|
Rust never sleeps here in New England, and I'm fighting a losing battle with a stable of bad decisions. Now that summer is here and I've made some progress on my vehicles, mostly thanks to the wonderful kastein and the other guys from NEAI. I decided it's time to document my failures and successes in resurrecting a hillbilly-hosed Bronco, bringing up to par an F-150 my dad brought new and my outdoorsman brother thrashed into bits, keeping a WJ Jeep from falling apart while under the heavy abuse of my horse-obsessed wife-elect, and watching a now-new Focus slowly succumb to salt, dirt roads, and idiots in parking lots. The Vehicles 1988 Bronco XLT, 351ci V8 with a 3-spd AT  This is the current project and the vehicle I'm going to be working on the most in this thread. The body is dented, rusty as hell, and the PO had used some "creative" methods to repair it. 2004 Jeep Grand Cherokee Special Edition 4.0  My fiance is an equestrian. Along with this hobby comes late nights at the barn in the middle of nowhere, trips down torn up farm roads, and an inexplicable lust for the destruction of vehicles. She was for many years a Volkswagen fan, killing many Jettas and eventually a brand new Rabbit that barely outlasted the car loan. This culminated in a VR6 Jetta which puked the coolant system all over the driveway after a particularly nasty rural trip in a snowstorm. I pleaded with her to get something that was actually built for the abuse she was putting vehicles through and tried to sell her on the merits of an XJ. She insisted on a WJ because of the looks. I relented and now live with the fear that the transmission is going to nuke itself at any given moment. At least it's a TUPY 4.0. 2014 Focus SE, 2.0 with a 5 spd MT  After daily driving an E30 and then a turbo Subaru I blew up, I decided to be automotively sane and pick something up that was going to last and get me back and forth to work. This was within a couple months of buying it with less than 100 miles on the odo. The fiance got it stuck in the mud in our own driveway.   So we'll see how long that lasts. 1999 Ford F-150 Supercab, 4.6 V8 with the tow package No picture yet. My father bought this thing off the lot brand new. It was dealer maintained until the end of 2013 when he had the transmission and rear end rebuilt, and he let my brother use it until he could afford another truck. It's been over a year now and in that year the bed has been dented in by trees, the rockers are nearly gone, the motor is leaking oil like the oil pan is made out of a colander. The frame is still mint and rust free and the transmission and rear are still nearly new, however.. My brother has enough money to buy his dream truck and I'm inheriting this thing for the grand cost of $0 because we need to find a way to transport this doofus around:  His name is Orbit, by the way. Next: Wherein I spectacularly grenade an 8.8
|
#
¿
May 24, 2015 18:24
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ May 10, 2024 00:16 |
|
|
I picked the Bronco up last summer after I sold my E30 to a fellow NEAIer. I was looking for a fun 4x4 and this one kind of fell into my lap. Often my summer afternoons and evenings consist of killing time and sitting on a tailgate in a place like this:  I couldn't think of a better vehicle for what I wanted at the time. It was dirt cheap. The front hubs were done for, the rear tailgate wiring was toast and the PO's "fix" was a spare battery in the back you could touch the window motor wires to so you could take the top off, it had no exhaust from the cat back, and the rust was munching away at most of the body. The frame was solid, however, the truck only had 100k miles on it, the 351w ran very well, and, well, you can take the top off. Not to mention the wonderful 80's blue interior complete with captains chairs. The Bronco when I picked it up.    For most of the summer life was pretty grand. I wasn't really motivated to fix the tailgate wiring as the top was off whenever I drove it. It was mostly on back roads and trails as the farthest it went was to our friend's farm which was a couple miles through the woods via an old unmaintained roadway.  This all changed when in early October I decided to take it out after some rain and splash through some mud. I went through a pit, still with no 4WD, and it felt like I hit a concrete block. I didn't know it at the time, but I had grenaded the rear end. It was getting dark, I was in the woods, and though it was a legal roadway, nobody really goes down there, especially at night, so I started the long walk to my friend's place and called for a ride back home. I left the truck in the woods overnight and the next morning was dragged back out and about 1/2 a mile down the road by a John Deere tractor where I could call AAA.   
|
|
#
¿
May 24, 2015 18:42
|
|
|
I let it sit for the rest of the fall and winter as the weather was going downhill quickly. This is what the driveway looked like for most of the winter: I picked up a replacement rear axle from a local Facebook for sale group and collected other parts for it while waiting for the spring. The replacement axle turned out to have a flange yoke vs the pinoin yoke on the original 8.8. It turned out kastein, with his perpetually useful parts-hoarding, had one sitting on his desk when I mentioned it in IRC. Fast forward to yesterday, May 23rd. After a night of hanging out at Fart Pipe's place, kastein came over to help swap the axle in the Bronco. Pinions are supposed to do this, right? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jyB9l-hn568 So we put the thing up on jackstands and swapped the replacement in. Both axles were 3.55 LS, though the posi in my original axle was decidedly toast.  The original leaf pack was pretty toast and the axle I had gotten came with a nearly new leaf pack attached. I also had gotten replacement KYB shocks as the ones on it were so bad you could get seasickness.  It has some kind of weird ancient load leveling air-ride kit in it from Firestone. The reservoir is shot but the on-board compressor works like a charm and the bags hold air. It could be fun to do something with that on-board compressor at some point. In the end, the new axle and leaf pack went in with surprisingly little trouble. I have to replace the rear brake lines this week and order new e-brake hardware. We also found that my slip yoke was seized, and the driveshaft, at the very least, needs a rebuilt before it can be put back in. So I'm on the lookout for a refurb. My goal is to have it back on the road to drive to the drive-in theater for the new Jurassic Park movie. The new leaf packs cured the horrible rear end sag. It sits pretty much exactly how I want it for the time being.  Here's some pictures of the carnage i wrought on that poor 8.8.       In the end I was able to salvage some drum brake parts and the axle shafts from the old 8.8 and that's about it. IOC, can you change the thread tag of this to 80's if you see this? Thanks.
|
|
#
¿
May 24, 2015 19:03
|
|
|
kastein posted:That actually went about how I expected it to, for once. One leaf eye bolt was a bastard due to being rusted into the bushing sleeve a bit, but a few solid swings with the 4lb BFH persuaded it to move. The rest mostly came out without a fight, likely as the shackles and shackle hangars were replaced a few years prior (justfordthings.txt) so all the hardware was reasonably new. I don't know if I'll ever bother with the RABS in the thing. It's pretty much useless. Going to make a HF run at the end of the week and pick up a new jack and the 6 ton stands. They're running their sale through the 31st and I still have my 20% off coupon so I'm going to refill my tool set and pick up some other disposable too. I'm unsure what I'm going to do for a DS, probably just buy a remanned one since finding a Bronco in the junkyard here is pretty rare. The next step after getting it moving under its own power is going to be repairing the clusterfuck that is the tailgate wiring harness. Right now the rear window motor takes power from the dash and travels through a number of switches. The harness runs through the driver's side taillight as well. I have a feeling I'm going to be rewiring the whole shebang. I have a number of "upgrade" options already spelled out for me thanks to the FSB forums.  Looks like a crimper is going into my HF basket this week. Looks like my brother has also joined the OBS Ford crew (sub $1k trucks are the best trucks), last year of the i6. 1996 EFI 300ci i6, 5 speed, 4x4. 
|
|
#
¿
May 26, 2015 14:56
|
|
jackstand contraption setup scared the poo poo out of me and I would very much like to never have that happen again.
|
Mooseykins posted:Arrival by tow truck is the sure sign of an excellent vehicle purchase. No temp plates in MA so unless you're transferring plates, that's going to be how you get pretty much anything home legally.
|
|
#
¿
May 26, 2015 15:41
|
|
|
leica posted:Well that sounds like a pain in the rear end. Here in FL I can get a car home with just a title and bill of sale. If you're transferring plates you can swap the plates on, carry the filled out title, bill of sale, and a completed RMV-1 form as proof of insurance and you're good for 7 days. Other than that, you can toss some plates on and burn a AAA tow and hope the tow truck driver isn't having a bad day. My brother is a tow truck driver so he just borrows a truck. Here's an off the tow truck picture, pretty rare to find an OBS in this shape out here (minus the bed, however, he has a flat bed obsession I'll never understand.) 
|
|
#
¿
May 26, 2015 17:46
|
|
|
Propaganda Bob posted:Beater Bronco buddies Hell yeah, Bullnose trucks are awesome! Replaced the starter solenoid today as the old one was hosed. The terminals just pulled right out of it. Managed to gently caress up some ring terminals while I was at it, so it looks like a new crimper is in order.  Placed an order for all the rear brake stuff including new e-brake hardware. Going to hit the yard Saturday morning to try to find a driveshaft. My lofty goal for this summer is to get the Bronco to pass MA state inspection as that's where it's registered.
|
|
#
¿
May 29, 2015 02:12
|
|
|
Had to bump this, been stalled out after finding the puppy ive talked about in the chat thread. Today I took the time to rewire the stuff running to the starter solenoid and got the thing going for the first time in about a year. Love that SBF sound. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kk2-j1OVTI8
|
|
#
¿
Jul 5, 2015 22:27
|
|
|
I have Stockholm Syndrome. You mean happy whine.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 5, 2015 22:45
|
|
|
So, I'm having a rough time finding a rear driveshaft for the thing. Kastein was awesome enough to find me replacement front hubs for a song, but the driveshaft is the last part I need to make it driveable. F-150 shafts won't work because they don't have the double cardan t-case end and different year Broncos all had slightly different lengths, with the later ones connecting to a flange type output on the t-case while mine has a yoke. I swapped in a rear from a later 150, so it has the flange end on that side, but I have a companion flange to adapt the earlier driveshaft. Looking at Bronco graveyard shows different lengths for Broncos with the C6, E4OD, AOD, M5OD, and the 4 speed. Does anyone know if these are close enough to be swapped in? Noise Complaint fucked around with this message at 19:19 on Jul 7, 2015 |
|
#
¿
Jul 7, 2015 19:14
|
|
|
I know it's a C6, STR. I've driven it to tims place on the highway. :-P I'm ordering a new shaft. Screw it. And no, that's not innuendo.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 8, 2015 01:33
|
|
|
The e4OD is actually more like a c6 with an extra gear and wires. Decent transmission for sure
|
|
#
¿
Jul 8, 2015 12:41
|
|
|
Free vehicles are the best. My second shitbox has arrived. This thing has been in my family since my dad bought it new. It was one of the first vehicles I ever drove. I've borrowed it on and off for years and it's seen much abuse. It's time to give a little back to it.   99 F-150 4x4 with a tow package and a 4.6. Newly rebuilt transmission with a shift kit of some kind, and a fresh rear end. Motor is likely not that hot, it's been pissing 2+ quarts out a day from in between the head and the block on the pass side for months. Cyl #4 is misfiring. Rockers are shot from my brother wedging it down tight trails to get to his fishing and hunting spots. The bed has a nice dent in it that I should be able to pop out as well. I'm likely going to pick up a 4.6 or 5.4 to refresh from our local pick and pull for $200 and toss it in. Noise Complaint fucked around with this message at 19:12 on Jul 21, 2015 |
|
#
¿
Jul 21, 2015 19:10
|
|
|
Slow is Fast posted:Can the 4.6 computer run the 5.4? does the 4.6 have retarded cam phasers like the 5.4? I HATE the 5.4 in both of the F250's we've had. Yeah the 4.6 computer can run the 5.4, you just use the 4.6 ignition bits. The cam phasers were on the 3v motors as far as I know, the 2v motors don't have any kind of VVT. The 2v 5.4's are halfway decent as long as you're aware of the spark plug issues. kastein posted:How many free exhaust manifold leaks did you get with your free truck? All the exhaust manifold leaks. All of them.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 21, 2015 20:58
|
|
|
Jesus, thing runs fine except for a tiny misfire and the oil leak. My brother was way too skittish over this thing. In news nobody is surprised to hear, it sounds sick with the glasspack my brother tossed on.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 21, 2015 23:30
|
|
|
I'm going to have an update post a bit later but I wanted to comment on how weird it is to clean out all the poo poo in a vehicle that's been in your family for 15 years. I've done it dozens of times with used cars from other people but this one has me on a serious nostalgia trip. Notes to my family's mechanic of nearly 40 years who recently passed away, receipts from vacations a decade ago, bits and pieces that bring back strong memories. It's funny how a car or truck just collects those kind of things and how it can make even a shitbox rusty Ford into something that means a lot more.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 22, 2015 23:34
|
|
|
 Checked all the plugs, every single one of them was drenched in oil and the wells were filled with it. Cleaning all of that up didn't fix the misfire, sadly. I'm not sure if just the valve cover gaskets could account for the extreme oil leakage this thing is seeing, but I'm going to at least give the motor a proper leakdown test before I rip it out. Also, gently caress the rear plugs in this thing.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 23, 2015 17:45
|
|
|
Fart Pipe posted:Drive it over on Friday if youre gonna come out and bring some engine cleaner and we can blast it off with my crispy new power washer. We can do the Camaro and Jetta too finally. You got it. That sounds like fun!
|
|
#
¿
Jul 23, 2015 21:12
|
|
|
Generally you cover anything electronic with plastic, use some really good engine cleaner like purple power, let it soak and be careful with the hose. You can use an air compressor to get rid of standing water. Honestly the 4.6 isn't the best candidate in the world for washing with the way the ignition is but I'm looking forward to blasting years of grime off of the Camaro sitting in Fart Pipe's yard. That should be pretty cathartic. ACEofsnett and I were looking at the truck last night and discovered substantial coolant leaks as well as oil leaking out of pretty much every major seal, so it looks like I'm starting an engine swap project this weekend. Sigh. Noise Complaint fucked around with this message at 12:24 on Jul 24, 2015 |
|
#
¿
Jul 24, 2015 12:21
|
|
|
drat babby animals delaying automotive repair. Our new baby AT-AT walker was born on Saturday, name TBD. It's a girl.  
|
|
#
¿
Jul 27, 2015 14:12
|
|
|
Finally. I can get the Bronco back on the road. Bronco Graveyard is awesome.
|
|
#
¿
Aug 4, 2015 17:54
|
|
|
Put a lot of work in yesterday on the Bronco. Put the driveshaft together with the pinion flange adapter kastein had sitting around. The 8.8 that was swapped in had a pinon flange vs. the pinion yoke the original axle had. I had to use a combination 1330f/1330 u-joint for it to fit but it should be fine. New hotness next to old and busted.  Installed using the flange.  I was also able to rescue the R-ABS wiring. the rear ABS is pretty useless in these but I like fixing things that'll shut a light on the dash off. I bent and installed all new brake lines in the rear, where Ford has decided that the distribution block should use two different size brake line fittings. Slapped the drums back together with new hardware also. At this point, I just have some cleaning up to do once I get outside today, but the Bronco should be going this afternoon. Which is great, because I blew the Dana 35 in the back of the WJ up on Friday. Edit for Doge Content: 
Noise Complaint fucked around with this message at 15:35 on Aug 9, 2015 |
|
#
¿
Aug 9, 2015 15:30
|
|
|
Finally got this rusty bitch back on the road. I just need to bleed the brakes tomorrow. The last few days have been a domino effect of split brake lines causing me to nearly pull my hair out.  
|
|
#
¿
Aug 11, 2015 03:03
|
|
|
sharkytm posted:Please tell me you're using Cunifer, it's so much easier to deal with. I'm using whatever they sell at NAPA with the intention of swapping it out for a full stainless kit from Bronco Graveyard later down the line. I have a brake bleeder in the front so stuck that even heat wouldn't get it out, so I'm going to be swapping the front calipers (under $20 each, haha) out whenever it stops raining. I was hoping to wait until I could assemble a full Thunderbird caliper swap, but eh, it's more important to me to get this thing going than it is to upgrade at the moment.
|
|
#
¿
Aug 11, 2015 14:04
|
|
|
sharkytm posted:They sell Cunifer at Napa, but you have to ask for it. I'm really not a fan of SS Lines, they don't rust, but they're a nightmare to deal with if you have to bend them at all. They also like to eat the seats of calipers and/or fittings. I'll have to bend a set using the Cunifer stuff then for sure. Thanks for the heads up. I'm probably going to wind up redoing the brakes with heavier duty stuff eventually anyway. I'd love to toss a Dana 60 and a Sterling 10.25 under there with all F-250 bits eventually. Honestly right now, besides fixing rotted poo poo, I was mostly concerned with getting rid of compression fittings the PO hamfucked his way into the brake system. In other news, the core charge for the calipers I bought was double what the drat price of the calipers is.  NAPA
|
|
#
¿
Aug 11, 2015 23:50
|
|
|
some texas redneck posted:Any chance it's leaking coolant from the thermostat housing area? Or the intake in general? The 99 4.6 has a metal intake manifold actually. There's so many leaks it doesn't matter at this point. The thing drains the oil out in a few weeks of sitting and pisses coolant like a race horse once it heats up. New motor it is.
|
|
#
¿
Aug 12, 2015 12:08
|
|
|
Replaced the front calipers and pads today because I didn't feel like fighting with the crusty bleeders on the old janky looking calipers. I love replacing these calipers held on with the hammer through pins. It's cathartic to hammer that poo poo through. Bang, bang, bang, TINK.  First, a little refreshment to help me along. Love these Goose Island tallboys. Every beer should come in tallboys.  Old nasty caliper  New caliper  I wound up replacing both front calipers. I was going to pick up rotors but these have plenty of meat on them. It's a lovely old truck and pads are like 10 bucks, so I'm not that concerned about the surface rust from sitting. I drove it down to the gas station and filled the tank. 30 gallons of gas the thing took. It drives like a dream.. or as close to a dream an old truck can possibly get. Steering is great, the new shocks and leaf pack are excellent and really cut down on the filling-rattling when you hit a bump. Hell, it almost rides like a big wallowy Buick at this point. My only complaint right now is a vibration from the rear between 10 and 30 mph. I think it's likely it's from the tires sitting for so long, but I'll investigate further later on. Tomorrow: Top off, cruising to work. Friday: Adjusting the kickdown linkage on the C6 so its a bit more responsive.
|
|
#
¿
Aug 13, 2015 01:47
|
|
|
And... made it to work with the Bronco. The farthest it's gone in nearly a year.. Even hit 50 at one point. Low speed shimmy seems to be going away . Top is off, perfect weather for it. 
|
|
#
¿
Aug 13, 2015 13:23
|
|
|
Fart Pipe and I took the Bronco out through some mud on Friday night during our weekly NEAI get together. The thing is a blast and has no problem crawling through all sorts of sticky stuff. The transmission is starting to shift more firmly and it turned out I didn't need to adjust the kickdown linkage after all. The C6 is a stout little transmission, that's for sure. I wired up some KC spotlights I had floating around and bolted them to the front bumper for a little extra light output on the back roads. I have a pair of LED lights as well I'm going to put on as soon as I can make some brackets for them.  I finally got a muffler on the thing so my neighbors will be happier. It's just a Cherry Bomb but it's quieter for the time being and doesn't exit directly under the pass. side door anymore. I still have a pretty bad exhaust leak coming from either the manifolds or the Y-pipe directly under them. I haven't investigated that quite yet. Still sounds awesome, though. Found a CB radio that I had bought at the junkyard years back and bolted that in, too. I just need a microphone and an antenna for it. I also flushed the rear end in the WJ hoping it will fix the rear end vibration, the u-joints and driveshaft all seem fine and I pulled the front driveshaft to rule that out. I'll drive it this evening and see if it's any better. If not I'm going to replace all the u-joints anyway and see if that helps. Edit: I also meant to link this gigantic diagram infodump I found on FSB. Fantastic amount of info for OBS Ford Trucks and Broncos. http://www.supermotors.net/registry/2742/12671#content Noise Complaint fucked around with this message at 14:56 on Aug 17, 2015 |
|
#
¿
Aug 17, 2015 14:13
|
|
|
Welp, 31's fit on a stock WJ. It needed new tires for the winter and I misjudged the metric tire sizes and wound up buying 255/75/16's which are just above 31 inches. Looks like a lift will be in the near future. 
|
|
#
¿
Aug 19, 2015 22:05
|
|
|
kastein posted:So... collecting parts for an 8.25/8.8 swap immediately, or waiting till the axle explodes? I just serviced the rear axle and it was in seriously perfect shape so that crosses that off on my list of what's causing the howling/vibration. I'm going to be replacing every u-joint and flushing the transmission, t-case, and front diff after NEAI. I'm going to look into the Old Man Emu lift and shocks since I need some soon anyway. My main goal right now is to turn the Bronco into a rig I can camp out of at NEAI for the next few days. This will be interesting.
|
|
#
¿
Aug 20, 2015 14:37
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ May 10, 2024 00:16 |
|
|
Bumping this thread so it doesn't fall into the archives since I've done a massive amount of work and I'm doing quite a bit more before winter. I plan on posting some wheeling pics as well. The WJ is about to have a 2.5 inch budget boost. I also swapped factory navigation and the Infinity sound system into it along with changing the pinion seal, nut, and yoke and replacing all U-joints in the loving thing. I also have a light bar to install to help my fiance get to the place she boards her horse at since it's deep into the woods. I fixed the 4wd In the Bronco and I'm about to build a massive winch bumper for it. I have headers to slap on along with some other "go fast" bits and some aux lighting improvement to help with the winter. Not that anyone cares about my shitboxes except for ssswitch and kastein but hey, I enjoy posting about them. :-P If anyone in the New England area want's to come for a ride along if they've never been wheeling before, let me know, I'd love to have some new potential NEAI guys down for a day of fun, food, four wheeling, and potentially catastrophic mechanical failure. Pictures and writeups to come very soon.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 12, 2015 02:08
|
|