Ferdinand Posted September 11, 2018 Share Posted September 11, 2018 My name is Jamie Helmick and I live in Barnesville Ohio. I have 7 loves in my life. My Lord, My wife, my 4 daughters, and my Bronco. I look forward to learning from you all since all I have ever learned about wrenching has come from experience. And from what I can tell there is a lot of that here. I am working on an '85 Bronco named "Ferdinand" by my youngest, and it has been a journey to say the least. Drove 2 hours to get it. Test drove it twice. Ran well and strong. Then about 45 minutes into the trip home with it, it caught fire... Hence the project. (I have to admit, bringing it the rest of the way home on a flatbed was pretty depressing!) 1985, 351W, 52K miles before the fire. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pebcak Posted September 11, 2018 Share Posted September 11, 2018 Looks like a fun project to do with the kids and Mrs! Hope to be able to assist if I can. I'm still learnin as I go but I'll help if I can! On Tue, Sep 11, 2018, 09:21 Ferdinand [via Bullnose Enthusiasts] <redacted_email_address> wrote: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Lewis Posted September 11, 2018 Share Posted September 11, 2018 Welcome, Jamie! Certainly glad you joined. Tough luck on the fire. What caused it? And, what did it burn up? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferdinand Posted September 11, 2018 Author Share Posted September 11, 2018 Thanks Pebcak! Here is a pic of the progress so far. This represents about 8 months worth of work even though it doesn't look like it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grumpin Posted September 11, 2018 Share Posted September 11, 2018 Welcome, that's tough. But that is a good looking Bronco! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ford F834 Posted September 11, 2018 Share Posted September 11, 2018 Welcome! Glad you joined, I like your project. Good to see kids joining in too. Sorry to hear about the fire, and I commend your determination to restore it 🙂 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferdinand Posted September 12, 2018 Author Share Posted September 12, 2018 Welcome, Jamie! Certainly glad you joined. Tough luck on the fire. What caused it? And, what did it burn up? Evening Gary, My best guess is that it must have backfired through the carb and caught fire. I can't even begin to tell of all the "interesting" things I discovered through further investigation into the sellers claims about the Bronco, but it did actually have a new carb and wires, so I am not sure if something was off there or not. I did notice during the tear down that he had the throttle return spring perch between the carb and the intake so that may have even let a little fuel/air mix escape and maybe enough engine temp set it off? Who knows? I inspected the carb the best I could and there seemed to be no damage. So, that makes me think maybe it didn't start there. I bought a rebuild kit from Edelbrock and am anxious if my first ever carb rebuild will be a success ;o). Fire wise, I thankfully flagged down a cruiser and grabbed their fire extinguisher to put out the fire before it destroyed the hood. (I have the pull pin from that extinguisher as my key ring). From a damage standpoint it really just melted everything rubber or plastic. What really did me in, motor-wise, was when the FD showed up, pulled my air cleaner and proceeded to drowned the motor. Literally. I've tried to take pictures as I have worked along the last 10 months, but I am no photo journalist by any means. Most of the pics were for reference since its faster than labeling everything, which I still had to do. I rebuilt an '82 F-150 a little more than 20 years ago and it was a little bit of a trip down memory lane for me. I also lost my father last year unexpectedly when he and I were on a motorcycle trip heading down to NC, so its been good therapy as well. By God's good grace we persevere. I have replaced the gas tank & straps, sending unit, fuel lines, brake lines, restored the 9.0 rear end with bearings and seals, front main seal on the C6, and new radiator so far. I have spent many hours with wire wheels, grinders, rust converters, and sand blasting and am far from finished, but I am pleased with the progress so far. I just wish I had more time to work on it. My shop time is usually from 10p to when ever I lose momentum. I happened to find a blue '86 Bronco at a local junk yard (the exact opposite of the one you have pictures of) and the guy towed it to my house for free and just told me to keep track of what I used and he will come pick it up whenever I call! That sure restored some faith in humanity! So, it has been helpful to look off of, but man did a lot of things change in just one year! I did also find the Bishko folks and bought a full PDF version of the service manual (over 2,000 pages of it anyway) and it has been a great help. Anyway, I am rambling on. Thanks a million for creating a space like this for Bullnose folks to learn a few things!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Lewis Posted September 12, 2018 Share Posted September 12, 2018 Evening Gary, My best guess is that it must have backfired through the carb and caught fire. I can't even begin to tell of all the "interesting" things I discovered through further investigation into the sellers claims about the Bronco, but it did actually have a new carb and wires, so I am not sure if something was off there or not. I did notice during the tear down that he had the throttle return spring perch between the carb and the intake so that may have even let a little fuel/air mix escape and maybe enough engine temp set it off? Who knows? I inspected the carb the best I could and there seemed to be no damage. So, that makes me think maybe it didn't start there. I bought a rebuild kit from Edelbrock and am anxious if my first ever carb rebuild will be a success ;o). Fire wise, I thankfully flagged down a cruiser and grabbed their fire extinguisher to put out the fire before it destroyed the hood. (I have the pull pin from that extinguisher as my key ring). From a damage standpoint it really just melted everything rubber or plastic. What really did me in, motor-wise, was when the FD showed up, pulled my air cleaner and proceeded to drowned the motor. Literally. I've tried to take pictures as I have worked along the last 10 months, but I am no photo journalist by any means. Most of the pics were for reference since its faster than labeling everything, which I still had to do. I rebuilt an '82 F-150 a little more than 20 years ago and it was a little bit of a trip down memory lane for me. I also lost my father last year unexpectedly when he and I were on a motorcycle trip heading down to NC, so its been good therapy as well. By God's good grace we persevere. I have replaced the gas tank & straps, sending unit, fuel lines, brake lines, restored the 9.0 rear end with bearings and seals, front main seal on the C6, and new radiator so far. I have spent many hours with wire wheels, grinders, rust converters, and sand blasting and am far from finished, but I am pleased with the progress so far. I just wish I had more time to work on it. My shop time is usually from 10p to when ever I lose momentum. I happened to find a blue '86 Bronco at a local junk yard (the exact opposite of the one you have pictures of) and the guy towed it to my house for free and just told me to keep track of what I used and he will come pick it up whenever I call! That sure restored some faith in humanity! So, it has been helpful to look off of, but man did a lot of things change in just one year! I did also find the Bishko folks and bought a full PDF version of the service manual (over 2,000 pages of it anyway) and it has been a great help. Anyway, I am rambling on. Thanks a million for creating a space like this for Bullnose folks to learn a few things!! Sorry for the loss of your father. That must have been traumatic. But, fixing something, like a burned truck, can be very theraputic. So, with the help of your family I'm sure this has been a big help. And, bringing the other truck to your house and offering to take it back was such a nice thing to do. Yes, it surely restored your faith in humanity. What do you have left on your to-do list? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferdinand Posted September 13, 2018 Author Share Posted September 13, 2018 Sorry for the loss of your father. That must have been traumatic. But, fixing something, like a burned truck, can be very theraputic. So, with the help of your family I'm sure this has been a big help. And, bringing the other truck to your house and offering to take it back was such a nice thing to do. Yes, it surely restored your faith in humanity. What do you have left on your to-do list? Really at this point I am looking to wrap everything up and get it on the road. My next steps will be to get it in time, sort out the rest of the vacuum and wiring to what I need and what I don't. I am not under any emissions requirements where I live so I didn't bother replacing any of that. I don't really want to cut everything up wiring-wise though so I may just try to find a way to seal off the unused plugs and what not and try to make them look halfway decent. I need to put the bumpers and the front clip on, get an exhaust put on and a front end alignment and I may try to drive it for the winter. I ended up putting some Headman long tube headers on it and I am a little concerned that the driver's side flange is so close to the front drive shaft but we will see what the exhaust shop can do. If it runs as well as I hope it does I will save any body work for another year or two. Once I get it rolling I will likely work on all the rubber window seals and the passenger side window motor. Here are the pics that actually sold me on wanting this Bronco. My '82 F150's interior was red, my Dad's '84 Straight 6 was Blue, so I was hoping for tan and it looked pretty clean to me. If you or anyone sees anything in my rig that needs attention or you/they have a question about please sone hesitate to point it out or ask! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferdinand Posted September 13, 2018 Author Share Posted September 13, 2018 Welcome! Glad you joined, I like your project. Good to see kids joining in too. Sorry to hear about the fire, and I commend your determination to restore it 🙂 Thanks Ford F834. My oldest turns 17 tomorrow and she is dying to drive it to school once it's road-worthy! ;o) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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