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74 Bronco Total Rebuild

I changed out my 5/32nd to Allen cap screws. Much easier to service. I also found Arctic Silver CPU paste to be the best for thermal transfer. Use a Standard brand TFI. They are the ones that manufactured the Motorcraft parts. And the real Motorcraft TFIs are difficult to find.
 
FWIW I snagged a NOS Motorcraft icm on ebay a few yrs back for 4.9 that was giving me issues, they appear from time to time
 
Well shit.

started taking the engine apart to check on things. I’m not sure this freebie engine is going to be worth it.

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every bolt holding the water pump on broke off. the water passages are corroded all up.

I‘ve got zero money tied up in the engine. I’m thinking about finding a 351w, that was the end goal anyway. The 302 was just to run till that happened.
 
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Get a roller cam 5.8/351. I love the torque of mine and it’s still stock. It’ll idle up rock ledges where the 5.0 needed a bump in throttle not to stall.

I plan on stroking mine eventually.
 
Gumbybronco said:
Get a roller cam 5.8/351. I love the torque of mine and it’s still stock. It’ll idle up rock ledges where the 5.0 needed a bump in throttle not to stall.

I plan on stroking mine eventually.
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I found a wrecking yard with a 95 f250 with a 351 in it. Didn’t list miles but the engine is still in the truck. They are asking $850 pulled.
 
Well the wrecking yard already sold the one they said they had.

I did find another timing chain cover in the pile of parts I got with the bronco.

IMG_6587.jpeg


I assume it came off the original bronco engine. Will this work if I can remove the old one, and if the leaking water hasn’t done a bunch of damage?
 
This went way better than I hoped.

after asking nicely, the old cover just slid right off

IMG_6589.jpeg


it’s cleaner than I thought it would be

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the original cover looks like it will bolt up.
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I got all but 2 bolts out. There is enough sticking out to weld some nuts too. I‘ll get some tomorrow.
 
Void_of_Light said:
Can I just get a water pump that matches?
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You could probably use the carb'ed water pump, but the efi water pump runs in reverse, so I'm not sure that it'll cool properly?? Maybe it won't matter since the pump will match the cover but I'm skeptical of it.

Edit: added pic
timing covers.jpg
 
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reptillikus said:
You could probably use the carb'ed water pump, but the efi water pump runs in reverse, so I'm not sure that it'll cool properly?? Maybe it won't matter since the pump will match the cover but I'm skeptical of it.

Edit: added pic
timing covers.jpg
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The pump rotation just needs to match the direction the accessory drive wants to spin it. The engine doesn't care as long as there's water being force fed in the holes.

You get it wrong and it will still cool just really poorly because the impeller is directional... BUT and this is a huge caveat.... non-directional impellers are really, really, really common across all sorts of engines. They are somewhat less efficient than a directional impeller spun the right way and way more efficient than a non-directional one spun the wrong way. I absolutely would not put it past a rebuilder to put a non-directional impeller on. The reduced efficiency should not be enough to matter in the overwhelming majority of cases. I.e. if you're not stuffing a turbo on or trying to pull a grade with a marginal radiator and fan it shouldn't matter.
 
I'd hit pause and figure out what engine you want, what front dress you want and if that engine is solid before going any further, I'd hate to waste a bunch of time and money and have stuff not work out for as myriad of reasons
 
arse_sidewards said:
The pump rotation just needs to match the direction the accessory drive wants to spin it. The engine doesn't care as long as there's water being force fed in the holes.

You get it wrong and it will still cool just really poorly because the impeller is directional... BUT and this is a huge caveat.... non-directional impellers are really, really, really common across all sorts of engines. They are somewhat less efficient than a directional impeller spun the right way and way more efficient than a non-directional one spun the wrong way. I absolutely would not put it past a rebuilder to put a non-directional impeller on. The reduced efficiency should not be enough to matter in the overwhelming majority of cases. I.e. if you're not stuffing a turbo on or trying to pull a grade with a marginal radiator and fan it shouldn't matter.
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I dont disagree.

The accessory drive is going to want to spin it in reverse, which is probably why ford made the reverse rotation pump. But you have to pair the reverse rotation pump with the reverse rotation timing cover, because that one timing cover is unique as the ports are facing the other direction. This is my concern about running the standard rotation pump & cover; the pump will be running backwards, and most windsor pumps ive seen have directional impellers.

I think Projectjunkie has the right idea; figure out what front dress you want, and get the timing cover & pump that works with it.
 
To some extent, that timing cover is going to effect what radiator you run, if you can fit a van Saginaw ps pump in there, stuff like that


I forget your engine plans, but the explorer 5.0 is highly sought after by the eb crowd for a reason


Buying one now for $700 and buying a $300 radiator to match. Could be the perfect answer. Or not, but I'd sort it all out before putting time and money into that unknown 302. I'd hate to see you bleed $1057.23 into a 200hp engine that runs hot and throws the alt belt because it doesn't line up right:laughing:
 
reptillikus said:
I dont disagree.

The accessory drive is going to want to spin it in reverse, which is probably why ford made the reverse rotation pump. But you have to pair the reverse rotation pump with the reverse rotation timing cover, because that one timing cover is unique as the ports are facing the other direction. This is my concern about running the standard rotation pump & cover; the pump will be running backwards, and most windsor pumps ive seen have directional impellers.

I think Projectjunkie has the right idea; figure out what front dress you want, and get the timing cover & pump that works with it.
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The bolts are all in the same place and I'm like 90% sure you can bolt an EFI truck reverse pump to any timing cover at the expense of the gasket coverage being adequate but not great.

The bulk of aftermarket timing covers are "universal" (which IIRC means "fits anything but a 'sploder application")
 
Projectjunkie said:
To some extent, that timing cover is going to effect what radiator you run, if you can fit a van Saginaw ps pump in there, stuff like that


I forget your engine plans, but the explorer 5.0 is highly sought after by the eb crowd for a reason


Buying one now for $700 and buying a $300 radiator to match. Could be the perfect answer. Or not, but I'd sort it all out before putting time and money into that unknown 302. I'd hate to see you bleed $1057.23 into a 200hp engine that runs hot and throws the alt belt because it doesn't line up right:laughing:
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Yeah, im not spending any money on it until I have a solid plan. I have been looking for explorers but haven't found anything reasonable. It seems those $500 explorers are now $2500 explorers. 90% of them don't list what engine it has or post under hood pics so it's a chore to search out what I need.

I picked up the explorer intake at a swap meet for $75 a few years ago, after I hadn't had any luck buying a whole engine.

I'm going to pull the heads and see what I'm working with, I if can get the last 2 water pump bolts out tonight.

Thanks for the advice guys.
 
arse_sidewards said:
The Bulk of aftermarket timing covers are "universal" (which IIRC means "fits anything but a 'sploder application")
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They're universal in that they will fit any Windsor block. But, of you look at the timing covers, the standard rotation cover has the oval cooling ports (where the water pump mates up) leaning to the left, whereas the reverse rotation cover has the ports leaning to the right. Even the shape of the cover where the pump mates is a different shape. So the fitment problem isn't the cover but the pump.
 
Void_of_Light said:
Yeah, im not spending any money on it until I have a solid plan. I have been looking for explorers but haven't found anything reasonable. It seems those $500 explorers are now $2500 explorers. 90% of them don't list what engine it has or post under hood pics so it's a chore to search out what I need.

I picked up the explorer intake at a swap meet for $75 a few years ago, after I hadn't had any luck buying a whole engine.

I'm going to pull the heads and see what I'm working with, I if can get the last 2 water pump bolts out tonight.

Thanks for the advice guys.
Click to expand...


I would search "mercury" and "mountaineer"

Iirc all "awd" that era are 5.0, but not all 5.0 are awd

Everyone I've seen has a 2" square v8 tag on the front fenders behind the wheel well

Probably worth looking at salvage auctions, repo auctions and impound auctions to get what you need the 1st time around

But yeah, the very on CL and find 3 for 500ea in one week days are over


And they only parts you'll ever sell off one are the rear end and the cats, everything else is scrap. The guy with a trash bag in his back window doesn't have $20 for yours, he'll ask for gas money. He has $40 for smokes and beer. Fuck the habitually poor

Buy one for 1200 pull it, pull rear end for the jeep/ 50s truck crowd and scrap the rest
 
Projectjunkie said:
I would search "mercury" and "mountaineer"

Iirc all "awd" that era are 5.0, but not all 5.0 are awd

Everyone I've seen has a 2" square v8 tag on the front fenders behind the wheel well

Probably worth looking at salvage auctions, repo auctions and impound auctions to get what you need the 1st time around

But yeah, the very on CL and find 3 for 500ea in one week days are over


And they only parts you'll ever sell off one are the rear end and the cats, everything else is scrap. The guy with a trash bag in his back window doesn't have $20 for yours, he'll ask for gas money. He has $40 for smokes and beer. Fuck the habitually poor

Buy one for 1200 pull it, pull rear end for the jeep/ 50s truck crowd and scrap the rest
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We all know you're not asking $20 for a window. That's most of your problem. You do the "I know what I gots" routine and you price your garbage like you're a junkyard who's open 9-5, has anything any day of the week and a 30 day warranty and it's no surprise nobody wants anything.

As an individual you gotta price shit in a way that makes people say "I don't really need it but at that price..."

And it's not like these things are popping up on gov deals or some other public auction. Normal people without a dealer license can't exactly go to a typical car auction so that's useless advice.

Car-part is probably one's best bet.
 
Not a lot of progress but parts are showing up.

I rebuilt the transfercase

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IMG_6635.jpg


And I got it attached to the tranny along with twin sticks. I doubt I'll ever need the twin sticks, but it was a cleaner and cheaper option.

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I also bought a roll cage kit. The body is really flexy and I hope this will strengthen it up for the times I have to remove it from the frame.

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and here is what it should look like when completed.

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I also solved my engine problem last night. Hopefully

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Guy pulled it to go with a 460. The tranny was slipping but I don't need it anyway. Maybe I can get $100 as a rebuilder from someone.
 
'84 Bronco II said:
What are you going to do for a hood?
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The original hood. I just have to figure out how to make the 351 fit. It will have a 1" body lift so that will help. I'm looking at maybe an aftermarket EFI setup with a MPFI intake. When you add up all the parts ill need to make a factory EFI work, it's pretty much a wash cost wise. Plus, the new stuff will self-learn within reason.
 
Void_of_Light said:
The original hood. I just have to figure out how to make the 351 fit. It will have a 1" body lift so that will help. I'm looking at maybe an aftermarket EFI setup with a MPFI intake. When you add up all the parts ill need to make a factory EFI work, it's pretty much a wash cost wise. Plus, the new stuff will self-learn within reason.
Click to expand...

A 1" body lift probably won't be enough with a stock hood assuming you're not going to cut it out and put a bubble on. Maybe if you run a Holly Hi-ram, but that would be stupid in this application. A 351 is .92" taller than a 302 where the intake mounts, and even 302s have trouble clearing the stock hood without a tiny air cleaner or a pretty serious drop base, both of which kill power.

The Terminator setup from Holly is pretty sweet if you don't want to mess around with the factory computer.
 
'84 Bronco II said:
A 1" body lift probably won't be enough with a stock hood assuming you're not going to cut it out and put a bubble on. Maybe if you run a Holly Hi-ram, but that would be stupid in this application. A 351 is .92" taller than a 302 where the intake mounts, and even 302s have trouble clearing the stock hood without a tiny air cleaner or a pretty serious drop base, both of which kill power.

The Terminator setup from Holly is pretty sweet if you don't want to mess around with the factory computer.
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Im looking at the Edelbrock Pro-Flo setup. Seems pretty low profile.

www.summitracing.com

Edelbrock 35950 Edelbrock Pro-Flo 4 EFI Systems | Summit Racing

Free Shipping - Edelbrock Pro-Flo 4 EFI Systems with qualifying orders of $109. Shop Fuel Injection Systems at Summit Racing.
www.summitracing.com www.summitracing.com

Wheelin66bronco I see you said you had one. Are you still happy with it?
 
Void_of_Light said:
Im looking at the Edelbrock Pro-Flo setup. Seems pretty low profile.

www.summitracing.com

Edelbrock 35950 Edelbrock Pro-Flo 4 EFI Systems | Summit Racing

Free Shipping - Edelbrock Pro-Flo 4 EFI Systems with qualifying orders of $109. Shop Fuel Injection Systems at Summit Racing.
www.summitracing.com www.summitracing.com

Wheelin66bronco I see you said you had one. Are you still happy with it?
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Very. Zero issues. Accept when it's below zero. All the tuning tables are for 0 and above. At -20 it doesn't like to start.
 
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