Sorry its been a lil bit. Been working on her here and there when Ive had time. Picked up a barely MSD dizzy for 100 bucks off Craigslist, Summit wants over 380 for a Brand new one. and my engine builder rebuilt it and recurved it and all for Free!

But its justa bout done except for a few odds n ends, I post a vid when shes running. I cant wait, its been almost a year now...a year too long lol

 

Did some more work on her this week, have the front clip mounted. all the fluids in, not all topped off yet. but wanted to make sure i dont have any leaks. Shes gettin there. Hopefully she'll be finished during the Thanksgiving break.

 

Sorry I havent updated on her in forever. Been so busy. She is running and driving now. Ill have to take some more pics and vids and such. Running great, went with a full 3in from headers back with a Flowmaster 40series exit out the stock location. Fender and hood still need some more aligning. And the left side header gasket is leaking. Still needs a bit of tuning to get, occasional hesitation off idle and running abit rich. First tank in her I averaged 9.2mpg lol. But that was with the break-in, alot of revving, idling, adjusting andplaying around with her on open headers
Ill be ordering a set of pre-bent Stainless-steel tranny cooler lines. I had to replace the original alternator. upgraded to a 80amp for now. then the powersteering pump and the pulley were going out, replaced it both. No more squeal. The updates in a nutshell. I will break it down with more detail and pics later on. Thanks!

 

Great thread man, the truck looks awesome and the work is amazing. Awaiting the arival of new updates now

 

looks great..

 

Well did the 1st oil change since the rebuild...run another few hundred miles on on her and change it out and switch to the good stuff. Royal Purple full synthetic. And while doing the oil change...noticed that the front diff's pinion seal and axle seals are leaking pretty bad. so now Ill have to tear into that eventually. But gettin' the Diesel back up and running is my main priority right now. But in light of the leaky 3rd member...gives me an excuse to install a Traction-Lok or something of the sort. Ive thought about an SAS swap. but Ill never wheel the truck hard enough to justify the swap. As I can admit she'll spend most of her time on the street. with occasional blasts down the 1/4 and some trails. I love it too much to beat her offroad. If I have time, Ill try to get some more pics and a vid up today.

 

Well the other day I went to pick up the GF to take her out to dinner, The Bronco was idling in the drive warming up and I come out to a steady stream of Coolant puddling under the truck, Pop the hood and the Thermostat gasket popped. Coolant has slowly been dissapearing, Id see stains on the ioil pan and crossmember, but could never find the source of the leak..Welp found it now lol. Changed the gasket, clear silicone and Replaced the new t-stat with another new t-stat 195F. Since its still cold out. Although it still rarely gets over 185-190.

 

Are you having trouble getting the T stat to stay in place while installing the housing? Sometimes this will cause some leaks b/c the lip on the T stat comes out of the groove not letting the sealing surfaces mate properly. Also there are two different length bolts on the 351W T stat housing and if they get reversed it will leak.

Just some food for thought. Also some of the T stat housings have a groove that will let you twist lock the t stat into them so it cant fall out, but , you have to be using the factory t stat with the wings for that purpose. I use some silicone and glue the t stat into the housing allowing it to dry before doing the install.

 

I really dont know what the deal was with it. I replaced the original housing because it looked like it went thru a garbage disposal lol. The mating surface to the intake was gnarly. So I replaced it with a new one(aftermarket). Im not sure what caused the leak this time. but I replaced the gasket, used a little less silicone this time and let it set for a bit before filling it with coolant. And its been fine, Just got the rad flushed out the other day as well. and its still good.

 

I had one that looked like it was all eaten up. The only thing I could think of was it was electrolosys from two disimiliar metals being in contact with each other while being submerged in water.

 

I have also heard using the wrong coolant or mixing coolants can do damage to the metal.

 

Yea, Some Knucklehead loosened all my lugnuts on my Bronco. And it isnt the first time either. My rear wheels were about to fall off. Someone has done this 3-4times before and also had broken my side mirror. I dont get why someone could stoop so low to do something that could cause serious damage and harm. Im so angry right now lol.

 

there are some ignotant fools out there, i wouldnt put anything past anyone now a days

 

Id seriously invest in some of the lock lug nuts. Even if there is only one on a tire its better than someone completely taking them all off. About 20$ for 20nuts including 4 of the lock lugs on jcwhitney

Im going to do the same soon. Im at the point of carrying a beating stick in my Bronco lol

 

Man that sucks somebody did that Mike. When was the last time you broke up with a girlfriend?