As did I. He stops by once in a while but even I don't see him much. Last I remember he was looking for another bronco I thought.

 

I'll sell him mine haha

 

Tell him I have one I'd sell him. '87 brown/tan.

 

I've been spending the last week and a half trying to get my tailgate window to function. So far I know the swithches and the motor are good, the latch is bypassed and I have 12v to the connector just before the motor. Beyond that I'm staring at it scratching my head lol

 

Today I put on new plugs, wires, rotor, and cap. Motorcraft platinum plugs, Accel professional premium wires, MSD cap and rotor (red, with a cool-looking retainer into which the coil wire clips). What a difference! Smooth sailing now. I removed very short, thin Bosch platinum plugs. They had a tiny central electrode and very small gap. Cap and rotor were corroded a bit, and the original wires had done all they could.

 

Got back home and decided to work on the broken exhaust manifold bolt. I've been soaking it with Blaster for about a week. Pulled the inner fender and can get to it no problem.
Center punched it, started drilling with small bits....got all the way through it. (Pretty easily) Sprayed Blaster into the hole.
Found the broken portion of the bolt about 1/2" long. Worked my way up to (I believe a 3/16 bit) and then SNAP! Broke the drill bit!!

About 10 minutes into drilling, I remember "Hey, I've got a big titanium drill bit set. Where is it?" I guess it grew legs!

I think I've ruined every small bit, (all old ones!), I had trying to get back through this bolt! Got a hole started back through the bolt, but we all know how hard it is to drill out a drill bit! Gonna go today and get me either a cobalt or a tungsten carbide bit for glass and tile. I've had to use them before and they will cut through about anything.

Hopefully, having some Blaster behind the broken bolt and once I get back through it.....it will be nice to me and come out with NO PROBLEMS.....yea, that's how it works, right???

On another note....I found a wrecked 06 F250 4x4 I can pick up for $1200. The WHOLE frame with front and rear suspension with driveshafts. AND I found a 1979 Bronco that needs a front clip that the guy wants $1800 for. He said he's parting it out. I told him it would be a CRIME to do that!! It looks to be a nice Bronco. He told me $350 for the front end, radius arms and brackets I need.

Decisions, decisions, decisions.

 

What engine is in that 06?

Today I drove the bronco, put a sale sign on it at work, drove home and rolled over 301k miles.

 

Sorry....he had the engine sold. It was the 6.0. If I want it, he's gonna pull off the crushed cab and sell the bed (it's not hurt). I told him I didn't want the automatic transmission or transfer case.

 

I'm still trying to decide what kind of motor I will have in the bronco if I can/do keep it.

Lots of people are trying to get me to do the 408 stroker (the set up I have picked out will be a torque monster I hear.) Then there is a 7.3 (which I have seen very neatly set into them) or a guy said if I want a faster one go with the 6.0, BUT they are a few hundred pounds heavier than the 7.3. Decisions decisions.

 

A friend down here has an 08 with a 6.4 that was wrecked and he fixed. He's done a lot to it...DPF delete and cat delete, programmer, high pressure fuel something and more!. The thing is a rocket ship! I don't know if a 6.4 would be possible to fit in a Bronco....but from what I've seen it's a good engine. They did away with the bad 6.0 injectors and it has HUGE connecting rods.

 

Drove it to work, finally

 

Explored the reason why my tailgate window doesn't move. Crawled in over the back seat, pulled the carpet off the tailgate, opened the panel. Gently dropped the window down and lowered the gate.

Messed with the wiring harness for an hour, having discovered a chewed-up place in the wiring that was tucked into the rear quarterpanel. After that was fixed and taped, I tried all the switches. I had power right up to the pigtail from the motor. Cleaned the contacts and determined a bad regulator motor.

New motor at O'Really's was a tougher unit than stock, and it was available right then and there for $43. Had to cut the pigtail connector off the old motor. Once installed, everything worked swell.

Moved on to the loose shift lever. Removed dash face, pulled key cylinder, removed plastic surround.

Column shifter boot was all destroyed. Got one on order, should be here soon.

Found that the plastic bushings were totally gone from under the yokes that keep the shift tube in place. Ordered those, too.

Also found that the screws were loose which hold the shift cable actuator to the lower end of the shift tube.

Between the bushings, shift boot, and loose screws, the shifter ought to feel brand-new again soon.

 

Tried to start the bronc this morning, and *snap* the tiny peg on the ignition cylinder broke off.

Removed the cylinder and went for another at O'Really's. Realizing that I would need to have the keys filed for the doors, I took them straight to a locksmith.

I thought I would have to remove the locks from the doors, but the smith said he could just file the keys based on the profile of the existing key. (In case nobody knows, there are only 5 different profiles of cylinders, but they mix and match the ignition, which are the first five cuts from the tip of the key, and the next five cuts, which are for the door. However, there is an overlap where they have to match in order to share the key.)

Turned out I had bought the wrong cylinder profile, so no overlap. Well, each parts store carries just one, so I drove around Tulsa with a screwdriver for an ignition key trying to locate the "C" cylinder.

Brought that back to the locksmith and he makes the first key. It doesn't work. Turns out LockSmart is made in Mexico, and they seem to leave out the overlap tumblers in the cylinder. So the locksmith practiced his craft until the key worked on both the ignition and the door.

He charged me $25. I think that is worth it to have three keys that all work both the doors and the ignition. Without him I would be using one key for the door and one key for the ignition, and don't forget the rear window key. Too bad that one is reverse profile, and cannot be made to work all with one key.

 

So I ordered some "Euro style" headlights (Lenses) they are nice and clear. I actually got them cheap from amazon. And they actually came with some bulbs. Trying not to offend anyone, but they came with the douchey blue bulbs (I only say this because high schoolers with daddys truck like to put these in because it's "cool"). Again trying not to offend anyone this is just my opinion. But yes anyways I got a pair of new lenses I am going to put in hopefully this weekend. Pictures to come!

 

I want to black mine out and get some ultra-clear headlights that are tinted black with HID projectors in them. That would be the hotness.