Hears the deal about 3 days ago I was putting my headers on my 96 Ford bronco XLT 5.8W I got the drivers side header on no problem I got 7 bolts on the passengers side off I was down to the last bolt and I guess I gripped it wrong or I gave it to much umph and snapped the bolt in the head so I looked at it and started to drill a hole through middle of the snapped bolt I got it deep enough to get a screw extractor in it so I lighty tapped the screw exsctator into the fit good and went to get it out with a 1/4 inch socket and ratchet gave it a tiny turn and that snapped off in the so I tied drilling though that and its harder than the snapped bolt.So I said @&$^ it and started to rip my engine apart to get to my head so I'm replcing my head with a rebuilt head unit its coming in on monday so. But anyway I have everything apart and labled and was woundering if theres away I can clean up my EFI looks and preformance I looked in the port tubes and it kinda dirty but I'm more interested in thee looks of maybe I could polish it up buff it out I'm also painting my vavle covers a Deep ford blue. I also need some new wire clamps cause I jus ripped those out but other than that Its pretty fun ripping an engine apart to actually see how everything is in working order but anyway if you guys know if I should or should not mess with the EFI in either way I discribed above please resond thank you guys oh and PS Haynes books suck a$$!!!

 

First off, get any carbon off the tops of the pistons. Then when the new intake and exhaust gaskets come in, gasket match all surfaces. Polish up the intake runners on the upper and lower intakes. Clean the back of the "butterfly valves" on the throttle body. Don't waste your time trying to polish the intake's. They are cast aluminum. Go ahead and paint the valve covers, but I have also seen some people paint every other upper intake runner. Looked pretty sharp (same color as valve covers). Polish the interior of the intake, not the exterior.
Al

 

Polishing the first few inches of the intake isnt the problem getting into the curved part is the trick. got some suggestions?

 

The best suggestion I can give is find a flexible shaft that goes into a drill. Harbor frieght or Northern, or similar type store carries them. Then a sanding bit, it has strips of sandpaper attached to it. You can get a 60 grit (aluminum intake) and probably run it down the runners. Look through catalogs for a "have everything tool wise store"
Al

 

I had the exterior of my intake sandblasted with plastic media. It looked sharp for about a month until I spilled oil and antifreeze on it. I saw them painted before but I am not sure how long that would last.

 

Sanded and spray painted the exterior of my intake with High temp semi gloss black. Matches the M/T valve covers and looks pretty sharp and has held up very well. No problems as of yet. If you are painting the exterior, get the high temp stuff.

Once you get everything back together, the passenger side shorty headers can be a real pain. You may want to try and install the header to the head b4 you bolt the head to the block. It may work - not sure about clearance issues though. I know on my 90 bronco, the last bolt on passenger side was hard to get going and took some knuckle busting patience. I think there is a thread in the exhaust forums that cover the shorty header installs.

Have fun.

 

working the curves isnt to bad...a long conical and ball carbide burr's do the trick for me., u may have to order those out of an MSC catalog or specialty store..i havent seen them to many places but are well worth the not so cheap price and trouble in finding them

 

why didnt you just take that head down to a machine shop an have them remove the bolt. buying a new head for just one side is silly and will probably throw that engine off because the other head wont be as fresh. you might as well get the other side as well.

 

The reason I didnt take to a machine shop is because they wanted more money to drill it and the taking it to be cleaned would have cost close to 250 But I did buy the other sides head I put the header on b4 installing the head and I wound up just taking the header off due to clearance with the bolt to the exhaust I went and bought allen bolts and with those I can Get to th bolts at an angle so we shall see if it makes it easier Ill post up the final results tommarow

 

Have your EFI outside powder coated. You can pick any color you want and they can bake on powder coat it for about $50. You can clean sand the "Ford" and clear coat that and have the rest whatever color you feel like. If you just want it to look like clean aluminum they have that color available too. Do a base coat or two then a clear coat over it. It'll look sharp. You might want to do your valve covers too. You can't do the headers 'cause they get too hot, but anything else in there you can do. Check in your area for powder coat shops.





Mike
'96 5.8L EB

 

Is the clear coat a powder also? If it is not it will turn yellow after time. But, I like the whole idea of having it powder coated.

 

I just had my upper plenum powder coated. I'll be doing the swap this weekend maybe. Not quite Ford blue, abit darker, but it does look different. I like it. I'll sand the coat off the part where it says Ford Fuel Injection. BBBBBAAAADDDDAAAAASSSSSSSSSS

 

Thats cool.....but I still need to know how much faster the Bronco will be in the 1/4 mile before I do it to mine

 

It'll just look faster.



haha

 

Check out my gallery. I got my plenum in and it looks pretty good if I do say so myself.