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88 Brocno XLT

4K views 22 replies 7 participants last post by  fusionross 
#1 ·
Ok first of all I am no mechanic and everything I'm doing is completely new to me. I have done suspension work before but never what I'm getting into with this.

I currently work 60+ hours and have a family which includes two young ones. I live in apartment for the time being so I'm limited to what I can do with this. (luckily the property manager loves me and doesn't complain)

About a month ago I bought this bronco from a tow yard for $450.00 bucks. The bronco fired up there, but was rough sounding. I decided to bite the bullet and bought it. After digging into it it's clear the bronco sat for over a year and was neglected for years. That's all about to change. It's a 302 with the AOD transmission. I'm guessing has around 140,000 due to the last title reading 139860.




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#2 ·
Got it home and was able to change the battery, spark plugs, wires and oil. After some loving it fired right up. Was idling super rough and super high. Pulled the throttle body.


Replaced the TPS and IAC and cleaned it up. It will be a bit before I pull valves or the intake manifold, but I'm scared. Lots of carbon build up.


Also digging into it a lot of custom pipping ran which was horribly done.


Took me awhile to figure out this wasn't factory. Ended up going to the junk yard and pulled that a new air box (cracked and a ton of oil inside) and a few smaller things.


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#3 ·
[ame]https://vimeo.com/185645638[/ame]

Well I was loosing a lot of pressure and realized my exhaust was cut prior to the cat. Got it welded back on and this is the sound that soon came. After a week of research though and looking around my engine I believe I found the reason.



That's a cracked exhaust manifold.


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#4 ·
So I'm driving it down the roadway and start having the oil pressure drop like crazy. At the same time my alternator seizes up and the belt snaps. Replaced alternator while it was dark and didn't realize my upper radiator hose was hitting the tensioner.


Replace that and the oil sending unit. Still having a sluggish issue and I'm scared my oil pump is clogged hence me loosing oil pressure. Yes I know I need a mechanical gauge but I'm not sure what I want to do with my dash yet. Tons of sludge and carbon build up.



I also keep realizing I'm loosing coolant like crazy. Too one point my radiator was completely empty.




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#5 ·
So here's where the fun begins. I begin pulling my water pump and thermostat housing due to a lot of coolant coming from there. Well here's one leak.




While doing this I also notice my transmission cooler is leaking.




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#7 ·


Pulled my PCV valve due to the oil in the air box. I'm hoping this is the cause because at least till February I can't pull the engine. This doesn't look good though.

So I continue though got my timing cover off and decide while I'm here to replace the chain



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#8 ·
Looks like you're making good progress.

Did you replace the dizzy cap, rotor, plugs and wires yet?
 
#9 ·
Plugs and wires I did the day I bought it. Shockingly the dis cap looked brand new. Aka not covered in oil. I'm drilling out those snap bolts tomorrow. After spending money on bs "extractors" they aren't budging.



Then I'm putting on the new water pump, radiator, hoses for said radiator, thermostat, transmission oil cooler. I cleaned up the housing to thermostat and the timing chain cover. Looks brand new. Oh I also cleaned up all that gunk.

My buddy is giving me a newer 302 with 65000 miles on it. Cant swap it until February once I move from the apartment. With the oil leaking into the air box, and I'm sure my compression test sometime next week will tell me a lot of what I expect.



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#11 ·
Hey, I just wanted to take a minute to say GooD JoB on bringing this Bronco back to life man. I bought one 1 week ago for 650 bucks in really good shape considering the price I got it for. When I bought it, It was missing really bad. Replaced plugs, cap, and rotor and was still running crappy. After working on it for Hours, I found that the fuel inject on cylinder 7 wasn't working. Replaced the fuel injector and the sucker is running like a champ.
 
#20 ·
Watch those Help!/Dorman bolts (three pack). I went through three they were either bent or had excess metal and wouldn't fit.

Did you snap any bolts? We r doing the same exact thing minus the oil pan. I had a real bad coolant leak. Half of the crud u see is from that leak. I just have to put the fan, belt and upper radiator hose on and I'm done.


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#18 ·
Watch those Help!/Dorman bolts (three pack). I went through three they were either bent or had excess metal and wouldn't fit.

Did you snap any bolts? We r doing the same exact thing minus the oil pan. I had a real bad coolant leak. Half of the crud u see is from that leak. I just have to put the fan, belt and upper radiator hose on and I'm done.


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#22 ·
Well i got everything reinstalled. I have since bought new doors since mine were rusted through. It's running. Still a leak at the thermostat housing but it's too cold to mess with that. I move in a month and the engine is being pulled.



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#23 ·
It has been awhile since I have updated this. I had fixed the coolant issue, but realized I had a main gasket leak. So this is an update of what I have been up too.

Was able to pull the valve covers.

Found three like this. One almost completely rolling in on it self. That was my clicking sounds I was hearing

Cracked the lower


Cracked exhaust manifold and bolts wouldn't budge.


Rad support rusted through.

So the engine is ready to be pulled once I move next month. I have loosened all the bolts necessary.

So I'm going to pull my engine and clean up the engine bay. I have a used 302 engine pulled from a bronco with about 80000 on it. I'm going to swap that while changing some stuff around.


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