LORE Bronco restore

[Halogrinder]

So, I was looking into shock selection planning.....
Bilstein 4600 series
Bilstein 5100 series
Fox smoothy
King smoothy.

Pros and cons-
4600 looks most "period correct" I think..... but ill have to get the truck together, then flex it out with the forlift to measure for shocks. May not be able to find a 4600 series shock since its kind of designed for stock applications.
5100 series has tons of options, so length I dont think will be an issue. Shock valving from what I can see is stiffer by default- so 8 of them may make it ride poorly.
Fox can be valved and pressurized if I need to adjust them- hopefully I don't/won't have to go through that.
King, same thing.

I was looking at this, and seems like dual 170/60's would work well it seems? That would make me 340/120 total front valving.

Axle is sitting here all pretty waiting on plating.
I've had hell with recent plating companies either doing a good job, or wanting to do the job at all.
A local place called Dells just recently denied the box I sent to them (which was PERFECTLY prepped, wired, etc) because it's too much of a pain in the ass for them, apparently.
Basically they are making more money with the big industrial stuff they do, not my piddly order.
Sucks.

Got the rotating assembly installed-

Ended up ordering a Com cams Thumpr cam with Roller lifter conversion. Waiting on that to show up, along with some ARP hardware

sorted out my hardware on the Explorer timing case assembly, but can't do anything till the cam shows up.
Blew the power steering pump to clean it up.

 

[Halogrinder]

Pop's wanted a stainless hinge for the windshield so I did a little polishing on the piece to make it nice
Have a few things I won't be using if someone is interested in them.
Freshly coated timing case and new water pump 150
Manual steering box 150
Original blower and squirrel cage 15

 

[Halogrinder]

I blew the wind wings apart to clean the glass and replace the seals. The frames were a little yucky looking so I started cleaning them and found some good looking shiny metal..... thought they were stainless, so I bead blasted them, and polished them 80/120/240/320/600/800/1200/1600/2000/green compound, and microfiber.........just to find out they rusted after sitting for a bit :kicks rocks:
so, now they are at the body shop to be painted yellow
I figured out how im going to run the auxiliary tank fuel transfer pump. need to do some mods to the tank switch plate- modded the switch to accept the original lever.
Will look "stock" from the inside, but run the aux pump via direct switch to transfer the aux fuel to the main tank where the high pressure pump is.
Found this missing broken off bracket for the window door frames and welded it on, brought that back to the body shop

 

[Halogrinder]

Blew some more parts apart, brought them to Redline powder coating in Kingwood Tx. Anthony does amazing work, and his attention to detail is what makes me come back again and again.
The power steering pump needed a little more detail than usual- since it's at front and center I wanted to make sure it'd look the part

Remember these? I made them to support the windshield frame to the roll cage.
Well- I bought that crap you see on Facebook for metal polish by a company called dura-coating. This is their blue premium polish and a cheap polishing wheel on my grinder.
I'm gonna tell you- this crap works. I'm blown away how easy it is to make something shiny, quick.
now, from experience from my wind wing frames- this will put scratches back into something between 600 and 800 grit.....
but WOW does it make aluminum and other stuff shine awesome!
recommend it, if you're on the fence of buying it.
total time buffing this was about a minute or less per clevis

 

[Halogrinder]

These are gonna look rad on the Dart Pro1 heads

I got the stainless hood hinges mounted- once dropped off and they started working on it to be informed from the body shop that the hood was severely warped from the sand blasting company I used- Fast Blast in Pearland, Texas.
Let me help you with your decision on sand blasting a body, or in general.
Don't go there. This company destroyed some premo sheet metal, and won't do anything to help me with it, other than tell me that I'm a whiney bitch and that "I'll never be happy". Literally told me that.
Learn from my mistakes. Don't use those assholes.
Am I salty about it?
Absolutely.
If he handled it better, gave my money back, offered some type of assistance to the 20+ hours I have in cleaning the residual shit left on the body, or now the new hood and grill I just had to replace I'd probably think differently.
In any case I have a new hood and grill from Dennis Carpenter here and need to do the same thing to the new hood, and bring them over to the body shop.

Anthony at Redline did a great shop matching up the Chrome yellow to the powdercoat.
The tire carrier was chromed by my pops, but was severely pitted and rusted through the chrome.
I cruised by Atlas Plating in Houston, and they were very helpful with my decision to powder coat it. The cost to strip it, buff it, and rechrome it would be bananas, plus the quality of the finish couldn't be guaranteed.
So, easy choice.


Still assembling the engine as I get parts, find parts, find what I'm missing or have time.
the stroker crank kissed the Milodon oil pump- A little touch up with the grinder fixed this up.
Ordered a new main bolt for the oil pump pickup (Didn't have it).....

Gutted all the parts in the steering column and got that back together with a smoothy cup to get rid of the shifter "nub".
the horn button I had vapor honed but it stillll just isn't clean enough for me. I'll mess with that and the wiring later.
The Centech harness uses a long strip chevy style connecter vs the Ford square Molex connector- So I'll do it up when I get the harness laid out.

 

[Halogrinder]

Dart Pro1 Heads
ARP head bolts
JE SRP Pistons
Stroker crank
Forged rods
ARP rod bolts
King Race coated bearings
Comp Hydro Roller Thumpr cam
Comp Full roller rockers
Cloyes True roller timing set
Should be fun to zing to 6500.
Degreed the cam in. It's currently on 102.5, with a 102 centerline.
It was ground on a 107.
We'll see how it performs, may move it around on the dyno.

so.... after a long wait, a company only accepting checks, some more waiting, some miscommunication, some more waiting i finally got my plating back. Sheesh. Nearly a month!
I needed the power steering ring clip to reassemble it.
Man, powder coating and plating tolerance stack wasn't something that I intended to run into too much.
I've taken this got dam pump apart probably 15 times now. The thrust is too high (rear cap too far forward towards pully) causing it to not turn happy. So- I've been slowly trying to reduce the tolerances by gently removing powder a little at a time until the freewheel motion of the pump feels "correct"
What that "correct" feeling is, I can only explain by experience not by a "spec".
I'll get it. just taking time.

ANOTHER thing I just realized.
The Dart fabricated valve covers don't have a breather or fill port.
I'll have to get a PCV system set up (maybe a catch can/PCV/setup that goes on the firewall, like I do with these turbo BMW's I mess with) and also will need to fab a fill port.
Thankfully I have a very skilled fab shop down the street that can help me Aluminum weld that stuff up.
More on that later when I figure that out.


The things I was waiting on the most was ubolts and front radius arm bushing washers.
so..... I got busy

 

[Halogrinder]

:D

 

[Halogrinder]

so, this was a big mental milestone for me. I'm not sure why, but it just was lol
Not that anything is final torqued, done, complete or anything- but the fkin axles are back in

Rear Ubolts fought me going around the banged up axle truss.
I bought a primeweld 225 TIG machine so I can make 304 stainless exhaust.
Hey, lets try to pic up a skill that has a learning curve of like, Mount Everest? lol
I've always wanted a TIG machine, this thing is killer so far-
My welds- not so much lol
Still need more under-the-hood time to make more progress in my booger welds
I'm running 1/16 blue tungsten
#12 FUPA cup with gas difuser
.043 308L filler
3/4" stick out
about 70 amps.
I want to work on my pulse settings, and get that dialed in for the 16G 2.5" exhaust pipe I'll be messing with.
So far, with the limited time under the hood I have (I'd say I have 10-15 filler rods of experience now) I'm feeling confident I can pick this up faster than I anticipate.
Critique my junk, and if you want me to post more I will if you can help me dial this in

 

[Thatg9659]

Body lifts are GAY! what no james duff Blue?
pics look fine to me.
Bronco Looks great! I remember when you posted up about it on the other place, glad to see it getting worked over.

 

[Scooter]

Most excellent! Thanks for bringing this over

 

[Aggie06]

Glad to see this still happening. Followed your thread at the other place. You still driving the raptor around?

 

[Halogrinder]

Body lifts are GAY! what no james duff Blue?
pics look fine to me.
Bronco Looks great! I remember when you posted up about it on the other place, glad to see it getting worked over.

I have some Duffy parts, like front and rear valances to cover the gap on the body lift.
It's mainly to clear the NV3550 in the tunnel without cutting out the body support, and to clear the power steering pump brackets/air cleaner.


Yes still bombing the raptor around. It's got 43K on it now, and has been through a few revisions of stuff.
biggest thing that's happened to it was the APIM took a shit which seems to be rampant in the Ford world.

It needs a timing case reseal that I need to get done before 60K, but other than that It's been pretty solid.
Every time I want to trade it in for an F250 or another 2500 I go shmob the shit out of it and change my mind :D
It's a mega recommend for a daily driver.
I don't think I'd go with the ADD frame cut next time since it permanently mods the truck, but it looks good :D
Cruising on 37" grabbers and methods- while I've not rubbed at all in 10K miles after rolling the front pinch welds back and trimming the inner fender im a little concerned over a big huck and blowing the fenders off.....
I have a spare set of 35's I keep for dealer visits and when i know I'm going to jump the truck hard.

 

[Snoop dogg]

That weld is just fine. Over time you will tune your setup...gloves, hood, seat...etc to where every weld is nice and symetric. If those are your first stainless welds you are more than on the right track.
My vision isnt great so having a clean lens is huge, i can deal with sitting on a bucket....but a dirty lens and im a diva.

 

[Halogrinder]

Like I said that's about after 15 or so rods of practice.
trying to dial in my technique, components, pedal control, and other variables is what I'm still working on.
I've not figured out which hand I like the torch in more. I find myself tacking with my left and welding with my right.
I mig with my left and use my right for support.
It's a work in progress 😁

 

[Snoop dogg]

I def prefer my dominant hand, im not ambidextrouse sp??? But im confident when i need to switch for a better cup angle to use my non dom hand and its worth it practicing too. Have you played with purging the tube?

 

[Halogrinder]

Yes, got myself set up with a 150 slick neck and a 120 back up bottle, dual flow regulator setup, some silicone hose and plugs for 2.5" pipe, tig torch holder, acetone squirty, dedicated brushes, dedicated tungsten grinder, a 1hp circular sander so I can get my cuts perfectly flat, some goatskin gloves, tig torch fingers, glass and furick cups.

one.
Don't drink and prime. A lot of that shit came off of Amazon.

Two.
DO NOT be surprised what comes up when googling '2.5" tapered silicone plug" lolololol I ended up finding some with some barbed fitting bulkheads (I could've just used some brake line tubing but I'm an idiot)
So I can purge. I'm usually around 25 on my torch and 10 on purge.

 

[Halogrinder]

Things got complicated today.
First off. Little background on myself.
I've mounted/dismounted thousands of tires, no lie. Not exaggerating. Thousands.
These 15" 15 year old Maxxis buckhorns straight whooped my ass.
My 1 year old 30k @hunterengineering #auto34 couldn't get them off conventional style or reverse drop flipped.
Whooped. My. Ass.
I ended up using a sawzall to cut the beads to get them off. It was heavy suck-o-rama.
I can take a 315/35/20 runflat and this machine will effortlessly remove that rubber band from a BMW wheel, no prob.
But some 15" tires?
I ate some humble pie today, it's crunchy and tastes good with ketchup.

So anyways- I have a problem and need your help.
Notice the differences in these wheels. My pops never realized
1. One of the 4 wheels on the ground has a different center bore than the other 3. It's like the 8.5" 1" pos offset US Indy Mag that is for the spare- they have matching bores, but are different width and backspace.
2. That wheel is a different make than the other 3. They also have no casting markings to identify who made them.
3. It also has a different backspace by about 3/8" then the other 3.
4. Of the 3 that have the same ribs on the back, one is machined different. Sharp edge vs radius edge on the back, and the casting divots are machined off of it at the wheel mounting surface. 🤔
5. Complicating this more, the holes vs where they are drilled to the slots are different, too
So. I need to find a wheel that matches the other 3 (15", 10" wide with the correct back space of 3 1/4" (rear rim flange to wheel mounting surface)

Anyone have any leads?
Check out the goofy drop on the wheel, too. The drop center is like...well...in the middle and that makes it a heavy game of no fun dismounting.

 

[Halogrinder]

FFS remove the 5 picture limit!

 

[CDA 455 II]

Time for new rims?

 

[Halogrinder]

well, one if i can find a match!

 

[arse_sidewards]

If you pony up for a star you get basically unlimited pictures per post.

 

[Pt_Ranger_v8]

Get a star, you cheap fuck


I'm glad to see you're making progress on this thing.

It's gonna be so pretty, I'd be afraid to wheel it

 

[BDK]

Those look a lot like US Mags Indy wheels, which they still make.
Indy - U101 Truck - US MAGS (us-mags.com)

 

[CJ-Mech]

Santa sees your welds and you are getting a grinder for Christmas

Seriously, for not having a lot of experience with stainless, you are doing really well. You just need to work on your control and get a good rhythm going, also get as comfortable as you can be and stay loose , try to hold the torch like a big crayon and color inside the lines.

For the wheels, you might call Don Waldron at Rods West in Ridgecrest Ca. 760-375-4573.
He is an authority on rare old racing wheels, he also collects and sells them. Also willys hotrod and gasser stuff.
If anybody can tell you what you have, its probably him.

I love the project, keep up the good work.

 

[Halogrinder]

Where the hell have you been!?
Ok look, it's complicated.
The 'rona, staffing issues, business issues, personal time issues, lots of stuff made it impossible to touch this since what- November?
Sheesh.
So, things are better now, so I'm about to get rolling again on it. Got the hard lines for the axles bent up, double flared all that fun stuff with stainless rock guards on 'em. They came out ok.

 

[Halogrinder]

Dont make me host photos from "that site" because I dont have a fkin star.
I'm out of room to upload pics, you jerks

Been messing with the brake lines and layout. Finally decided to throw the drivetrain into the frame so I could visualize this better.
See these extreme mounts?
They suck.
Why? Because they are built incorrect.
It took the back of the trans and put it into the driver's frame rail.
If you pushed hard enough the bolts would eventually go into the crossmember, but then the engine was tilted severely passenger side high. I FOUGHT THESE THINGS for a solid 2 hours back and forth swapping them and trying to get the drivetrain to sit level.
Finally I gave up and threw some stock motor mounts on.
Guess what. Dropped right in without an issue.
Ugh. If your gonna make something, make it fit!

Anyways, now I can run fuel/brake lines and exhaust while I'm waiting for my intake to get cut.

 

[Scooter]

I will buy you a skull to upload more pics

 

[CDA 455 II]

I will buy you a skull to upload more pics

Let's start a gofuckme account; to raise enough money so he can upload more Bronco pron.

 

[Scooter]

Let's start a gofuckme account; to raise enough money so he can upload more Bronco pron.

 

[Scooter]

Already sent Austin the cash