Ferdinand - '85 Bronco 351W XLT "Phoenix" rebuild project...

Ferdinand wrote

I just am not sure if I see much of a difference, but I know the power route is 10x better!

The positive side of the circuit is no more important than the negative side.  Using a digital multimeter in the 2VDC range, measure voltage from each headlight's negative terminal to the battery negative post while the headlights are on HI.  It should be <0.7VDC, but closer to 0 is better.  The higher it is, the less power the headlights are getting.

Thanks Steve. I will definitely check that out. I did re-grind and coat my headlight grounds but I can see that the factory wiring is a bit rough still. I will be replacing that shortly as well. I will let you know what I have

So a little more work tonight trying to start getting my punch out list reduced.

Swapped the dash lights out for LED's Need a few different bulbs for the courtesy/dome light and map lights. I regret that I didn't take any pictures of that 🙃

I did replace my right side window motor:





 And I replaced my right side window weatherstripping:

I had real easy success using this small pry bar and just working it down the row.





Here is a comparison of the old and new.

Took advantage of the nice weather this afternoon and was able to do a little bit more on the inner door clean up. My plan is to clean it up and soundproof it the way I did the Left side. That turned out much better than I expected.

While I am not a huge fan of topless Broncos the novelty is tempting enough. I have never owned a Bronco (always F150's or F350's) but since I have one, I thought I would pull the top and take the kids for ice cream. It was a great time for sure.





My dad had some old camper jacks that he used to take his cap off when he found himself without help... Which, I am pretty sure, most of us are most of time, and that made pulling the top off much easier!

I changed my exterior lower weather seal on my rear window today once I got the top off. (Not that you need to do that for that job by any means), but I am trying to whittle away at that punch-out list.

I still have that random backfire that I can't figure out... I think I am going to give the carb screws another half turn. I gave them one full turn and it seems to be backfiring less. That is my only course of action so far. If you think there is something else it could be please sound off!

Have a peaceful evening gentlemen.

'Tis morning now.  Evening was very peaceful - I slept.  

Anyway, how much does the cap weigh?  When I had a Miata I had a ceiling-mounted pulley arrangement that would lift the hardtop off, and I've often wondered if that could be rigged up for a Bronco's cap.  Obviously the latter weighs a lot more.

On the backfire, that's caused by incomplete combustion of the fuel in the cylinders, which allows unburned fuel to accumulate until it gets lit off by something, like the catalytic converter or hot exhaust.  But incomplete combustion can be caused by either an overly-rich mix or an extra lean mix.  However, either of those should cause rough running in some situations.  Does the engine run rough?

Are you turning the idle mix screws in/clockwise or out/counter?

Good afternoon brother.  Long time no chat. Sorry about that. So many crazy things have transpired in the Helmick household in 2019...

The cap probably weighs about 200 lbs. maybe? the older I get the heavier everything feels 🙃.

It is more awkward that anything else and yes, I have been tempted to make a pulley rig for the top but the ceiling height in my garage is pretty low and once you add in my opener, I'm out of room before I get started. I just brought in my small 5X8 trailer and lowered it down onto that for the time being. I don't plan to have the top off for long because I need to park it inside the garage and the wife isn't crazy about that... we have always lived somewhere with a 2 car garage but rarely ever room to park one vehicle in it let alone two!

The back firing is working on me. It doesn't happen very often but it occurs most often under load in drive. I am turning my mister screws in as I go. (Not sure if you remember, but I bought a new carb after the second rebuild because I was still having that stupid idling problem that we finally found out was the engine shop swapping in a 302 cam with no notice of its firing order 😫) SO, since 1406's come pretty well set out of the box I didn't think I would need to do much but it does smell like it is running very rich. So I have went a full turn in (clockwise) so far and am considering another 1/2 turn at least and see what happens.

The Bronco fires right up at the bump of the key and idles great, but under load it will occasionally back fire once or sometimes successively until I let off the gas. Outside of being embarrassing I certainly am gun-shy about ANY backfiring since that is how this guy got torched...

Side note, I do not have my transmission kick down lever installed presently. I have just been manually shifting from 1, 2, & 3. And the backfire never seems to happen in first gear.

I want to get my linkage back together but I have yet to track down how much taller an Edelbrock Air Gap is over a factory intake setup for the 5.8L 4BBL HO. I am leaning on the distance of the rod being fairly important given its angles so I may make up something with small holes drilled every 1/4" or so in case I need to do some fine tuning to the length of it. Please weigh in if you have ever heard of someone doing this already.

Btw, I read through your post on the vacuum controlled coolant valve to keep the coolant from coming through the heater core while in AC mode. All I can say is that you are a craftsman my friend. Great work!

Slowly working through LED bulb swaps, passenger side door rebuild, heater core swap, (and valving my coolant hoses), and an HID Lighting upgrade. (the headlight relay really seemed to help!)
 

Crazy things?  I hope the end result was good?

As for the pulley idea, it doesn't sound like it'll work in your garage.  It does take a bit of vertical space to pull it off, literally, and you don't seem to have it.  Bummer.

On the backfiring, if it is under load then I doubt the idle mix is going to make a difference.  The idle screws aren't supposed to change the air/fuel ratio above maybe 1000 - 1200 RPM.

In my limited experience a backfire is caused by a very lean air/fuel mix that doesn't truly fire and is still burning when it exits the cylinder.  Get a few of those and you do finally get an explosion.

So, is your backfire under part throttle or full throttle?  I'd guess part throttle, which is when the metering rods are fully down.  Maybe you could put a vacuum gauge on and see if the backfire happens at a certain vacuum.  If so then maybe you'd want to install a stronger spring under the rods to pop them up at a higher vacuum level.

Another thought, assuming the backfire is at part throttle, is to floor it when the backfire occurs.  That will pop the rods up and enrichen the mix immediately.

Wait - I missed the HID upgrade!  Tell us more, please!

This back fire is it out the Exh. or carb?
I am thinking out the carb because of the camp fire thing you had.
That could be a sign of a flat cam shaft lobe and that will show up more under load and not unless it is really flat.
What happens is you build up more combustion pressure under load and if the exh valve does not open all the way to expel the gases when the intake valve opens the gases come back up the intake track.

There are a few ways to check this in no order.
Pull each plug wire 1 at a time to see if it stops and that will tell you what cly. you need to look closer at.
Once you know what hole to look at you can pull a valve cover and measure the rockers for lift.
Pull the cam shaft and measure each lobe.

I have also had a bad spark plug cause a back fire out the exh.
At idle it was nice and smooth but give it a little throttle and it would start popping.
At first I was thinking a valve hanging open when the RPM came up because this motor only was run when I needed to more the car and that was not often.
I don't remember how I found it was a plug but changed them all out and it ran like new.
Dave ----

Good afternoon everyone! Man! This sight is exploding with growth and good content. I am so glad to see everyone wrenching, and solving problems! As Gary has said, keep peeling those onions!!

I do have a bit of a quandary  <again>...

Went out to start Ferdinand the other day and nothing... Nada, Zip. Good battery, all new grounds, new "everything" except the switch in the column. What is most peculiar, is that I don't even see a voltage drop on my meter when I turn the key. I literally only hear the key cycling in the ignition cylinder. I never had ignition issues with my '82 F150, but I have heard many times that the Duraspark ignition modules can be a little less than reliable. Is this the behavior of a bad module? (I have a Duraspark II)

I had to tear the column out and replace it in my '82 due to someone stealing it (breaking off the ignition switch portion of the column to start it with a screwdriver) and that was NOOOOO Fun. It's really the only original part left in the system but it was working flawlessly before, just one day, it up and quits.

I am willing to do whatever I can to troubleshoot / diagnose so that I do NOT have to pull the key switch from the column.

As always, and advice suggestions, tips or warnings would be greatly appreciated!!

(I do hope to get back into the "back-fire research" here in early spring.)

ONWARD!

Try starting in neutral, instead of Park.

If that doesn't do it you should check the connector on the side of the transmission that goes to the neutral safety switch.
It should have 2 red blue wires.

You can jump these two together, and then try starting.

Rembrant,

What are your thoughts on me trying to swap in a manual 5speed from a '93 F150 into the '85 Bronco?
 Yours seemed to turn out killer!!

Ferdinand wrote

Rembrant,

What are your thoughts on me trying to swap in a manual 5speed from a '93 F150 into the '85 Bronco?
 Yours seemed to turn out killer!!

You'd already asked him.  Great!

I do try to reach out to anyone I can with similar experience. 😉 My skills only get me so far. And that’s not too far at all when dealing with transmission swaps!! 😂

Good afternoon everyone,

Thanks to those that have made suggestions on the starting issues. To date, no progress, nothing has got me past a "dead key turn".

I am hoping to either start a discussion or someone can tell me where to find it (as I am sure I am not the only one to think along these lines) but I am curious as to everyone's thoughts on the best heavier 5 speed manual transmission for my '85 Bronco. (Mild 351W build, 4" lift, 35" tires). I had a chance to pick up a M5R2, but bailed on it last minute due to no known mileage and a $150 sale price. (I hope I don't later regret that).

However it does appear that the ZF S542 would be a great option given my expected use. I am very interested to hear from you all concerning the "adaptability" issues that may come up and what all is needed to connect said transmission to an early '85, given so little vacuum and no computer.

Thanks in advance to all those that take their valuable time and wealth of experience to help some of us lost souls find our way through the unknown! (at least to me)  

(I still have yet to take the time to work through all the plans to rebuild the AC, but sure appreciate all the info!!!)

Jamie - There aren't all that many options.  The M5OD-R2 is a good transmission, but with a healthy 351W and 35" tires I'd go ZF5 or ZF5.  It'll bolt up perfectly, assuming you get one from a 300 six or Windsor.

As for what you'll need, you'll need to move your crossmember back ~1".  But, as you'll see in my thread on Big Blue's Transformation, you can reuse the crossmember itself as well as the gussets.

You will also need the tall transmission cover, the hump in the floor, from a later truck with a ZF5 as your existing cover won't clear the ZF.

Your existing transfer case will bolt onto the ZF, although the extra inch of rearward placement will probably mean you'll need to make the shift link adjustable.  I'll show you how soon when I do it - again.  Or, use the one I've already "adjusted" - if I can find it.  But it is easy if you have a hacksaw and a welder.

On the driveshaft, I didn't have to change it on Dad's truck and assume I won't on Big Blue, but we shall see.

Excellent! Thank you very much Gary!

I'll weigh in and say that my transfer case shifter was a direct swap from my previous T-19.

I can't say for SURE that the Windsor bell pattern Zf is the same, but I didn't need to do any fussing with it.

Re-reading this post on FTE it looks like part of the problem is due to interference between the boots, causing me to move the boot a bit.

But my rememberer says part of the problem is also due to the extra ~1" between the shift lever's pivot point and the t-case, which put the lever in the wrong position.

In either case, the pictures of the way I adjusted the linkage are on that post, as are pics of the two different transmission covers.  (I really dislike the fact that FTE doesn't allow copying a link to a pic so you can post it elsewhere.)

I researched the small block ZF a bit as a possibility for my 1981. I believe it was Ron Reamer here that documented that there is a length difference with the small block 4x4 ZF which requires both driveshafts to be changed. (Longer front shaft, shorter rear shaft). The front shaft can potentially come from the donor pickup, but the rear chart you will probably have to get made at a shop. This is unfortunate since the Bronco rear shaft is already short enough to warrant a double cardan joint. If the donor truck is a straight six, be aware that the zero balance flywheel isn’t compatible with a V8.