 |
|
| October 29, 1998 | Purchased the 1973 Bronco.
Explorer Trim Package, 302 ci. v8 engine, Automatic transmission |
|
| October 31, 1998 | Fixed fuel gauge for aux. gas tank
Replace aux. gas tank fuel line Fixed Passing gear linkage Tested the 4 wheel drive :-) Stalling problems - Cleaned rust out of fuel filter |
|
| November 7, 1998 | Replaced the non-functioning horn with a nice, loud air horn | |
| November 9, 1998 | Stalling problems - Cleaned rust out of carburetor | |
| November 12, 1998 | Obtained a truck to use for parts. A 1979 Bronco with a 1980 monte carlo body on it :-) | |
| November 14, 1998 | Replaced shift position indicator (the old one fell out the hole in the floor :-) | |
| November 21, 1998 | Stalling problem continues. Added inline fuel filter between rear tank and valve, another after the valve, and replaced the main filter. That better fix it! Replaced float in rear tank to get fuel gauge working. | |
| November 27, 1998 | Rear brakes slowly started to deteriorate. When I checked it out, there was no fluid in the rear resivour. Replaced fluid, bled brakes. All is ok. Have not found leak yet. | |
| December 6, 1998 | Replaced turn signal switch canceling cam (it clicks off now!), door lock knobs, turn signal lever. | |
| January 6, 1999 | Problems with Neutral
Start Switch. Started in reverse once, now won't start in any gear.
Found a Fix
for it; will try it soon.
Transfer case popped out of 4wd a couple times. Need to tighten things up |
|
| January 15, 1999 | Engine Dies. Towed home. Replaced Coil. Replaced Points and Condenser. Condenser fixed it. | |
| January 16, 1999 | Welded on broken tailpipe to keep the exhaust outside the truck
so I could breath again! Will need to take to a shop to have new
exhaust system I bought put on.
Bypassed neutral start switch so I can use the key to start it! Replaced steering stabilizer. |
|
| January 30, 1999 | Took the Bronco to a couple muffler shops to try to get the James Duff
exhaust system put on. Found out the head pipes that come with the
exhaust system will not work with stock exhaust manifolds! Ended
up just having the mufflers and tail pipes put on. I got raped on
that one. Ended up paying >$250 to get new mufflers and tail pipes!
At least I'll have the head pipes in case I ever decide to put headers
on. And it sounds great with the cherrybomb turbo mufflers!
(although the guy at the muffler shop said those were crap)
Installed a tachometer so I know where the engine is! |
|
| February 4-6, 1999 | Removed instrument cluster, cleaned it up, lubed the speedo, replaced light bulbs, painted rim. The lubing fixed the bouncing speedometer problem, at least when it's over 30. | |
| February 10, 1999 | Resealed the front rim of the top. Hopefully that'll stop the
leaking!
Went to court to fight ticket for no headlights or taillights while being towed (battery had died and I didn't know it) and I won!! |
|
| February 27, 1999 | Obtained a new Hard Top with no rust and much cleaner than my current top. | |
| March 19, 1999 | Installed a Tuffy center console. Mounted a CD receiver in the console. This is one heavy duty console! Great place to lock things up. Left the 8 Track radio in the dash as a decoy. | |
| March 20, 1999 | Brake feel got mushy and it didn't stop as well. Could only get front brakes to lock up. Replaced master cylinder, rear wheel cylinders, rear brake lines, rear shoes, turned rear drums, got rear self adjusters working again! Brakes are better than ever! | |
| March 27, 1999 | Installed 15 gallon polyethelene main fuel tank. I was disappointed to find out it held less than 14 gallons including filling up the filler neck! But, on the plus side I can run on my rear tank without rust clogging up the fuel filter. | |
| March 30, 1999 | Installed a used tailgate I bought. Had a hideous camouflage paint job. I later spray painted it blue to almost match. | |
| April 12, 1999 | I found a Bronco body in very good condition sitting up on blocks. Trying to find the owner to see if he wants to sell it. | |
| May 10, 1999 | Truck wouldn't start. Wouldn't even try to turn over. Battery terminals were corroded and weren't making good contact. Got a terminal cleaner and cleaned off terminals and wire connectors and jump started it. Working fine now. | |
| May 20, 1999 | Left a puddle of oil while at work. Ran like crap on the way home. Had no power at anything less than half throttle. Possible lost gear oil from transfer case..Will check out. | |
| May 21, 1999 | New rear tank is leaking around the sending unit.
Stopped by ignorant cops about my 1973 Historical Model Year license plate. They insisted it was not legal to use and made me switch it with my historical plate. They let me off with a warning. Lucky for them because I would have embarrassed them in court! I call the Ohio BMV to verify I was legal and they said I was. They are sending me a letter to show cops if I am pulled over again and I am keeping a copy of that section of the Ohio Revised Code in my truck. |
|
| May 29, 1999 | Sandblasted and repainted a set of 15x8 wheels that I will use with
my 33x12.5 tires. My 33" Goodyear MT tires came in and I got them mounted
on the wheels. I can't put them on until I get my lift kit and flares :-(
Resealed the sending unit on the rear tank and it stopped the leak. Drained the auto trans fluid including the torque converter and replaced fluid and filter. Installed twin-stick transfer case shifter. I had to modify it a little bit to get it to fit right (heat up and bend the levers forward), but it shifts great now! Hopefully it won't pop out of gear any more. |
|
| June 3, 1999 | Started patching up the interior with fiberglass. Looks like it's working pretty well. | |
| June 12, 1999 | Installed James
Duff system B 3.5" Lift kit. Installed urethane rear flares.
Put on the 33" Goodyear MT's on repainted rims. Caused a major change
in steering and it's tough to control it. I've got a drop pitman
arm on order to correct this.
Went on a trail ride - my 2nd since getting this. It performed great! It did even better hill climbing once I realized my rear driveshaft slipped into neutral on the twinstick and I was running in front wheel drive! |
|
| June 23, 1999 | Installed drop pitman arm to correct steering. It made a huge dufference!
It now drives and steers just as well as before the lift!
Drove to Dayton to look at a parts Bronco - no usable parts. Sold my replacement floor pan since it wouldn't cover all my holes. |
|
| July 7, 1999 | Painted front fenders white to match the flares in the rear. Replace window crank knob. Put cover on steering wheel to keep my hands from turning black every time I drive it! | |
| July 10, 1999 | Rebuilt the Ford 9" third member. Replaced the traction-lok clutches so the limited slip work much better. Replaced the axle bearings. | |
| July 14, 1999 | Bought a '72 Bronco for parts. Will use a few body parts and sell off the rest. | |
| July 24, 1999 | Installed braided steel extended brakes line. Disconnected emergency brake cables at the brakes. Emerg. brake can't be used anyway due to lack of a floorpan. Rear articlualtion is now only limited by shocks | |
| July 30, 1999 | On the way to my friend's house it starts running really rough, missing and backfiring. Eventually it died and I had to leave it for the night. Next morning we towed it back. Points didn't look good so we swapped the points, adjusted the timing and adjusted the carb and it's running good again. | |
| July 31, 1999 | Installed James Duff Headers. WOW what a difference. I finally am rid of my annoying exhaust leaks from the old head pipes. I've now got a nice deep rumble that sounds awesome! | |
| August 14, 1999 | Installed Rear 6x9 speakers. Radio is loud enough to hear on
the highway now!
Adjusted steering box and tightened it to the frame. Took alot of the play out. |
|
| August 21, 1999 | My Smittybuilt roll bar finally came in after 10 weeks on order!
I got it installed, but I plan on doing more work on it to reinforce
it. I want to put a piece of steel all the way across the floor that
the main hoop will bolt into. That will spread the force across the
whole floor instead on just 2 points.
I attempted to take my top off and put the bikini top on for the first time. When I lifted the top up the windshield folded back and rested against the steering wheel! Guess it's time to swap the windshield frame! Zip tied the 6x9 speaker boxes and fire extinguisher to the roll bar. |
|
| August 28, 1999 | Went camping and offroading at Red River Gorge in Daniel Boone Nat'l Forest in Kentucky. See my trip pictures The Bronco did great off road.. didn't even get stuck. When I got back on the road the points started acting up again. Luckily a quick adjustment fixed it and I made the 2 hour trip home ok. Going to switch to electronic ignition asap! | |
| September 11, 1999 | Installed tow hooks in front and back. Cleaned up wiring under dash. Installed CB mount under dash. | |
| September 25, 1999 | Ripped out the points and installed electronic ignition. Welded in new drivers side floorpan. No more 170 degree breeze coming in thru the floor! Repainted and installed door panels pulled from a parts truck. White painted steel panels look much better than vinal over disintegrating cardboard. | |
| October 6, 1999 | After installing the new floorpan, I discovered the fuel valve hits
the floor when I try to switch to my aux. tank. Installed an electric valve
to replace it, so all I have to do is flip a switch. Mounted it to the
bottom of the floor on the cross support because it wouldn't fit in the
stock location. Replaced the brights switch and mounted it to the floor
(now that I have one). Primered the new floorboard.
Got a spare tire carrier off of EBay. |
|
| October 16, 1999 | Brake lights were working sporadically. Usually only 1 would light,
but the lights were not burnt out. Problem was with the turn signal switch.
Took the switch apart, cleaned it up and bent the wires so they made better
contact. Fixed it.
Started running a little funny. Not much power unless ya mash on the gas. Probably need to reset timing. |
|
| October 21, 1999 | Played with the timing a little bit and it is running better | |
| October 31, 1999 | Installed Passenger side floor board and repaired broken body mount. No longer need to raise the door 2 inches to close it! | |
| November 13,1999 | Joined Ohio River Four Wheelers and went on trip with them to Red River Gorge. Check out the pictures. | |
| November 27, 1999 | Went to Haspin Acres. Check out the pictures. Truck started acting up again on the way home. No power at low rpms. I'm now suspecting a vacuum problem. | |
| December 4, 1999 | Replaced power steering belt and alternator belt. Replaced aux. gas tank straps and skid plate. Pulled out rocker panel that was crunched while off-roading. | |
| December 31, 1999 | Installed Optima Battery since old battery was cracking. Put on a cheap temporary side mirror after old one was ripped off at the Badlands on 12/20. Rammed into the wall at the car was to bend my rear bumper back to normal after it got bent out at the Badlands. | |
| January 9, 2000 | Changed oil and filter. 132300 miles. 5.5 quarts of Valvoline oil, engine restore and Motorcraft filter | |
| January 31, 2000 | Installed Iron Horse eXtreme bumper. Check out the pictures. This thing is solid! Now I'm ready for a winch! | |
| March 11, 2000 | While driving on the highway enginge started running really rough. I pulled over to take a look under the hood and it was hissing. I found a vacuum plug that had come off a port on the back of the intake manifold. I put it back on and it ran fine again | |
| March 4, 2000 | Scott Wagner fabbed and installed a full cage for me. It was
welded to the existing smittybilt roll bar. Supports were also welded
on to secure the windshield frame.
Tabs were welded on the Iron Horse bumper to mount my new KC Daylighter off-road lights. Thanks Scott! |
|
| March 29, 2000 | Did glovebox door mod so it slides over to clear the rollcage, Painted front bumper, installed soft top, | |
| April 1, 2000 | Went offroading to Wellsville, OH with
BroncOhio. On the
way up the engine started running rough. I stopped to check it out and
found nothing, but it cleared up and ran fine the rest of the way.
Rubbed a rock on the side of a creek bed and dinged the side of the grill
and broke the side marker light.
On the drive home the wiper motor got out of place and the linkage rotated the passenger wiper upside down. The linkage broke the mirror off the windshield and the wiper rubbed a hole in the soft top. |
|
| April 4, 2000 | Got the wiper motor back in place and tightened down. I need to get the new windshield frame on so the motor bracket can be help on by both bolts. | |
| April 22, 2000 | Fixed the driver's door window channel. One of the supports had broken off and it was flopping around. Adjusted the passenger door lock linkage. It was jamed and couldn't be unlocked. Installed a 66 Mustang rear view mirror which attaches to the windshield frame, not the window. Replaced the broken front marker light with one from parts truck. | |
| May 13th, 2000 | Began disk brake conversion. Spent 2 days searching around for parts. I thought I had all the parts I needed from the begining, but I ended up spending a total of around $280 for used backing plates, used calipers, used spindles, new rotors, new pads and misc parts. Conversion finished on May 25th. | |
| May 27, 2000 | Truck broke down in the woods and wouldn't start. Spent 2 days screwing around with it. Played with the vacuum system. Rebuilt the carberator. Finally figured out that we were not getting any compression. Changed the timing chain and gears. Changed the oil, oil filter, air filter and coolant in the process at 35000 miles. Now it runs better than ever. Replaced starter with a fairly new one because we cranked on it so much it was starting to sound weak. New one may not be exactly right because it doesn't engage every time. | |
| June 1, 2000 | Drove the truck 400 miles to participate in the 2nd annual East Coast Bronco Roundup at Tellico. Truck performed flawlessly. Pictures are here. Added a fan to the roll cage. | |
| Sept 10, 2000 | Went 4 wheeling at Natural Bridge, KY with some friends. Starter was starting to act up by not engaging. Just before the trip home it wouldn't engage at all. My friend rigged it so we could use a stick to manually engage it to get it started. I bought a new starter when I got home and now it starts perfectly. | |
| Oct 1, 2000 | Installed a Iron Horse eXtreme rear bumper to match my front one. | |
| Oct 14, 2000 | Made my own aux. fuse box. It's identical to one made by painless wiring, but mine cost 1/10 what they want. It got rid of the mass of wires soldered, twisted and taped that was hanging out from under my dash. Pictures are here.
Had a sound coming from the rear brakes previous weekend while 4-wheeling at Natural Bridge. I pulled the drum off and found a piece had fallen off and was lying in the bottom of the drum which cut a nice groove. It's time for either a drum rebuilt or a rear disc brake conversion. |
|
| Nov 4, 2000 | rebuilt rear brakes with new shoes and new adjustment cables. Brakes didn't work well because they were way out of adjustment due to broken cables. Shoes were also gone and it was the rivets that had cut the groves in the drum. | |
| Nov 21, 2000 | Installed Tom's Bronco Parts liftgate shocks. Lift gate works real nice now and I can run with it up on the trail without worrying about it slamming down. Install is here. | |
| Dec 2-3, 2000 | Major rebuild! Installed a limited slip and 4.09 gears in the front, a Detroit locker and 4.11 gears in the rear, Moser 31 spline axles in the rear, Warn premium hubs and a Warn XD9000i winch. The new gears are the first step toward taller tires. More lift is next.
Put hard top back on and sagging drivers door was hitting the top when it was closed. I put a washer behind the hinge on each bolt of the lower door hinge. Door lines up perfectly now. |
|
| Dec 15, 2000 | Replaced drivers side axle u-joint the I broke at Attica the previous weekend. | |
| Dec 28, 2000 | Moved rear hooks to the sides of the frame instead of hanging down. | |
| Dec 31, 2000 | Broke passenger side axle u-joint on a trail ride. Fixed it on the trail, but the only way we could get it together was to install one cap with no bearings because of bent ears. | |
| Jan 6, 2001 | Changed the oil and oil filter. 140020 miles. | |
| Jan 17, 2001 | Installed BC Broncos
4.5" coils, 4.5" National 11 leaf spring packs, and rubber leaf
spring bushings.
Took it out on some nearby snow covered trails and some ruts threw me into a tree. Bent the bumper, grill, fender, chrome trim and broke the side light. Here's some pictures. |
|
| Feb 4, 2001 | Replaced the 33" MTs with 35" Goodyear MTRs. Installed
at 140900 miles. They rubbed a little on my damaged fender,
but we hammered it back out of the way. I still need to cut
the fenders and put flares on. Speedometer is now dead on using
the stock 18 tooth speedo gear.
I also picked up a 34x9.50 Super Swamper TSL to use as a spare. |
|
| Feb 24, 2001 | Went on trail ride to Vinton County. Took off my other fender flare because
it was about to fall off. Took a hammer to an edge in the rear fender wells that
was getting in to my new tires. Rear end sqeaking on the way home. I thought I got water in the rear end because my vent tube was missing, but it was a bad driveshaft ujoint. Replaced u-joint. Replaced axle vent tube. |
|
| May 19, 2001 | Thought I twisted the sector shaft in my steering box because I noticed I
couldn't turn all the way to the left. We has the F150 box built for the conversion
and were ready to put it on. But when well pull my old box apart it looked OK so we
left it in there.
Installed a new longer drive shaft Changed the oil ~142,000 miles Changed the air filter |
|
| May 29, 2001 | On the trail at Jellico,TN my drivers side caliper was sticking and was squealing all the time. I had a garage put on a new caliper and pads. | |
| May 30, 2001 | On the trail at Tellico my power steering pump died. It's not fun steering 35s
with a non-working power steering. I was doing 5 point turns to get into a parking
spot!
A few minutes after that went out I noticed that the gasket along the bottom of my windshield had jumped to the other side of the flange on the windshield frame. I put a ratchet strap around it to keep it in place to get back to camp. While trying to get the gasket back in place I managed to crack the windshield. |
|
| June 9, 2001 | Replaced the power steering pump by doing the Napa Pump conversion.
Put yet another ujoint in the rear driveshaft. This thing is eating them. This one was 2 weeks old. I've got to get that pinion at a better angle! |
|
| Aug 4, 2001 | Engine has been leaking bad. I've added 6 quarts of oil in the last 3 months and left puddles everywhere. I thought I had a bad valve cover gasket so I replaced them. When I pulled the valve cover off I found I had a big hole in the cover where a bolt in the firewall punched thru. Turned out I had 2 bad motor mounts which let the engine move and get up in to that bolt. I put a different valve cover on and welded the motor mounts up solid. I'll eventually put some new mounts on. | |
| Aug 25, 2001 | Replaced the windshield frame. Old one had many holes and it was so weak it would lean back against the steering wheel if it wasn't supported. Also made a patch panel over the area where the windshield frame and the hood mounts. Trying to keep the water out. Also put in new windshield since I broke the old one at Tellico in June. | |
| Sept 22, 2001 | Water pump died at Tellico last weekend. I had to be towed home by my friend. He move his jeep all the way forward on his trailer and we put my front wheels on his dovetail and left my back wheels on the ground. Work out pretty good. Here's a pic. Replaced the water pump and all is working again. | |
| Nov 11, 2001 | The end of the trail at Vinton county was sabotoged. A bunch of us ended up with flat tires. I had 2 tires with slow leaks, but I was able to make it home on them. I had them patched when I got home and the seem ok now. Found out someone bought the land that the last couple hundred feet of the trail was on and didn't like people using it. What an ass. Didn't even put up any signs or anything. Looks like the end of the trail doesn't follow the original county road that on the map. | |
| Nov-Dec, 2001 | Steering was starting to get bad. Steering box was moving around on the frame and we discovered some cracks around the bolt holes in the frame. We put a 14" long piece of 1/4" wall square tubing in the frame to reinforce it. Also put on a heavy duty tie rod and drag link and rod ends. Rod ends are from a 1 ton chebby, tie rod is 1.25" dom tubing sleeved out to 1.5", and drag link is 1.25" dom tubing. I got the tubing from RockStomper.com. I used a tapered reamer to ream out the knuckles on the top so the tie rod would be above the knuckles. Also got rid of the drop pitman arm and went back to a regular arm to get the right angle on the drag link. It steers a lot better now. I don't have to chase it in the corners. | |
| Dec 27-31, 2001 | Went on a trip to Jellico, TN. Rear driveshaft ujoint self destructed. I had to replace that on the trail. Jam nuts on the new tie-rod came loose causing it to go toed out. Fixed it.. Hope they hold. Lug nuts on one wheel came loose while driving down the road. I may have egged out the holes on the wheel. | |
| Jan-Mar, 2002 | 351 Windsor install !!
302 was leaking oil pretty bad. I had to add a quart or 2 after every trail ride. The solution.. a new engine! I found a 351w pretty cheap on ebay. Only $1000 with no core and free shipping! I also went with an edlebrock performer manifold and a quadrajet carb set up for offroading by BC Broncos. Also had transmission rebuilt since it slipped so bad before it warmed up. Turned out the seals were rock hard. Put in a lower planetary gear set from Art Carr. I'm hoping to gett 100 more horsepower out of this engine. That combined with the lower gear set should make this thing go pretty good! I'm also putting in a tranny temp guage, new motor mounts, new distributor, and a new front driveshaft u-joint. |
|
| June 4, 2002 | Since Engine and tranny were put back together the tranny wouldn't shift on it's own. I could manually put
it in 1st or 2nd, but I couldn't get into 3rd without the tranny shifting on it's own. After taking the tranny in
and out 4 times and it still not working, I said screw it and took it wheeling anyway. It had a top speed of 40mph,
but I just bought a truck and trailer to tow it with.
Finally got it shifting this time. Valve behind the modulator was in backward and one of the governor valves was sticking a little bit. |
|
| June 8, 2002 | Toasted ujoints on both my rear driveshaft and my spare rear shaft on my last trip, so I put a new one in.
CV in front driveshaft went bad, so I bought a new shaft for it.
Installed Wild Horses diamond plate quarter panel guards. Finally took the doors off and installed my door inserts that I've had for over a year. Did the first oil change on the new motor. Probably about 150 miles on the new motor. |
|
| June 29, 2002 | Went to Natural Bridge and halfway thru trail heard a squeaking noise. A while later discovered I tore the
rear spring pearch for the right rear spring out of the frame and spring was riding on underside of the body!
I put a block of wood in between the spring and body and finished the trail.
Later on tail pipe broke off of muffler, so I pulled the whole tail pipe out. Time for a new exhaust system. |
|
| July 5, 2002 | Had a new dual exhaust system installed at a muffler shop. | |
| July 17, 2002 | Put a 9" long piece of 1/4" wall 2x4 square tubing into the end of the frame rail. Welded it in, then welded the spring perch to the tubing. | |
| Aug 14, 2002 | Rear Pinion angle looked very high on last trip. Spring perches were not flat anymore and allowed axle to rock back and forth. Cut off stock spring perches and welded on new one's at correct angle to get rid of angled shims. | |
| Sept 15, 2002 | Took the rear 3rd member to a friend's house to be rebuilt. Had way too much play in the pinion. Nice and tight now. Also replaced u-joint. Hopefully it doesn't self destruct as often now. | |
| Oct 2nd, 2002 | Installed rear disc brake conversion. | |
| Ready to install:
Ammeter Guage Passenger Door Fender Hood Protofab in-board rear shock mounts On Order:
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| Future plans:
Suspension Wristed radius arm Custom front shock mounts Bilstein shocks Armor BC Bronco's Rock Skis Custom differential skid plates Looks Patch up holes inside, and seal up the interior Herculine(?) the interior to replace deteriorating rubber mat Paint the whole thing with Zolatone Then will I be done??? |
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©2002 copyright Marc Reiter.