last it didn't sound this bad and that was around 0 degrees F.

Using my trusty rubber hose it sounds like the knock is coming from the drivers side between the cylinder closest the firewall and middle one. Most pronounced when listening from the top end. Oil is good and not frothed. Aside from the knock the engine sounds just as good as it always did.

I'm going to try some of the cheaper fixes and hope something sticks. Really don't want to have to take engine apart again in any aspect. Spring is coming and I have several other projects already demanding my resources.

Did some reading and it appears that some folks fixed it with either an oil filter change or running some engine cleaner through the system. I'm really hoping it's a simple fix.

just saw the vid on facebook dan. that sucks. hopefully you can find a cheap fix for it, but i think we know what its going to end up being. you said it had a knock but not as bad the last time you ran it?