Project: 76, Orange Special Decor

[gnsteam]

It is amazing how much time is involved in the planning of the harness functions that also include the incorporation of the additional Explorer harness. Placement and routing is critical for protection and ease of future maintenance before looming and taping. Things are looking great in the engine compartment. Can't wait to see it in person.

I wish I had learned about the looming and Tesa tape, at the beginning of the build. Because there is a few feet of loomed wires that didn't get the Tesa tape treatment. But at this point in the build. Those wires are not accessible to wrap.

 

[gnsteam]

More chassis harness work Thursday night. Bruners4 worked inside the Bronco. Making changes to the dash harness (sorry no pictures) as I worked on the rear of Bronco harness. It is now routed and attached to the top of the frame. You can see a plug that breaks out of the harness. It is the plug for the in tank fuel pump and sending unit. The tail light portion of the harness, is routed to each rear corner of the Bronco. But are not hooked up to the tail, side marker and license plate bracket lights. That's for next time. Here are a couple pictures of the rear harness after looming.

 

[raleigh_bronco]

Where did you purchase the new grommets used at the firewall?

 

[gnsteam]

Where did you purchase the new grommets used at the firewall?

They came with the Painless kit. They are quite nice and remarkable flexible. Looking at the 1/2" or so small end of the grommet. You would have never guessed that you could pass all the plugs and wire through them.

 

[SeaVee]

Which Tesa tape product are you using? Do you also use the supplied zip ties as well? I’m at a similar point in the Painless install

 

[gnsteam]

I'm using Tesa 51036 PET cloth high heat. I have been purchasing the tape at Amazon. Two rolls for $14.99. The wire ties are just black ties I picked up somewhere.

 

[SeaVee]

Thank you!

 

[gnsteam]

Well I hope everyone had a great holidays. I sure enjoyed a full 12 days away, spending time at my daughter's home in Erie CO. Even though I was away. We (my son inlaw Matt and I) managed to make a few parts for my build. Matt has a 3D printer, so we experimented printing a few things.

The Lock and Load center console I have. Has a cup holder, similar to the Tuffy console. Which I don't really like. So using CAD I designed a cup holder insert to fit inside the cup holder housing. It looks like it will work pretty well.

However I missed a couple dimensions. Making it to wide and the center location of the cups are about a 1/16" off location. So I had to mill some off of both sides of the width. To fit it inside of the housing. So we will have to print another one. You will notice the orange colored inserts in the inside of the cups. We made a "D" shaped insert with a retaining key. Out of a flexible plastic (I think it was called TPU? Plastic) it is flexible like rubber.

To insert the orange cup cushions. We printed from the base up until we reached the top of the keyways for the inserts. Pausing the printer so we could insert the cushions. Then restarting it to encapsulate the inserts. Looking closer at the outside and inside of the cups. You can see a couple start stop lines in the printing process. The lower one was from running out of plastic and reloading another spool. And the other one from pausing the program for the insert install. One other feature I incorporated in the design. Was drain holes and a catch basin for condensation. Now that I had to narrow up the cup holder to fit the housing. I'm going to eliminate this feature.

Next up I am working on a design for a transmission tunnel cover for the twin sticks. Here is sneak peak picture of the prototype so far.

Sandwiched between to slotted pieces of polycarbonate plastic. Are two sliding pieces of 16 gauge stainless steel. With 1/2" ID rubber grommets. The SS plates slide independently from each other, inside the plastic.

The whole assembly, will be sandwiched inside of two, 1/4" thick plates of Aluminum. The aluminum plates will have milled in pockets. To accept the plastic assembly. The pockets will be wider than the plastic assembly. To allow some side to side motion of the twin sticks. I still need to make the aluminum plate housing. So more on this project later.

If the twin stick cover works out. It will be incorporated into a tunnel console that is in early concept.

Have a great weekend.

 

[Bruners4]

My son printed some TPU gaskets for my Quiklatch 38 hood latches. It is really neat stuff.

 

[fordguy]

Over the last couple days. I addressed the plug wires behind the A/C compressor and the Alternator. I fabricated a 2" riser with a 60 degree mounting surface. for the last 4 wire holder. The riser has 10-32 threaded holes at both mounting surfaces for attachment of the wire holder and to the mounting plate. This modification, worked out better than I expected. Here are a few pictures.
View attachment 944475 View attachment 944476 View attachment 944477 And last night. Bruners4 was over to help me out. We started trial fitting the A/C condenser and dryer. To get the condenser closer to the core support. We found that we needed to remove a couple 1/2" ribs from this bracket.
View attachment 944478
And I am going to have to remove about a 1/2" from the lower core support area. The black painted area, to approximately the blue painters tape. Do we ever get to a point where we can just bolt something up. Without having to make a modification?
View attachment 944479
No more work on the Bronco until next week. You all have a great weekend.

What plug wires and separators did you use? Also, are platform they lay on custom or aftermarket?

 

[gnsteam]

The plug wires are standard Ford Explorer, I think through Rock Auto. The wire organizer is from Wild Horses, SKU 6626. I did make a custom riser for the organizer. to elevate the wires up behind the a/c compressor and the alternator.

 

[fordguy]

The plug wires are standard Ford Explorer, I think through Rock Auto. The wire organizer is from Wild Horses, SKU 6626. I did make a custom riser for the organizer. to elevate the wires up behind the a/c compressor and the alternator.

Are you running SD7 compressor on the bracket that also handles p/s pump.

 

[Yeller]

Having friends or family that play with 3d printing stuff is awesome. I have a shifter boot printed from TPU in the J Truck. it works really well, but did have to grease the underside, it would squeak terribly, silicone spray was sufficient for the top side. I have a lot of printed stuff in that truck.

 

[gnsteam]

Are you running SD7 compressor on the bracket that also handles p/s pump.

Yes, It is a Wild Horses bracket for the SD7 and Saginaw power steering pump. For the Explorer 5.0, front dress.

 

[SLOWnEASY]

Having friends or family that play with 3d printing stuff is awesome. I have a shifter boot printed from TPU in the J Truck. it works really well, but did have to grease the underside, it would squeak terribly, silicone spray was sufficient for the top side. I have a lot of printed stuff in that truck.

I love my 3d printers. I have quite a few things in my vehicles that are printed. I can do the design and print, but mostly just ask my 22 year old engineering college student draw up and print for me.

 

[gnsteam]

I can see myself keeping my son inlaw's printer busy. What impresses me. Is how many things that he has created to organize his tool storage and a number of useful little things, around the house.

 

[.94 OR]

I'll take off on a tangent on the 3D printer side. I needed a way to consistently sharpen my drill bits so I did some studying on bit angles and when they are used. I came up with two common angles for the materials I drill the most. Now I can select the back angle of the bit and set the guide on the belt sander, then use the rib of choice for the side angle.

 

[gnsteam]

That is a great idea. I've been doing it by hand and eye ball all this time.

 

[SLOWnEASY]

I'll take off on a tangent on the 3D printer side. I needed a way to consistently sharpen my drill bits so I did some studying on bit angles and when they are used. I came up with two common angles for the materials I drill the most. Now I can select the back angle of the bit and set the guide on the belt sander, then use the rib of choice for the side angle.

I like it. I was going to ask if you are willing to share the STI file. But then realized that if I don't have a grinder like yours it really won't do me any good.

 

[.94 OR]

I like it. I was going to ask if you are willing to share the STI file. But then realized that if I don't have a grinder like yours it really won't do me any good.

I'm not sure how universal it would be for other sanders. I built this one so it glides on the guide so I can move the drill bit back and forth on the sanding media. When I get a couple minutes I need to make a smaller version for smaller bits. I bought the Bosch sander for belt up sanding in mind. It was the only one at the time that I found that had the flat top that I could flip over. Most have the motor shape and handles protruding so they are designed as a belt down use only. I know a lot of guys have hard mounted belt sanders but they may tend to be vertical use.