Project: 76, Orange Special Decor

[gnsteam]

Yesterday, I got a good 8 hours in the garage. So I finished up the wiring from the starter solenoid and painless alternator fuse, to the starter and alternator. Now that I have the location for the Vintage Air dryer. I was able to loom and route the wires around the battery tray area to the electrical mounting bracket along the passenger fender.

Once I had that loom in place. I put together the battery cables and route, the cables to the battery.

After finishing this wiring. I decided to move on to something different. I have the James Duff hidden wench kit. So I thought it would be a good time to fit the kit up before I proceed with the a/c condenser and radiator install. As with everything else. The bracket mounting holes did not line up perfectly with my frame. I expected this because I had added 1/4" reinforcement plates to the frame at the power steering mount area. So two hours later with 5 new holds drilled and some added clearance ground on the bracket. It all mounted up pretty well. It was getting late, so I will post picture of this install next time. That is it for now. You all have a good Memorial Day. And a big Thank You to all our Veterans and service men and women out there. Protecting our Freedom!

 

[DirtDonk]

Always love clean Wiring.
Have you already posted up a picture of the black bracket that you’ve got the relay and fuse mounted to?

 

[gnsteam]

Always love clean Wiring.
Have you already posted up a picture of the black bracket that you’ve got the relay and fuse mounted to?

Yes, starting at post 419, page 21. Thanks Paul.

 

[DirtDonk]

Thanks! Appreciate the direction because I wouldn’t have had the patience today to backtrack even just the few pages to find it.

 

[Speedrdr]

Wowser! That’s a pro job of wiring there.

 

[Shimmy]

Yesterday, I got a good 8 hours in the garage. So I finished up the wiring from the starter solenoid and painless alternator fuse, to the starter and alternator. Now that I have the location for the Vintage Air dryer. I was able to loom and route the wires around the battery tray area to the electrical mounting bracket along the passenger fender.
View attachment 944929
View attachment 944930

Once I had that loom in place. I put together the battery cables and route, the cables to the battery.
View attachment 944931
View attachment 944932
View attachment 944933

After finishing this wiring. I decided to move on to something different. I have the James Duff hidden wench kit. So I thought it would be a good time to fit the kit up before I proceed with the a/c condenser and radiator install. As with everything else. The bracket mounting holes did not line up perfectly with my frame. I expected this because I had added 1/4" reinforcement plates to the frame at the power steering mount area. So two hours later with 5 new holds drilled and some added clearance ground on the bracket. It all mounted up pretty well. It was getting late, so I will post picture of this install next time. That is it for now. You all have a good Memorial Day. And a big Thank You to all our Veterans and service men and women out there. Protecting our Freedom!

are you saying the JD mount didn't line up for you? pics of how you managed it?

 

[gnsteam]

Ok, this post my get a little long. Over the last two days. I installed the Lick Creek/James Duff, hidden wench mounting kit. The kit consists of a wench mounting plate, protective skid plate and hardware. A new pre-modified stock front bumper is optional. Or you can modify your existing bumper with the template provided in the kit. I needed a new bumper, so I picked up the optional one. Here are pictures of the mounting plates and two special long reach bolts.

With the help of a tall jack stand. Position the wench plate between the frame rails. The plate goes in with the recovery hooks pointing down.

Previously, I had mounted the Helwig front sway bar kit. So I already had two holes on each frame rail. That matched up with the wench plate. Using these holes, I bolted the plate to the frame. There are two more holes to drill, one on each side. These are the very back mounting holes for the plate. All these holes are clearance for 3/8" bolts. Those two long reach bolts go into those very back holes. Here is a picture of the plate all bolted up. With the sway bar mounts temporarily in place.

Next up is the mounting of the skid plate. There are 4, 3/8" set screws. That thread into tapped holes in the wench plate. A tube of Red Loctite is provided in the kit, to apply to these set screws.

To position the skid plate. I sat on a small step stool and used my knees to lift it into place, and thread on the washers and nuts. The kit does provide nyloc nuts. But I used regular nuts for the initial installation.

Next is the bumper. Using the standard bumper bolts, bolt up the front bumper. Leaving them and the skid plate nuts loose. The skid plate attaches to the back side of the bumper. Using the bolts that hold on the fair lead guide. I going to use a synthetic rope wench. So I chose to purchase the Yankum Ropes fair lead. Two aluminum spacers are provided in the kit. That go between the back of the fair lead and the bumper.

I used the bolts and nuts provided in the fair lead kit. To mount it to the bumper and skid plate. Then everything can be tightened up. Thats it! Here are a couple more pictures of the final product. Some time in the future, I will purchase a the wench.

 

[Oldtimer]

Great write up.

I, not E.
I would tell the wife you are getting a

, not a

.

 

[gnsteam]

After dinner tonight. I went back out and got a couple more items of the list of to do's. I installed the hood latch mechanism and hood pin and safely latch.

Then I pressed the pulley onto the power steering pump. And used a strap to measure for the serpentine belt length. I came up with 95-96" in length. At 50% of max tensioner movement. So tomorrow, I will pick up a couple different lengths to try out.

 

[gnsteam]

Great write up.

I, not E.
I would tell the wife you are getting a View attachment 944970 , not a View attachment 944971 .

No wonder spell check was giving me fits. LOL.

 

[Speedrdr]

@gnsteam, I’m not sure that a ‘how to’ post, especially with the full pictorial provided, can be too long. Excellent post, even if spell check was being a heifer to you. Hope to see you and the 76 orange special at Throwback weekend.

 

[904Bronco]

How did the Mustang valve covers fit with Mig's coil bracket and the upper plenum clearance?

I believe I read you used a spacer between the upper and lower, but that was for the Cooling tubes...

Thanks, Doug.

 

[gnsteam]

How did the Mustang valve covers fit with Mig's coil bracket and the upper plenum clearance?

I believe I read you used a spacer between the upper and lower, but that was for the Cooling tubes...

Thanks, Doug.

The valve covers fit great. No interference with Mig"s bracket or the plenum without the 3/8" spacer. You are right about the spacer. I needed more clearance at the cooling tubes. For the throttle cable bracket.

 

[svastano]

Great Progress!

 

[904Bronco]

The valve covers fit great. No interference with Mig"s bracket or the plenum without the 3/8" spacer. You are right about the spacer. I needed more clearance at the cooling tubes. For the throttle cable bracket.

Thanks for the reply, I have a set sitting on the shelf and they would be an upgrade over the plain Jane's that the Explorer came with...

 

[mustanggarage]

Ok, this post my get a little long. Over the last two days. I installed the Lick Creek/James Duff, hidden wench mounting kit. The kit consists of a wench mounting plate, protective skid plate and hardware. A new pre-modified stock front bumper is optional. Or you can modify your existing bumper with the template provided in the kit. I needed a new bumper, so I picked up the optional one. Here are pictures of the mounting plates and two special long reach bolts.
View attachment 944954

View attachment 944955

View attachment 944956

With the help of a tall jack stand. Position the wench plate between the frame rails. The plate goes in with the recovery hooks pointing down.
View attachment 944957

Previously, I had mounted the Helwig front sway bar kit. So I already had two holes on each frame rail. That matched up with the wench plate. Using these holes, I bolted the plate to the frame. There are two more holes to drill, one on each side. These are the very back mounting holes for the plate. All these holes are clearance for 3/8" bolts. Those two long reach bolts go into those very back holes. Here is a picture of the plate all bolted up. With the sway bar mounts temporarily in place.
View attachment 944959

View attachment 944960

Next up is the mounting of the skid plate. There are 4, 3/8" set screws. That thread into tapped holes in the wench plate. A tube of Red Loctite is provided in the kit, to apply to these set screws.
View attachment 944961

To position the skid plate. I sat on a small step stool and used my knees to lift it into place, and thread on the washers and nuts. The kit does provide nyloc nuts. But I used regular nuts for the initial installation.
View attachment 944962
View attachment 944963
Next is the bumper. Using the standard bumper bolts, bolt up the front bumper. Leaving them and the skid plate nuts loose. The skid plate attaches to the back side of the bumper. Using the bolts that hold on the fair lead guide. I going to use a synthetic rope wench. So I chose to purchase the Yankum Ropes fair lead. Two aluminum spacers are provided in the kit. That go between the back of the fair lead and the bumper.
View attachment 944966
I used the bolts and nuts provided in the fair lead kit. To mount it to the bumper and skid plate. Then everything can be tightened up. Thats it! Here are a couple more pictures of the final product. Some time in the future, I will purchase a the wench.
View attachment 944967
View attachment 944968

I really like that. looks great. I might consider doing the same some day.

 

[gnsteam]

Well friends, Bruners4 and I made a little more progress last night. We continued work on the a/c install. Figuring out the routing of the a/c hoses. With a pretty solid plan for the hoses. We moved on to the mounting of the evaporator unit. This is when the evening became a bit of a bummer. The evaporator will not fit with the current placement of the ECU. Earlier in my build. I decided to mount the ECU, in the center of the firewall behind the engine. Like I had seen on many other Explorer swaps.

Well I guess I am the first to try to install a Vintage Air Gen 5 system with this placement of the ECU. The evaporator doesn't fit. So after several minutes of disbelief and a few OH sh$&#'s.
We removed the ECU and proceeded with the evaporator installed. Using the evap. units rear mounting bracket as a guide. We measured out the left to right placement for the bracket. Measuring from the passenger kick panel. With the plan to leave about a 1/4" of clearance between the evaporator (blower end) and the kick panel. The height of the bracket is pre determined by the shape of the bracket. The bracket has a crease in it that matches a crease in the firewall. So with the placement determined. We made a card stock template that matched the hole locations on the bracket. Then we used the template to locate and drill the 9/32" clearance holes into the firewall. The drilling went well and the bracket fitted up to the holes perfectly. So we put the bracket onto the evaporator and proceeded to bolt it up. When Oh Sh&$ happened again. It didn't fit again!
When measuring from the kick panel. I hadn't accounted for the thickness of the Tom's, plate style roll cage, kick panel plates. I neglected to see the potential interference. Being they a several inches away from the fire wall. Well not far enough. So I removed the plate, and mounted the evaporator anyway. Knowing I was going to have to move it over to the left. By drill a new set of holes in the firewall. The evaporator bolted up without any more Oh sh*&$'s. So we called it a night.
Sorry, with all the frustration of the evening events. I didn't take any pictures.

 

[gnsteam]

Now that I have had almost 48 hours to study the situation, from my previous post. I think I have a plan going forward. One of the changes that I had the body shop do. Was to level off the cowl at the passenger side. It appears that I can take advantage of that additional space under the dash. Above the evaporator and next to the kick panel.

It looks like the ECU will fit nicely, in that upper corner. Here is a the engine bay side.

The ECU and harness plug. Ends up just below the end of the hood strut, cylinders end. As for the a/c hoses to the evaporator. I can place a bulk head fitting. On a cover plate, where the ECU used to be. You may have noticed that the harness looks a little short. Yes it is, about 8-10". So some harness reworking with possible wire lengthening is necessary.
I guess this set back can be looked at, as a positive. I really wasn't that pleased with the crowed wire mess be hind the upper intake. What do you all think of this solution? Your opinions and suggestions are very much welcomed. If needed, I can post some more pictures.

 

[gnsteam]

Well a month has gone by without a post. Even with having many distractions. I have managed to get a few things accomplished. When we left off. I needed to move the ECU to allow room for the A/C evaporator. Last Thursday evening, I finally gave in and cut the additional hole in the firewall, for the move. Not fun on a newly painted body. But it did go well and came out OK. Here are a couple pictures of the ECU installed. I still need to decide if I will pursue making a new bracket for the back of the ECU box. It feel pretty secure without it.

While I was cutting the firewall. Bruners4 started opening up the engine harness. To see if we could get a little more length out of it, to support the move. We were able to get what looked to be enough. So we called it a night.
Tonight I installed the harness again for a second, better look. And I found the harness to be a little to stretched for my liking. So I reevaluated my options. I ended up lengthening the signal wires on injectors 2 and 3. And all three wires for the coil pack plug, for bank one. It fits so much better. We also pulled back the MAF and IAT plugs from the end of the run at the coil pack. To now exit between injectors 2 and 3.

Still more work to do on the harness. With test fitting the throttle and air intake connections. Before a final re-loom, and additional mounting clamps for the harness across the firewall.

 

[Speedrdr]

Oooeee, but that’s a bunch of wires! Got to say that it certainly is neat and tidy.

I keep putting the re-wire farther down the project list.