70 Sport resto/mod

[CityHick]

Not going to make it to Florence. I had planned to have my Bronco back on the road already but clearly it's not. There's not enough time between now and then to get everything that I need to do, done. This reminds me that I have a campsite to get rid of and a friend who wants it.

I am hoping to take the Bronco somewhere this year but it'll be closer to home than Oregon.

[CityHick]

With my new driveshaft in hand I did some test fitting. The photos show the situation better than my words can describe it. The interference is not quite as bad as I'd imagined it to be, though there's no denying that the crossmember still requires some customization.

In short, with the driveshaft's lower u-joint cradled in the axle yoke, the shaft resting on the leading edge of the crossmember, the double cardan joint sits about 1 inch too high to mate with the transfer case front output yoke. This is not a huge amount of interference to account for.

Late last week I got scraps of 5" and 6" schedule 40 steel pipe per Lars' suggestion. The 5" pipe will be what I use, and it will get the cross bracing similar to the drawings in this thread. The double cardan joint measures about 4" in diameter. If I slice the 5" pipe in half that gives me 2.5" of clearance plus the thickness of the 3/8" crossmember. this should be more than enough.

I know that I still owe some photos of how the atlas shifter works, and I will post them at some point when I do a followup about what I've learned about it.
My plan at this point remains the same - the bulk of the "heavy work" will get underway this weekend; though I do have some planned distractions which I'll have to work around...
Hoping to stay on task and get the exhaust redone next week (I took Monday off, which will be used either for finishing said crossmember work, or hopefully, getting the exhaust reconnected).

I am liking the way that this is coming together, a little more each day.

[Action]

I got a ? not drive shaft related...lol....are you using the radius arm for your bump stops to hit...cant really tell from pic....thanks

[CityHick]

I got a ? not drive shaft related...lol....are you using the radius arm for your bump stops to hit...cant really tell from pic....thanks

Not a very good photo, but yes I bought polyurethane bump stops like what are typically bolted onto the rear bump stop mounts, and attached them to the frame above the radius arms. They touch the "boxed" section of the CAGE radius arms on compression and that's about the only place that I could find to mount them where they'd actually be effective. My front axle came to me with a "non standard" track bar riser welded to it. It was previously used for hydro assist steering by the guy who sold me the axle and I wasn't about to cut it off and put something more "normal" back on.

I have always wanted to find a better way to do this, but it works for me and keeps the tires from touching what they should not touch. Someday I may do something else, but they've been this way for quite a long time.

Side note - my rear axle bump stops don't do a damn thing. I have never found a place to mount them where they actually limit up travel. I would wager that most people who run rear bump stops from the popular vendor kits, never see their bumps actually touch anything... not with 5.5" of lift, without extending the mounts somehow.

[Action]

thanks...I like the idea.......i only have about 2 1/2 lift and need 4" bump stops in the rear and that is pretty much as far as i can stuff a 37

[Lars]

At some point I'll get my Bronco to stop oozing fluids to the point I feel safe driving it somewhere beyond the immediate vicinity of my hangar at the local airport where I store it. Then I'm going to come quietly lust over your beautiful build. Looking forward to seeing the results of your crossmember efforts.

[CityHick]

I did not take enough photos as I was working on things over the weekend but I'll share what I've got.

After a lot of creeper time, visualizing the way that things need to be, I decided that the 5" steel pipe was the winner as the 6" pipe was just too big. I am glad that I got both so that I had options.
I diverged from Lars' suggestion but only a little. Instead of the "ribs" running underneath the pipe, I did side gussets matched to the radius of the pipe on both sides, and welded the pipe into the leading 45 degree edge. Hanging all of my weight off of the opposite end of the member while supported in my bench top vise says it's pretty stout. If the experts deem otherwise I can always add more bracing to it, but for now it seems like it'll do the job quite well.

My plans to have exhaust installed on Monday were delayed until Wednesday. The shop is busy and it is what it is. I dropped it off there this afternoon where it's being stored inside and will hopefully go up on the rack tomorrow. He will call me when he has more of a picture of what he sees fit. I am giving him a bit of artistic freedom as I trust his work, though the rough plan is to keep most of the existing pipe intact.

I am likely going to just have my Borla muffler re-connected by way of new pipes coming down off the manifolds, with a V-clamp to allow me to disconnect the exhaust should I ever need to drop the tranny again. The other option is a very large flowmaster something or other... the most quiet model they make.

With regards to the ZF and the Atlas - as noted the ZF shifts phenomenally well - though I think that just about anything would feel that way after the tired old NP435. The Atlas now also shifts remarkably easily. I spent a lot of time on forums and YouTube reading about how the cable shifters are adjusted since AA's instructions are lacking, and their one video that I found, was a little too succinct. It's not that difficult, I just needed to get all of the adjustments straight in my head. The only problem that I currently have with the atlas is that I cannot get the front output into high range, so, no 4-high at the moment. It shifts into front low, 4-low, rear low, and rear high with almost a feather's touch. I suspect that if I were to engage the front hubs and shift into 4-high it would work, but I have no proof of that just yet. I will revisit this topic when my bronco can operate more quietly.

I replaced the rubber floor with a new one from WH. The old one was fine but the cutouts were nowhere close to the new setup. I cut and fit it into place with additional Dynamat Extreme and DynaPad layers where there were none before. I then fitted my JB Custom Fabrication boots over the shifters and fastened them down to the floor. The rubber mat was the icing on the cake - I feel like this looks about 100x better than the old gear banger with duff twin sticks setup. No disrespect to the gear banger, it's a very functional piece, but wow... the interior feels so open and looks so much more finished with a simpler and less cramped shifter arrangement.

The interior is done, the transfer case/transmission are operational, and the exhaust should be done soon. Numerous electrical improvements, wiring cleanup, lighting improvements, and God knows what else that I did not plan on over these past 7-8 months. It's been fun, but I am ready to drive the damn thing.

This leaves me with the wheel and tire decision, but I think I am going to take a short break from the spending while I continue to mull over the options that I've found. One other issue is to make my Dakota Digital speedometer work with the Atlas. I bought the adapter from WH and hooked it up, but the speedo needle doesn't move. I suspect that the speedo wire(s) on the Dakota Digital control module may have worked loose and that would be the easiest possible solution. If not, I will figure it out somehow. I have never run a VSS with my EFI system and it seems not to care about that, so I have not bothered to set that up ever. Worst case, I ditch the gear driven pulse generator thingy and go with a GPS speedo sender.

I will say it feels very good to see the rig out in the sun again, and to also finally be able to clean up the entire garage.

[CityHick]

At some point I'll get my Bronco to stop oozing fluids to the point I feel safe driving it somewhere beyond the immediate vicinity of my hangar at the local airport where I store it. Then I'm going to come quietly lust over your beautiful build. Looking forward to seeing the results of your crossmember efforts.

Lars, you are welcome anytime and there's a tasty beverage in it for you when you get here. I am certain that I can bend your ear on a variety of topics so you'll earn your keep. lol. I am also quite interested in your AC setup on my "someday" list.

[pippinmader]

That looks amazing, congratulations!

[crawlin68]

Really nice work Tony! When is the exhaust supposed to be done?

[CityHick]

Really nice work Tony! When is the exhaust supposed to be done?

With any luck, today. But I have learned to expect delays, so we shall see. I'd rather have it done right than done quickly.

[PhantomEB]

How thick is that cross member? I may change mine up now….

[CityHick]

The Bronco is back in action.
I did not bother to take any pictures of the exhaust because it's not really that much different than how it was before; slightly altered around the big ZF transmission but otherwise reconnected to the same old exhaust and Borla muffler. It is weird (but nice) that the new Dynamat is doing its job. I hear almost nothing coming into the cab from the engine bay anymore - most of the sound is going out the tailpipe as it should. I am not going to make any more exhaust changes anytime soon if I can help it...

It's good to have it home again, and was REALLY nice to drive it back through town without waking the dead.

How thick is that cross member? I may change mine up now….

It's 3/8". Pretty nice piece of hardware.

[904Bronco]

Nice work Tony!, as always...

[CityHick]

Critical items remaining:
-Atlas cable shifter adjustment. Had I gone with my gut and ordered the cable shifters from the beginning, I would have straightened all of this out on the bench before installing the transfer case into the vehicle. With the cable shifters being an afterthought, trying to dial them in correctly (which is a pretty simple process, really) while reaching into places where my arms barely fit, and trying to make small adjustments is a challenge I had not anticipated. Word to the wise, if you're installing an Atlas with cable shifters, dial that all in outside of the vehicle where it's a pretty simple process.
-Making the Dakota Digital speedometer work with the Atlas. In theory I have the parts to make this work. In practice, I do not. I will be calling Dakota Digital today for some technical support.
-Wheels and Tires. Personal styling preferences vs. what exists on the market have me pretty stuck.