1968 junkyard bronco (Possum)

[Speedrdr]

Hate to hear that. Had a similar experience with a previous EB. Spun the crank in the mains and had that lovely metal flake oil that you mentioned. Mine was because of it being a 6 cylinder and 37” tires. Did not matter the gears were .411s - too much tire/too little engine.
Maybe it won’t be a total loss for you.

Randy

 

[DirtDonk]

Is it a roller cam, or flat tappet? Perhaps a wiped cam and put a lot of that junk in it. Then again, you probably would’ve felt it in the way it ran before you started hearing a knock.
I’m also sorry to hear of your issue. But I will be very interested, like I’m sure everyone else is, to hear what you find when you dig into it.

 

[Badcompany79Bronco]

Is it a roller cam, or flat tappet? Perhaps a wiped cam and put a lot of that junk in it. Then again, you probably would’ve felt it in the way it ran before you started hearing a knock.
I’m also sorry to hear of your issue. But I will be very interested, like I’m sure everyone else is, to hear what you find when you dig into it.

It's a flat tappet, it's possible as it felt like it had a slight miss at times, but I'm not sure, I'll get it torn about sometime soon, but most likely a different motor is gonna go in for the time being

 

[Badcompany79Bronco]

Hate to hear that. Had a similar experience with a previous EB. Spun the crank in the mains and had that lovely metal flake oil that you mentioned. Mine was because of it being a 6 cylinder and 37” tires. Did not matter the gears were .411s - too much tire/too little engine.
Maybe it won’t be a total loss for you.

Randy

Honestly this engine is gutless with the 38s and 4.56s, doesn't even wanna pull a hill and your lucky to maintain 50 in 4th, so not sure what's going on there, but it seems whenever it starts lugging and trying to pull a hill is when the over heating really starts

 

[DirtDonk]

Well, that’s consistent with when engines tend to overheat. They are being overloaded for their capacity and working too hard.

 

[cldonley]

That pic under the Esso sign is calendar worthy! You've done more to your rig in the last 6 months than I have in the last 6 years, I think.

 

[DirtDonk]

That pic under the Esso sign is calendar worthy!

Definitely!

 

[Badcompany79Bronco]

Back together and put about 100 miles on it since the new motor. Got a 69 302, unknown history but extremely clean inside. Bearings looked great so I threw all my new stuff on it and it's back in the truck running strong, stays at 165 degrees and great oil pressure. Drove it to the local car show with my dad and of course had to show off a little bit. Broncos got plenty of attention.

Mid Atlantic early bronco roundup or bust!

 

[Badcompany79Bronco]

Somehow I never posted a roundup post but gosh what a week I had. 1000 miles so far, drove to pa to the mid Atlantic early bronco roundup, wheeled at aoaa all week with only a couple issues and was able to make it back home. Bronco did amazing and I’m beyond happy with it. Won first place in the trail class and took overall most votes, won the cornhole tournament with Tim shepps as well. Overall so stoked with how this bronco is performing. Just got a new phone so will post pics when they get transferred!

 

[JeffG]

Just read the entire thread. Great story and work on the bronco. I may have missed it, but where are you located? You mention driving to the Mid Atlantic EB Roundup.

 

[cldonley]

To get where you are with Possum starting in the Junkyard less than a year ago is amazing! What a story. Way to go my friend!

 

[Badcompany79Bronco]

Just read the entire thread. Great story and work on the bronco. I may have missed it, but where are you located? You mention driving to the Mid Atlantic EB Roundup.

Central va

 

[Badcompany79Bronco]

A ton more pics on instagram badcompany_79bronco or my Facebook

 

[glass76]

Great pic inside the old dragline bucket!!

 

[Badcompany79Bronco]

Not much has really changed, honestly just been driving the crap out of it. I hit 1500 miles on it yesterday and have some parts on order for it and just fixing some small stuff here and there to make it nicer to drive.

 

[Badcompany79Bronco]

Tons of progress here lately, hit 2500 miles on it today and starting to focus on making it more street friendly, fun to drive and of course fun projects. Kc lights and light bar I picked up off marketplace. Ruffstuff anti-wrap bar kit I had a good time building. New seats went in this week which are out of a 91 integra, wasn’t a bad install. Took some messing with the factory sliders and a flat bar across the front and back to make up for the difference in width. Tried my hand at some custom pinstriping as well on a different dash I was working on and I’ve been messing with painting some at work and finally had an excuse to try out pinstriping. Didn’t come out bad for the first time. Dash got pretty much completely re-done, moved the glovebox over to clear the roll cage, got rid of ash tray and speaker grill. Installed some duff removable door hinges as well. Also included the pic of driving it back to the exact place I pulled it out of which was pretty sweet.

 

[Badcompany79Bronco]

Ha, that didn’t age well. 3500 miles in since may and possum was doing great until I decided to go to Good Evening Ranch for a weekend of wheeling earlier this month. Tough drive for possum being nothing but hills and started smelling coolant on the long grades with keeping my foot into it to try and maintain speed. Started losing 7/8 cylinders when on the long hills which turned into random ignition cuts and it not wanting to idle and eventually lost everything while in town. Dad who was following with a truck and trailer and his bronco ran to the local parts store and picked up a new cap, rotor, points and condenser. Replaced everything and no change until I jumped up and grabbed the cap and it suddenly started running fine.

We ended up zip tieing the cap to one side at an angle and bandaided it the hr or so I had left. While looking at it after taking a break and eating dinner, dad went to adjust points and found he couldn’t even adjust the points because the breaker plate kept moving and upon further looking at it, it was work smack out. Called up autozone not 10 mins before they closed and they had a distributor on order which showed up before 830 in the morning. Everything went well and super impressed with how the truck did, but on the way home the temp started fluctuating and a weird “squeak” would develop under change in the throttle, not rpm related but where you were at such as 1/4 or 1/2 or full throttle. Made it home and found a couple problems but pretty sure I blew a headgasket with such a hard drive, which no big deal to throw headgaskets on, but did an oil change before I left and found a large amount of shavings that I don’t like and I assume it to be a wiped cam.

After pondering on that and weighing options I figured I jumped to conclusions assuming the worst but I’m afraid to say I don’t think so. Verified the headgasket and either way that much metal is not good. Possum has been sitting for about 2 weeks and i finally decided to dive into it again over the winter and re-do the interior, wiring and eventually put a motor in. Made a deal on a 385hp 351w crate engine my grandad has had for about 15 years. Anyways here’s some wheeling pics and progress of todays tear down

 

[Badcompany79Bronco]

And more

 

[Badcompany79Bronco]

Progress is progress, it’s taking more time than I was hoping due to rain and bad weather but it’s getting there. Rust repair is pretty much done inside the truck, I was planning to do rockers at this time to but have the MEB meet and greet id like to make and then dig into it again after with the motor swap and rockers and getting some more stuff painted. Anyways here’s some pics. Dash is in today and hoping to get cage in tomorrow

 

[Badcompany79Bronco]

We’re back up and running, everything is back together and I drove it to get lunch with no top as well as drove it to work where it sits now out the snow. Finished a ton of wiring and finally have a glovebox and defrost. Same rust repair was done on the passenger side and hoping to do rockers after this weekends MEB meet and greet when I do the motor as well. Working on my door panels while it’s freezing cold and snowing outside