1982 Bronco 351 4x4 - Code name Esperanza

I'm a bit late to the party, but it looks like you are making good progress on the carb.  And the accelerator pump would be my first place to look regarding the leaning out in transition.  However, the metering rod springs can have an effect on that as well since a stronger spring will cause the rods to pop up to enrichen the mix earlier as you tip in.

As I am home bound and limited in what I can do I am still checking off the small things that have been on the list for a while that are not strenuous.

I pulled the trim off the doors and ground off the pins. Floated the area with glazing putty. Need to fill the holes where the screws were.

I pulled the blower motor and resistor array and got the shop vac in there. Cleaned a lot out, but thinking now maybe I should have hit the exchanger with the pressure washer to clear grime out and improve airflow some more.

Finally installed the spark plug lead organizers I bought before the engine rebuild. I should have put these in long ago. Made it easier to route the wires at the distributor.

Carried out some more under hood rewiring and putting wire into conduit and deployed zip ties. Not that you can really tell in the pictures but it makes me happy knowing it is an improvement.






The big ticket item was the Lokar cable upgrade for the throttle and speed control.

I had installed their AOD TV cable a while ago and a matching throttle cable. The stock speed control cable did not line up well with the Lokar stuff so I had bought their cruise cable. I updated the throttle cable as I had cut it too short previously, these Lokar boxes had been sat in a tote for a good 12 months...

Install was okay, I had to trim the cable mounting in the speed control unit ever so slightly to get the ball end of the cable to swing through. It was a dermal job. The old cable would not pull out of the plastic housing so I drilled it out from the inside, again very simple.

I had to remove the stock throttle/speed control mounting bracket. There was a ground cable from the cab to the intake at that mount so I put the ground back on the stud - that doesn’t seem right so I need to look up the grounds locations.

I had the Lokar throttle cable plate assembly already on my carb but had to fully take apart to add a bracket to allow all 3 cables. The top is the throttle cable, the bottom is the AOD TV cable and the right is the speed control cable.

Once all assembled Idid my best to get the initial tensions set but it will take a bit of driving and faffing to get that all dialed in.






I think it looks better and I sure hope it all plays nicely. Will be a few days before I can find out.



I dug out my old power mirror switch and took it apart to see how it works, it is very basic but intricate. I put a post on next door looking for someone that can do CAD and 3D print to see if they can help me with rebuilding them, figured it is the only way I am going to get these mirrors to work again. A guy got back to me and we are trying to work out how to get him the measurements.

Need to look at the list of easy things for tomorrow. Maybe tackle the AFR gauge power cable re route and look at all my grounds in general. I have new rubber for the pedals and tire valve dust caps, so looking like a very lazy day…

Some more pics..

Nasty stuff ready to catch fire! Second pic is the small hole where the resistor pack sits. What a design!






De-trimmed the door.



The rare and broken power mirror switches. I do have another one actually mounted on the car but some one caught the levers and broke them off and they are missing. This happened a long time back, I think it was the transmission place. I can’t find these parts anywhere. Anyway, I only have 1 lever now. So I am thinking 3D printing is the way to go here.

Glad you caught that debris around your resistor!  

There's a guy in Portland that has been printing window and power lock replacement bezels for a while.
https://bluetruckparts.com/   Maybe he could help with your mirror switch?

He has an eBay storefront "bluetruckparts"

Cheers Jim, I have bought things from him before, nice to see he has expanded his line and taken another $140 from me today!

I will see how this local works out and then reach out to bluetruck parts.

. Sorry, I didn't realize you knew of him.

Just thought that he already had the process down and was familiar with this era Ford switches.

Hopefully the person from Next Door can model and print what you need to fix your mirror!  

All good, since you mentioned him I found his bezels and ordered them all, so you cost me $140 🤣🤣🤣

Just ordered the Lokar dipstick to match the rest…

I have a problem. 🤣

My name is Gary, and I have a problem. 😎

Seriously, it looks good!  Lokar is good stuff and it really makes things look well thought out.

The guy came to look at the power mirror bits. He lives a few streets away from me and has 25 years of CAD experience and is reasonably confident he can replicate the parts needed.

He took the bag of bits and is going to tinker and generate the stl files. He will also recommend a printing place to get them done.

He only wants payment if it all works.

Such a nice guy, we spent an hour chatting and he was interested in the work I am doing on Espy and is looking forward to the challenge of modeling the parts.

It is going to take a few days for him to make the files but this is happening apparently. It would be awesome to have the power mirrors working fully!

Wow, the guy came through!!

Gonna get the files tomorrow but here is the overview.

My friend is going to do a test print for me and if that looks good I will pay for a print service to make them real nice!

Wow!  Fantastic news

That was quick.
I hope it works well for you.  

Wow!  That's great!  Can't wait to see the results.  

Indeed. I will post pics.

If this all works out, I can share the STL files just in case it helps someone down the line.

The test print worked out pretty well. some small filing needed.

I have put an order in on shapeways for 2 sets of everything in tougher material. This should arrive late October and I will be much closer to having working mirrors again.

As I tried to clean up the base of one of the switches it cracked and split so I may need to get that done too.

As for other "stuff":

Installed spark lead organizer things. looks much nicer
Installed Lokar dipstick on the engine. What a pain.
Replaced bolts on headers with ARP as 3 were missing on drivers side!! still need to do passenger side
Torqued valve cover nuts as they were loose

Booked her in to a local shop for a tune, I have resigned myself to needing pro help tuning the carb and setting the timing. That is booked in for 11/6

Three manifold bolts on one side missing?!?!

How thick are your header flanges?
Have you considered safety wire or Stage-8 locks?

Hi Jim,

I just don't think the shop torqued them down. Like I said the valve cover nuts were loose too.

Not considered other options as the ARP bolts when on nicely and torqued down well.

If these do work loose I will definitely look at other solutions, thanks for the suggestions!

The printed parts:



Assembled



Next to the base. The holes for the pins need enlarging, not an issue. You can see the “rotor” cracked when I inserted the metal stick/knob/thing so that will need enlarging a smidge too

Sorry to hear that the shop didn't torque your engine fasteners.
That's really disappointing.

The parts look good!
Hope they all work well with your mirrors and switches too!

Yes, the parts look good.

This weekend Espy got a new distributor. A MSD pro billet. It was a birthday present from the wife 🤣

Today I took Espy to Mike’s auto and his guy gave Espy a tune up. He said he was happy how I had the carb set up but the 14degrees BTDC was not enough and he ended up dialing to 20 initial and 38 total.

The engine is running great!

He also commented on the awful transmission and said to go to the junk yard and just grab an AOD, slap a new toque converter on it and call it good!

So, I’ll leave that here to sink in 😂