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Meet my 88’ project Bronco


PacoTaco1000

New Member
Joined
May 8, 2021
Messages
28
Reaction score
18
Points
3
Location
Minnesota
Vehicle Year
1988
Make / Model
Ford Bronco II
Engine Type
2.9 V6
Transmission
Manual
2WD / 4WD
4WD
Last October, I was looking for my first vehicle and found this 88’ B2 for sale in Spokane, Washington on Facebook marketplace. My father taught me how to drive stick in his 88’ B2 That he bought a couple years ago to teach me and my siblings and I was looking for one of my own since hisgot me through highschool and I liked the little truck. The seller was looking for a few grand out of it, ran well, clutch was rough after being replaced (just needed to be bled), needed ball joints and an alignment, and needed some work overall. My parents, brother and I went to Spokane to check it out. Made all the way from central Minnesota to Spokane overnight and checked it out. We left with the truck in our trailer and took it home, took us three days and two nights to get back, all the caffeine in the world couldn’t help keep us awake lol.
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These are some of the original photos from the listing on Facebook. The clutch was brand new As stated in the posting but the shop that installed it never bled it. He also never mentioned the fact there there is not 1, but 2 sunroofs, which is a nice feature if i do say so myself.
 


PacoTaco1000

New Member
Joined
May 8, 2021
Messages
28
Reaction score
18
Points
3
Location
Minnesota
Vehicle Year
1988
Make / Model
Ford Bronco II
Engine Type
2.9 V6
Transmission
Manual
2WD / 4WD
4WD
After we got it back home, my father and I got to work on the truck, swapping out balljoints, in tank fuel pump (which wasn’t replaced), the front axle and u-joints, swapped out the hubs for manual lockers instead of automatics, even gapped the spark plugs since they weren’t gapped right. All of that helped with most all the issues. By December we decided to try a new oil pump, Christmas day we took out the motor and started disassembly. While we were taking it out, we discovered my heads had been replaced. When we got deeper, we found out that my main bearings were shot, turns out one of the previous owners overheated the motor, cracked the old 2.9 heads, and ran it with coolant in the oil for a while so we decided it was time to rebuild the motor. After lots of digging and battling, we finally got my motor back in and reassembled by May and finally started it the second Weekend in May. I had a week to get my first 500 breakin miles as I was going to pick up my girlfriend from the airport that Saturday. Never had I driven so much lol. Got it all broken in in time and she loved seeing me pull up in the B2 in which I put so much time, effort, and love into. She even helped me out a little on the way too!
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these are a few of the disassembly images. As you can see, my camshaft was shot. It turned out my low oil pressure problem was stemming from sludge buildup right at the sensor, everywhere but the heads were full of sludge. All in all, my motor was in rough shape and needed the love. This was my first motor rebuild and it was a fun process.
 

PacoTaco1000

New Member
Joined
May 8, 2021
Messages
28
Reaction score
18
Points
3
Location
Minnesota
Vehicle Year
1988
Make / Model
Ford Bronco II
Engine Type
2.9 V6
Transmission
Manual
2WD / 4WD
4WD
Thought i had more images of the rebuilt motor but all i have is this one of it going in. Painted it Ford Blue, just had to. Had it broken in and started
up within a week of this photo. In the background on the left you can see my father’s B2, we’re also in the process of rebuilding his motor as well, he had quite a few more problems with his than i did mine. Ever since I got mine running, i’ve driven it every day. I love this thing and it’s been a wonderful truck so far. Got a few more things i want to do to it yet. Gonna convert the rear brakes to discs, gonna reinstall the front rock guard, install a receiver hitch, convert the cigarette lighter to a 12v car port, and I want to clean up the rust and even touch up the paint sometime soon too. I’ll keep updating this thread if there’s interest in it. Just wanted to show off my truck a little. I’ll post more photos of it as well

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PacoTaco1000

New Member
Joined
May 8, 2021
Messages
28
Reaction score
18
Points
3
Location
Minnesota
Vehicle Year
1988
Make / Model
Ford Bronco II
Engine Type
2.9 V6
Transmission
Manual
2WD / 4WD
4WD
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here’s a few photos I took when I went down to a lake, I’ve got a tire cover on the way to help complete the look, think I might switch out the side mirrors too, I love the look of the larger ones more than the ones I have on now.
 

alwaysFlOoReD

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Joined
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Messages
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Vehicle Year
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Make / Model
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Engine Size
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