6daze project

[BRONKEN]

Re: 6daze project

They look like really nice seats, especially with the heaters for added comfort on those cold freeway drives.

[6daze]

Re: 6daze project

The seats are awesome! So much better than the beat down, 20 year old mustang seats I have been riding around in...I would say they sit slightly higher than my previous seats.

To do it over again, I would probably go with the Mastercraft sliders. I got really hung up on the fact the Beard mounts tilted forward. But this is just not usable with a high back seat.

The Mastercraft factory is about 10 minutes from my house. I went to pick up some fabric to make some door panels to match the seats.

While there I asked to check out the bronco driver's side seat mount. It is much better quality than the Beard mount. It looked like it would bolt into the factory holes. The mount is essentially flat bar with the slider mounted on top. It uses a "towel bar" to activate the slider. This is a bar that runs across the entire front of the seat and you lift up to move the seat. The mount is very low as well, probably a good inch lower than the Beards.

I didn't get to look at the passenger bracket but I assume it is just as well built.

So if you can get the seats for a decent price ( I purchased them at a show) get the mounts as well if you are mounting them to the floor.

[6daze]

Re: 6daze project

Interior remodel:

Part 1

With the addition of the Tuffy center console, I was able to move the stereo out of the dash. This left a huge, ugly hole...

So I copied 904 and built a switch panel in its place. At least until the dash comes out for a complete replacement.

I used Contura V switches for the seat heater, dome light and fuel pump. The light is the check engine lamp. Everything came from www.otrattw.com/

They were great to work with!

[camomog]

Re: 6daze project

Very nice.

[904Bronco]

Re: 6daze project

Very Nice... 6daze

The only thing I wish I had done differently was pay the extra $$$ to get the switches that have lighting so that I could see them when the exterior lights are on...

[6daze]

Re: 6daze project

Part II

I bought a yard of fabric from Mastercraft and covered my door panels. Now they match the seats and soften things up a little inside.

I also filled some holes from old door speakers and repainted the doors. They were pretty scratched up after 20 years!

Finished it up with new door seals from Tom's. I cut out the Rhino lining where they sit in the jamb.

I am thinking about the rubber floor mat from LMC. BC has one now too but I haven't seen any pics. My IR thermometer reads 120 on the floor board...

[CityHick]

Re: 6daze project

One question for you... who makes the door seals for Tom's? I had seals from another vendor and could not get them to fit right at all. It was as if they were made too small for the opening. I will be finishing up my doors sometime soon (hopefully) and want to be able to seal them up at least reasonably well. Yours look like a decent fit.

Your rig is looking good btw. I like what you are doing with it.

[6daze]

Re: 6daze project

One question for you... who makes the door seals for Tom's? I had seals from another vendor and could not get them to fit right at all. It was as if they were made too small for the opening. I will be finishing up my doors sometime soon (hopefully) and want to be able to seal them up at least reasonably well. Yours look like a decent fit.

Your rig is looking good btw. I like what you are doing with it.

I'm not sure who made these seals. The package was unmarked. They definitely fit better than the last ones I had. Like yours, they seemed too small for the opening. I didn't been glue these on, they fit really well.

I bought them based on price and shipping. I would do it again.

Thanks for the compliment, I am driving it everyday and looking forward to the next wheeling trip!

[6daze]

Re: 6daze project

new addition to the stable....

been saving for a long time for this one!

[6daze]

Rotating inner C's

Finally had an alignment done after rotating my C's a few months ago. I am very happy with the way the Bronco drives and recommend the mod for getting your caster back. Here is my write up and a couple of pics:


With 5’ of lift my caster was right at zero. Needless to say it was a little scary to drive on the freeway. I decided the correct way for me to fix this was to turn the inner “C’s” to get the caster back. I was eager to take on this challenge but knew that I could not do all the work. I simply do not have the tools or expertise to do this correctly.

I was referred to an old time race car builder for the job. After meeting with him and making sure he was capable of performing the work, I got into tearing it apart. I removed the axle from the Bronco and stripped it down. I removed everything from the knuckles out, including the axles. I also removed the ring gear/Detroit. This was at the request of the fabricator, so he could make sure the housing was straight.

To save some labor costs I ground out the welds on the C’s. This took me about an hour per side. I was able to do it with my cheap HF 4 ½” angle grinder. The key was to grind back into the C at a 45 degree angle. Finally the crack appeared.

My fabricator chose to remove the C’s, clean up the axle tubes and put them back on. Other people have had success with just getting the Cs hot and hitting them with a BFH. However, with the proper amount of heat, he was able to remove them without too much effort. This is what works for him and I wasn’t going to tell him how to do his job.

I had him rotate the C’s 10 degrees. He then TIG’d everything back together. He used a series of tack welds and two passes to fill it all in. Using and alignment bar, he was able to align both sides within .5 degree of each other. The labor was performed in about 2 ½ hours.

This has allowed me to use 2 degree bushings and get the pinion pointing towards the transfer case. Now my caster is set at 4 degrees.

The Bronco steers considerably better now and has good return-to-center.


Couple things I learned:

The lower ball mount joint is a machined surface that can be used to set your final angle. For example use the front cover surface as a reference (see pic), set your angle finder to 0. Then take a reading on top of the lower ball joint mount. When you are ready to rotate the C’s back, just add however many degrees you want to that number.

For example with the pumpkin set at zero, my C was at 12 degrees. I added 10 degrees to end up at 22 degrees.

Be sure to check the housing for straightness before you begin.

[6daze]

Re: 6daze project

I have been chasing down a wicked sound in my front end. Only happens in 4wd so I rarely think about it. I was convinced it was in the shifting mechanism of the Atlas due to the sound. Almost like it wasn't fully going into gear.

I finally had a mechanic drive it and he suggested replacing the front driveshaft.

It was actually the original rear shaft that I had shortened when I did the ZF swap.

He said the CV joint was worn and the splines were sloppy.

I shopped around a little locally but ended up paying nearly the same price for a Tom Woods shaft. Bolted it up yesterday and what do you know, sound is gone!

[blwngsket]

Re: 6daze project

Nice write up on the inner C's.

[California Monkey]

Re: 6daze project

Could you share the cost of the labor by the welder? I'm swapping a 60 in and hate my pinion angle / castor.

[6daze]

Re: 6daze project

Finally started my next project: a steering box upgrade. I have been using the 70s 2wd box since about 1997. It has worked OK but has developed a lot of play. I found a 79 F100 in a local yard so I snatched it up and swapped the gears and replaced the seals.

To get to the box I knew i would need to pull the radiator. While it was out, I decided to just replace it. I was still using the stock radiator but it was recently cleaned and worked well. Other than the input/outputs were in the wrong spot for my water pump. I have been using the BC crossover hose and several different versions of an upper, none of which I have been happy with.

When I switched to the Explorer serp system, I modified my fan shroud to work. However it had a couple cracks and was in overall poor shape.

I picked up the Champion radiator on ebay. It has the reversed input/ouput and was cheap for aluminum. My only issue is going to be with the mounts. The bottom mount is OK but the top one leans the radiator way back. I think i will have to pie cut a piece out and weld it back together.

I also ended up with the Ron Davis 2" body lift full circle shroud (1" body lift). That thing is nice!

Here are some pics of the radiator and shroud.

[6daze]

Re: 6daze project

The new stuff.