New project

[G's Baja Bronco]

The Bee sting almost gone, body was aching and I felt drained, we had a couple of days of rain. RAIN IN SAN DIEGO, finally some free water for the plants.

I am hoping to remove the exhaust and go thru the joints tonight, if it does not rain.

Yesterday was my B-DAY and got calls from family, a lot of questions about the Bronco, how's the build going, can we go to the baja 1000 on it?

I am having the second official Bronco Build party Saturday to celebrate my B-day. I am hoping to finish the exhaust and mount the body one last time, I will actually tighten the 6 body mounts. still have the NP205 side mount to make and an additional bolt on bracket on each side of the trans cross member on the inside of the frame, from one or two of the existing mount threaded holes (4 on each side).

 

[G's Baja Bronco]

finished the cross member, added an internal bracket on each side from existing threaded holes to cross member, added supports to exhaust. added side of TC to frame support.

mounted tub to frame, one last time, and hand tightened 4 of the body mounts. I will add the middle 2 and tighten them all tonight.

I had 40 people over for my 44th b-day Saturday night, good times, carne asada and beer. I spent all day yesterday recovering. All are exited about the EB, and my Bro had His 74 next to it his WH's Hood looks SWEET, I might post some pics of both tonight.

 

[G's Baja Bronco]

Hey, thanks to all for the b-day wishes.......;D

guess a lot of non members are drooling often ;D

 

[Nightstick]

Dang, it looks like you're almost done... well to the point it's driveable anyway. Keep up the good work!

Oh, and happy belated birthday

 

[G's Baja Bronco]

Thanks Nightstick, going to start on the front of the EB, I plan to mock up the grill and fenders and create new inner frame to hang from. then Radiator/fan assy is going in and all the engine accessories.

Dang, it looks like you're almost done... well to the point it's driveable anyway. Keep up the good work!

Oh, and happy belated birthday

 

[G's Baja Bronco]

:-[ fighting the smog war with the Mustang, I get a P0455 code, large evap leak or blockage, replaced filler to gas tank rubber grommet, egr solenoid and Vapor canister, am wa iting to see if this fixes it, it passes the visual inspection, the dyno fumes inspection but not the computer to computer check.

can't work on the EB till this is done. I might be replacing the vapor canister purge valve and checking hoses next Saturday.

man I really like the 75 smog exception, the stang doe not pollute, but cause of a diagnostic note being ready it will not pass, the smog place tells me to keep driving it till it does it's diagnostics, 500 miles and not ready yet.:-[

 

[G's Baja Bronco]

traced all hoses on stang, replaced one, got a new gas cap, checked valves/solenoids, if it does not work I will have to have some one with a smoke machine look at it.

tomorrow morning I will play a little with the EB

 

[G's Baja Bronco]

Rainy all morning and a little cold, stuck to Gaming on my PC L4D2, stang still has the evap leak issue, having second mobile mechanic check it out tonite.

 

[G's Baja Bronco]

Man I wanna work on the Bronco ;-)

 

[G's Baja Bronco]

OK the Stang passe the smog test this morning, I ca go back to the EB. Stay tuned

I want to get the whole front accessory belt system from a explorer.

does any one know if I need the front balancer, or just the crank pulley??

 

[G's Baja Bronco]

Sounds Like I will need more than the pulley, front cover and PS pressure hose.

I will mock up the front, including radiator first and see if the 91 cougar accessories allow for the electric mark vii fan to fit since I already have them. I will also call the wrecking yard and see what the cost of the explorer stuff is. I will then make the decision.

since I am building the EB on my back yard, I might need to build a temporary weather shelter with lamps. it is getting dark early and we been having rain lately. I figure a 12' x 16' will do. ;D

 

[DirtDonk]

Damper and pulley are one piece. So yes, Explorer damper needed, along with all the other stuff, including the water pump.
Haven't looked back yet to see if you have a 28 oz motor, or a later 50 oz type, but the Explorer damper will be 50 oz, so you either have to have it modified to match the 28 oz imbalance factor, or get a custom pulley to work with your existing (or maybe another custom?) damper. Don't even know if that's feasible or not. Most of the people I know are using the Explorer damper and just having it rebalanced if necessary.

You need the timing cover, water pump, damper and, obviously, all the accessory brackets, bolts, and components.
That what you were asking?

And congrats on the Mustang passing! Good news for sure.
Anything that lets you get back to the Bronco is a good thing. Not that there's anything wrong with Mustangs, of course. I'm just sayin...

Paul

 

[DirtDonk]

And here you thought you were just talking to yourself for awhile, didn't you? ;D

Paul

 

[G's Baja Bronco]

That is right Paul, I was writing my memoirs ;D

a lot of looking, but no commenting, as you might know it helps to see comments from others, positive ones hopefully. I am almost convinced to do the explorer accessory drive, I will build the EB once, I might as well do it all now.

There is a wedding south of Mexico, San Carlos Sonora, I am driving to in 2 weekends, I am detailing and doing some maintenance on the wife's 05 Navigator, a 12 hour drive each way. would have flown but the nearest airport is 1 hour from there. Plus the Gator's seats do not bang my body (too wide) like the planes do.

I am hoping to get the explorer goodies Saturday morning.

 

[jkskier]

Well hey man, I'm enjoying reading this thread. You've got a few things going on that are different from the more usual build templates. It's been cool to see someone go ape $h!t on a project like this.

Don't die under that lift though, haha.

 

[G's Baja Bronco]

Thanks JK Skier, there has been a couple of times while parting out the Ramcharger that my trusty BURRO made some noise and threatened to crack on me. namely while trying to lift the whole front of Ram with hood, engine, trans, TC .... to try to get the front axle out. that was some crazy 2 weekends, now it is but a memory. Santa Ana (devil winds) are hinting SD today (fire season) hopefully they hold and I can work on the EB this Saturday, Sunday will be spent detailing the Navigator for the wedding trip.

Nice to hear this thread is not in vane, and a reflection of my insanity/creativity

 

[HGM]

Nice to hear this thread is not in vane, and a reflection of my insanity/creativity

Aww, you know its not in vain.... We're watching, many of us are sharing(stealing) ideas form eachother in one way or another.. I know what you mean, it is good to hear a "cool, looks good" or "WTF were you thinking??" from time to time.. I check mine from time to time just to make sure the veiwed number continues to increase after I update it... That might make you feel a little better.. Keep it up and get back to it.. I'm sure you'll beat me, but I'm looking forward to the end result..

 

[G's Baja Bronco]

cool to hear is for SURe, THANKS HGM, a few things are getting in the way of the EB, but I got my Bro lined up to get the explorer engine front dress, alternator and all, early saturday. pics to come.

 

[Heus33]

Can't believe I missed this thread - just read through it - WOW you're moving quick! Keep up the great work - any updates over the past week?

 

[G's Baja Bronco]

Cool, Heus, nothing this week, I am driving to a wedding in Mexico, 12 hours each way, 8 in the US and 4 in Mexico, in the Wife's 05 navigator. I got the majority of the explorer serpentine belt items last saturday, but spent sunday washing, waxing and getting the Gator ready for the trip.

My Bro is going to try and get me the alternator and PS reservoir this weekend or I will look for it 2 Saturday from now. Hopefully no more distractions and I can make some progress. I want to get the belt stuff figures out and then start mounting the nose.

stay tuned, and feel free to ask any questions, I have not posted all the pics I have, I can get carried away taking pics. just got a T1i Cannon DSLR and a 16gig card for the wedding