408 and AC

[Lars]

Yup, I started a thread with the same name on CB, but since the NorCal site is still alive I would rather continue here.

First post is a placeholder, I'll add more details later. Upshot is I pulled my faithful and reliable Explorer 5.0 motor after 105,000 miles and 20 years of faithful service to be replaced with a beast that I hope I won't regret. And oh yeah, air conditioning. Actually if I had to pick one change that would be the one I'd pick. After 25 years with my Bronco, and the number in the "10's" digit of my age having become a 6, and having to deal with Sacramento Valley summer heat every year, I couldn't stand it any longer.

Engine is a Blueprint 408 long block that I fixed up with my own trimmin's. AC is the latest generation BC Broncos/Vintage air setup.

Before:


After (pic taken a few days ago):


More to follow.

[CityHick]

I will be watching this with great interest. I added firewall and floorboard insulation to mine to try to keep more of the engine heat out of the cab which has helped - however that's passive. The next step (someday) will be active cooling. I don't even care if it's not as good as my truck that can actually get uncomfortably cold... something is better than nothing!

[crawlin68]

Right on Lars! I can't wait to watch your progress. And you will love having that A/C!

[pippinmader]

Very "cool" Lars! (see what I did there??? lol)

I have a few questions I hope you will be able to answer:

• What computer did you use (explorer or mustang or aftermarket?)
• How did you get your hydroboost to fit without putting it at an angle? (I see it is rotated which I also did but mine still don't fit without kicking it over toward the drivers fender!)
• Is there a future plan to try to put together some kind of cold air intake?
• How will you be holding your hood closed?
• Will it lift the front tires off the ground when you punch it???

[Lars]

As someone wrote on some forum regarding AC install in an early Bronco: it's not for the faint of heart. Not just because BC Broncos' instructions are thin on details- a lot of stuff just doesn't fit. Between slotting holes in the firewall and the supplied bracket, I had to lower the evaporator over an inch to simply get it to clear (barely, by less than 1/8") the cowl. Because I'm using Explorer 5.0 heater tubes, there was no way the proposed BCB coolant line routing would work. I cut the 3 way firewall bulkhead fitting up so the coolant tubes could go through near the OEM spot, while keeping the low pressure refrigerant line in the proposed location. It also meant buying some additional fittings, then shortening them and re-beading them with my handy dandy pre-WW II Parker beading set. As I will probably repeat in this thread, the whole endeavor has been a non-stop packaging challenge. The AC being the worst of it.

[Lars]

Very "cool" Lars! (see what I did there??? lol)

I have a few questions I hope you will be able to answer:

• What computer did you use (explorer or mustang or aftermarket?)
• How did you get your hydroboost to fit without putting it at an angle? (I see it is rotated which I also did but mine still don't fit without kicking it over toward the drivers fender!)
• Is there a future plan to try to put together some kind of cold air intake?
• How will you be holding your hood closed?
• Will it lift the front tires off the ground when you punch it???

Still using the same ole' A9L with twEECer, now with a tune from Garry the EFI Guy. I've done my own tuning in the past and given enough time I could probably figure this out, but Garry has done lots of these. Happy to have the help

If you look closely at the first two photos I posted you'll see that my hydroboost unit is rotated in the second photo compared to the first one. 9 or 10 years ago I came up with an adapter for that to give more manifold clearance. I have plenty of room even with the Trick Flow R upper intake.

Cold air intake would be nice but that's down the road. Right now I just want to get it running reliably, mostly held back due to a coolant leak caused by Chinesium parts.

WH Highlander hood with air intake grills added by me. Hood is closed with garden variety hood pins, plus the OEM secondary latch. No hood shocks for me; I wanted to be able to open it all the way back as with the stock hood.

I'll report back on the latter once I dare to try that 8^)

[Lars]

More randomness..

BCB reports that the latest gen AC system is compatible with the stock glove box. My ECU used to live under the stock heater box on a bracket I fabbed. That wasn't going to work anymore, and eventually I realized that the only practical place was bolted to the front (towards the passenger) side of the AC evaporator on unused hard points. Which meant shrinking the glove box. And, I realized that while BCB's statement was technically correct, the only way I could see that one could use a stock glove box and fit the evaporator would be to have the dash out while fitting the latter. No possible way to cram the evaporator in with stock glove box in place or vice versa. I also realized that, if I could install the glove box through the opening in the dash rather than from behind, that installing/connecting the evaporator would be waaayyy easier.

Solution: I work with aluminum sheet metal all the time in my aviation pursuits. Have lots of materials and tools. So. I made a glove box myself. Sealed the corners with aircraft fuel tank sealant and smeared a bunch more on the top and back to damp out rattling.

[Lars]

@ Tony:

You mentioned trying headers in your thread and going back to iron manifolds. Couldn't be an option for me with this engine but I can understand why. Space is ridiculously tight and I had to move and massage a bunch of parts, including expensive ones like my steering column, in order to get the BCB headers I'm using to fit. Fortunately actual exhaust routing wasn't an issue.

I have a lot more to report about fitting AC. The bits above are just dipping a toe in the fitment water. I'm probably fussier than some but probably no moreso than Doug. It is seriously not easy.

[crawlin68]

You are correct about the directions being vague on details. I didn't do the BC kit. I did the kit directly from Vintage Air, but the directions leave a lot of room for interpretation for sure.

[pippinmader]

Such a cool glovebox!

[CityHick]

@ Tony:

You mentioned trying headers in your thread and going back to iron manifolds. Couldn't be an option for me with this engine but I can understand why. Space is ridiculously tight and I had to move and massage a bunch of parts, including expensive ones like my steering column, in order to get the BCB headers I'm using to fit. Fortunately actual exhaust routing wasn't an issue.

I have a lot more to report about fitting AC. The bits above are just dipping a toe in the fitment water. I'm probably fussier than some but probably no moreso than Doug. It is seriously not easy.

I would not have needed to move my steering column but that would have irritated me further...
I could have made them fit but I felt like I was doing myself a major disservice in making an already cramped engine compartment even worse, for something of minimal benefit. I suppose that I may cross this bridge again someday if I ever decide to improve my engine's performance, but I have at least temporarily resigned myself to accepting what I've accepted for years already - that my 351 delivers sufficient, but not excessive, power...

[onpier55]

Thanks for posting this ac install. I have accumulated parts for ac. And will be mcguyvering it in. I love that ww2 tool. I want one, haha I’m a refrigeration guy and love those kind of cool tools.

[Lars]

Not much to update. I got it running a month ago, but immediately found myself chasing coolant leaks. Got them resolved, I thought. After sending me an initial tune so it would run, Garry the EFI Guy logged in to my laptop and did an update tune via my Quarterhorse chip, which smoothed things out. Barely got to drive it before my ancient radiator cracked. New one on order from US Radiator, expected in a couple of weeks.

Meanwhile, some more AC details. I wanted a source of fresh air in the passenger side footwell where the heater intake was. As most know, the Vintage Air AC doesn't have a fresh air option. I'd like to conjure something up eventually but for now I added a piece of 2-1/2" steel tube to the VA-supplied block off plate that also serves as the bulkhead for the high pressure line. On the inside I used a piece of 2-1/2" ID silicone tube to attach a VA butterfly vent. A little hard to reach for the passenger and I expect it will mostly stay closed, since it's basically a placeholder, but it will keep my feeble brain imagining a better solution. Eventually.

[Lars]

Doing a fresh air inlet meant keeping the passenger side heater intake box. Or more accurately in my case, getting a new one since my 51 year old original was in pieces. Off to the Wild Horses website... In the photos you'll see I cut the intake grate off the intake. That was for hood clearance. I have a Highlander hood. Before getting it painted I cut out the molded blank areas where fresh air vents would be and glassed in some (very) heavy stainless steel mesh. That made the hood a lot thicker than stock at those locations, so I had to cut down the plastic intakes on both sides for clearance (yes, I have a functional driver's side intake which I'll never give up).

The current VA/BCB AC offering puts the receiver/drier in the right front wheel well inboard of the marker light. From there the high pressure hose runs to the bulkhead fitting on the intake cover plate visible in my previous post. I notched the plastic intake to clear the hose and used the piece I cut out to make a little cover. Probably not necessary but I couldn't help myself.

When I was done with the work below I found some silicone edging material on McMaster-Carr's website and glued it to the cut edges of the plastic intakes. Visible in the second photo of my first post. Orange, as silicone often is. I thought it was ugly at first but I've learned to like it.

[Lars]

Last post for now.

I like fabbing my own exhaust systems. Got some mandrel bends from Summit and went to work. The system below connects to my existing muffler, which is a gigantic (relatively) Dynomax Super Turbo. This system connects the BCB headers to the muffler. 2-1/2" out of the headers, 3-1/2" out of the merge, reduces to 3" through the muffler and on to behind the right rear tire. The routing I've had for the last 20 years. The extra bung visible on the driver's side tube is for a wideband O2 sensor. Used for tuning.