1988 Bronco II Virginia Trail Build

[RumPunch]

@Uncle Gump that is AWESOME I would ceramic coat them the instant you get them. That is cool. Would be trying to buy them from you right if I wasn't planning on trailing mine....

 

[RumPunch]

Feels nice to do a little mock up instead of tear down or normal repair/replace. Champion radiator, Evil Energy 6 tube trans cooler and some Classic Industries trans lines hopefully to come tomorrow and be one step to closer to setting the engine and trans back in.

 

[RumPunch]

So if you decide to or need to replace engine mounts, start with the passenger. Just less aggravating. You'll need a flex head 3/8 with a shallow 18 and about 10 minutes. Driver side, extension and 18 swivel, 30 seconds and done. Figured I'd try a wheel while I had one off...

 

[Uncle Gump]

old school cool...

 

[RumPunch]

Man someone stumble across a 5th and life can't get better...

 

[Uncle Gump]

Those 8 inch? what is the backspace? I might do a bit of junk yard searching here real soon.

 

[RumPunch]

They are 8 didn’t measure backspacing. I will.

 

[RumPunch]

Well it took me taking vacation to get some free time but had some progress yesterday even with a slight hickup. Thankfully advanced auto actually did something right. Finished short block assembly with the wrong rear main tool I bought for no reason. T72 C-6165. Went to bolt the trans up found my flex plate was cracked. Advanced had one by 2 PM so l I lost like 2-3 hours of productivity. Installed. Got the engine and trans in and bolted down. Hoping for more progress today as it's back to the grind on Wednesday.

 

[ecgreen]

Where did ya get those valve covers? They look OEM new

 

[RumPunch]

Haha junk yard in NC near Raleigh. I can look it up but they were crusty.. Dorman is the only place that showed they made 89-90 covers and I had to find them since I changed heads to the new style on an -88 block. So I scavenged on a work trip paid the lady $50 for them at 3 o'clock in the afternoon drinking a bud light duce duce and baked them in the cleaning cabinet at work scuffed down and Duplicolor paint.

 

[RumPunch]

But that place probably had 20-30 RBV's most pretty beaten or picked apart but cool place.

 

[RumPunch]

Where did ya get those valve covers? They look OEM new

 

[RumPunch]

So didn't get the results I wanted out of 2 days of vacation but a decent amount of progress. Engine trans and tcase are in. Everything hooked up fluids filled. Truck won't crank. 7 volts at excitor wire on starter solenoid. Supply 12V to small terminal engine will crank. Harness that is in the truck is JUNK... Any suggestions on full replacement or best action?

 

[Uncle Gump]

I know @BlackBII snagged some NOS harnesses on ebay I believe.

I would probably just make a repair to the existing while searching out a better option.

 

[RumPunch]

Man literally at least 1 ear is broken off of every connector most both are. Terminals are melted and corroded or terminal clips are broken and they pull right out. I've repaired and diaged a LOT of harness and wire issues and this one is just gone. I may call a Ford buddy up see if he can get me the part number see what I can find there I would be stoked to find a NOS....