I have a 92 Bronco that I 'm working on. It's stock right now but that will be upgraded soon.

I am building a long-block from PowerPro2000. I only got 273K out of the original 5.0L. While I have everything out and easy to work on, what are the obvious things that I should do? (Check or replace)

I am replacing these items for sure:

Ford water pump replaced with Edelbrock water pump and Mr Gasket thermo

Crappy cast exhaust replaced with Bassani shorties and y-pipe keeping the exhaust as single exhaust dual cats but with new cats, etc. to the tailpipe so that the whole set-up is new.

The stock airbox is coated in oil from the old engine and I was thinking about the K&N replacement for better breathing. Any thoughts on this or on other brands that may be better?

Before dropping the intake on this thing, I am considering gasket-matching the intake with the heads. I don't know if that would void the warranty on this long block (5yr/100K) but I think the benefits are probably worth it. Any thoughts about that?

Does anyone have any ideas about which gasket sealers are the best, i.e. RTV silicone, etc.? The original engine only needed to have the rear main seal replaced 3 times and I never had to worry with leaks anywhere else. I would like to try to duplicate that performance. I have a FelPro set that came with the long block.

Sorry for the long post.

Great site with lots of useful stuff.

 

Sounds to me like you have it under control. I usually put a very thin coat of RTV on all gasket surfaces and I do mean thin. If everything is clean as you go, you should have no problems with the felpro gaskets. I bet that is gonna be a runner when it's done. Also, I can't see why matching the intake to the heads would void the warranty, but I would call the company and ask if it would. Not telling them who you are and that you have already purchased their long block. Hope this helped.

 

I thnik I would replace the fan clutch. I have had good luck with Permatex Tack and Seal. Let it sit before assy per instructions. Replace brake and ps fluids? Find an air intake tube for a 460 at a wrecking yard. Replace the tube over the radiator with the 460 tube stuck through the hole beside the radiator. Drop in a K & N.

 

with that bassani y pipe/cat setup you will want to run 3" exhaust from there back.
no point in porting the stock 5.0 intake it actually flows better then the stock 5.8 intakes do. I would look into them adding a cam for this application as well. 31-255-5 is a great speed density cam for the 302 in a bronco.

get some really good header bolts that lock and get them 1" long. this will help keep them torqued properly.

 

Great stuff! Thanks for the advice.

This is the first one that I will be working on in the next few months. I also have a 95 Bronco with a 5.8L that was run hot for too long and a 75 Bronco that needs new everything. I'm hoping to come out with 3 great runners when I'm done.

I didn't think about the fan clutch, good stuff there. The fluids have all been changed recently (diffs too) as the thing did get regular maintenance so I think I'm ok there.

One other thing, I haven't looked at the brakes on this thing yet but inevitably they will need some work as stopping can be more important than going sometimes. Anyone have any thoughts on the necessity of turning rotors and drums. Personally (and I may be wrong) I don't see the necessity. If the rotors/drums aren't grooved you should be in good shape with a little emory cloth on the surfaces and new pads/shoes. Even if you do have grooves, don't they increase the surface area of the rotor that is in contact with the pad thereby increasing (by minute amounts no doubt) the stopping power. I mean, wouldn't it be better if your rotors have grooves all the way across and pads that rode those grooves so that you fit more braking power in a smaller package?

It's okay to call me stupid on that one. I'm a big kid now. Just looking for some objective thought from someone besides the local brake shop who always want to turn the rotors and therefore force me to replace them more regularly.

Again, thanks for all the help on this. It's been 20 years since I rebuilt an engine in my own shop and now I have 3 vehicles to do. I'm the happiest, luckiest idiot on these boards. There are some things I have forgotten so I may ask dumb questions occasionally.

See y'all around.

 

maybe clean up and paint the engine area while its out. I really pay attention to detail, when I did my 79 Bronco a long time ago, and like an idiot I sold it cause someone made me a great offer, I painted and freshened up the engine bay. No real benefit, just a little prettier under the hood. I could be wrong on this, but I think ive heard of some guys adding really big oil coolers with 460s, maybe run the oil lines and any other prep work for that. again, I could be dead wrong on that, but it just seems like I've heard of some guys doing that before--just my .02--Rich

 

On the air breathing side - did you mean that you want to put in a canister style or the stock replacement K&N in the old air filter box? The K&N "Cold" Air intake actual sucks hot air from the engine compartment instead of cool air from the from of the truck.

Something I do with my trucks is ditch the rad side oil cooler and put in a tranny cooler up front. I throw a plug in the bottom hole of the rad and a vented plug up top. When I was working at the tranny shop I saw half a dozen trucks come in after the rad side tranny cooler burst and the oil went into the cooling system and coolant into the tranny - killing it. Heat (and coolant) kills trannys not the cold.

Woodler