Well-I'm sure some of you have read a little about this newest edition to the collection- the 86 EB. Wifey's project is progressing nicely. I have been screwing with it for 2 days straight now as I had friday off. Carb is freshly rebuilt, and new plugs. Woohoo- we got to drive it. It runs like it has a massive vacuum leak though, and I can't seem to find it. If I could cure that, it would drive like a caddy. Popped the dist. cap, and I am at a loss as to how it was even running. Cleaned all that up, still runs like crap. Loosened the dist hold down bolt and played with the timing, (I don't have a timing light) got it to clean up a little bit. I welded up the exhaust so it sounds better, as it is hard to hear the motor when the exhaust is screwed up. I still can't find the culprit on the vacuum leak though. That was friday. Yesterday I decided to take a break from the running issues. I called up a fella from a local steam carpet cleaning co, to do both of my Bronc's. When he got here I had all interior removed from both (seats, belts, consoles). $100 to do both. The EB looks brand new. I have pics of the interior and the exterior, but this site, yes this one, keeps locking up my computer. After the fourth time we gave up. I have pics in my gallery of my 83, so I have done this before. It is this site- not us or our computer. Anyway- all we need to do now is the body work, fix dash lights-fuse is fine, fix the brake lights-again, fuse is fine, and get some tunes in it and we should be good to go. Any body have any ideas on the vacuum leak. It only has about 5 million lines and I am pretty sure that I've checked all of them at least 3 times apiece. I am now officially open for ideas. And if this site ever quits screwing with my computer, I'll get pics of the truck up into the new album that I have already created. My plan for the day today was to create an album for each of my trucks, but it is not looking like that is gonna happen. When the window pops up that is asking you to trust content,(first step in putting up pics!) we click yes and everything freezes. Anyway post back if you have any ideas on the vacuum prob or the computer prob.

 

OK-spent a few hours today eliminating all of the crap off of the motor. I made sure I had all the essentials like vacuum advance, PCV valve, etc. Does the egr have to have vacuum, or will it run okay without it? I would like to eliminate everything non essential, but as I still have to get the truck inspected, I can't exactly start yanking everything yet. I was using ether to locate vacuum leaks, and now I have none (by this method anyway). I see lots of looks at this thread, no one has any other thoughts?

 

Might be sucking air around the intake mainfold if you had it off and didn't get it sealed at the corners. Try the ether at the corners in the back of the intake where the block meets the heads and then at the front in the same place. If you have some ports on the carb that are plugged, check or replace the rubber plugs to be sure they're not old and letting air pass. How sure are you of the timing?
Try grabbing the vacuum lines, one at a time and gently kinking them or bending them to see if the engine runs better or worse. Maybe you have a problem along the length of one of them that just isn't obvious.
Borrow a timing lite. Make a timing lite using lamp cord, some 1/4 inch dowel and an spare light socket off one of your parts trucks. Just wire the light socket at one end and on the other end strip about an inch of both conductors, pull the boot off the plug, wrap one conductor tightly around the end of the plug and cut a notch across the center of the dowel and lay the other conductor in the notch. Stick the dowel with the conductor in it into the plug wire boot firmly. Then crank it up and point the light at the timing mark. Should give a pretty good idea of whether it's in time.

As for the pictures, I also had issues starting a gallery. Don't understand them yet but when I do, I'll post if I'm sure it's an issue with the site.

This is a great site.

Hope some of this helps.

 

Took a break from driveability problems to address body problems. There are pics posted in my gallery-wifey's project. I have never done a patch panel on a quarterpanel by myself before. I have put first coat of fiber hair and sanded it off with the air board sander. One thing is for sure, that will show you where your screw-ups are. That's okay though, I am pleased with the results. More pics to come.

 

Okay-all primered up now and all I need to do is block sand and primer it up again. Pic to be posted in a little bit. Check it out!

 

Even more crap has been eliminated from the motor, and I found a set of 31x10.50x15's at a friends shop. He traded me straight across for the 235x75x15's that were on it, I just had to do all the work-no biggie. I removed the spare carrier and ground out all of the rust, fixed it, painted it and reinstalled it. It's looking better every day, but I still have problems on cylinders 1 and 3. If you pull either of these two wires off at the cap, it still runs the same. The plugs are firing, and look exactly the same as the rest of them. I do not have a compression tester, but a friend said I could use his, I just have to wait till tomorrow morning to get it. If anyone has any other ideas on this particular problem, I am all ears. I'll try to get a couple more pics up so everyone can see the new rubber and spare carrier.

 

The body work looks fantastic!

Keep up the great work, your wife will be very happy with a new Bronco cruising down the road! Good luck with the vacuum/cylinder issues.

 

Thanks man. I was really beginning to think no one was looking at this. Do you think I got a good deal at $200? Even though it's looking like I have to tear into the motor?

 

It guess it really depends on what you plan on investing into it. For example, I bought my 86 a number of years ago for $3000. At the time the body and motor was in good shape, even had the Rancho 6" left, 35" tires...pretty much all I was looking for. Needless to say I had no money left to do what I wanted to do to it. A year later the crank sheared in half along with other issues. It has taken me 5-6 years to save for new body parts, paint and high performance mods. It will be worth it in the end.

$200...if you have a good budget you can do alot with that truck..it is definately a good, cheap starting point. It looks like you are well on your way to making that beast look great! I like the rims too! Anytime you can do things yourself you loosen the pocket book a little.

I hope you don't mind I am going to place a few of your pics below to make it easier to see what you started with and your progress.

cfrives3 before pics



after pics

 

Heck no I don't mind! Thanks, I don't know how to do that yet, but I'm getting there. I am currently making a gallery of my 85, and my 65. Give me a little bit and you can see those galleries too! Did you check out my 83 diesel?

 

Yep That bad boy is jacked up! NICE!!! You need to put a 6" on the bronco along with some 35"s. Does the bronco have the 8.8 or 9" rear end?

I have the 9", also have the 302 EFI, bored .40 over, Accel supercoil, K&N filter, Ford 9mm wires, MSD Coil and cap. The 302 has some grunt!

 

I believe both bronco's have 9's. I'll double check that though. I just made up a gallery for my 85 bronco also. It's only two pics for now, but check that out and I'll go out and get some pics of the 65. The exterior is what is worth looking at on the white bronco, I am not impressed with the interior. It's a little tore up. Kind the opposte of the EB huh? Anyway, I'll be back in a few.

 

Wow...that looks nice! Did you do any body work on the 85?

If you check out the link at the bottom of my first thread, you'll see the work I'm doing on the 86. All rhino-lined inside and out!

 

Hey- I looked at that thread a bunch! That's where my wife picked out her rims from. You are getting a whole lot more into it than I am. Mine are just patch panels. How much was that tail gate? My white bronco came just as you see it except I removed one nasty ugly piece of trim from the body line. Hers will probably only get 33's as it will be a daily driver and we have small kids. My white one though I may have to get stupid with eventually. I happen to have 3/4 ton axles with the same gear as the Bronco in my parts truck. I've been told that they will not bolt, but I CAN make them work. As you can see, I play with all of my trucks extensively, and with my 3/4 ton, I invented the "been there, done that". Anyway, I'm gonna get some pics up of the 65, you'll love it too, and I'll be back.

 

The tailgate if I remember correct was over $300...but I told him I would do a little advertiseing for him and He brought the price down to $185! The inside and outside of that tailgate is all done in Durabak (bedliner) as you probably have seen when you went to the thread. Bullet proof baby!