1994 Ford Bronco Build

[exbass94]

^^ Daaanng....good deal.

I got the truck registered this weekend, and took it in for an emissions test. (It passed. ) Filled it up with gas and added some Stabil. I didn't realize how big the tank was. 33 gallons apparently...cost about $100 to fill it. I didn't really have time to do anything else. I just ordered a new dash pad this morning.

 

[exbass94]

New dash pad is installed and looks great. New ignition cylinder is installed and works great. Dashboard is 98% put back together and EVERYTHING on it works 100% and is cosmetically in almost perfect condition. I just need to reinstall two trim pieces, get a new stereo, and clean it a little more and it'll be 100% done and perfect.

I removed the driver's door panel and removed the door lock cylinder so I can take it to the locksmith to get fixed. While I have the door apart, I may start looking into running the wiring for the power mirror conversion and fixing the power door locks. The kid who pulled the wiring off the parts truck said it's really involved and the wires run all behind the dash and stuff, but looking at it (and from what I've read online), I think he just pulled more wires than he had to. I think I can separate the mirror portion of the harness and leave the rest of it alone. I hope I'm right.

More pics to come soon!

 

[exbass94]

I bought one of these on eBay last week:

And I got some more done on the Bronco this weekend. Got the door lock cylinder fixed and reinstalled in the door. It works great. I also looked into the power mirror swap some more. It looks like the guy was right, and that I have to pull the dash and install the whole harness. The harness starts inside the driver's door, goes through the door jamb, goes up behind the dash, runs all the way across the dash, right underneath the windshield all the way to the passenger side, and ends in the passenger side kick panel. That is all one huge piece. I also discovered that the power mirrors have different mounting holes than the manual ones that I currently have. So, not only is the wiring a PITA, but I would also have to drill new holes in the doors to mount them. Sigh...I was wondering if the conversion would really be worth it.

So, I decided to think about it later and focus on doing something else. So I started figuring out my power door lock issue. You press the buttons, and nothing happens. I got out my multimeter and start probing things. I discovered there was no voltage getting to either of the switches. I know the circuit breaker is good because the power lumbar seats and tailgate window are on the same breaker, and they work fine. So, wiring issue. I figured it was probably in the door harness (you know, the one I need to replace for the power mirror conversion?) so, I figured I should just bite the bullet, take apart the dash, and swap the harnesses. Remember that time I said I finally got the dashboard almost complete? Yeah, I guess not:





And, right after I got the old harness out, I tested it and found out it's fine, and the problem is somewhere else! Arghh, at least all the wiring will be in place and ready to go if/when I decide to do the power mirror conversion.

After studying the manual some more, I opened up the harness that runs along the floor, right underneath the driver's door sill plate. I found the power wire for the locks, and it apparently got pinched and was broken. I also found another wire that was broken. I'm not sure what that one is for, since everything else seems to work fine, but I think it was for one of the rear speakers. Anyway, I soldered the wires back together, and the power locks work! Whew!
Can you tell I had the dash apart again? I hope not lol

Hopefully it'll stay together for good this time. You can see my new dash pad in this pic. I still need to swap out the harness in the passenger door, which should be way easier than the driver's door. I'm also running new speaker wire to all the speakers; it's easier to fish the wire through that door jamb-corrugated-rubber-tube-grommet-thing that all the door wires go through while the harness is out. You can see the new wire poking out of the dash where the stereo goes.

I may get some new speakers for the doors really soon. Upgrading the stereo is on my to-do list, but it's basically at the bottom as far as priorites. However, I already have the door panel off and it would be nice to remove it only once. I'm also going to clean the door panels thoroughly before reinstalling. Did I mention that my future father-in-law smoked MANY cigars in this truck, and basically every panel has a nice brown coating? Gross. I think while I'm waiting for more money to come into my parts budget, I'll spend my time cleaning the interior. That's all for now.

 

[exbass94]

I figured out that that other broken wire was actually for the map lights. So I have working map lights now. The under hood light I got off the parts truck was all corroded and no good, so I ordered a brand new one and will be picking it up at the dealer today. I replaced a few burnt out light bulbs yesterday. This truck had a fair amount of electrical issues now that i think about it, but I fixed just about all of them. I just need to test out the rear defroster and the cruise control to confirm they work, and all the electrical issues will be officially taken care of.

 

[exbass94]

I got the new passenger door harness swapped in along with a new speaker wire for that side. I got the door panel cleaned up too. I ordered a new set of Polk Audio db651s speakers for the front doors and they should be here either today or tomorrow. I'm going to install those in and finally put the door panels back on. I thought about applying Dynamat or a similar product to the inside of the doors too, but I decided to at least wait until all the body work is done. I don't want anyone welding on the body with that stuff stuck to the other side. So I may have to pull the door panels off again in the future, but that's not a really big deal.

 

[MountainMike]

Looks awesome man, I've always had a soft spot for Broncos.

 

[exbass94]

This cold, long winter is really starting to annoy me. I really want to tear apart the front suspension to rebuild it, but every time I walk out to the garage, I say, "F*** it's too damn cold!" and I don't do it. So, for now, it's more minor projects that don't require long hours in the cold.
My speakers arrived.

Old vs new. Umm, I'll take the one on the right.

I really hate those little slide connector things on aftermarket speakers. I tried using some crimp-on spade terminals to connect to them but they're way too loose and don't make a good connection. I ended up making my own pigtail harness and soldering it directly to the speaker.





...And installed.

I temporarily hooked up a boombox to the speakers to test them out and they sound awesome. They'll sound even better with a proper head unit.

I got the passenger door panel back on. I wanted to get the driver's door panel back on, but I broke the weatherstripping that attaches to it. I ordered some new weatherstripping and will install the panel when it comes in. I also cleaned a few more interior pieces. I didn't have much time to work on it; I was busy helping someone move (which I got paid $250 for). I immediately went out and spent that $250 on new steering linkage: New drag link, inner tie rod, outer tie rods, and adjusting sleeves. Everything from the pitman arm to the steering knuckles will be brand new.

 

[exbass94]

I think I've changed my mind about the wheels and tires. If you look back at one of my previous posts, you'll see I was going to get a new OEM rim to match the other three rims, and take the mis-matched one and use it for the spare. Well, an OEM rim is expensive, none of the junkyards around here have any used ones, and the remaining rims have some corrosion on them and will require expensive refinishing to fix. AND, like I said before, the stock P265-75R15 tires is an uncommon size and my tire selection is very limited. So, I think I would be better off getting a set of new, aftermarket rims. I am looking for a set of 16" rims. That will look better than the 15s, and it will open up my tire selection tremendously. P265-70R-16 is basically the same overall diameter as 265-75-15 and it's a waaaay more common size. I think I'll still go with the Cooper Discoverer AT3 though.

For rims, I'm thinking of going with either V-Tec Raptors

Or US Wheel 94 Series

I'm leaning towards the Raptors.

 

[exbass94]

I finally got some decent weather this weekend, so I took the opportunity to get some stuff done. I gave the truck an oil change, and started on changing the rear brakes. I got the passenger side done:


I cleaned the backing plate and installed new shoes, wheel cylinder, and hardware, and topped it off with a new drum.



I'm going to pull that drum back off though, and replace the wheel bearings, seals, and wheel studs on the passenger side. The threads are a little boogered up and rusted. The wheel studs on the driver's side were already replaced recently, before I bought it.

I started taking the driver's side apart, and the brake line snapped while trying to take the wheel cylinder off. Long story short, I'm replacing all the brake lines from the front fender all the way back. And I'm using the copper nickel alloy stuff that doesn't rust. It started getting dark out so I didn't have time to do anything else. Next chance I get, I'm doing the bearings and seals while I wait for my super awesome and expensive brake flaring tool to arrive. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UxeA1lhSCsk

 

[exbass94]

Spent all weekend finishing up the brakes. I made a new brake line that goes along the driver's side frame rail, from about where the front fender is, all the way back to the rear brake hose. (and it's all one continuous piece, not a bunch of small sections spliced together) The rear brake hose is new, and I made new brake lines to go from the hose to each wheel cylinder.
New rear wheel bearings and seals are installed. New wheel studs on passenger side are installed. Fresh gear oil for the rear axle is in. New brake shoes, drums, wheel cylinders, springs and hardware for both sides installed. Brakes are bled. It stops really well now.

 

[exbass94]

I need to eventually drop the gas tank on this truck, for 2 reasons:
1. Apply some rust preventative under the body, maybe coat the outside of the tank with it too.
and 2. Fix the leaf spring shackles

The shackles were replaced before I bought the truck, but whoever did it did kind of a half-assed job. There are four bolts that bolt each bracket to the frame. In order to get two of those bolts through the frame a tightened down, you need to drop the gas tank. Apparently the shop didn't want to do that, so they installed 2 bolts, and tack-welded the other side of the bracket to the frame. I'm going to drop the tank, cut the welds, and bolt the bracket to the frame properly.

There are eight bolts that hold the gas tank in, and every one of them is rusted to crap. I need to cut all of them off and replace with new bolts. So that's what I started this weekend. I currently have a full tank of gas so I will cut off one old bolt and replace it with a new one, cut off another and replace with new, and so on, so there is always at least 7 bolts still holding the tank up. When the tank is almost empty, I will fix the shackles.

 

[exbass94]

I got half of the gas tank bolts changed out. Some of them I didn't have to cut off; my impact gun was able to get them. The remaining four will definitely need to be cut though.

Also, I ordered a new bracket for the trailer wiring harness plug. The old one is too rusty and a little mangled.

 

[exbass94]

Well I discovered the body mount under neath the driver's floor board is rotted out. At first glance, it just looked like surface rust, and I was hoping to just wire-wheel it off and paint it. But after a quick "hammer test" it crumbled apart into nothing. I'm really scared to see what the body shop bill is going to be.

I'm getting ready for my front suspension rebuild. I ordered a new coil spring bucket and brake dust shield for the driver's side. Rust on rust on rust.

I need to wait until some warmer weather and I need to fix the Explorer's lower intake manifold leak first though.

 

[exbass94]

So here is the rotted body mount I was talking about:


I removed the rear shocks because umm well, look:




That's what 20 years and over 220k miles will do to factory original shocks.

I removed the rear sway bar (I had to in order to get the shocks out) and I cleaned it up, painted it, and ordered new end links. I'm going to throw a quick coat of paint on the rear axle and reinstall the sway bar.

I finally finished replacing the gas tank bolts..


I also installed that new bracket for the trailer wiring plug. I removed the front driveshaft in preparation for my front suspension rebuild, and removed the transfer case skid plate (had to in order to get the driveshaft out). I cleaned the skid plate up and will hit it with a coat of paint.

More pics soon!

 

[exbass94]

New bracket for trailer plug installed:


Rear sway bar and hardware painted (it looks better in person):


And rear axle painted:




I'm probably going to reinstall the sway bar, and finish painting the transfer case skid plate tonight.