The outer plenum has been unbolted to allow the inner plenum to come out:


Sure enough there was a BIG hole behind the inner plenum:


Everything has been removed from the firewall that needs to be:


Here's the view looking out of the garage today. It's COLD in the workshop.

 

The mess made by sandblasting never ceases to amaze me. To do the inside I tacked a bed sheet along the bottom of the windshield then climbed underneath wearing a respirator and full face shield. So this was keeping the mess at a minimum if you can believe it.


Driver side blasted and ready for new metal:


Passenger side above the blower motor. This is the big hole that had been hidden behind the PO's caulk fix. Thanks for that Steve.


This was my first patch panel. The welds are ugly but will do the job. There's a fairly significant difference, I think, from panel #1 to panel #10 that I just did so that means I'm learning and improving. Each weld seems to be better than the last. I'm even getting good at filling in the few holes I've made after holding the welder in one spot too long.


Driver side from engine compartment:


Same area all sealed up from the inside:


Passenger side. No more gaping hole:


I have about 5-6 more patch panels to do on the passenger side interior. Then I'll add sealant to all the joints and to the few pinholes that were too small or hard to reach for patch panels.

 

Welding is finished:


Then 1-1/2 tubes of 3M Ultrapro sealant on all the panel joints and welds. I would be very surprised to find any leaks now.


Plastic up and the heater on to bring things to a reasonable temperature for painting:


Some perspective for temperature. My garage is unheated.


All primed and painted.


With the cold weather there was still some cratering but it's a firewall so I'm not overly concerned. It's all sealed up and water tight now and that's the important thing. Now I get to put everything back together.

 

Work is progressing, albeit slowly. The passenger side engine compartment has been put back together (plenum, air box, fender shroud, battery & harness).




There's a good reason work has been slow. I accepted an opportunity to join an architecture firm on the other side of my state and started a week ago. So I'm staying near Grand Rapids with extended family until we sell our house near Detroit and I'm commuting back and forth on the weekends to see my wife and kids. That leaves just a few hours each weekend to re-assemble the Bronco when I'm not spending time with my family. I've been wanting to join this new firm for a while so it's a good thing, it just doesn't leave much time to work in the garage unfortunately. I'm hoping the Bronco will be ready by April when the weather is better.

 

There was a good amount of progress last weekend. I reinstalled all the foot pedals and cables along with the brake/clutch masters:


Then I set the dash skeleton on the floor and wired it up before my wife helped me lift and position it back into place. We were able to connect the heater ductwork before lifting it so that really made the 'unexploding' process a lot easier, or less impossible anyway. Hopefully the pictures are starting to look like the reverse of the dismantling process.


Next weekend will be reinstalling the steering column, connect the rest of the wires, replace 1 brake line that broke while disconnecting the master cylinder, and anything else I can button up. Being finished by April is starting to look possible.

 

In post #19, jpg 1698, above and to the right of the rightmost edge of the plenum, there is likely a sheet metal joint. It is right above the where the antenna wire crosses the other wire{taped}, or closer where the taped wires do the right angle downward. You should see a two panel joint that is filled with caulk. Mine was rusted, and the caulk fell off in lengths.

It is formed vertically, and mostly protected from the elements by the outside air intake cover, the slotted one at the base of the windshield.
I had corrosion there, because the two pieces of sheetmetal were not sealed 'outside' and water leaked in between and caused/allowed corrosion.{and leakage, the floormat underlayment was soggy soggy soggy, and the caulk fell off because of rust.}.
With all you've done, I would look at that joint, barely visible from outside, and insure that it won't let water in. I think I used some RTV laid as a bead on top of the two pieces using a popsicle stick to daub it in place. If memory works, it was barely visible in a gap between the outside plenum cover(slotted) and the base of the windshield. Just two edges of sheet metal standing up.

Edit: maybe look in 1582, and you might have gotten the joint there, where the joint angles up and to the right. The camera lens might be distorting the view, such that the rightmost panel shows as angled off to the right rather than parellel to the centerline of the vehicle. In that case it would be lower (and more forward) than the antenna wire and the taped loom wire.
Either way, I'd check the external joint which is barely exposed by the slotted plenum panel at the base of the windshield. You can goop it up and be pretty sure you won't have water ingress & corrosion. Mine came with a leak from the factory right there, and the dealership couldn't find it. The windshield was always misted with condensation on the inside in specific temperatures.

 

Thanks for the detailed response. Yes, there was quite a lot of rust where you mentioned and the sealant was flaking off the joint. I suspect on mine it was just years of corrosion that got to that joint compared to your's which sounds like a factory issue. I'd be very upset if I had a new truck that was leaking at any joint, but on a truck that's 26 years old I can't really complain. I'm having the cracked windshield replaced (no doubt caused by these structural rust issues) as a finale to this project so I'll make sure to check the joints under that trim when the time comes and add sealant as needed.

I did check the wiper area weeps too, picking at them, and sure enough I made holes. I wouldn't have gone nosing around there without your comment so thanks for that one too.

This project is getting close but I'll be happier when it's finished and I'm driving the Bronco again. Admittedly I've had to resort to watching Youtube videos of Bronco II's as a means to help tide me over until spring.

 

No pictures this week but I did get some more work done on the B2. I removed the old rear brake line that broke while taking out the master a while back (what a pain) and have the new line on the bench ready for install. I also got the interior harness more connected and into position for the radio, steering column, and so on. Other than that it was a lot of 'honey do's' in preparation for selling our house. The big accomplishment was painting the basement with the help of my 2-1/2 year old twins. That was a lot of fun.

 

No pictures this week but I did get some more work done on the B2. I removed the old rear brake line that broke while taking out the master a while back (what a pain) and have the new line on the bench ready for install. I also got the interior harness more connected and into position for the radio, steering shaft, and so on. Other than that it was a lot of 'honey do's' in preparation for selling our house. The big accomplishment was painting the basement with the help of my 2-1/2 year old boys. That was a lot of fun.

 

Can anyone tell me what this connector is for? I hadn't labeled it which probably means it wasn't connected to anything to start with. I just want to make sure. My guess is alternate fuel tank switch, or center console warning display? It has 7 wires colored: O, Y/R, G, B/O, Br/W, R, Bk/W. I couldn't find it in my wiring diagrams.



Last weekend was very productive.

Exterior: Installed brake line, steering extender (for body lift), wiring harness, clutch reservoir, wiper fluid reservoir, cruise control, driver side fender & shroud, and front apron:


Interior: Installed steering column and controls, gauges, HVAC controls, radio, computer, fuse box, inertia switch, and ashtray:


Does anybody know what these are? While everything's apart anyway I decided to pull them out of my Ranger (winter truck) since they haven't been used in there since high school. I don't have any immediate plans to use them in the Bronco but if I ever get the itch for a ____ again it will be nice to know the wiring is ready to go.


That phrase "While everything's apart..." has really been adding a lot to this project's scope lately. I don't think I'm gonna say it anymore.

 

Closest thing I can find is the 'spare' connector might go over above the glove box and plug into the ignition key, seatbelt and headlamps on warning buzzer. That is the only 7 conductor connector I can find.

 

I checked and it's not for that. At least you confirmed there doesn't seem to be any reference to it in the wiring diagrams, so it's not just me. I have a very early '88 so maybe the factory used a leftover '87 harness and that one connector was different? My money is still on the console display mine would have come with (can anyone confirm its connector) but I'll see if anything doesn't work after start-up and go from there. I hadn't labeled it during disassembly so I'm still not sure it had been connected to anything.

We showed our house a couple times last weekend so I wasn't able to quite finish the Bronco, but it's sooo close! The engine compartment is completely back together along with the exterior and the dash. Someone from National Auto Glass even stopped by and put in the new windshield. All that's left are the seats, a few trim pieces, then connect the battery and turn the key! Looking forward to a test start-up this weekend.

 

I'll be starting my weekly 2 1/2 hour trek home in just a few minutes. We should have warm weather this weekend. Can't wait to see my family then spend some time out in the garage.

 

Everything is back together but there is no electricity when I turn the key. No gauge lights, no fuel pump, no cranking. Autozone just told me my battery was bad so I put in a new one. I've been double checking wiring connectors and will continue to do so. I'm still wondering if that 'spare' connector should be plugged into something. Any guidance or direction anyone could offer would be appreciated. I'm no expert with electrical.

Edit: The 'spare' connector was for the wiper switch. Still no action at the ignition.

 

The connector that is loose comes very close to matching the colors on the interval wiper, and on second check, matches perfectly. There is a GY {gray} connector under the dash, C215 in my book, with leads to the 'interval governor' mounted on the cowl side above the parking brake. The connector is at about the same level as the fuse block, more towards the steering column.
You should have power at all times to the ignition switch. In my 85 book, it is yellow, which splits into two connections to the switch. The power comes from the hot side of the starter relay, through a 16GA orange fusible link, a splice with leads to the ammeter shunt, another splice with a lead to the alternator and one that goes on to the ignition switch yellow wire. Not a lot involved in checking that.
If you have no electrical at all, I'd be looking under the hood at the starter relay connections, where the red thick wire to the battery is connected.
tom