Ben's 73 Build Thread

[broncoitis]

Came out Purdy Nice there Amigo! Purdy Nice for sure! ;D

 

[904Bronco]

John "Bluto" Blutarsky says it Best...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8yAR7prdeU

Great Job there Ben! Long labor of love, now drive the wheels off of it.

 

[Bferrari]

John "Bluto" Blutarsky says it Best...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8yAR7prdeU

Great Job there Ben! Long labor of love, now drive the wheels off of it.

That is awesome! Almost pissed myself! Lol!

 

[Bferrari]

Question for you all, anyone have issues with air trapped in your cooling system? After 700 miles, had an issue with The rear cylinders getting hot. Needless to say, motors coming out, I'm thinking of stroking it since I've got to go through the bottom end.

 

[No Hay]

Question for you all, anyone have issues with air trapped in your cooling system? After 700 miles, had an issue with The rear cylinders getting hot. Needless to say, motors coming out, I'm thinking of stroking it since I've got to go through the bottom end.

Yes, very common problem with the C2 Corvette, and others. Apparently, right front, or left front (forget which) needs to be jacked up high to properly burp or purge the system. Not always, but usually. I forget the proper size, but another remedy is a small hole drilled in the t-stat.

BTW, beautiful ride! May I ask where you found the boot for the twin sticks? They look perfect (less rigid) than I've seen. Thx!

 

[Bferrari]

BTW, beautiful ride! May I ask where you found the boot for the twin sticks? They look perfect (less rigid) than I've seen. Thx!

Thanks, we made the boot from scratch. Basically made a ring and sewn some leather.

 

[boonz28]

Question for you all, anyone have issues with air trapped in your cooling system? After 700 miles, had an issue with The rear cylinders getting hot. Needless to say, motors coming out, I'm thinking of stroking it since I've got to go through the bottom end.

Man, I'm really sorry to hear this Ben, i know the pain of having to pull an engine shortly after a fresh rebuild.
You said it got hot, what exactly happened to cause you to pull the bottom end back apart?

 

[Bferrari]

Evidently there is an issue with small block fords where air gets trapped in the block and will overheat a cylinder. Gets hot, piston swells, then galls the cylinder. I've built dozen of small block fords and have never had this issue, nor even heard of it. In talking with my machinist, he says this happens more than you think. Enough so that I guess there is a technical service bulliten on it. Now that it has happened I bought the coolant tool from robinaire, and am going to be very paranoid getting coolant into this thing.

 

[boonz28]

Yeah i bet, man that stinks! I had a piston seize up and break on my last build (also ran good at first and then went bad). No real indication as to why and my machinist was also unsure. I've probably got somewhere close to a thousand miles on this second rebuild and so far everything seems to be good. I hope i don't run into similar problems.

Did you seize or break a piston then?
It sounds like you already tore the engine back apart, if so how much did it tear up?

 

[englewoodcowboy]

I had the same thing happen to the red ranger we built. It is back in our shop and about to go home with a fresh motor. This one started by cooking #2. My machinist said using stock pistons this is more common to happen vs aftermarket due to the friction preventers in new piston designs, they cannot hot and swell but less likely to gall. Because of this, even if the motor is well within specs we will now always cut them .030 over and put in new pistons. Fortunately for me this is the only motor we reused the stock pistons in and the only motor we had an issue with. Live an learn I suppose and education never comes cheap. I have the robin air tool but it was broken at the time I loaded this motor, it has since been repaired and will be used on every motor from here on out.

 

[Bferrari]

Did you seize or break a piston then?
It sounds like you already tore the engine back apart, if so how much did it tear up?

Not too sure, haven't pulled it out yet. I am hoping to in the next week or so. I'll let you know the details when I get it out.

 

[904Bronco]

Sorry to hear this Ben, I experienced something similar with my 68 build. Ended up pulling a motor with a few 100 miles on it, Certainly no fun at all. Machinist could not figure out why the cylinder walls were scored... But he made good on it.

 

[broncoitis]

Wow, sorry to hear about that misfortune Ben! That really SUCKS to put it mildly. Well hopefully it goes back together this next time without incident!

Happy holidays and a healthy new year Amigo for you the family and the Bronco! ;D

 

[Bferrari]

Back in the saddle! Motor is back in, now time to drive the wheels off of it! So happy to have it back together.

 

[tasker]

be proud!! looks so good!!

 

[bronkenn]

Looks real nice. I'm not a cut Bronco fan but if you do it that is definitely the way to go. Great job. Ken

 

[broncobsession]

Ridiculous. Meticulous attention to detail. Have fun driving it!

 

[Howard2x4x4]

Truly a thing of beauty! Great work, Ben! Howard in beautiful west Michigan

 

[rydog1130]

Back in the saddle! Motor is back in, now time to drive the wheels off of it! So happy to have it back together.

View attachment 450530 View attachment 450531

Awesome bud! glad you're on the road!

 

[broncoitis]

Good job AMIGO! Truck looks GREAT! ;D