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89 B2 build "Ballin on a budget"


insane302cancan

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Hey guys, Just got my hands on my first 4x4! after trying to hunt down something cheap, unique and hand-capable, i decided on a Bronco 2 chassis to go out and wheel. Plans are to make it a semi-crawler but mostly a vehicle to go camping and hang out with friends.

I picked this bad boy up after looking for the past three months. I think i did ok on it. Its a 1990 Bronco II, has 6 inch sky jacker lift, D28 front ibeam, 7.5 rear, 3 inch body lift, 33 inch all terrains. Super clean interior for its age, 4 hella 500 lights.

The cons were, it doesnt have an engine, tranny, transfer case or driveshafts.

Bear in mind that it cost me 400 bucks. so i think ive got a solid foundation.

The plans:
Phase 1: 5.0 engine, c4/AOD transmission, np205 transfer case. Get the thing running and get out and wheel.

Phase 2: As things begine to break, I know they will, D60 rear, d40 SAS swap front, np203 doubler and an exo cage.

Phase 3: dont know yet, play it by ear.

This is the only picture i have of it so far.




Look forward to future tech on the install of the engine and the rest of the suspension upgrades. I hope to get out there to the local hills and start climbing.

Also, if you guys have any constructive criticism, lay it on me! (minus brand hating.)

I took a couple pictures of my doner engine and harness to add to the records. Harness is 91 mustang harness, engine is from a 94 mustang. The plan is to get rid of the salt and pepper shakers from the stock 91 harness and up grade them to nice water tight connectors which in the long run will help by keeping everything sealed and corrosion free.






progress, just picked this aod up for 50 bucks, actually free for me due to doing some trades. has the 4wd adapter for the np205 and past owner says it ran fine.. he was just looking to switch to a 2wd setup for a pre runner bronco. We all know how that goes though, so i might have to rebuild. put beefier clutches and valve body in it but I will cross the bridge when it comes.



 


insane302cancan

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So i finally got everything in one place minus the transmission and transfer case. I am just getting done with finals so hopefully ill be able to pull the front off the bronco and start mocking up the engine, transmission mounts and making the necessary modifications for clearance the whole v8 transplant. Anyways. its been cold and rainy the past week so i didnt get too much done on the project. also just purchased a dana 60 full floater for the project. i think thats going to sit for a while until i get a matching front d44. ive also schematic out my wiring harness and am about to cut out all the unnecessary links in this Frankenstein harness.. anyways, enjoy.









 

insane302cancan

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So for christmas I did pretty decently, the girlfriends parents got me a pretty awesome little rope called a "Super Strap". I guess its a strap that doesnt ever need to have a strapping point. You can weave it and make it the size you need with a working load of 20,000 lb's pretty neat. Hes a big jeep guy so i think he thinks that im going to get stuck alot. Probably correct haha. He also got me a master craft tool bag that can be strapped down to the floor. We also went through is stash of parts and said pick out a set of wheels and tires.. I left a with 4 newish 5 on 5.5 ten hole 16 inch rims, two of which are wrapped brand new BFG Bajas 315/75 R16's (essentially a 35 inch tire). So this will help me out with my dana 60 swap and D44 fronts. My g/f and girlfriends uncle grabbed me 3 of these bad boys for christmas:


2" tube bushing assembly

This is a local fab shop here in san diego, major props of their products.







so we will be making our own trans mount and motormounts for the swap.

Now that my rims are picked, I have the option of running a wagoneer dana 44 front, with bronco hubs and knuckles, then grabbing a dana 60 rear and have the snout machined down and re drilled for 5 on 5.5. This will make part replacements cheaper and easier to source out.

We also sourced out a 208 transfer case with the 1350 yokes. Im not sure how long the 208 will last, but at least it will get me started on fabrication side of things until i can source out a 205 that i want.





I picked up a 4L 3 row radiator out of an explorer, and while it was out, i measured the core width to see what kind of fan combo i could come up with while i was at the "pick your part". I found an old school taurus electric fan that came close to pull, and a 3500 99' suburban and yanked the extra cooling pusher fan off of it. so i think between those two, i should be golden on air flow. we will see how much space i will be able to grab.

I also picked up a remote mount TFI module from a 94 mustang, maf connector, Map senso and wiring, so i think that pretty much buttons up the loose ends as far as sensors/wiring goes. anyway, here are some pictures of what i came up with.














one of my scores this week was a full B&M Megashifter. The story was that the guy hit the knob so hard that it broke the casting nub for the handle. So he went out an bought another shifter. So he gave me this one, with cables and such. I need to get the AOD shifter stuff however.

I ended up drilling out the cast, Tapping it, then putting a heli-coil in it for added strength, then looked through my pile of parts and found an old Hurst shifter handle which is the same dang thing as the b & m one. Then I found 2 studs, one that would fit the heli-coil then one that would fit the shifter. I then drilled a hole in the stud that fit the shifter, and cut off any excess length, then welded the two together. I soon found out that i ran out of c02 in my welder. oh well, doesnt need to be pretty! Now i have a good as new ratchet shifter for free ninety nine!


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insane302cancan

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Well, ive gone n' done it. Recently took a road trip up to Northern California to pick up an engine for a buddies FJ40. Well i made the mistake of a looking on craigslist a couple days before the trip, i found what i wanted. After haggling with the guy for a couple of days and him threatining to sell it from underneath me, I called his bluff and came home with this bad boy for 75 bucks and a few fine norther cal beers.




All the guy seemed to think it was, was a early f150 dana 44. nothing else. after inspection when i got it home and looking at the casting number and casting in general, i found out that its a 1978 ford f150 dana 44 High Pinion (I didnt think it was a high pinion when i picked it up) With disc brakes, axles, snouts, disks, panhardbar, deadlink steering shaft and pitman arm with 5 on 5.5 lugs which should compliment my new wheels. Super stoked, time to get rid of the ibeam and upgrade to older equipment.





I also picked up an oil filter adapter so the engine would fit in without hitting the damn steering box. #v8problems



And I also picked up a mustang dual sump pan and pick up from one of my fellow mustang compadres. Now time to Media blast this front end, Hit up KOH grab my transmission from my buddy, and get to work!
 

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Looks like a great start.
 

insane302cancan

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Haha thanks! Between school and long work hours this is going to be a lonnng project!
 

insane302cancan

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Grunizzle

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sweet, the parts collecting stage is fun but frustrating at the same time. sub'd
 

insane302cancan

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Making some progress! Went to King of the Hammers last weekend, pretty fun time.. Better yet, I met up and grabbed my transmission.



I also made some harness headway. My plan is to use the stock 2.9 EEC-IV harness so that i dont have to butcher a mustang harness. The mustang harness is configured differently between 87-93 and 94/95 so it would have been counter productive to rewire the fox engine bay harness to accept the 94/95 mustang engine harness. (or in my case, the T-bird/cougar harness)

A couple of improvements that I wanted over the 93 and Pre were the upgraded distributor and external TFI module. Heat tends to kill the distributor mount TFI. This required me to make a custom harness for the both the distributor and module. no biggie. Made a run to willies electronics and picked up 8-10 different colors of 18 AWG primary wire and pins and got to it.



This is what I started with while trying to solder, cut wire length and figure out pin association on the tfi module, the distributor and stock Bronco II harness.





Here is my final product minus wire wrap.
 

insane302cancan

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Holy smokes there is alot of drive train in this bad boy. The 302 went it pretty nicely, same with the aod. The np208 barely fit between the frame rails. With the engine in, it completes one main question.. will all this fit into the cute little package. When that was answered, it opened up about 50 new questions. exhaust, engine height, drive shafts, and clearance between the engine and radiator.

Anyways, here are some progress prictures. The engine mounts are just temporary at this point to figure out where I want to place the engine for permanent mounting. hit me with your guys's thoughts!






Making some temporary adjustable engine mounts for locating the engine.











This is what im working with as far as room for the exhaust. Im thinking right now, ill use cast manifolds then down the road pick up some conversion specific headers.








As you can see, im about half an inch off the radiator. that is way too close for comfort.



And a side shot to see the stance with the new drive train. not too much difference..

What have I gotten myself into. :eek:
 

insane302cancan

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Thanks! im hoping so! I kind of jumped the gun and am wondering if should have started off with the 2.9L.... naaaaaaah lol
 

insane302cancan

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For those of you with an AOD and 4x4, could i ask for some exhaust pictures, primarily on the driver side? Im looking to see how much room i have for the drive shaft and driver side header collector. id like to try and use the shelby Tri-y headers with modifications of course.

Thanks!
 

nooch450

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Can you make some to run them outside the frame? That seems to be the only option while keeping good flow from what I have been reading...
 

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