LORE Bronco restore

[DirtDonk]

In the 5100 series, the commonly used 360/80 front is good, but on the light side for hard use with a heavier Bronco. Perhaps a pair of the lighter 255/70 versions would be just the ticket without being too harsh?
I have not tried them in that configuration yet, and though I do have a couple of customers that have set up their Broncos with dual Bilstein 5100's, I don't have any feedback from them.

Because the 255/70 works fine on the rear as a single, I'm not sure if two of them would be too stiff or not.
I've run old-school dual shocks and actually liked the ride. But that was a long time ago with different shocks (Gabriel Adjustable-E and Monroe Load-Levelers believe it or not!) and with different feelings about stiff riding trucks too.

I have not tried the duals on my street Bronco yet due to time and money constraints (always the case with me) but I plan to run dual 5100's at some point. The old-school mounts are already there and I want to have some fun playing around.
You know, in the interests of "research" and all that.

For now the singles work excellent. A tiny bit soft in the front for me, but at present the assumption on my part is that the heavy winch and bumper hanging off of the front are what is making it feel that way.

In sticking with the Bilstein theme, the 7100's are customizable too, with one free re-do if you don't like it. At least they used to do that, but I have not taken advantage so don't know if that's still offered.

Paul

 

[sprdv1]

In the 5100 series, the commonly used 360/80 front is good, but on the light side for hard use with a heavier Bronco. Perhaps a pair of the lighter 255/70 versions would be just the ticket without being too harsh?
I have not tried them in that configuration yet, and though I do have a couple of customers that have set up their Broncos with dual Bilstein 5100's, I don't have any feedback from them.


In sticking with the Bilstein theme, the 7100's are customizable too, with one free re-do if you don't like it. At least they used to do that, but I have not taken advantage so don't know if that's still offered.

Good info sir...

 

[sprdv1]

Lot of options for sure, just keep researching, reading before you make the call

So, I was looking into shock selection planning.....
Bilstein 4600 series
Bilstein 5100 series
Fox smoothy
King smoothy.

Pros and cons-
4600 looks most "period correct" I think..... but ill have to get the truck together, then flex it out with the forlift to measure for shocks. May not be able to find a 4600 series shock since its kind of designed for stock applications.
5100 series has tons of options, so length I dont think will be an issue. Shock valving from what I can see is stiffer by default- so 8 of them may make it ride poorly.
Fox can be valved and pressurized if I need to adjust them- hopefully I don't/won't have to go through that.
King, same thing.

 

[halogrinder]

In the 5100 series, the commonly used 360/80 front is good, but on the light side for hard use with a heavier Bronco. Perhaps a pair of the lighter 255/70 versions would be just the ticket without being too harsh?
I have not tried them in that configuration yet, and though I do have a couple of customers that have set up their Broncos with dual Bilstein 5100's, I don't have any feedback from them.

Because the 255/70 works fine on the rear as a single, I'm not sure if two of them would be too stiff or not.
I've run old-school dual shocks and actually liked the ride. But that was a long time ago with different shocks (Gabriel Adjustable-E and Monroe Load-Levelers believe it or not!) and with different feelings about stiff riding trucks too.

I have not tried the duals on my street Bronco yet due to time and money constraints (always the case with me) but I plan to run dual 5100's at some point. The old-school mounts are already there and I want to have some fun playing around.
You know, in the interests of "research" and all that.

For now the singles work excellent. A tiny bit soft in the front for me, but at present the assumption on my part is that the heavy winch and bumper hanging off of the front are what is making it feel that way.

In sticking with the Bilstein theme, the 7100's are customizable too, with one free re-do if you don't like it. At least they used to do that, but I have not taken advantage so don't know if that's still offered.

Paul

I was looking at dual 170/60's (4 total up front) to make it 340/120.....

 

[toddz69]

That’s what I would recommend.

Todd Z.

 

[markw]

Wow is all I can say. Nice write up. So very professional your work is.
I would guess you could sell a lot of wiring diagrams if you want to publish it. Lots of us who are not wiring geeks who would love to do our own work and would appreciate a professional diagram. Something to do in your spare time!


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[halogrinder]

That’s what I would recommend.

Todd Z.

My other option is to go with a Fox 2.0 or King and valve it to about the same.... Not sure if the juice is worth the squeeze or not. OTOH, I can get Fox shocks very reasonably- so they are in my budget of "not bananas" like 8 King's would be

 

[brewchief]

I've got the 360/80 front and 255/70 rear setup with deaver springs in tne front and bronco graveyard deaver copys in the rear, it's pretty decent off road and the little bit of street driving it gets feels fine. I think the pair of 170/60 on the front would probably be pretty good.

IIRC the first number is rebound followed by compression, a bit more compression with the pair up front might firm up the on road ride a bit but shouldn't be horrible by any means.

I do wonder what would be best for the rear, the same pair in the rear might not be too bad, I feel I could use a bit more compression damping at times( off road use).

If I could get a smooth body revalveable fox shock for a good deal I would have to look at that option pretty hard, the bilstein would probably look more correct and if you could get them in the yellow body version even more so but the ability to change the valving if you get it wrong the first time would be pretty hard to pass up even if the look isn't quite right.

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[halogrinder]

Then I have to get into the "learn how to revalve boinger stoppers" area

 

[halogrinder]

Axle is sitting here all pretty waiting on plating.
I've had hell with recent plating companies either doing a good job, or wanting to do the job at all.
A local place called Dells just recently denied the box I sent to them (which was PERFECTLY prepped, wired, etc) because it's too much of a pain in the ass for them, apparently.
Basically they are making more money with the big industrial stuff they do, not my piddly order.
Sucks.

Got the rotating assembly installed-

Ended up ordering a Com cams Thumpr cam with Roller lifter conversion. Waiting on that to show up, along with some ARP hardware

sorted out my hardware on the Explorer timing case assembly, but can't do anything till the cam shows up.

Blew the power steering pump to clean it up.

Pop's wanted a stainless hinge for the windshield so I did a little polishing on the piece to make it nice

Have a few things I won't be using if someone is interested in them.
Freshly coated timing case and new water pump 150

Manual power steering box 150

Original blower and squirrel cage

Stock front and rear drum brakes and axle shafts- 100 bucks?

 

[halogrinder]

blew the wind wings apart to clean the glass and replace the seals. The frames were a little yucky looking so I started cleaning them and found some good looking shiny metal..... thought they were stainless, so I bead blasted them, and polished them 80/120/240/320/600/800/1200/1600/2000/green compound, and microfiber.........just to find out they rusted after sitting for a bit :kicks rocks:
so, now they are at the body shop to be painted yellow

figured out how im going to run the auxiliary tank fuel transfer pump. need to do some mods to the tank switch plate- modded the switch to accept the original lever.
Will look "stock" from the inside, but run the aux pump via direct switch to transfer the aux fuel to the main tank where the high pressure pump is.

Found this missing broken off bracket for the window door frames and welded it on, brought that back to the body shop

Blew some more parts apart, brought them to Redline powder coating in Kingwood Tx. Anthony does amazing work, and his attention to detail is what makes me come back again and again.

The power steering pump needed a little more detail than usual- since it's at front and center I wanted to make sure it'd look the part

Remember these? I made them to support the windshield frame to the roll cage.
Well- I bought that crap you see on Facebook for metal polish by a company called dura-coating. This is their blue premium polish and a cheap polishing wheel on my grinder.
I'm gonna tell you- this crap works. I'm blown away how easy it is to make something shiny, quick.
now, from experience from my wind wing frames- this will put scratches back into something between 600 and 800 grit.....
but WOW does it make aluminum and other stuff shine awesome!
recommend it, if you're on the fence of buying it.
total time buffing this was about a minute or less per clevis

These are gonna look rad on the Dart Pro1 heads

I got the stainless hood hinges mounted- once dropped off and they started working on it to be informed from the body shop that the hood was severely warped from the sand blasting company I used- Fast Blast in Pearland, Texas.
Let me help you with your decision on sand blasting a body, or in general.
Don't go there. This company destroyed some premo sheet metal, and won't do anything to help me with it, other than tell me that I'm a whiney bitch and that "I'll never be happy". Literally told me that.
Learn from my mistakes. Don't use those assholes.
Am I salty about it?
Absolutely.
If he handled it better, gave my money back, offered some type of assistance to the 20+ hours I have in cleaning the residual shit left on the body, or now the new hood and grill I just had to replace I'd probably think differently.
In any case I have a new hood and grill from Dennis Carpenter here and need to do the same thing to the new hood, and bring them over to the body shop.

Anthony at Redline did a great shop matching up the Chrome yellow to the powdercoat.
The tire carrier was chromed by my pops, but was severely pitted and rusted through the chrome.
I cruised by Atlas Plating in Houston, and they were very helpful with my decision to powder coat it. The cost to strip it, buff it, and rechrome it would be bananas, plus the quality of the finish couldn't be guaranteed.
So, easy choice.

till assembling the engine as I get parts, find parts, find what I'm missing or have time.
the stroker crank kissed the Milodon oil pump- A little touch up with the grinder fixed this up.
Ordered a new main bolt for the oil pump pickup (Didn't have it).....

Gutted all the parts in the steering column and got that back together with a smoothy cup to get rid of the shifter "nub".
the horn button I had vapor honed but it stillll just isn't clean enough for me. I'll mess with that and the wiring later.
The Centech harness uses a long strip chevy style connecter vs the Ford square Molex connector- So I'll do it up when I get the harness laid out.

Dart Pro1 Heads
ARP head bolts
JE SRP Pistons
Stroker crank
Forged rods
ARP rod bolts
King Race coated bearings
Comp Hydro Roller Thumpr cam
Comp Full roller rockers
Cloyes True roller timing set
Should be fun to zing to 6500.
Degreed the cam in. It's currently on 102.5, with a 102 centerline.
It was ground on a 107.
We'll see how it performs, may move it around on the dyno.

 

[toddz69]

Did you get the two Explorer front dress pulley bolts you needed? There's a chance I could swing by the local stuff-yer-socks this weekend if you still need them.

Todd Z.

 

[tasker]

Amazing work!! Still!!

 

[phred]

Wow just finished the entire post to date. My hats off to your attention to detail and dedication to getting good products and service. Your Pops is really gonna enjoy this truck.
I too like wiring and hate what’s available. I usually build my own harness or do as you are doing and heavily modify what available to fit my needs.
Keep up the amazing work.


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[sprdv1]

Nice.. Just keep plugging away

don't let the little things frustrate ya

 

[halogrinder]

Did you get the two Explorer front dress pulley bolts you needed? There's a chance I could swing by the local stuff-yer-socks this weekend if you still need them.

Todd Z.

I may have them in another box of bolts getting replated- waiting for them to show up any day

Amazing work!! Still!!

Thanks!

Wow just finished the entire post to date.

Thanks!

Nice.. Just keep plugging away

don't let the little things frustrate ya

I know. Life is frustrating sometimes

 

[sprdv1]

I heard that... We got to do what we do and not sweat the small stuff

 

[halogrinder]

so.... after a long wait, a company only accepting checks, some more waiting, some miscommunication, some more waiting i finally got my plating back. Sheesh. Nearly a month!
I needed the power steering ring clip to reassemble it.
Man, powder coating and plating tolerance stack wasn't something that I intended to run into too much.
I've taken this got dam pump apart probably 15 times now. The thrust is too high (rear cap too far forward towards pully) causing it to not turn happy. So- I've been slowly trying to reduce the tolerances by gently removing powder a little at a time until the freewheel motion of the pump feels "correct"
What that "correct" feeling is, I can only explain by experience not by a "spec".
I'll get it. just taking time.

ANOTHER thing I just realized.
The Dart fabricated valve covers don't have a breather or fill port.
I'll have to get a PCV system set up (maybe a catch can/PCV/setup that goes on the firewall, like I do with these turbo BMW's I mess with) and also will need to fab a fill port.
Thankfully I have a very skilled fab shop down the street that can help me Aluminum weld that stuff up.
More on that later when I figure that out.

The things I was waiting on the most was ubolts and front radius arm bushing washers.
so..... I got busy

so, this was a big mental milestone for me. I'm not sure why, but it just was lol
Not that anything is final torqued, done, complete or anything- but the fkin axles are back in
Rear Ubolts fought me going around the banged up axle truss.
I bought a primeweld 225 TIG machine so I can make 304 stainless exhaust.
Hey, lets try to pic up a skill that has a learning curve of like, Mount Everest? lol
I've always wanted a TIG machine, this thing is killer so far-
My welds- not so much lol
Still need more under-the-hood time to make more progress in my booger welds
I'm running 1/16 blue tungsten
#12 FUPA cup with gas difuser
.043 308L filler
3/4" stick out
about 70 amps.
I want to work on my pulse settings, and get that dialed in for the 16G 2.5" exhaust pipe I'll be messing with.
So far, with the limited time under the hood I have (I'd say I have 10-15 filler rods of experience now) I'm feeling confident I can pick this up faster than I anticipate.
Critique my junk, and if you want me to post more I will if you can help me dial this in

 

[TX SS]

Looks good! What part of Houston are you in?

 

[brewchief]

Looks good, the fact that it's basically a roller now has got to be a great feeling, shouldn't be long and you will have engine and trans in place.

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