Bkennedy's SAS and Rebuild Thread

As some of you know, I am working on building a parts list for a shortened Dana 44, long radius arm with coil overs SAS. 5:13 gears to match my rear axle and an ARB, maybe an electric locker. I have a pretty good list so far. At the same time, I am going to swap out the rear drum brakes for discs off of a 99 Explorer.

Please note: The plan is to keep this project as simple as possible with mostly off the shelf parts. I am not a fabricator, just a decent welder with a what I would consider the minimum required tools (chop saw, cut off wheels, air tools, welder, etc.), who likes doing his own work. Your opinions are welcome, but what I really need is technical advice. I have been thinking about this for several years and now have the time and cash to make it happen. Please keep on topic with your advice and don't go off on a side track about how you would do it as a four-link, or caged arms, or leave the axle full-width because that is not what I want. I want a simple-ish set up that works.

 

[BKennedy]

Does you interior look like this


View attachment 150885

Almost exactly, except I left the door panels intact and removed the seat belts. And, the body under the carpet / panels looks showroom new. Guess I don't need a picture anymore, thanks.

you going to put just regular bolts back in for the seat belts?

I am going to put the seat belts from the donor into my Explorer and use my bolts. They are rust free.

 

[DUDER 1]

Sounds good, can't wait to see it finished

 

[BKennedy]

Today I sprayed the burnt area of the inside of the firewall with Purple Power. Then, I pulled all the body plugs and hosed out the interior. Its still blackened, but it cleaned up pretty good, and the best part was the smell is mostly gone. The wire channels down both sides of the body had a lot of dirt in them from all the years of off-roading. It felt weird hosing out the interior, but it was effective. Tomorrow I am planning on priming and painting.

Pulled the donor steering column and brake booster, and about half the dash today. It was more difficult than I thought. I had to spray PB Blaster on everything. I cut the inner driver side fender to gain easy access to the steering shaft, and it would not come lose from the column. I ended up cutting the shaft in half with a reciprocating saw and then it would not clear the hole in the firewall. Beat the shaft end off through the fire wall hole and removed column. Cut off the auto shifter parts off the bottom of the column and punched the pin out of the shift lever to remove that. Brake booster came out fairly easy with the steering column out of the way.

Before I put the dash completely back together, I need to come up with a cover for the automatic trans gear position indicator on the instrument cluster. I had black tape over the old dash because I kept looking at it instead of the indicator on the center console shifter. The tape got sticky and dust was stuck to it.

I also came up with a plan; I am going to replace all the burnt parts and get it running. Throw a seat in it to take it for a test drive. Park it and run all the accessory wiring while most of the interior, and the bottom portion of the dash below the steering column is removed. It will make access much easier. Over the past 20 or so years, I have slowly added a bunch of stuff, all requiring a bunch of wiring. I cleaned up a lot of it when I rewired most of the accessories a few years ago, but it was still very cluttered looking under the dash. I am planning on leaving the dash stock, and I will modify the center console to mount nearly all of the accessories there. I need to mount switches in the center console for:
Roof lights, LED bar on bumper (removing one of them for better air flow and it never gets used), rock lights, front locker, air compressor, and a small pusher fan for the trans cooler.

Also need to mount an air compressor pressure gauge, CB, ham radio and two voltage gauges, and wire in my supplemental brake system for towing. CB is a Cobra I was gifted from a old friend a few years ago with the controls in the microphone so I won't need space for a big box. Need wiring for all of these, and for the power seats (manual wiring harness from donor doesn't have power seat connectors), and the torque converter lockout switch (I bought a new shifter handle with a button built in) to run in one loom to the center console from the relays and fuse panel I have where the cruise control module used to be located. It will be nice and neat, and completely separate from the factory wiring.

So far, the only modifications to the factory wiring I plan on making are when I install the new stereo and alarm.

 

[Rick]

A couple goodies I have found useful for 12v wiring...

I like this fuse setup for attaching a high current draw device direct to a battery terminal. It's available with a single fuse, or double fuses for two circuits.
https://www.amazon.com/Blue-Sea-Sys...&qid=1506004036&sr=8-3&keywords=blue+sea+fuse

This fuse block with a common +buss is nice too:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01BV1MS1K/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[BKennedy]

Thanks Rick. I already have a 18 or 19 wire fuse block I installed a few years ago. I am running the accessories off of that.

Today, I got the inside of the firewall primed and painted. It sure looks better than it did yesterday.

Removed the instrument cluster to cover the transmission display and found this;

I also figured out how to cover the trans display. I pulled the face off the old tachometer and am using a piece of that to carefully slip inside the face of the speedo, blocking out the trans display with the same material as the rest of the face. Little dab of glue on the corners and it should stay. I will post a picture when I get it finished.

Pic of the inside of the donor;

 

[josh40601]

damn that body is clean! The firewall respray looks great

 

[BKennedy]

It does look good. The donor body is shot, but looks good from the inside. If you look at the bottom of the picture of the interior gut, you can see the rust coming through the body mount bolt holes and the rear floor seam. Its about dead. A few more years, and the interior would have looked like the undercarriage. I was going to pull the gas tank skid plate until I got a good look at it. Mine looks better, even with all the dents. One of the many things I checked for rust was the doors. With it so close coming through the rockers, I thought the doors might be rusting on the bottoms. They look better than mine, no dings or rust.

Anybody know the difficulty level of removing the heating / AC parts from the right side of the dash? Is it bolted in from the engine side, or are the fasteners hidden?

 

[BKennedy]

I also have switch question;
@Maniak

I purchased a B&M shifter handle with a button to use as a torque converter lockout switch. Turns out it's a momentary switch. Is there a way to make it work, or do I need an on/off switch?

EDIT: Nevermind, I figured out the switch pulls out of the handle and is a 16mm standard switch. Ordered a on/off latching type switch as a replacement.

 

[RockRanger]

It does look good. The donor body is shot, but looks good from the inside. If you look at the bottom of the picture of the interior gut, you can see the rust coming through the body mount bolt holes and the rear floor seam. Its about dead. A few more years, and the interior would have looked like the undercarriage. I was going to pull the gas tank skid plate until I got a good look at it. Mine looks better, even with all the dents. One of the many things I checked for rust was the doors. With it so close coming through the rockers, I thought the doors might be rusting on the bottoms. They look better than mine, no dings or rust.

Anybody know the difficulty level of removing the heating / AC parts from the right side of the dash? Is it bolted in from the engine side, or are the fasteners hidden?

I am not sure but I bet @Kris Guilbeaux or @NICE59FORDF100 would know the most about the inter workings of the first gen.

 

[BKennedy]

I got the donor dash and entire interior wiring harness out intact. That is a lot of wiring. The only areas I think I might have to do some splicing are for the dome and third brake light wiring because the cage is up tight against the head liner and I don't think I can get the wiring past it. Not critical components anyways. Found out the wiring harness for the electronic 4x4 is a separate harness, so don't need that. Also allows me to pull the controller box from the left rear quarter panel.
Interior wiring harness in all its glory;

The carnage;

Pulled the EEC to keep it safe. Does anybody know if these two are interchangeable?
Mine (the dirty one that got wet);

Donor (nice);

 

[BKennedy]

Kris answered my question about the EEC's. He doesn't see any reason why they wouldn't be interchangeable. The VET-1 unit I pulled from the donor is the last, latest updated version. I am going with that one.

 

[Explorin'VA]

Good to know about the separate 4x4 wire harness. Would make replacing a manual t case with an electric shift one pretty simple. For what it's worth I tried using ecu's from a few different years and models when I did the auto to m5od swap with no difference; however, I'm not sure if that's always the case. I ended up using the original ecu from my truck because it worked fine with the transmission swap and it was newer.

 

[BKennedy]

Won't really know if the donor EEC works for a while yet. Spent part of today stripping the old harness out of my Explorer and cleaning the floor. Figure I might as well get it clean-ish before I start installing the donor harness. Its ready to receive donor parts.

Strange the way Ford ran the wiring. Right side tail lamps, wiring goes through the interior. Left side tail lamps, through frame. I haven't pulled the frame wiring yet.

Going to AAA and maybe DMV later today to turn in the title. Its a requirement to receive a salvage certificate. I hope they let me keep the license plates, they are the originals.

 

[BKennedy]

California requires that when a vehicle is determined to be a total loss by an insurance company, the insurance company notifies DMV. If the owner chooses to retain the vehicle they are required, within 10 days from the date of settlement, to turn in the certificate of title, the plates and fill out a salvage certificate application form. When the vehicle is ready to be brought back to life, there is an entirely different process (application for title, registration, brake and light inspection, and inspection by the CHP).

Went to AAA office and was told they can't help with salvage vehicles. Went to DMV, sat in a very uncomfortable chair for 2.5 hours. When my number came up, I was told that AAA did not notify DMV yet of the total loss. I showed DMV the form that AAA sent me stating they did notify DMV. Lady at the counter was very nice, and told me I did not need to worry about the 10 day requirement since it usually takes 45 days for the insurance notification to go through. She advised me to bring everything for both processes when I get it road worthy again. I wonder if the DMV never updates their records if I will end up with a non-salvage title.

 

[BKennedy]

Got the complete interior wiring harness installed today. Also covered the transmission gear indicator in the instrument cluster. Am happy with both. Should get dash, brake booster, pedals and steering column in tomorrow, if all goes well. After that, I will need to work on the wiring under the body and see what is what. Still not sure if I need any of it or not.

 

[josh40601]

instrument cluster turned out great!

 

[BKennedy]

Had my daughter's boyfriend come over to help me install the donor dash. There is no way it is going to clear the cage. Tomorrow, I am going to cut out the "A" pillars of the cage to install the dash. I found four locations where I can cut out the pillars and have enough room to sleeve them back in after the dash is installed. I was hoping to have it running today. I guess its a minor setback, considering it was on fire a few weeks ago, but it was still unexpected.

 

[mounty71]

Will you be parting out the donor when you're done with it?

 

[BKennedy]

I am parting it out now, what you need?
Interior parts, engine, transfer case, doors, hatch, fenders, hood, grille and headlights, tail lamps, rear side glass and electrical are all spoken for. Really the only things left will be the rear diff, transmission and front arms, and some misc. parts. Arms and diff have a lot of surface rust. Transmission shifted great on the 20 minute ride home.

 

[BKennedy]

I got the dash installed today!! Its starting to look like a vehicle that might actually run someday. I was going to install the steering wheel and console but thought it should wait until I get the cage finished. I had to cut this part of the cage out;

It gave me a chance to weld the ends of the dash cross bar that I couldn't before (no room). The paint is drying, the sleeves are cut, plug holes are drilled, and its ready to go back in. I don't think I will have any more time for this until Monday.

Dash IN!