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Progress! Replacing the oil cooler with a Ford Performance 90º adapter:  I waited until today to install it, because i wanted the lower radiator hose installed to make sure i got the clocking correct. Its snug, but it fits!  If the radiator is in, that means its time for fluids too:  ...and where we left off for the day:  All thats left now is to top off the radiator, prime the oil pump, and stab the distributor. Which means the next day i get out there to work, i should be able to start it up! Here's hoping it all goes well! Cold, but otherwise nice outside, so we made some progress on the '88. The exhaust is now done, with the exception of the wideband O2, which i want to calibrate anyway. Pretty much everything thats left is under the hood, so thats where i went. Put the fuel rail on, and then broke the oil pressure sender. Kinda sucks because the plan was to install the plenum/TB next and finish the harness & vacuum lines. Maybe tomorrow. Anyways, i moved on and instead reinstalled the dipstick, coil + bracket, and most of the accessory drive:  P.steering pump is plumbed, and so is the York. Its a rats nest of wires under the right now but itll all clean up once the TB is reinstalled. We're getting pretty close to finally firing this thing up! With the world the way it is, you just cant get tires as easily as you used to, or nearly as cheap. So the 96 needs tires, and winter is upon us. So i decided to try out a set of tires ive been eyeing for a while, but was never brave enough to try. Thunderer Trac Grip MTs. So here we go!  So they arrived yesterday, and i got them installed today, just in time for snow!  They look good on the bronco, and the tread pattern looks pretty decent  I had them bead balanced, and theyre nice and smooth on the highway. First impressions is they actually arent all that loud; they didnt seem much noisier than the old mostly bald BFG A/Ts they replaced. As youd expect theres a low hum in the background, but i thought theyd be pretty loud and theyre not. So i guess time will tell if they were a good purchase, but first impressions are good. Not much progress made. Took some time off for the holidays, then life happened. Anyways..... I have the doubler, transmission & motor mounts back together again. Reinstalled tcase shifters & trans tunnel. Antiwrap bar back together. I also made a new tracbar for the front, since my old was was a bit short, and bent a little bit. I must have goofed on the lower tracbar mount location on the 'new' D60, presumably because of how hammered the old body was. Ended up that when the new body was 100% done, i had to extend my tracbar a good 1½", which left me with quite a good bit of the shafts from the heims sticking out. It looked like a failure waiting to happen. So i built a nice beefy (and slightly longer) one using parts i got from RuffStuff during their black friday sale.  Im hoping to get back out there tomorrow to see what else i can get done. Its january and there's snow in the forecast. Not a great update, but progress is progress. So, this happened:  Damn thing fought me every step of the way, but its in. Its the holidays, so we'll get back to this one in january. Happy new year everyone! Welp, the engine for the 88 is back, so lets get it assembled! Rotating assembly:  oil pump/pickup:  heads  ...and damn near everything else!  So with that all done, we're pretty much ready to drop the motor back in! And as long as the weather holds, that should be happening next week... The parts pile grows.   One complete set of leaf springs out of an Excursion! The front leafs are U-Code, and will be perfect for doing a leaf SAS on the '90. The rear leafs will go on the pile for now, as possible replacement springs for the rear of the '96 F250. So weve got this '97 10.25 with 4.10s thats been sitting around in the yard, so were going to use this for the rear axle.  Up front the plan was to do another 3/4 ton TTB using chevy parts, with a junkyard third since the '90 has 3.55 and we want 4.10. So we made a trip up to EZ Pull, and scored:  While we were there we also picked up a newer dome light, and a big trans cooler, both of which will be going in:  The icing on the cake though, is this:  All that work disassembling a 3/4 ton chevy D44, just so we could find a '96 D60 (w/ 4.10s) later! And for a price we couldnt pass up. So now these are sitting in the driveway:  So new plan. Chevy parts go on shelf for spares for the '96, and the '90 is getting a solid axle swap! So we're not ready to start the '90 Bronco build yet, but that doesnt mean we're not gathering parts for it! The current plan is to go 3/4 ton on 35s like the 96 is. And it just so happens we found a set of tires on Marketplace, brand new, for a price too good to pass up so we picked em up and brought em home. 
315/70/17. Brand new, still have the stickers on them. Load Range E, and they have the 3 peak snow rating. i think theyre gonna do pretty good. Time will tell! Well...here we go again! So we found a '90 on Marketplace thats been sitting around for several years. Needs a fuel pump plus a bunch of other minor things from sitting unused for years, but its in good shape, and the price was right, so we decided to pick it up!  Rear wheel arch is in good shape despite that rust-causing trim. Theres a hole in the bottom corner of the fender we'll have to deal with though  Just a little bit in this wheel well...  ...and its definitely going to need a tailgate  The gas tank is rotted and leaking, fuel pump doesnt work, and the brake system is dry. But its got good bones, so we're gonna give it a second lease on life! |
