Pilgrim's Progress

[57baja]

I

Found an A to one of the, 'Howmi gonna do that?' Q's while fiddlin' with the Ranger seat heat switches. View attachment 914567 Got them buggers out of original plastic panel piece, but it were'nt easy. View attachment 914568 And I sure don't know what to do with all of those durn wires.

Ive been looking at this build and you have done some pretty sweet customization on your bronco. Will be nice to drive for sure

 

[Howard2x4x4]

Got the shifter cable mentioned in post #417 of tis thread. Just hope it doesn't suffer the same fate as it's late older brother.......

 

[Howard2x4x4]

Perhaps I've been jinxed, see post #435. Or maybe the Bronco. Maybe both. That there Lokar cable shifter I've been yakkin' about doesn't seem to want to play very nice. Makes me wonder: HAS ANYONE ONE THIS SITE USED A LOKAR SHIFTER CABLE WITH A C4 AND A CONSOLE MOUNT SHIFTER? Asking for a reason. The deeper I've dug the dirtier the water. Heck.

 

[Howard2x4x4]

Well, on a somewhat different note, just got one more wire to connect and then the wiring is DONE, at least until the battery gets connected and I find out that the radio turns on when I use a blinker. The remaining one wire is the brake light wire. But I'm not sure where it goes..... Quick review - '70 Bronc, custom Classic gauges, custom lights all around, including seperate brake light and seperate turn signal , American Autowire harness....... Stymied me so much that I went to talk to Mike (a classic Ford wizard) at the local Ford dealer parts department. After diggin through the archives and seeing the tailights with seperate turn signals, Mike said the brake light wire should be spliced in here 1987 Ford F150 steering coloumn schematic -

Well, I'm not so good at hierogliphics or wiring or reading instructions, but, best guess, figured the brake wire from the above pic should be spliced in here in the highlighted the AA wiring harness instructions.

Soooo........ what say you, Mr. Slowleak, Mr Oldtimer, Mr Big Turd Hat, etc., etc., etc.? Make sense?

 

[Howard2x4x4]

As long as I'm waiting for an answer, I may as well wait for two answers.... I'm in the process of connecting the Lokar shift cable to the C4 tranny and the Mustang II shifter. I've got a question - When the shift bracket on the side of the tranny is turned as far as it can go clock-wise, what gear is the transmission in?

 

[Howard2x4x4]

As long as I'm waiting for an answer, I may as well wait for two answers.... I'm in the process of connecting the Lokar shift cable to the C4 tranny and the Mustang II shifter. I've got a question - View attachment 916214 When the shift bracket on the side of the tranny is turned as far as it can go clock-wise, what gear is the transmission in?

Never mind - found it in a vintage Mustang forum

"Rotate the shift selector clockwise, park is the furtherest detent. You can verify this by trying to turn the output shaft. Park=won't turn... R,N,D,2,1=will turn"

 

[Howard2x4x4]

As I see it, there may well be a heat gun in my future.

 

[DirtDonk]

Nah, that’ll rub out…
Or not!

That’s a lot of wrinkles. But before you buy heat gun, which actually may come in handy ultimately anyway, set it outside on the next sunny day.
Or at the very least bring it in the house and put it in the warmest room.

I presume/assume that you’re still in the relatively cold weather stages of the season. But if you get some warm days mixed in there, throw it out in the sun.
At least you can test that theory, and it’s free!

 

[Howard2x4x4]

Followed Paul's wise counsel, and it helped, but, not enough. Would love to get that vinyl done, but, I may have to wait until May. When there is more sun. And heat. And vinyl is more pliable. So I shifted gears and went to a Herman Miller factory outlet store and bought some vinyl/naugahyde panel covering stuff to try instead. TaDa! No, it ain't purdy, and it ain't permanent; just a short term solution for a short term goal* while on the road to a long goal of DONE. Really pleased with how well the nauga-stuff matches the dash pad. Planning to use it on the door cards and the flat box areas where needed to look spiffy. Btw, what would work to fill the 'trenches' in the wheel wells? I do have the dimpled vinyl wheel well mats. The naugastuff and the dimpled actual stuff match pretty well. The seat mounts may be okay.

And the best part? All that naugha-stuff only cost $5.30! Howard in beautiful but not quite warm enuff yet West Michigan

* I have been MIA on the sidelines for a while. My lovely bride and partner got a dire diagnosis a bit ago and it caused a significant direction change. She wants to attend the Townsend Throwback Weekend, then meet her college room-mate in Nashville, and perhaps do the Super Cel as well. We bought a pickup camper and are aiming for an adventure, Bronco done or not.

 

[bronkenn]

Was wondering about you Howard. Hope everything turns out well with your wife. Looks like you are making some more progress on the Bronco. Gonna be nice!

 

[gnsteam]

Followed Paul's wise counsel, and it helped, but, not enough. Would love to get that vinyl done, but, I may have to wait until May. When there is more sun. And heat. And vinyl is more pliable. So I shifted gears and went to a Herman Miller factory outlet store and bought some vinyl/naugahyde panel covering stuff to try instead. TaDa! View attachment 920349 No, it ain't purdy, and it ain't permanent; just a short term solution for a short term goal* while on the road to a long goal of DONE. Really pleased with how well the nauga-stuff matches the dash pad. View attachment 920352 Planning to use it on the door cards and the flat box areas where needed to look spiffy. View attachment 920353 Btw, what would work to fill the 'trenches' in the wheel wells? I do have the dimpled vinyl wheel well mats. View attachment 920354 The naugastuff and the dimpled actual stuff match pretty well. View attachment 920355 The seat mounts View attachment 920356 may be okay. View attachment 920357

And the best part? All that naugha-stuff only cost $5.30! Howard in beautiful but not quite warm enuff yet West Michigan

* I have been MIA on the sidelines for a while. My lovely bride and partner got a dire diagnosis a bit ago and it caused a significant direction change. She wants to attend the Townsend Throwback Weekend, then meet her college room-mate in Nashville, and perhaps do the Super Cel as well. We bought a pickup camper and are aiming for an adventure, Bronco done or not.

Looks pretty good Howard. Well wishes and prayer to your wife. Hope she gets better soon. I will be attending my first ever SC, the throwback weekend only. And Bronco less as well. Maybe we will see you at the event.

 

[stout22]

Glad to see your back at it. I hope things are better with your wife. I look forward to seeing you again in Townsend.
I was beginning to wonder if your were snowed in at beautiful West Michigan.

 

[LUBr LuvR]

Sending get well wishes and hope the missus is feeling better. May both the bride and Bronco be up to attending the events in Townsend. Six weeks is gonna go fast!

 

[Howard2x4x4]

Thank you all for the good thoughts, well wishes, prayers, and good vibes. Truth be told, we are learning that there are a BUNCH of Angels here on earth with wonderful, thoughtful hearts, and it all helps. We are dealing with the big C one day at a time. Lots of ups and downs, and lots of hope and unexpected blessings.

So, back to the Bronc -
A big part of the time suck and CBF absence was due to the dad-gum, blankety-blank wiring issue(s). Yeah, the American Autowire harness may be fine, just fine, but that don't mean it's fun. Or fast. Or friendly. Or fire-proof. That last one was the one that really got me. I installed the harness +/-, connected wires +/-, spliced here and there, and sought counsel, here at CBF and among friends. One of my buddys whose been there and done that asked if I had a fire extinguisher. Well, yeah, I do, 3 or 4 of them in fact, some of them old enough to vote. Was that too old to work? Dunno. Prolly awda buy a new one..... What about insurance? I knew my old wedding Bronc was covered, but this one is a new old Bronc with different vin numbers. Howzat gonna work? Not well, thought. Gotta update that.

So I muddled, uncertain where to head next.

And then the big C diagnosis. And Momma came through with a great idea! Townsend! And maybe twice! And Nashville!

Got more to say, but later...... Howard in beautiful west Michigan

 

[Speedrdr]

Thank you all for the good thoughts, well wishes, prayers, and good vibes. Truth be told, we are learning that there are a BUNCH of Angels here on earth with wonderful, thoughtful hearts, and it all helps. We are dealing with the big C one day at a time. Lots of ups and downs, and lots of hope and unexpected blessings.

So, back to the Bronc -
A big part of the time suck and CBF absence was due to the dad-gum, blankety-blank wiring issue(s). Yeah, the American Autowire harness may be fine, just fine, but that don't mean it's fun. Or fast. Or friendly. Or fire-proof. That last one was the one that really got me. I installed the harness +/-, connected wires +/-, spliced here and there, and sought counsel, here at CBF and among friends. One of my buddys whose been there and done that asked if I had a fire extinguisher. Well, yeah, I do, 3 or 4 of them in fact, some of them old enough to vote. Was that too old to work? Dunno. Prolly awda buy a new one..... What about insurance? I knew my old wedding Bronc was covered, but this one is a new old Bronc with different vin numbers. Howzat gonna work? Not well, thought. Gotta update that.

So I muddled, uncertain where to head next.

And then the big C diagnosis. And Momma came through with a great idea! Townsend! And maybe twice! And Nashville!

Got more to say, but later...... Howard in beautiful west Michigan

So what I’m hearing you say is that the AAW has a section that Murphy’s Law has ‘infected’?? Praying for you and your wife in this challenge of life and looking forward to meeting you both at Throwback weekend.

Randy

 

[Howard2x4x4]

Randy, that could well be the case, and I do happen to believe that Murphy was an optimist. It could also be a proverbial derivitive, something like, "A fool and his AAW harness are soon parted, and then spliced back together haphazardly". Of course I can point to the custom gauges, custom lights and non-stock steering coloumn, but..... maybe the last word in that badly mangled proverb should be 'hapHowardly'.

Anywho, may have solution.... I called a former mechanic and hobby car fiddler to take a peak and give an opinion. He showed up Friday and says he loves doing such things and is coming back Monday, 03/04/2024. Fingers crossed.

Going to aggressively pursue the goal of Townsend Throwback. Hoping to get the Bronc to the point where it can be loaded on a trailer and maneuvered on it's own. And get the trailer updated. Brakes, lights, etc. What are the thoughts about renting an enclosed trailer?

"The list is long and the time is short
so I shall end this Bronc report"

My apologies to poets everywhere.

 

[bronkenn]

An enclosed trailer is nice, but you will have to make sure it will fit height wise. I have to put on small tires and let the air down to fit in mine.

 

[Howard2x4x4]

Yeah, thanks Ken, hadn't thought about that. Think I'll go with what I got. As to progress - 'Let there be light!' And there was light! Ken (Not Big Turd Hat Ken with the enclosed trailer, the other Ken that used to be a mechanic) came through big time and got some lights to work! Also got the horn to work, so now the brakes aren't as important. And also, Got the engine to crank with the key! Had to loosen the dash up a bit so that he could get his paws in there. And, did you hear, Got the engine to crank with the key! Gosh-a-rooty, that sure made my day! His too!

 

[fordfan]

Yes! That engine spinning with a turn of the key will sure give you that 'warm fuzzy feeling'! Progress! Keep after it Howard!

 

[stout22]

Woo Hoo! Engine starting with the key, sounds like your on your way to Townsend!