1984 Bronco build thread

[Gary Lewis]

ramps would be excellent and I have 2 sets but I suspect the easiest way to get it onto ramps at the moment would be to jack it up. Gary, Im not sure on leaving the rear wheels on the ground. Id love to do the whole job with all four wheels on the ground but clearance to the frame is an issue with the transmission /transmission jack and my buddy and I aren't man enough to man handle the 435 up onto the jack laying under the truck. I would consider pulling the front clip, mating the engine and tranny and then flying it in all in one piece but we would need a substantially heavier engine hoist I think.

There has been more progress!

I used fiberglass header wrap to wrap my front exh manifold, hopefully that will keep it from melting my alternator harness again. it turns out that wrapping that three into one manifold is not trivial to do cleanly, so I wont be gracing you guys with pictures. I suspect it will be very functional.

my new valve cover came with an old rusty breather cap painted yellow. I soaked it in DNA for about 5 days then cleaned it up and painted it. A bit of hose has allowed my to adapt it to a 3/8 bung KN breather. sometimes the little things like that are the most stimulating and rewarding.

I abandoned the idea of mounting the new bluetooth receiver on the center speaker bracket, I think it weighs too much for that. Instead I discovered that there is just barely enough room on the firewall under the heater core and fan.

in this location the receiver will be invisible unless you put your head in the passenger side floor board, should have a decent heat sink in the form of the fire wall, and its weight certainly wont be straining anything. I have the power wired up through a relay to the battery and operated by power from the original radio power wire. another perk is that the area of the dash where the factory radio lived is now completely empty which leaves an ideal space for any future electrical projects. I also received a spool of new speaker wire, I plan to attempt to pull/ install that this evening if there is enough time after going to the engine shop to check on my block, hitting the grocery store, cooking dinner, and everything else.

Yes, it might be easiest to jack it up and place the ramps under it that way. And that should be very safe.

And that breather ought to work nicely.

As for the bluetooth receiver, I like that mounting location. Should work out very nicely.

[StraightSix]

Yes, it might be easiest to jack it up and place the ramps under it that way. And that should be very safe.

And that breather ought to work nicely.

As for the bluetooth receiver, I like that mounting location. Should work out very nicely.

Hi Guys!

I got the radio wiring finished up last night and reinstalled the dash including my new radio delete bezel. Thanks again Corey! My original AM pattern bezel had been "worked on" by someone with a dremel tool to fit an FM radio and it always looked like junk.

running the passenger side speaker wire was easy. I used the originals to pull wire through the door grommet into the dash for the front and I snaked a piece of thing steel braided wire from the top side of the dash down to the floorboard and used that to pull the rear speaker wire from the floorboard to the dash. there is a channel under the passenger side door sill. the driver side ended up being more difficult because there is so much more going on over there and there are clips everywhere in the harness. all in all, I could probably do it again in about 1.5 hours, so not too bad.

Ill hold to my promise about not clouding this thread with engine build stuff but here is a shot of the head with the valve seats cut. pressed in exh seats, oversized valves, hand ported and hand polished chambers and thread in valve studs to accommodate the non stock valves and rockers. I think the engine is coming soon. Im running out of other projects, so thats a good thing for sure!

[StraightSix]

Yes, it might be easiest to jack it up and place the ramps under it that way. And that should be very safe.

And that breather ought to work nicely.

As for the bluetooth receiver, I like that mounting location. Should work out very nicely.

Hi Guys!

The engine is getting close. we need to verify the cam timing, install the front cover and oil pan, and then the block is coming home. Ill dress the block (accessory drive, water pump, etc)on an engine stand, then its time to fly the engine in. Think ford blue, black trim, and raw aluminum. Im pretty excited.

do we have any battery buffs in the house? my cheap wally world battery that came in the bronco is completely dead and wont take a charge. rather than diddle with this one or play the revolving door game with warranty batteries, I want to just go buy a "good" battery. That is pretty much where my know how ends. I understand cold cranking amps, and that there are rules of thumb (1.5-2x engine cubic inches) for sizing the CCA of a battery to an engine. Id like something that will work well for starting the engine, be durable/ reliable/ last a long time, and I also have a winch which I use a fair amount. I did some reading and learned that the deep discharging of a battery caused by winch use is really no good for a normal car battery. perhaps in the future I can work out a dual battery setup and incorporate a battery purely for winching /accessory power purposes. For now, I just want a good "normal" battery that might stand up a little better to the horrible abuse of the winch. I dont often operate the vehicle for prolonged periods of time at bizarre angles, so I assume I dont need an Absorbent Glass Matt battery, but I dont really know.

Oh,

I almost forgot. Bill Ambler (who can be found over at fordsix) worked my ds2 distributor over. He spent about 20 minutes talking to me about my engine, the vehicle, transmission, induction, carb, etc. door to door, my distributor was gone for less than a week! It came back with a custom mechanical advance curve, a modified and preset vacuum advance, plenty of new parts and a lot of clearly custom work. I couldn't recommend his services more highly, I really think I got my moneys worth. Thanks Bill!

[Pete Whitstone]

I dont often operate the vehicle for prolonged periods of time at bizarre angles, so I assume I dont need an Absorbent Glass Matt battery, but I dont really know.

AGM's aren't just good for high angle stuff, they are absolutely ideal for vehicles that don't get get operated that often. I have one on my bike and it can sit for months and still fire right up. Lead acid batteries kind of lack in that department, in my experience.

 

[Gary Lewis]

Hi Guys!

The engine is getting close. we need to verify the cam timing, install the front cover and oil pan, and then the block is coming home. Ill dress the block (accessory drive, water pump, etc)on an engine stand, then its time to fly the engine in. Think ford blue, black trim, and raw aluminum. Im pretty excited.

do we have any battery buffs in the house? my cheap wally world battery that came in the bronco is completely dead and wont take a charge. rather than diddle with this one or play the revolving door game with warranty batteries, I want to just go buy a "good" battery. That is pretty much where my know how ends. I understand cold cranking amps, and that there are rules of thumb (1.5-2x engine cubic inches) for sizing the CCA of a battery to an engine. Id like something that will work well for starting the engine, be durable/ reliable/ last a long time, and I also have a winch which I use a fair amount. I did some reading and learned that the deep discharging of a battery caused by winch use is really no good for a normal car battery. perhaps in the future I can work out a dual battery setup and incorporate a battery purely for winching /accessory power purposes. For now, I just want a good "normal" battery that might stand up a little better to the horrible abuse of the winch. I dont often operate the vehicle for prolonged periods of time at bizarre angles, so I assume I dont need an Absorbent Glass Matt battery, but I dont really know.

Oh,

I almost forgot. Bill Ambler (who can be found over at fordsix) worked my ds2 distributor over. He spent about 20 minutes talking to me about my engine, the vehicle, transmission, induction, carb, etc. door to door, my distributor was gone for less than a week! It came back with a custom mechanical advance curve, a modified and preset vacuum advance, plenty of new parts and a lot of clearly custom work. I couldn't recommend his services more highly, I really think I got my moneys worth. Thanks Bill!

I have dual Odyssey Extreme batteries in Big Blue. I like them, but they aren't perfect as they don't fit normal battery hold-downs.

The aux battery, shown below, is a 34-PC1500. It is an AGM and they say "up to 400 cycles at 80% depth of discharge". I use it for the winch and the inverter, and I feed both batteries with a 3G alternator.

[StraightSix]

I dont often operate the vehicle for prolonged periods of time at bizarre angles, so I assume I dont need an Absorbent Glass Matt battery, but I dont really know.

AGM's aren't just good for high angle stuff, they are absolutely ideal for vehicles that don't get get operated that often. I have one on my bike and it can sit for months and still fire right up. Lead acid batteries kind of lack in that department, in my experience.

Thanks Guys. Im leaning towards a "yellow top" deep cycle optima.

allegedly, Im going to be bringing the engine home today. we will see. Ill dress the block on the engine stand this week and fly the block in Saturday if all goes according to plan. pushrods wont come in until mid next week, so it probably wont run for another 10 days minimum.

[Gary Lewis]

Thanks Guys. Im leaning towards a "yellow top" deep cycle optima.

allegedly, Im going to be bringing the engine home today. we will see. Ill dress the block on the engine stand this week and fly the block in Saturday if all goes according to plan. pushrods wont come in until mid next week, so it probably wont run for another 10 days minimum.

I've heard good things about the Optima batteries.

And when you get the engine home show us some pics!

[StraightSix]

I've heard good things about the Optima batteries.

And when you get the engine home show us some pics!

Hi Guys! Big news - The engine is in my garage.

I managed to get the thermostat, water pump, alternator, fuel pump, intake/exhaust studs, water and oil senders and a few other odds and ends installed. Ill need to open up the holes on my engine mounts slightly. The only big issue Ive come across is that my valve cover is a long ways from sitting flush. I suppose I can try to find a different type of lock nut that wont cause interference problems, or start the "make my valve cover fit" dance.

anyways, I need to figure out the valve cover issue. I need to check my cam timing. Im hoping my degree wheel will arrive tomorrow. I made a dummy lifter and the piston stop today, and I have a line on a dial indicator/mag base I can borrow. Assuming the cam times out correctly and nothing really obtuse happens I think Im in line to fly the engine and the rest of the drive train in over the weekend. Of course there will still be loose ends o tie up but hopefully nothing that cant be sorted out in the engine bay.

Sorry, I know some of this is a little out of context here as much of the engine work has been documented over at FordSix.

hopefully the recurring nightmare Ive been having about the engine rolling out of the truck and onto the highway on my drive home from the shop will go away now. It feels really good to have everything back at my house and somewhat under my thumb again. major variables still in the air - cam timing, valve cover fitment, custom pushrods are being made for shipment tomorrow or the day after.

Thanks!

 

[Gary Lewis]

Hi Guys! Big news - The engine is in my garage.

I managed to get the thermostat, water pump, alternator, fuel pump, intake/exhaust studs, water and oil senders and a few other odds and ends installed. Ill need to open up the holes on my engine mounts slightly. The only big issue Ive come across is that my valve cover is a long ways from sitting flush. I suppose I can try to find a different type of lock nut that wont cause interference problems, or start the "make my valve cover fit" dance.

anyways, I need to figure out the valve cover issue. I need to check my cam timing. Im hoping my degree wheel will arrive tomorrow. I made a dummy lifter and the piston stop today, and I have a line on a dial indicator/mag base I can borrow. Assuming the cam times out correctly and nothing really obtuse happens I think Im in line to fly the engine and the rest of the drive train in over the weekend. Of course there will still be loose ends o tie up but hopefully nothing that cant be sorted out in the engine bay.

Sorry, I know some of this is a little out of context here as much of the engine work has been documented over at FordSix.

hopefully the recurring nightmare Ive been having about the engine rolling out of the truck and onto the highway on my drive home from the shop will go away now. It feels really good to have everything back at my house and somewhat under my thumb again. major variables still in the air - cam timing, valve cover fitment, custom pushrods are being made for shipment tomorrow or the day after.

Thanks!

It looks really good! Well done!

[Sac79]

It looks really good! Well done!

Really good indeed!

Do you have an extension on the oil pressure sender?