Cheaper Than Therapy: A Build Thread

[marjama]

Just read through build. Awesome work.

Thanks mp!

I do have one request that might have been covered in your old build thread. According to your footnote, your are running a Ford EFI with a 700R4? Can you snap a pic of your 700R4 tv bracket and an backstory behind it? Is it a custom piece, modified off the shelf, or an off the shelf, bolt on and goo bracket? Thanks!

I will snap a pic next time I'm out in the shop for you. I used the TV Made EZ kit from Bowtie Overdrives, and made my own bracket to support the throttle + TV cable (if I am remembering correctly - it has been a long time since I set it up!).

 

[marjama]

I do have one request that might have been covered in your old build thread. According to your footnote, your are running a Ford EFI with a 700R4? Can you snap a pic of your 700R4 tv bracket and an backstory behind it? Is it a custom piece, modified off the shelf, or an off the shelf, bolt on and goo bracket? Thanks!

Hey MP, check out the attached pic for the existing throttle cable + 700R4 TV Cable setup. You can see the "TV Made Easy" parts hiding under the throttle body. That was supposed to be a temporary setup when I made it...but it worked, and I never got around to pulling it back off to paint it!

 

[mp]

Hey MP, check out the attached pic for the existing throttle cable + 700R4 TV Cable setup. You can see the "TV Made Easy" parts hiding under the throttle body. That was supposed to be a temporary setup when I made it...but it worked, and I never got around to pulling it back off to paint it!

Thanks for pic! Just ordered the kit yesterday--apparently one of the last kits in stock, with no plans to make more.

Looks like I am going to have to redo my BC throttle cable bracket though.

 

[sprdv1]

holidays over, time to get back after it right

More progress last night...I'm calling the rear suspension finalized! I moved the rear towers in by 1 1/4", which necessitated cutting pretty far into the frame, and moved the lower shock mounts in by 3/4". I still need to make new lower shock mounts, but it looks like everything works! Clearance between the tire and the wheel well is pretty tight (1/2" at full stuff, but I'm satisfied with that...turns out the extra 1" of body lift was a good move ;D

When I eventually weld everything up solid I'll have to modify the towers a bit, and will plate everything to close the frame back up. Still a lot of work to do, but I'm looking forward to pulling the body off one day and finishing up the frame. Getting closer!

On to the next project...figuring out how to remove & replace the rear quarters!

 

[marjama]

holidays over, time to get back after it right

Ha...definitely! (Well, technically I had a lot more free time during the holidays!) I busted out a set of 3" body lift blocks now that I've finalized the height. I spent some time ordering more parts, so I'll get to work on other stuff while I wait for them to show up.

 

[marjama]

I don't know how all of you guys work, but this whole stay home all the time thing is not good for me - my mind gets to churning and I just keep taking on more projects! The wife and I recently started concepting an off road trailer with a roof top tent, and my dad and I bought a rolled 2007 Dodge Cummins as a donor for my '70 F250 highboy. I mean, clearly I needed more to do since the Bronco is basically done, right? My name is Marcus, and I have an overly active mind.

Haven't gotten a ton done on the Bronco lately (someone hit my daily driver, so that has been a pain), but I did manage to remove the remainder of the rear quarters without destroying too much stuff. I didn't take many pics because I wasn't really having fun...but here's a shot of a new quarter wedged in there! Looking forward to making 37% of you cry when I recut it ;D

Second pics are just 'new part porn'. I spent an excessive amount of time thinking about mufflers. I'm not even ready for them yet, but I'm getting closer and they were on sale. I like good deals. My old system was 2 into 1 through 3" Magnaflow exiting before the passenger wheel. This one will be true dual with the mufflers outside the frame rails, hopefully exiting behind the back wheels somewhere (maybe a stockish location?). That's a big challenge with a four link, but I think I can pull it off. I'm clearly getting old because I want this truck to be quieter than it has been in the past! These are 4" X 9" X 18" body mufflers, ø2.5".

I'm currently trying to wrap up the front suspension (again) now that I can move it to full travel...and trying to figure out how to mount a front anti roll bar. I'm going to need to move things around a bit again to clear the coils. Full width axles and a wider WMS would have made a lot of things so much easier!

(MP, I haven't forgotten about you - I'm planning on being in the shop tonight and will take some measurements!)

 

[kman67]

Since you moved your body mounts inboard, you might be able to mount your sway bar on top of your frame.

 

[sprdv1]

I don't know how all of you guys work, but this whole stay home all the time thing is not good for me - my mind gets to churning and I just keep taking on more projects!

luckily I can work from home, but it does suck seeing same thing over and over, not getting a "real" break lol

 

[marjama]

Since you moved your body mounts inboard, you might be able to mount your sway bar on top of your frame.

Unfortunately I just don't have room...the attached pic is what I'm dealing with, and that is not even at full travel. Low ride height, extended wheel base, 6" of up travel and 37's = no room in between steering box and tire at full lock. I feel like even my old stock configuration would hit the steering box at full lock.

I was hoping to squeeze it in just behind the steering box, but I've created a serious puzzle up there! I think I found a place to sneak one in behind the axle though. More to come as I figure things out!

 

[nvrstuk]

How have I missed your build thread for a year??? I'm officially here now so you'll spend more time reading my often long winded & often crazy comments than working on this beautifully planned out Bronco build!! Wow... you're doing all that cool stuff you and I have bounced back and forth since the '90's!!! When ya want some cheap help, I only drink one beer/day so I'm a cheap helper..
lol

Keep up the quality, well planned work!! Looking great!

...and yes, we need to drive our Broncos down to the 'Con, wheel for a week and drive back! I cant get a group to do this again! bunch of young guys around here that are too "old" for it!! lol. Nothing like memories of sleeping in the rest stops on the ground in sleeping bags with 8 other Bronco owners and the sprinklers come on at 6am!! lol

Lets do this again!!

 

[marjama]

Welcome Brian! Glad to have you on board

How have I missed your build thread for a year??? I'm officially here now so you'll spend more time reading my often long winded & often crazy comments than working on this beautifully planned out Bronco build!! Wow... you're doing all that cool stuff you and I have bounced back and forth since the '90's!!! When ya want some cheap help, I only drink one beer/day so I'm a cheap helper..
lol

Keep up the quality, well planned work!! Looking great!

...and yes, we need to drive our Broncos down to the 'Con, wheel for a week and drive back! I cant get a group to do this again! bunch of young guys around here that are too "old" for it!! lol. Nothing like memories of sleeping in the rest stops on the ground in sleeping bags with 8 other Bronco owners and the sprinklers come on at 6am!! lol

Lets do this again!!

 

[marjama]

Ugh...

So, ran into another major design problem. I've been checking clearances up front and found that I need to massage the frame a little for spring clearance at full articulation. No biggie there...

...then I realized that the air bump is pretty much sitting inside of where the front coil will exist at full articulation. Insert expletive here. Unfortunately I didn't figure this one out sooner! I either need to move the shock back or the air bump...somewhere else. There just is not a lot of room up there! If I move the air bump I also need to patch the frame where I cut a bit hole in it.

Back to the drawing board!

 

[nvrstuk]

Not sure what else to say except you'll get it figured out and agree 100%, not much room up front!!

 

[marjama]

Not sure what else to say except you'll get it figured out and agree 100%, not much room up front!!

Ha, thanks Brian!

I think I'm going to be moving the front shocks back a bit. I'll be redesigning both upper and lower mounts to make it happen. It's gonna be tight!

I've also been spending a lot of time trying to find a place to mount an anti roll bar, and think I'm going to be trying to modify the track bar a bit and/or shorten it slightly. Currently I have about 1/4" of space between the steering arm and the track bar bracket at full lock, and the length is optimized. I'm pretty sure I'll need the anti roll bar enough to make the compromise...

So here's my Public Service Announcement: If you are going to do a build similar to mine, save yourself some grief and go full width! I didn't because I don't like tires sticking out that far, but it sure opens up more room. Also think twice about D60 components if you don't need em. They are huge!

 

[nvrstuk]

I'm 50% on you PSA Marcus..


I spent waaay too much time staying narrow but mainly I wanted to stay low so thst created more hassles for me than keeping at 58.5" WMS but I say go D60 if you are ever going to wheel or actually use 37"+ in n knarly off road stuff. D60 stock so iso much stronger and you can't get a 44 to take near the abuse of a 44...

Catch 22 ... lol

You'll get it and you will really like it..

 

[JeffG]

You could always lose the coil, shock and bump and go with ORI Struts. All three built in a smaller package. I was on their site and noticed they came out with an pneumatic sway assist! I have never seen one in person but the idea is interesting.

It sure is easy spending other people's money!

http://oristruts.com/stx-strut.html

 

[marjama]

Hi Jeff,

It sure is easy to spend other peoples' money, isn't it? ;D I appreciate the suggestion, but the ORI's are really not for me...they sure would be easier to package tho!

Early in my engineering career I spent several years at Fox developing dampers (both coil and air sprung), and for most applications I'll take a coilover over an air shock - even a fancy one like the ORI. If you can package it, the individual coilover, bump, and anti roll bar make tuning individual parameters easier. That said - most people aren't going to go that deep into tuning...and changing pressures and oil levels on an ORI would probably be easier to get in the right ballpark!

I'm going to keep going with what I have and figure it out...and for sure part of that is just the challenge of getting it to work! I may also feel slight loyalty to Fox even though it has been years since I worked there

You could always lose the coil, shock and bump and go with ORI Struts. All three built in a smaller package. I was on their site and noticed they came out with an pneumatic sway assist! I have never seen one in person but the idea is interesting.

It sure is easy spending other people's money!

http://oristruts.com/stx-strut.html

 

[marjama]

It's really looking like I'm going to need to think about using tube for the upper mount on the front. I'm looking at moving the shock 2" back and 1.5" down. That's still not enough to get the parts in a place where it makes sense.

I was hoping to keep the mounts centered on the axle, and also really wanted to use the sheet metal shock mounts I made! I'm sure most of you get this, but when you offset a coilover you 'twist' the axle which means you are adding stress to the joints that hold it in place. I haven't calculated the significance, and it probably is irrelevant in the grand scheme of things. Just tough to package all of this stuff and keep a low ride height with 37's!

Back to the drawing board!

 

[nvrstuk]

I understand the difficulty of packaging the struts over the axle.

Space is tight... I had to mount them hanging off the rear and could have fot them but the 16"s would have sat 4" higher which I didnt want so I sacrificed there but up front I got them on top of the axle but tbey come within a 1/2" of my raised hood.

What Imsaying is with your 3 link and 4 link you will be ok.

So you need to move them for ride height goals?

 

[marjama]

I need to move them for packaging...right now at full extension the coil spring and the air bump would be occupying the same space. That seems bad ;D

My front WMS is ~64", and I'm trying to keep the ride height as low as possible while still keeping 6" of up travel and the full range of the steering box. With the 37's I'm very close to touching floor boards in the rear, and had to cut everything up front to make space. The axle is pushed 3" forward. The D60 steering arms + size of the wheel end components add complexity. It's a puzzle for sure! I guess I like a challenge? ORI's would have been much easier to package since I wouldn't be adding a parallel air bump. (Or, just not adding an air bump would have solved the problem!)

I understand the difficulty of packaging the struts over the axle.

Space is tight... I had to mount them hanging off the rear and could have fot them but the 16"s would have sat 4" higher which I didnt want so I sacrificed there but up front I got them on top of the axle but tbey come within a 1/2" of my raised hood.

What Imsaying is with your 3 link and 4 link you will be ok.

So you need to move them for ride height goals?