1984 Ford Bronco Project

[Dakota Houligans]

I've had the bronco for about 12 years. Needed some work when I got it.

So I fixed some rust and started making changes. It got a little more involved than I had hoped.
But eventually we started spraying bed liner on it. After all the body stuff was done It was time to start on the rest of the stuff. The old engine was tired. The axles where open diffs with 3.55 gears. And the interior needed some help.

 

[Dakota Houligans]

Time to start on the interior. Since the engine was going to get some upgrades figured the gauges and interior could use some help.



I have very little fiberglass skill so I enlisted the help of a friend to do this.



Still not sure why he painted it blue before he gave it to me...
This is how it looked when I bought it.

and after. I swapped the entire dash from a truck to get the gray interior.
I decided it was time to get rid of the old steering wheel. I also upgraded to newer electronic cruise control when I up dated the steering column.
I also decided to change the blue to black.

 

[Dakota Houligans]

The floor needed some work as well.
the back wasn't too bad but the front need more help.
On to the front. Now the dash was removed.

 

[Dakota Houligans]

We went looking for some front seats and the local salvage yard and found some from a newer explorer that we liked. I also got the center console that had a blower motor and some ducting in it for a later project.Then we had some seat covers made so our miss matched seats would match. Then we added some sound deadening material to the sides and put the panels on.
I used a center seat/armrest from a newer ford truck and modified the bracket to fit between the front seats.

 

[Dakota Houligans]

Removed rear center section to put air locker in.

4.10 gears have been installed and the plumbing for the air line has been run through the housing.
Bearings on Back in the carrier and ready to be cleaned up and installed.

 

[Dakota Houligans]

The old engine was tired. It had lots of miles and low compression. I pulled a newer ford 302 to rebuild and put in.
The new one is out and starting to tear it down.
Painted oil pan while machine work is being done. The heads were ported and polished. Larger valves installed and everything port matched.
The block was bored .030 over with flat top pistons. All internals were balanced and upgraded arp racing bolts/studs used for all internal parts.
Mild roller cam and torirngton thrust bearings used on cam to reduce friction.
Timing chain installed and the head studs going in.
Heads on and roller rockers going on.

Intake and valve covers on and test fitting headers.

Bronco waiting for new engine.

 

[Dakota Houligans]

Engine in place.

 

[Dakota Houligans]

After while it was time for another upgrade. Time for the carburetor to go. I ordered a FAST ez-efi kit and started installing it.

Carb off and starting to install the fuel injection. Regulator and wiring started.
New fuel sender with a port for fuel return.

Welded in a bung for the oxygen sensor.

Throttle body on and plugged in.


with the air cleaner on you don't even see much.

 

[projectrecon]

Looking good. What do you have planned next for the Bronco?


Sent from my iPhone using OB Talk

 

[ob4838]

Wow I love it brings me back to my 82 bronco. Great job and thanks for all the picks

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[Dakota Houligans]

I have a few other projects that I have already completed that I'll post. Also we will be adding a roll cage, rock sliders, winch bumper, rear tire carrier, possibly a snorkel of some sort. Lots of stuff to build still.

 

[Justin Roach]

I have a few other projects that I have already completed that I'll post. Also we will be adding a roll cage, rock sliders, winch bumper, rear tire carrier, possibly a snorkel of some sort. Lots of stuff to build still.

Can’t wait to see it!


Sent from my iPhone using OB Talk

 

[persquank]

This is amazing. I'm a Ford guy at heart. Full size Broncos are the best.

 

[Dakota Houligans]

Eventually while in the Black Hills in South Dakota the Bronco ended up like this.

While out there to camp and explore the transmission decided it wanted to let the transmission fluid go free. So thanks to a good friend we got a spare vehicle hauled to us and he took the bronco home for us. It was time for the transmission to come out and get a rebuild/upgrade.

The front pump seal was no longer doing it's job. Seemed like a good time to freshen up the C6.

While taking it apart I found a nice grove worn in a drum and some burned clutches.

With it apart and cleaned up it was time to reassemble and modify the valve body.


I upgraded both planetary gears to needle bearings from bronze bushings. As well as going to six pinion gear sets instead of three. Also swapped the thrust washers with torrington bearings.
And then time to reassemble it.


Next I drilled a hole in the side of the pan to weld in a bung for the temp sensor.


For a little added protection for the sensor I cut a piece of tubing and welded it around the sensor.


Made a bracket to mount the second transmission cooler to.
I made the transmission cooler lines out of -6 braided stainless steel.

Almost back in.

Made a few changes to the transmission cross-member to make room for the exhaust and strengthened it up a bit.

Now with a lower first and second gear, a custom torque converter and all thrust washers replaced with bearings it was a whole new animal. A lot less power wasted on friction and even gained a little mileage.

 

[Dakota Houligans]

Decided while I was at it to upgrade the cruise control from vacuum operated to the new electronic version. I already had the electric speed sensor for the new speedometer so it was just a matter of switching the connector and adding the speed signal.
Only photo I have of the old vacuum version.

And the new electronic version.

wired up and all hooked up. Just need to clean up the wiring.

The swap was pretty easy the cable snapped right in place and the only wiring difference was the speed signal.

 

[Dakota Houligans]

Dual batteries was a good upgrade for future planes.
I cut and welded some angle iron to for the base of the box.

Then added a divider and some studs to mount the hold down to.
Test fitting the batteries.


How it was.

And with the two batteries in place.

I made my own batter cables out of 1/o and an alternator cable out of 2 gauge wire. Now it has no shortage of amperage available.

 

[Dakota Houligans]

After converting to a 130 amp 3g alternator I ran into troubles with the v belts slipping even with double belts on the alternator. Also the factory location for the alternator was down low so I had some issues with snow and water intrusion. Which was hard on the alternator.


So it was time to look for a solution. I looked at aftermarket kits but they are expensive and require the use of their accessories and spare parts aren't readily available. While wandering around the salvage yard I found the solution. A 1987 ford van uses most of the same accessories as my 1984 just with serpentine belt pulleys. And it included a power steering pump upgrade.

It was also a smaller package and raised the alternator up higher. Also I needed a newer water pump due to the rotation change. Since I had all the brackets cleaned up I decided to add some paint. Some turned green and some black.

It all fit nicely. had to find a different power steering hose but, it wasn't too hard. Swapped the a/c compressor pulley.


It actually went pretty smooth and no more slipping belts. I figured I'd better get full use of the alternator before I added the winch.

 

[Dakota Houligans]

Since I had an updated belt setup. I figured I'd try an electric cooling fan. My ecm is capable of controlling the relays to run a fan so why not try it. I decided to use the fan from a v8 thunderbird since it is a very high flowing 18 inch fan. I make an aluminum bracket to mount it to the radiator.

I wasn't the prettiest but I don't have a way to weld aluminum yet so it was panel bond and rivets. The fan would mount into the bracket which would fit in the factory mounts for the original fan shroud.
and it actually fit pretty good.

So now I had to wire this thing up. I forget now but I believe this fan can draw up to 60 amps on startup. Well since a 60 amp relay is expensive and a hassle to find a place to mount I decided to wire it using 2 40 amp relays in parallel to split the load. I had some other relays for lights and such that I wanted to clean up the mounting and wiring for. Eventually I decided to take the underhood relay/fuse box from a parts tahoe I have and rewire it to fit my needs.

It has one power input and six fused and relay controlled outputs along with 6 control wires all with weather pack connectors.

Then to find a place to mount it I decided to make a mount to hold the relay box and my msd and rev limiter box all together.

With a little metal work and more panel bond I made a mount to hold them and made room by the batteries.

It fit pretty good.


I wired the fan and some of the other relays and am still working on cleaning it up. Put so far the fan is plenty to keep up with the engine.

 

[Dakota Houligans]

With some of the water and mud I've been silly enough to go through it was time to build and air box with the ability to seal it and possibly turn into a snorkel eventually. I picked up a plenum or hat for the throttle body and some flexible elbows.

Eventually I came up with a plan and figured out what type of air filter I wanted to use. I used some 4 inch exhaust tubing.
I figured out the air box size and built it.

Time for a test fit.


Then with the mounts and final size figured out it was time to finish welding and assembly.

Lid made and fit. Mounts for the air box and coolant overflow tank welded on.

A view of how the internals work out. For now the intake air will come from inside the fender. Eventually I'll probably make a snorkel.

Final test fitting before I weld the top on and start painting.

Primer is on.


And the green. The daughter wanted pink with sparkles but I decided to go with the leftover green. The back side of the air box is where I decided to remount the compressor the the air locker.


All bolted in and assembled. About now is when I noticed I forgot to paint the plenum, opps. Maybe another day. The air compressor mounted up. It was a fun project. I think eventually I'll build the rest of the snorkel into the fender but this will due for now.

 

[CTDiscovery]

this is such a mad truck. wish we had them over here. Good work Sir!