69 Dudes-- Just the beginning

[Digger]

That looks great!

It's hard making a bumper for an 8274 that still has good aesthetics.

[Eck]

Finally got the roll cage project done. Ran almost all of the wires through the cage and up to the overhead panel. The only one that gave me fits was the CB cable which I ended up having to run on the outside. I am glad I went with the white powder coat. Think it looks good.

Big thanks to Crawlercreations for building it and helping with getting it bolted in. Also big thanks to Phil for helping with the wiring- that was a much larger project than expected but now I have interior lights, rock lights, bumper flood lights, and all my ARB switches directly overhead. We also used weatherpack connections on everything so it’s easily removable if I ever had to remove the cage.

Also was able to add a 10” subwoofer to my stereo system. Got the hummer seat belts installed which I like too.








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[landshark]

Nice looks great!

[Jesus_man]

Solid work!! I know it's a pain to feed those wires internally, but it'll be so nice from here on!

[Strike2]

Wow that looks awesome very nice work on wiring that up!

[cravenbronco]

Nice

[Eck]

Big thanks to Jason (Crawlercreations) for getting my front steering linkage done so quickly. Cracked frame was welded up and reinforced. Went with a track bar riser and tie-rod over conversion linkage. Everything is handling so much better. Steering is much tighter that it felt a little weird driving it home. Not used to having that much response in the steering wheel!!






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[Jesus_man]

Nice!! Is that a rock-light?

[Eck]

Finally got the camper up into the hills behind the Bronco. The wife and I were supposed to be in Hawaii last week but opted to keep our PTO and hit the mountains. I was pleasantly surprised how well the Bronco towed. Was easily doing 75mph on I-25 and had no issues through Poudre Canyon either.

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[Kinder]

Very cool, welcome to the Bronco towing stuff family!

[Eck]

My plan over the next couple months:

1. Replace brake booster with hydroboost. Got one out of a ‘97 Astro van. Cleaned it up and painted it. Ordered a re-seal kit so will do that next week. Also ordered a firewall plate off eBay that should allow me to mount it flat against the firewall. Waiting to determine if I will need to clock it for clearance or not.

2. Replacing the Saginaw power steering setup with a Viperwolf special. The PS hasn’t been an issue but getting everything to lineup on the serpentine belt has been a challenge and I’m just over the slight squeal of the belt. It’s not noticeable with a new belt and the hood closed, but I’m just ready to “upgrade”.

3. Fix the rear ARB leak.

4. Reseal the lower intake. I think I’ve got a pretty healthy oil leak at the middle section front and rear where the rtv goes.

5. Clean up all the routing of engine bay wiring. Also plan to replace my spark plugs and plug wires. I bought the universal plug wires so I can cut to length and route them cleaner.

I was a bit rushed during original install of everything engine bay trying to just get it done (usually for the Moab Bronco Safari) so I’m really looking forward to taking my time and doing it right finally. Hopefully won’t be embarrassed to pop my hood anymore!!


First step accomplished. Large order from Summit arrives tomorrow.


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[Jesus_man]

That will be awesome!

[Eck]

Progress...


Brake booster out, lower intake out and cleaned up. I did not have a leak along the back and the gasket material shape was evident of a good seal. Major oil leak along front ridge and the gasket material left behind was pretty evident as being the cause. Bought a new tube of Right Stuff so I can get a good bead.


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[Justin]

Nice. Getting the small, annoying stuff like leaks taken care of is awesome.

[Eck]

OK. I "think" I can exhale. I was able to address the coolant leak I had from a bad lower intake plug. The hydroboost seems to be working much better now that I took about 1/4" out of the bullet spacer in the master cylinder. I was having some issues with backfiring and engine sputtering out but I double checked the newly installed plug wires and then put new gas in it and I believe that may have solved it (will need to put some more miles on it to feel certain).

I think I have solved the major oil leaking issues I was having but have some leaking from the oil dipstick. I hate the 351W oil pan and have tried to solve that puzzle before. I guess I should just deal with it at this point.

Anyways-- here are the glamour shots. Tough to see but I was able to clean up some wire routing, make custom length plug wires and tuck them tight, the new power steering pump with explorer bracket looks better and I think the hydroboost size compared to the vacuum booster.

[phyler]

Woo-hoo! Looking awesome and glad to hear it's working better.

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[Digger]

Looking good!

That engine doesn't leave much room to the master cylinder.

[Justin]

Looks good! If you have the oil pan that has the dipstick going in through the side of the pan, I solved the leaking problem on my 302 by welding it inside and out. That stopped it. I think I tigged it, but I don't remember for sure.

[Eck]

Looks good! If you have the oil pan that has the dipstick going in through the side of the pan, I solved the leaking problem on my 302 by welding it inside and out. That stopped it. I think I tigged it, but I don't remember for sure.

I tried to JB weld that spot before I ever installed it. Almost seems like it’s coming from the spot the dip stick is screwed into it.


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[Justin]

Could well be. If I remember correctly, I Right Stuff-ed the ever loving heck out of that spot.

[CamTheRam17]

Could well be. If I remember correctly, I Right Stuff-ed the ever loving heck out of that spot.

This probably isn’t much help but I recently did this same thing on my 302 and just stuffed as much black (oil specific) RTV all of the way around the dipstick tube where it meets the riveted plate and I don’t have many miles on it but so far it seems to be holding up amazing even though it’s not pretty looking but it’s on the bottom of the motor so nobody would even notice

[Eck]

Did you guys right stuff the threads when you installed it or just smear it all around? I’m guessing the threads?


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[Justin]

I'd hit the threads, but smearing would probably work.

[Jesus_man]

Solid work Eck! Hope she's back up and running reliably for you!

I dealt with the same issue on my oil pan. I have a port in the block for the dip stick, so I removed the port in the oil pan and welded a patch panel in it.

[Eck]

Did a smear job on the oil dipstick-- sort of hard to get all the way around but we will see how it does.

I also decided to buy a new Hydroboost unit. The other one was still leaking and it felt like because it did not have a great seal that the pressure was preventing the rod from working well. I should have just bought a new one to begin with. New (not reman) was about $215.

I was putting everything back together on Saturday and mixed up which AN fitting was the small return port line and overtightened busting the small end off in the HB AGAIN. Ordered another on Amazon which showed up this morning and decided to color the outside of it red with a sharpie to make sure I don't make that mistake again! Took it for a quick test drive and the brakes work about 10X better with the new unit.

I think I would eventually like to come up with a better machined Master Cylinder plunger adapter but that can wait.

[Strike2]

Glad to hear you got it all working and your braking is 10X better!, sucks about the new fitting.

[Eck]

Not a good news Saturday. Digger came over to give me a hand with getting my rear ARB leak sorted and at first- it seemed obvious the leak was coming from the bulkhead fitting/copper air line inside the diff. It had broken off and showed signs of being over tightened. I ordered their “upgrade kit” for the bulkhead fitting which has a better seal and is designed to prevent you from over tightening it. That installed no problem.

This is where the not good news starts. We bench tested it and found a leak out of the little hole that comes off the Flange Cap. It has a small drill hole that is then plugged with a small screw (1.3mm Allen wrench for those needing to know). We removed that, cleaned it out, and tried to reinstall the screw with some thread sealer. Let it sit for a couple hours and no dice, still leaked.

Upon further examination- and a zoomed in picture- it appears there is a micro crack that is enough to not allow the plug screw to seal properly. Crappy part, is these are warrantied for 5 years- I bought mine in 9/2015 (so out of warranty). You can replace just that Flange Cap with bonded seal for about $250 BUT so far have not found anywhere that has it listed as IN STOCK. Summit has it shipping direct from ARB in November.

Sooo…. I guess I have potentially 3 options to still bring the Bronco to SuperCel: source the Flange Cap kit within the next couple weeks, Put it back in as-is and run without rear lockers, buy an entire new ARB assuming someone has those in stock.

What a crap deal- clearly a defect. I will also be calling ARB on Monday to see if they’ll do anything for me.


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[phyler]

That sucks. I would love an ARB but it feels like it is super hit or miss if you have issues like this. I'm waiting on parts for mine now too.

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[Rox Crusher]

That sucks for sure.

I’m thinking I will find same or similar when I pull mine again

[Justin]

That sucks badly. I need to do the seals on mine. Hopefully it's just the seals.