1979 Bronco- 2003 Lightning swap

[johnnyreb]

Old school tools, I love it.

Nice that you at least measured it. Try to explain how important that is to some people and just as well be talking to a deaf person.

Went through this with my oldest son and his sagging excursion. To fix the vibration we either need to replace the springs, or put shims under the springs. Took a while to explain to him how it all works together. But then me and my kids are hypersensitive to that stuff. If it was a $50k truck when it was new it should still be able to ride and drive like a $50k truck regardless of age or modifications.

Tiha,that remark reminded me of my late dad. When my mom was in the hospital in Morgantown,W.Va. Him and I decided to look her sister up and tell her about mom. We didn,t know where she lived and we started out this road and I noticed a guy cuttin grass. I stopped the car and asked my dad to go ask the guy if he knew of her or where she might lived. He went and came back in about 4 minutes and told me to never do that again. I asked him what? He said to ask someone--that guy couldn,t hear or speak. I asked him how did I know that.The guy never had a sign around his neck.

 

[Tiha]

I love the wheels, looks more "correct" for the truck. I know everyone has their own vision and that is cool. But there are some that stand out for sure.

 

[L\Bronco]

I love the wheels, looks more "correct" for the truck. I know everyone has their own vision and that is cool. But there are some that stand out for sure.

Thanks Tiha!
Hows the body swap going?

 

[Tiha]

Thanks Tiha!
Hows the body swap going?

Waiting on warmer weather. This time of year in Iowa it is really windy so I can't paint outside.

But the body is ready to finish painting, all the body work is done.

Started working on putting interior back in, but the cab lights have disappeared. Until my son orders another set we can't do anything, they have to go in before the headliner which is before anything else.

Figure it will be May before we really get going again.

Besides we are putting in a playground for the kids, planting fruit trees, grass, taking out an old deck. Not much spare time anyway.

 

[L\Bronco]

Waiting on warmer weather. This time of year in Iowa it is really windy so I can't paint outside.

But the body is ready to finish painting, all the body work is done.

Started working on putting interior back in, but the cab lights have disappeared. Until my son orders another set we can't do anything, they have to go in before the headliner which is before anything else.

Figure it will be May before we really get going again.

Besides we are putting in a playground for the kids, planting fruit trees, grass, taking out an old deck. Not much spare time anyway.

I can relate to that.
I've been working on my 81 T\A project for my wife and struggling with weather and just plain busy, now racing has started again, so I have even less time. When I get back to it, I spend half an hour finding things and remembering what I was doing. (Old Brain!!)
Cheers

 

[L\Bronco]

Got the tires and wheels for the francenbronc yesterday.
I think it helped the look.

 

[johnnyreb]

Got the tires and wheels for the francenbronc yesterday.
I think it helped the look.View attachment 32114

Good looking L/Bronco--except what I don,t like about mine and I,m gonna change is the CLOSENESS THE FRONT BUMPER--SITS ON MINE. I gonna do some extending the bumper out about 18 inch. I hate standing on the tips of my toes on it the way it is and know sooner or later--a accident is gonna happen. How did the races go? I hope your doctors visits has been good too. Take care.

 

[L\Bronco]

Good looking L/Bronco--except what I don,t like about mine and I,m gonna change is the CLOSENESS THE FRONT BUMPER--SITS ON MINE. I gonna do some extending the bumper out about 18 inch. I hate standing on the tips of my toes on it the way it is and know sooner or later--a accident is gonna happen. How did the races go? I hope your doctors visits has been good too. Take care.

Thanks Johnny, we race in Boise next weekend, Ill let you know how it goes.
Im doing well so far, thanks
Cheers

 

[johnnyreb]

Thanks Johnny, we race in Boise next weekend, Ill let you know how it goes.
Im doing well so far, thanks
Cheers

That is good to hear. Good luck on your trip and be careful and have a nice enjoyable time.

 

[grumpy old man]

L\Bronco. Nice seeing the pictrues of your Bronco. I appreciate more than most how much work went into it. I am finally getting back to my Bronco 2, life has not been friendly but that is a story for another time.

I did not know you were having health issues, a story I am also familiar with. Get well and God be with you.

I am at the wiring stage, my loom is the original out of the explorer and out of probably more than 100 wires I probably need a dozen. the problem is figuring out which dozen

When My granddaughter graduates and gets home I will enlist her help to finally post some pictures.

Glad you can still go to the races.

Dwight

 

[L\Bronco]

L\Bronco. Nice seeing the pictrues of your Bronco. I appreciate more than most how much work went into it. I am finally getting back to my Bronco 2, life has not been friendly but that is a story for another time.

I did not know you were having health issues, a story I am also familiar with. Get well and God be with you.

I am at the wiring stage, my loom is the original out of the explorer and out of probably more than 100 wires I probably need a dozen. the problem is figuring out which dozen

When My granddaughter graduates and gets home I will enlist her help to finally post some pictures.

Glad you can still go to the races.

Dwight

Thanks Dwight, Im doing well, things are under control for now.
I did a lot of cross referencing between the 2003 navigator, 2003 Lightning, and the 79 Bronco wiring diagrams to figure out what to keep and what to cut.
Interestingly, a lot if the circuits kept the same color scheme from 79 to 2003. That helped a lot. I haven’t regretted the restomod once! Best move I ever made! Tons of power, drives like a new truck, decent fuel economy, (for a 79 Bronco) plus it looks like a 79. Best of both words!
Good luck
Feel free to reach out for anything you need. Ill do my best to get back to you asap. We have a late start to our race season this year, but…headed back to Boise on the 10th.
Thanks for the thoughts.
Cheers!

 

[grumpy old man]

Re: Wiring. My approach will be to get it running, all lights and necesary things working and cut everything else. The Explorer had a lot of things in all the seats and other things I have not discovered from the from the front seat back that the Bronco did not have. All I need is gas gauge fuel pump and rear lights which I believe I have culled out of the loom. I do have the official blue oval wiring book and I am working backward. I find what I need, what the connector looks like and the wire color and move on that information. Currently I am just trying to get it running. I had most everything connected once and found that the BCM was not working. The 5 volt signal was around 1.5 volts. I do not understand as it came out of a running vehicle but I sent it in for repair only to find out it was unrepairable. At least my bad luck is consistant, saves me from hoping that something will actually go right.

Speaking of race seasons I ran into a retired Nascar driver in church recently, he has the stories to tell. His name is Lee (never have asked for the last name) and he is 86 years old so that would probably put his retirement 30-40 years ago. Back in the interesting days.

Good luck on the current season, Dwight

 

[L\Bronco]

Thanks, will do!
Keep fighting, you will win

 

[grumpy old man]

Bronco, I am trying to figure out how to modify the evap system to connect to the original 89 fuel tank. I have added a vapor thingie to the tank at the highest point but I can't figure out the original hose routing to the canister on the original tank. I have the canister mounted to a body stiffener that is highre than the Bronco tank but I am going crazy trying to figure the correct hose routing, in particular the purge valve. and I remember that there was a hose connecting to the side of the box that contained the filler but I dont remember where it came from.

In the past I have seen you come up with stuff that is not readily available so am hoping for the best.

Dwight

 

[L\Bronco]

Sorry Dwight, are all of the evap parts 89 B11? You need to hook it back up and plumb it to the 4.0, correct?

 

[grumpy old man]

No I need to connect the evap system from the explorer to the 89 tank. I adapted one of the vacuum things from the explorer tank to the 89 in the high point, I only need one to evacuate that tank. My problem is that I took it apart so long ago that I dont remember where the hoses go when they leave the tank. There is a long canister that connects to a hose on the tank and i believe the other end of the canister connects to the purge valve. But there are two hoses on the purge valve and I seem to remember the other one going to a fitting in the box under the fill door, but which is which Also both ends of the tank plumbing look like they have ends on them for a vacuum connection. One I understand but what is the other for?

I would scrap the whole system but everything that was on the 07 needs to be present and working. If I lived in any other state I could get away with that but I could never bring it into our beloved foreign country.

I can find a vacuum diagram for every thing on the explorer but the evap system.

Dwight

 

[L\Bronco]

Awesome! Sorry for the back and forth, if you remind me of the tear of the explorer, ill find you diagrams for its evap sys.
Cheers

 

[grumpy old man]

The Explorer started life as a 2007 4.6 4WD. I don't know the exact model but it had two seats, not three. don't think that would make a difference but you ever know. I bought a 62 ford fairlane new and built a dual exhaust for it. there were 6 different mufflers for that car.

Dwight

 

[L\Bronco]

Sorry Dwight, I thought you were doing a 4.0 swap, a 4.6 is waaaay cooler!
Ill see what I can find out

 

[grumpy old man]

Yes as near as I can figure I will be dropping over a thousand pounds from the explorer. Should be pretty responsive, as I told my granddaughter if this is not fast enugh make sure youu get a really good job because your next ride will be a Ferrari