Mike's 87 Silver Lake build

[87SLbronco]

Hoping to gain a lot of knowledge from my fellow go fast bko guys. So why not start my build thread?

Here's my starting point.
1987 bronco
Carbed 302
Np 435 trans
Np 205 or 8? Transfer case
Stock everything else really


Plans:
Cut and turned beams
Deaver leaf springs
Full interior roll cage
2 point
Not sure on shocks yet
fresh paint
Trans swap
Built motor

[BajaF250]

Hoping to gain a lot of knowledge from my fellow go fast bko guys. So why not start my build thread?

Here's my starting point.
1987 bronco
Carbed 302
Np 435 trans
Np 205 or 8? Transfer case
Stock everything else really


Plans:
Cut and turned beams
Deaver leaf springs
Full interior roll cage
2 point
Not sure on shocks yet
fresh paint
Trans swap
Built motor

Hey Mike,
Sure sounds like a great starting point. Do you plan to stay with the 302? Or, find a Windsor and build it on the side for a weekend swap out?

[87SLbronco]

Here are some pictures from the day I brought her home.

Originally bought it for 500 bucks with it needing a new bell housing because the old one was cracked. The transmission was sitting in the back seat along with the drive shafts and a few various bolts. Picked it up a week and a half before memorial day last year with hopes of getting it back together and running for memorial day weekend up at Silver Lake sand dunes.

Started off pretty simple, fixed some wire issues, replaced the brakes lines off the junction blocks both front and rear, did a complete brake job on the rear just to still have issues. So i replaced the booster and the master cylinder along with the slave cylinder for the clutch.

However the slave cylinder issue came about the night before I was going to leave for silver lake and of course all the parts stores were closed so I had to put the memorial day trip on hold with the bko at least.

The day I brought it home



Dirty interior still but it works


what i've got to work with for a motor so far



Well now that it's over a year later I've got almost all the kinks worked out, it's back on all four and it runs strong and moves however I'm still having issues with the brakes, just think it needs to be bleed like crazy (going to try to use a pressure bleeder) and I found one more issue. The bronco was originally powered by the 4.9 and swapped to the 302. However the only issue I'm having is a horrid shaking of the motor around 2k rpm which from my research and help from friends Im thinking the flywheel from the 4.9 was used on the 302. So first things first I've got to pull the trans back out and replace that flywheel.

[87SLbronco]

Hoping to gain a lot of knowledge from my fellow go fast bko guys. So why not start my build thread?

Here's my starting point.
1987 bronco
Carbed 302
Np 435 trans
Np 205 or 8? Transfer case
Stock everything else really


Plans:
Cut and turned beams
Deaver leaf springs
Full interior roll cage
2 point
Not sure on shocks yet
fresh paint
Trans swap
Built motor

Hey Mike,
Sure sounds like a great starting point. Do you plan to stay with the 302? Or, find a Windsor and build it on the side for a weekend swap out?

I think I'm going to stay with the 302 just because I can get my hands on another 302 from my gf's uncle to drop in and build up the other 302 so I have a built one and a good spare just in case. I'm just worried that the 302 in my bronco at the moment might be junk because the PO that did the motor swap probably used the wrong flywheel and it was driven that way for some time. The reason I got it was because it needed a new bell housing because the original was cracked... hmm?

[AussieRod]

That will be the reason the bellhousing broke, using a zero imbalance flywheel on an engine that needs a 50 oz imbalance flywheel, assuming it is a 81 or later engine. 80 and earlier used a 28 oz imbalance flywheel as did all 5.8's.

[87SLbronco]

That will be the reason the bellhousing broke, using a zero imbalance flywheel on an engine that needs a 50 oz imbalance flywheel, assuming it is a 81 or later engine. 80 and earlier used a 28 oz imbalance flywheel as did all 5.8's.

The motor is an 88 so it would need the 50oz imbalance flywheel. So I will know more here in the next couple weeks when I can actually get the trans back out and check that flywheel but like you said I'm almost positive that they used that darn 4.9 zero imbalance flywheel.

[AussieRod]

Yep, 50 oz motor for sure. Put the correct flywheel on, DONT overtighten the bolts or the seal surface will distort and you will never stop the rear main from leaking, use thread locker sparingly and use a good torqure wrench. Once you clean everything thoroughly and fit it back together, it should be smooth as butter

[87SLbronco]

Good to know!, will keep all of that in mind!

[87SLbronco]

Looks like I might be tearing back into the truck tonight. Quick question though, I didn't know the drive shafts are balanced and should go back in the way they came out, and because they weren't on the truck when I got it I just put them in. is there a way to tell which way they should go in or am I going to have to drive it around and feel for a vibration?

[87SLbronco]

On board air? Have my quick fix. Going to run air horns as well since this system is really only meant for it but for now it works to air up tires as well.

[87SLbronco]

I'm sure everyone has heard of backyard mechanics but how about barnyard mechanics?




My in-laws are renting half of a barn from the neighbors across the street from them that they use to store their hay and what not in. And my in-laws agreed to let my other half and I to store some of our belongings and my bko there until we find somewhere else. So until I find somewhere else this is where I do my work


Not much of a tool box to work with huh?
But thats where my parents selling their house came in hand and my father allowed me to snag any tools I needed before he loaded up the big box and put it in storage up north. Just forgot one thing... that damn hub lock ring socket.

Another good thing about cleaning out the house was I picked up these extra goodies as well

[87SLbronco]

So anyway the real reason for the update is I started to pull the drive shafts and what not out so I could get the transmission out of the way to swap flywheels today. Nothing really exciting picture wise.

But I do have a question, any tips on how to get a wrench on the top of the bolts that hold the top trans cross member mounts?

[300]

So anyway the real reason for the update is I started to pull the drive shafts and what not out so I could get the transmission out of the way to swap flywheels today. Nothing really exciting picture wise.

But I do have a question, any tips on how to get a wrench on the top of the bolts that hold the top trans cross member mounts?

Hole saw in from the top through the floor.........

Really, that's how I did it!

[87SLbronco]

Did you wind up doing anything with those holes afterwards or just leave em be for repairs down the road?

[300]

On the race truck I just left them like they were. There are some rubber grommet covers that would work just fine though. You would probably have some water and dust come in on a street vehicle. From the looks of the rust on those bolts, even if you could get an open end wrench on them, they would probably spin.

[87SLbronco]

I'm not worried to much about dust and such, being a dune toy in the making there will be sand every where anyways. But I've had those bad boys soaking in penetrating fluid for a few weeks now and when I put a socket on the nut there they just spun.

[87SLbronco]

Well finally got some parts to start the rebuild/build up of the bko. For the time being the plans are to get it road worthy and sell my POS daily driver of a car.


New clutch


New flywheel to try and get rid of the god awful death shake coming from the motor at the moment


Going to be a couple weeks before I can actually do something with Christmas right around the corner and then me leaving for a week for work the day after, but there will be more pictures to come and I'm sure I'll have some questions as well.

[87SLbronco]

Got under the bko this weekend and started turning some wrenches.

Splitting the trans and motor to get the new clutch and flywheel


Old Clutch and Pressure Plate


Notice the difference


The PO did an engine swap from the 300 to the 302 and used the 300's flywheel...


and finally after 10 hours of work with some help from the interweb and my repair manuals got the new clutch in and everything else bolted back up.


However I ran into a problem, Went to get in the truck and start it up to move it back to it's resting spot until the next warm days... Clutch pedal wouldn't budge. When I did get it to move it made a loud pop and went straight to the floor and wouldn't come back up without me pulling it back up manually. Not sure what I did but I'm hoping that it's just the fork/slave cylinder set up that's all goofy and I didn't actually break anything.

[87SLbronco]

Well been a while since I have updated. Finally got the bronco on the road this past weekend just to have to park her before I could make it to the dunes.


The problem with the clutch was figured out when part of the clutch push rod fell off the pedal assembly. Got that replaced and bleed the brakes one more time and she was good to go... Or so I thought.

Started down the highway to work and everything was great until about 5 miles in I noticed I was smoking like crazy.

Long story short I was pissing oil everywhere. Front driveshaft, oil pan, inspection plate, trans and parts of the exhaust manifolds covered in oil. Don't think I hurt the motor to bad though, she still starts and runs fine. Looks like i have to replace some seals somewhere.

[300]

The oil leak I hate is when the seal ring stays on engine block instead of the the oil filter and they get doubled up when you spin the new filter on. Surprising how much flow goes through there, and it certainly does not seal twice as well! About one in 50 oil changes this happens and I miss it, doh! Hope you find your leak and get it sorted out.