My 72 half cab build.

[talltire]

just read your whole tread. good work and keep it up.

 

[stupidboy]

just read your whole tread. good work and keep it up.

Thanks, it slowed up a bit cause I am trying to get a plan down for the rest of the build. It is sort of taking a different direction now that its actually oing to be a bronco, Plus I have to keep up with NYBronco.;D

 

[NY-Bronco]

Thanks, it slowed up a bit cause I am trying to get a plan down for the rest of the build. It is sort of taking a different direction now that its actually oing to be a bronco, Plus I have to keep up with NYBronco.;D

Youre crazy man!! Why would you do something that stupid?

Plan the rest of the build carefully because so many parts are interlinked. I learned that the hard way ;D

 

[stupidboy]

Ya I know thats what I'm trying to do. I don't want to have a lot of redo's that end up costing me extra time or money. I was just kidding about keeping up with you.

 

[Stutsmo]

Ya I know thats what I'm trying to do. I don't want to have a lot of redo's that end up costing me extra time or money. I was just kidding about keeping up with you.

Redo’s aren’t as bad as everyone makes them out to be, especially if you do them as often as I do. You get so used to it that it starts to feel normal. The next thing you know it will take you a month to put an engine and transmission in… Just like me! ;D

 

[stupidboy]

redo’s aren’t as bad as everyone makes them out to be, especially if you do them as often as i do. You get so used to it that it starts to feel normal. The next thing you know it will take you a month to put an engine and transmission in… just like me! ;d

what?%)%)%)?:?;D

 

[stupidboy]

OKay, I have a plan down for the rest of the build so that I can start going forward, Some of my desisions are swayed by what I have found that is easily available and what I plan to use the bronco for. Let me first say that I am only going to be using this bronco on weekeds and probably only when the weather is nice, I will take it to shows here and there and when I do drive it I want it to be reliable, the kind of vehicle that you can jump in and drive anywhere without having to worrie about problems.
I have a freind that has a fords only junk yard that I'm able to source a early model 351windsor and a 5.8 truck lower efi manifold, he also has a 5.0l mustang upper and anything else I need off the mustang to do the efi swap. This has made my desision to use the 351. I'll be getting the BC adapter for the manifolds to fit together. I am not a all interested in using the serp set-up. I gave Od a thought but as I said before I rally don't care for it, nor do I have any plans on 70 mph highway trips that would warrant it. I already have a c4 so thats what I'm going with.Plus that saves extra work and $$ fitting in any others and drive shaft mods.
I want to build my own plate steel bumpers for the front and rear, with the front being able to accept a winch. I'll be getting started there buy re working the frame horns for what I think will be the strongest bolt on design. I will be adding a a tork fork of some design and for that I beleive I'll be building that also.
Back to the efi I think I want to put together my own harness so that along the way it helps me to understand the system better for future problem diagnosis. This is where I may be needing some help from some of you guys that have done this, and by help I mean question answer type help not physical labor.
Now that my decisions have been I'll be able to continue with my build and posting more pics of my progress.

 

[NY-Bronco]

That sounds like a good plan! I went with serp just because its easier to replace anything that breaks or goes bad.

If its not going to be a long distance runner then the C-4 is a good choice. Im using it right now without any issues.

Have you decided on gear ratios yet? If not the gear ratio calculator over at grimjeeper.com will help you a lot.

Making your own harness is alright but there is room for error which will be frustrating. If your electrical skills are as good as your fab skills then by all means, go for it! Even for the guys that have built their own harnesses multiple times they still take quite a while. If time is money, then I think you would be better off just buying the RJM harness. Just to annoy you I will say that you missed the black friday deal of 450 bucks ;D Its truly a plug n play harness. One of the few things in my build that gave me no problems

 

[stupidboy]

To get it on the road and see what its like I am going to keep the 354 gears in and then change in the future, I want to go with 456. I realize the RJM is plug and play but it will teach me nothing about the system and I would really like to learn how it works and what wire goes where and why. The RJM will also save time but I have pretty good electrical skills already, just none of them on efi.

 

[bax]

who loves to sandblast? You must not be quite right. sandblasting is a terrible job. I admire your "bravery" with this project.

 

[stupidboy]

who loves to sandblast? You must not be quite right. sandblasting is a terrible job. I admire your "bravery" with this project.

Thanks Bax, that means alot. Sandblasting is fun when you use the right equipment, starting with at least a 185 cfm dessiel powered air compressor.;D

 

[NY-Bronco]

Sandblasting is only fun when you do it at someone elses facility where they prepare, let you blast, then they clean up ;D

 

[NY-Bronco]

To get it on the road and see what its like I am going to keep the 354 gears in and then change in the future, I want to go with 456. I realize the RJM is plug and play but it will teach me nothing about the system and I would really like to learn how it works and what wire goes where and why. The RJM will also save time but I have pretty good electrical skills already, just none of them on efi.

You will be surprised. After you go through the efi tech articles and go through fordfuelinjection.com you will know where everything goes and why. I got the preloomed one but unloomed most of it to get the stuff into places I wanted. The only area I left was around the injectors.

 

[stupidboy]

You will be surprised. After you go through the efi tech articles and go through fordfuelinjection.com you will know where everything goes and why. I got the preloomed one but unloomed most of it to get the stuff into places I wanted. The only area I left was around the injectors.

I don't know, It is going to be hard for me to drop that kind of cash on some wires, you have to admit they are a bit overpriced, and the reason for that is for guys that aren't capable of doing it, they will gladly buy one, so now its name your price and they'll pay it. I'm not saying that everyone that buys one isn't capable but I feel that that is what is setting the price.

 

[NY-Bronco]

Capable yes, I just calculate my time as I would what I charge my customers. It just was not worth it in my case. If I were retired I would definitely have attempted it myself. If you can get all the plugs in good condition for cheap and youre good enough at this to not have to chase some small electrical gremlin later on then you should do it yourself.

In terms of materials the harness aint worth crap but its the labour that goes into making the thing especially the peace of mind that comes with it that makes it worth the cash in my opinion.

 

[stupidboy]

Capable yes, I just calculate my time as I would what I charge my customers. It just was not worth it in my case. If I were retired I would definitely have attempted it myself. If you can get all the plugs in good condition for cheap and youre good enough at this to not have to chase some small electrical gremlin later on then you should do it yourself.

In terms of materials the harness aint worth crap but its the labour that goes into making the thing especially the peace of mind that comes with it that makes it worth the cash in my opinion.

I totally agree, but don't you think that once you've made one, or two, that now you have it, and now it just keeps getting replicated, which is now not all that time consuming. The harness should cost max 200.

 

[NY-Bronco]

The following is a quote from the dude who wrote all those articles in Bronco Drier magazine regarding the EFI install. After doing several harnesses his best time is still 60 hours of work. That just tells me that its more cmplicated than it seems. Even then mistakes can be made. note the smoking computer comment. That would really suck. I still say buy it.

"The wire harness can make or break a fuel injection swap, and like everything else, there are a few options. The very first thing to be done is to come to terms with your own electrical skills. If you have a degree in wiring, installed your mothers car alarm, built a home computer, or are very good at reading schematics it is very possible to build your own harness. Many times you can find a junkyard EFI harness for $20-$50 that needs lots of attention. When I built my first EFI harness it took me about a week of full days converting a dry rotted speed density harness into a 1993 Mustang harness. My best time now is 60 hours to build a harness from scratch, and I’ve done it more than twice. It is also very possible to incorrectly wire a harness and have smoke pour out of the computer. There are a few books available that have some wiring diagrams, and http://www.fordfuelinjection.com has several diagrams and recommended books to help you build a harness. Check on the web and flip through one of the books at your local bookstore. If you feel building, repairing, and altering a harness is something you can do, try it! The biggest clue is what your Bronco looks like now. Do the headlights work? Are there 20 butt connectors on your vehicle? Do you have spaghetti of wires on the battery or under the dash? If so you might not be ready to attempt a fuel injection harness. Harness work is the most boring skill in the automobile industry, so don’t feel bad if you’d rather hammer a spoon in your ear than pick up a soldering gun. There are a number of aftermarket harnesses available you can use to make the EFI transplant easier. Ford Racing, Painless Wiring, RJM Injection Technologies, Ron Morris Performance, Windsor- Fox all make Ford fuel injection harnesses for different applications, qualities, and prices."

 

[stupidboy]

I'm saying that the guys building these harnesses for retail purposes are building them repedativly with all the stuff right at their side not an oem mustang harness that needs reworked and finding all the right plugs sure that is going to take some time especially since your not doing it everyday. These manufacturers are doing this everyday and its like the back of their hand, so I think they could build 10 or more a day. 200 would be a fair price in my eyes. Its like some of these pailess wiring kits, over 700 and you still have to put it together%) come on. When the time comes I'll have to see what my funding allows. I am sure they are a nice harness but......

 

[NY-Bronco]

I see what you mean! Companies like RJM are very small and they can employ only skilled labor which translates to $$$ They dont have a dedicated person manning computers or phonelines. With overhead and all it gets expensive. I highly doubt that they produce 10/day for each worker.

That being said, I wish they were 200 bucks ;D Even used ones sell for more than that.

 

[stupidboy]

yet you can buy an oem mustang harness used for 35