69 Dudes-- Just the beginning

[Jesus_man]

They can be tough to bleed! I think the thing that worked best for me was to bleed it with a pry-bar thru the inspection door. Perhaps you tried that??

[Eck]

They can be tough to bleed! I think the thing that worked best for me was to bleed it with a pry-bar thru the inspection door. Perhaps you tried that??

Yep- tried that- couldn't get it to budge.

[Rox Crusher]

I tripped across the perfect solution

http://classicbroncos.com/forums/showth ... p?t=272359

Sorry, couldn't resist

[EFI Guy]

Well after 2.5 days of work, Phil and I fired it off. It sounds great and I think we were able to find the root of why I was having so many issues with the cam synchronizer gear (will post up about that later).

And then???

[Viperwolf1]

Well after 2.5 days of work, Phil and I fired it off. It sounds great and I think we were able to find the root of why I was having so many issues with the cam synchronizer gear (will post up about that later).

And then???

Then we couldn't get the clutch bled. Today we did.

[Rox Crusher]

Then we couldn't get the clutch bled. Today we did.

Ancient Chinese secret ?

[Viperwolf1]

I'll let Eck fill you in on this. I will say there was lots of wheel spin happening this afternoon in Wheatridge though.

[Eck]

Well... the Ancient Chinese Secret happened to be Chinese after all -- as in, the Chinese made Slave Cylinder that had roughly 1000 miles on it since the ZF install turned out to be bad. Went to NAPA and bought a new one (this one was assembled in Mexico!), and it probably took about 15 minutes to get this one bled. Big THANK YOU to Phil for helping me see this one through!

Took a quick victory lap around the neighborhood but with the snowy road conditions, I couldn't truly put it to the test. I could definitely tell that there was an increase in HP in the one short stretch of dry road I found. Pretty sure I am not going to regret the upgrade to the GT40 heads and roller cam conversion.

Quick recap on the issue that I was having prior to this upgrade: The flat tappet cam had iron gears and the Cam Synchronizer gear that came stock when doing the Explorer EFI is steel. Therefore I would buy the iron distributor gear and swap it onto the Cam Synchronizer shaft. This is a slight press fit and then held in place by ONE roll pin. I probably went through 3-4 Cam synchro gears because the pin would shear off and I would lose all oil pressure.

What we found when tearing the engine down a bit:
1. The Cam retainer plate had a worn groove in it and that probably meant the cam could travel ever so slightly. We first thought that this might have been the culprit of the issue.
2. I inspected the oil pump pickup screen and it was clean. The oil was clean. After getting a majority of the engine assembled on the engine stand, we decided to prime the system with oil. The shaft was stuck and broke my priming tool. We also had a real difficult time installing and then finally removing the Cam Synchronizer assembly. Upon trying to remove the assembly, we broke part of the gear (fortunately we were able to get all of the pieces out with a magnet without having to remove the timing cover). After deciding to get a new oil pump, Phil cracked open the old one to find a small metal shaving inside the pump gears that had somehow worn out on the bottom plate (another Chinese Secret I am sure!). Once we put the new oil pump on and got everything back together, the Cam Synchro assembly slid into place with ease and the oil primed with ease. Long story short-- the oil pump would occasionally work that piece of metal into place enough to seize the pump and that would sheer the roll pin on the synchro gear.

So-- my major issues with the engine were a POS oil pump that had less than 2k miles on it and my major issue with the Hydraulic Clutch was a POS Slave Cylinder that had less than 1k miles on it. Crossing my fingers that the replacement parts hold up a little longer and I can drive my Bronco with some confidence moving forward!

[Jesus_man]

I learned the lesson and a cheap chinese slave as well...never again!

Good news that you found the foundational issue with your motor! Here's to thousands of happy miles!

[Justin]

Nice! Hopefully you've got it worked out and can go back to enjoying it.

[phyler]

Good stuff! You really had me questioning my future plans. Glad I can learn from others here.

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[Digger]

It's getting harder and harder to find good parts these days. Quality parts just aren't available from the corner stores anymore as they search for the bottom dollar (aka lowest cost supplier). Previously good names are being run into the ground. We deal with this at my day job all the time. It is a constant fight to up-sell a well made part over a bottom dollar part.

I find myself going out of the way to order mission-critical parts online from reputable sources so I don't get stranded or wind up redoing a labor intensive job.

[crawlercreations]

It's getting harder and harder to find good parts these days. Quality parts just aren't available from the corner stores anymore as they search for the bottom dollar (aka lowest cost supplier). Previously good names are being run into the ground. We deal with this at my day job all the time. It is a constant fight to up-sell a well made part over a bottom dollar part.

I find myself going out of the way to order mission-critical parts online from reputable sources so I don't get stranded or wind up redoing a labor intensive job.

I'm with you. Having just started my own shop I endeavor to order as many NEW parts online as I can. Since I personally schedule each job I usually get to order them and know I've got good parts on hand when the job comes in. I just received a bunch of high quality parts for a Subaru head gasket job I have lined up for the end of January. Doing something this critical it's nice to have good stuff so I won't have to do it again.

[Eck]

So I decided that I needed something in the Bronco that would let me lock stuff up if needed to. It's amazing how I have to plan errands or doing things based on whether I'm comfortable leaving thing in the Bronco for anyone to easily take.

I ordered the Tuffy lock box and decided I also wanted to put it on slides so that when the tailgate is down, it's easy to pull forward and get things out. Everything fit very well with my back seat and this gives me something to be able to even throw some tools, fluids, emergency things in if I needed to.




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[Jesus_man]

Awesome! Are you worried about the sliders being over-loaded? I know there are some beefy ones out there.

[Eck]

Awesome! Are you worried about the sliders being over-loaded? I know there are some beefy ones out there.

They are rated for up to 500 lbs. I probably won't pull it out if it's super heavy.

https://www.ovisonline.com/12-Locking-D ... P1617.aspx


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[Strike2]

Nice work on making it a slider, Looks Great!

[landshark]

Great job! want to do something similar before May as well -

[Jesus_man]

I'm interested to see how well it works in an offroad situation. It would be super handy!!

[Friday]

nice job on the box! What's the dimension of that Tuffy box?

[Eck]

nice job on the box! What's the dimension of that Tuffy box?

Exterior Dimensions: 9 5/8" L x 33 7/8" W x 11 3/8" H

http://www.tuffyproducts.com/p-96-super ... trunk.aspx


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[Moab Mike]

Looks awesome! You can never have enough lockable storage in a bronco.

[Eck]

Been keeping CrawlerCreations busy the last few weeks. Project 1 was this custom bumper that I think turned out great. Had it galvanized before painting it.






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[Kinder]

Very nice.

[Rox Crusher]

That bumper looks great !

[Jesus_man]

That is a very nice bumper!

[Strike2]

That is a very sweet looking bumper, I really like how the warn winch looks and the lights. Very clean looking

[ZOSO]

Much better looking bumper than what was on it.

[Eck]

Much better looking bumper than what was on it.

Agree. This was the old one (for sale now)!




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[landshark]

Turned out great! Can’t wait to see it in person.