Reverse restoration

[tutone]

I bought a 1970 from an acquaintance who owned/loved it for many years, but tore it apart to do a restoration.

Actually he pulled the motor so he could put in power steering, saw some rust, and then tore the Bronco apart. I met him when the Bronco was apart, floor pans and an inner fender removed, and the project stalled. I told him I would be interested in buying it, but he was not selling. I wanted something I could just use in the mountains that I liked, a classic Bronco was at the top of my list. I had a 69 Bronco in my early 20's and regretted selling it, but life moves on sometimes. So years later when he changed his mind (in 2014) I knew I had to jump at it.

My intention all along was to just put it back together. Basically reverse the restoration that was started.

I didn't take many pictures, I'm generally bad at remembering to take pictures, but I managed to take a few after the floor pans were welded back in, in the "early days".

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Fast forward some ridiculous amount of time (8+ years??!!) with many other projects taking priority. Now it's time to get it back on the road.

The engine ended up being damaged with a bent nose of the crank, so I picked up a 125k mile 5.0 out of a 96 Bronco. I put a carb on it and removed the serpentine setup. That engine just went in this month, and I'm hoping to have it running this week. It was a running unit when it was pulled so I don't expect it to be an issue. I still have to get an exhaust system before it is road worthy.

I still have a ton of stuff to do on it but I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Once it is running and drivable, I'm much more likely to work on it. I'll throw some random pics in here.

I love that there is a Classic Bronco forum for Colorado, and I hope to go to some of the meetups.

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[BOBS 2 68S]

welcome to CCB.
Nice work

[phyler]

Nice! Welcome!

Sent from my KFKAWI using Tapatalk

[tutone]

I put a bunch of work in this past week. Ran new fuel lines including a steel line from the pump to the carb. Mounted the coil. Sorted out the wiring enough to get it to the point of running (not sure where voltage regulator& starter solenoid will go, so left electrical long for now.) Put in oil and coolant.

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I made an educated guess on the timing since it is a 50oz but using a standard rotation water pump, and using a timing pointer on the passenger side is really not possible. I estimated where the timing marks were w/ the passenger side pointer (since it won't bolt up) and made corresponding marks on the driver side.

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Then grabbed a few friends, some fire extinguishers (just in case) and put in some fuel.

We got it to fire up, and idle! It seems to be fuel starved as we were never able to get it to rev at all, and the cylinders are clearly not all firing as the exhaust is wildly varying on temperature, some 200+ deg, some 140. At first we thought it might be the wrong firing order, but it ran worse when we changed it.

The carb (Edelbrock) has sat for probably 15 years, and I didn't do anything but bolt it on. So my guess is there are issues there. I bought a carb kit and will rebuild it this weekend.

On the plus side, no electrical fire (I was impressed), no leaks of oil or coolant, and it does run. I'm calling it a win.

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[Kinder]

Congrats on getting it running! It looks a lot like my ‘73 when I first got it. What kind of transmission is in it?

[tutone]

Congrats on getting it running! It looks a lot like my ‘73 when I first got it. What kind of transmission is in it?

It is either a RAT or RAN, I am forgetting which one, and has a Hurst floor shifter.

The output shaft came out too far when the transmission was moved around one day, back when it was one of many parts strewn about my garage, so I had to open it up and put it back together. Hopefully it functions when I put it in gear.

[Rox Crusher]

Congrats on your progress so far.

Welcome to CCB, a great bunch of people and place for gaining knowledge and help and finding parts, etc.

[tutone]

A carb rebuild didn't do anything to affect the running of the engine. It will pop right off and idle, then gets a rough idle, then dies. It won't rev at all, so it really seems to be fuel starved. Even with the accelerator pump help i can't really get the RPM past about 1500.
Assuming it is fuel starved, I'll check the fuel bowls to make sure they have plenty of fuel, and check if the venturi are spraying. Maybe it just needs a better cleaning.

Vacuum is about 15, I don't think I have any vacuum leaks.

[Kinder]

You mentioned that it’s a 50oz imbalance motor, did you match that with a correctly imbalanced flywheel?

[tutone]

I did, or at least I think I did. Luk LFW112

[tutone]

Well that was a lesson in troubleshooting.

It really seemed like the engine was starved of fuel. Plugs were not fouled and didn't even smell like gasoline. After 2 trips into the Edelbrock, I think I understand them fairly well now, and I was convinced the carb was fine and that this was not a fuel issue.

Vacuum was ~ 15, so I was fairly convinced the timing was close, at least close enough.

Replaced the rotor/cap since they were seriously due. The points, while gapped at .017, were burned and white-ish. They weren't before I started this. So I replaced the points, and put in the ballast resistor that I neglected to put in before. I thought they could run fine w/o a ballast resistor, but maybe not. I have an Excel Super Coil and I don't know if that makes any difference.

Fired it up, and it was a completely different engine. Purred at idle, and snappy throttle response.

I guess this is why you do all the work yourself and struggle through. You really know your Bronco when you do. In the process I learned a ton about the Edelbrock carb, and how points work. I will also NEVER forget the firing order. That is burned into my brain now.

[Jesus_man]

Solid work! And yes, while the troubleshooting process is frustrating, you come out the other end knowing your rig much better.

Or, like the fella you got it from, moth-ball it until you can bring yourself to selling it.

[tutone]

Sold my first one in my 20's. #regret
Not selling this one.

[Jesus_man]

We are your support group!! There are guys on here that have incredible amounts of knowledge for all things Bronco! I am not one of them, but I'll share what I know when I can.

[mickphatmac]

Nice work!! One of the most satisfying things on the planet, do the work, trouble shoot, do more work, be good enough or (get lucky enough) to fire it up and it runs like it was meant to!!!
WootWoot!!
Hammer down man!

[tutone]

Got the last few bits sorted out. I was running an Accel Super Coil, the big square looking one, with a standard ballast resistor. It didn't seem right, the coil was getting hotter than I would expect, and I wasn't so sure about how it was running. Accel says there should be a .85 ohm ballast resistor IN ADDITION to the stock ballast resistor, run in series. The .85 one comes w/ the Super Coil, but that appears to be one of the parts that did not make it to me. Accel does not sell that .85 resistor any more. You can get a .80 MSD one though. Rather than burn up that coil, I just went and purchased a new Accel Super Stock coil, and used the brand new ballast resistor that came with the Centech wiring harness. That and a little adjustment on the timing (I think I'm ~ 16 BTDC now), it seems strong. Very happy considering this was a $500 motor out of a 96 Bronco that had been sitting for quite a while, with lots of surface rust.

Drove it w/ just the headers 10 miles to Monster Muffler in Berthoud on Friday on it's first road trip. Hard to tell if there is anything wrong when you are driving with no exhaust, no carpet, etc.. Dan at Monster Muffler did 2.25 into a 2.5, to a 2.5/2.5 Dynamax Super Turbo on the passenger side, and out behind the rear wheel. BTW, Dan does great work there. It turned out great. I did not get pics of the work while it was up on the lift, was not really thinking there.

I've got about 80 miles on it now, and it certainly needs some little bits, but it is solid and runs/shifts good. Finally, it's on the road!

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[Kinder]

Congrats! Any time a bronco gets back on the road after being tore apart is a good thing.

[tutone]

I needed new battery cables in a proper length (and color), and a new battery. Running a red cable for a negative ground, and black for your starter is probably not the best idea.

I found batterycablesusa.com and their prices seem to be ridiculously cheap. I ordered 2 AWG (overkill) for all 4 cables (+, -, body ground, starter) in the exact length with the right sized ends, plus 2 military style battery clamps for $58 shipped. They shipped in less than 24 hours. They seem to be very good quality.

I need new cables for my 97 powerstroke too, and the cheapest I can find them prebuilt is $300, so I'm going to just measure and order from them.

I went with a Diehard Platinum AGM (group 34) because I was cheap and didn't want to spend the extra $70 on an Optima.

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[Jesus_man]

Nicely done!! I'll bet it is nice to be driving it, especially after the muffler install. I am sure all of us remember that very load trip to the exhaust shop with open headers! My ears are still ringing! LOL

[tutone]

Unfortunately not putting a lot of miles on it right now, the Ron Davis radiator (came with the truck) is leaking. It sounds like repairing aluminum radiators is kind of a non-starter. I have a brass radiator on order, hopefully here Friday.

[tutone]

New 3 core radiator installed from Toms.

My radiator mounts were really stiff, certainly not rubber bushings in there. I had to grind away at the top ones to get them to go in. Are most people using rubber for the upper and lower mounts for these? The ones I have are like a soft plastic. Not confident they will give much flex if any when I go off road. I think I'd rather have something softer than what is in there now.

Anyway, for now the radiator and fan shroud are installed. Next up, heater box. I purchased the chevrolet motor/fan from Advance Auto. I still need to trim the opening to get it to fit. It seems I should enlarge the opening slightly offset so the motor mount does not hang down below the heater box. Is that the acceptable way to install the larger fan?

[Jesus_man]

Mine are rubber mounts, and my new Tom's Aluminum radiator is leaking near one of the lower mounts, so I will need to investigate that.

It was way too long ago when I did the chevy squirrel cage fan, but I think there is a good write-up on classicbroncos.com

[Gunnibronco]

Congrats on getting the bugs worked out and the rig running.

Regarding the radiator mounts, I think the new ones from the Bronco vendors are polyurethane and not very pliable. I don't see any people having problems with this style mount, they have been that way for decades. I've been running the same poly mounts for 25+ years, on at least 2 radiators with no failures due to the mounts. I've always run 4 core copper/brass radiators and the fit is marginal at best.

I installed the Chevy fan into my heater box while it was in the truck. I'd suggest pulling the heater box and doing the trimming and fitting on a work bench. In addition to making the hole bigger on face of the heater box, inside the box is a formed metal panel that the fan cage has to fit as well. It's VERY hard to trim the hole larger, in the right location to make the cage match inside the box, and locate new mounting holes for the fan while the box is installed. I'm doing a bad job describing the situation, but if you pull the stock fan out, you can see what I'm talking about. I'm not finding good pics to illustrate it, but here is one of the inner metal panel. The large hole in the middle is flared in towards the fan, that flare has to fit inside the cage or it will rub. There is a magic spot where it will all fall together and fit right without the fan flange hanging off the box too much.

Long story short, you'll be glad you pulled the box to do the job. You probably aren't stoked to drain your coolant after the new radiator install, but it's worth your time.

Thanks for the battery cable company recommendation, that looks like a good source with good pricing/service/shipping.

[tutone]

Regarding the poly mounts, I think I'll switch to rubber ones eventually to give it a bit more flex without putting stress on my shiny new radiator. I feel the same way about the body mounts, which are rubber and not poly. IMO, flex/give is good. Of course, I have also put a fan through a radiator in the past, but I chalk that up to my idiocy and putting the fan too close to the radiator.

On to the heater box. I did have it out, actually it was never in. I got the box from landshark as my truck didn't come with one when I bought it. There was a lot of surface rust and there is no way to install the foam on the diverter doors without cutting the rivets off, so that is what I did. I made a bit of a mess of it, but it did go back together w/ new bolts nicely once everything was cleaned up and had rust inhibitor on it.

I measured the fan depth and the box depth to make sure it was going to fit.

As you said Gunnibronco, it is hard to get it lined up, in fact impossible to still be centered w/ the intake hole and miss the door near the fan, but the hole is at least not overlapping w/ the fan. I should have taken a picture from the intake side once I got it installed and back together.

It all went together well. The motor/fan is from Advance Auto, Part # 35345.

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[tutone]

Looks like it is time for some tightening up on the steering components. It has some wandering on the road and the steering is not the most responsive.

Toe-in looks great at 1/8". The trac bar is shot at the axle which should be cheap to fix. The drag link needs to be replaced too, which is a bit more $. I'm guessing the adjustable is the way to go for the drag ilnk since I don't know if it is going to get more lift soon or not. I wouldn't mind getting an adjustable trac bar too, but I need to curtail the $ outlay on this beast. I figure the adjustable vs non-adjustable drag link is ~ $30.

[Jesus_man]

Always better to have flexibility IMO. It's nice to have the option to dial it all in! Have a patient helper turn the steering wheel back and forth as you watch everything from where the box mounts to the frame, all the way down to the knuckles to make sure they move in unison.

[Gunnibronco]

Nice work on the heater box. Mine is a mess, mostly because I did it while installed. The fan on mine is pushed closer to the heater core. I'm not 100% sure which fan cage I used and that might make the clearance issue difference. I looked at the Classic Bronco's thread I followed and it spec'd a different fan brand & number. That might be why mine rubs. All I know is when I turned it on, it literally blew 40 years of dust and leaves out my defrost ducts.

I was also curious about the poly vs rubber radiator mounts. I haven't found any for sale that offer different materials. So I'm not sure there is a lot of difference. Wild Horses is the only vendor that mentions what the material is, and they call it rubber. For what it's worth.

Regarding the track bar and drag link you'll need to consider the angle as well as the length. That's all going to change if you add any more or less lift, and if you go with a tie rod over flip or not. All this will depend on how you plan to drive it. Ideally you want the drag link and track bar parallel and the same length. That's hard to accomplish in reality. And it all changes every time you change the lift. That said, having adjustable length can only help if/when you make changes in the future.

For the drag link, a tie rod over the knuckle or drop pitman arm can be used to help line things up. For the track bar, there are drop brackets for the frame end and riser brackets available for the axle side. Obviously there are pro's and con's for each option. How you weigh those will really depend on how you will use your truck. We have a pretty diverse group here who should be able to advise you on which choices will work for your goals.

JD's advice is good, going through the whole steering system, starting at the steering shaft and rag joint, and looking for play/looseness at each joint is the best way to find worn out parts that need replaced.

[tutone]

I figured I would just go w/ a stock drag link, I thought I could find one locally. No dice, I guess Moog does not make parts for 50+ year old vehicles! Given I need to order one I might as well get the adjustable one.

Yea JD's suggestion is good. I did that and figure I'll fix the 2 obvious issues then see if there are issues w/ the box. It's a manual box with a small steering wheel, so something is going to have to change there in the not to distant future. If it ends up having issues it will just accelerate that work.