1986 Eddie Bauer 5.0EFI AOD Full length headers Y pipe into single 3" Magnaflow 3" factory exit
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I am finally getting around to documenting all of my Bronco progress, & things I've done since I bought this 86 Bronco on Feb 22 2020.
![169434]()
I bought it to be a drivable/running project to enjoy as i finish a frame off restoration on my 64 Corvette I've had since i was 26 years old. I've had 3 Bronco's in the past 79-85-96 & have wanted another Bronco for a long time. I have steadily watched Bronco prices go up, so I figured I better get in sooner, rather than later...
![169484]()
This 86 was a Tennessee truck, brought up to Michigan a few years ago. It was 2 hours away from me & not driven in the winters here, so it wasn't totally rotted out like everything here in Michigan that I've looked at.
I was looking for an 78-86 & I had to have air & power windows/locks & no lift cuz I need it to fit under my 4 post lift so stock height was a must & I was looking for 5-6 years for the right Bronco they were just impossible to find in decent shape that fit my criteria, so when this Blue 86 EB popped up, I knew, even with the rust, I had to have it.
So to the 86.... ugh!! When I went to see it, it was in rough shape, the guy had put it for sale, but hadn't touched it for a while, & when i got there, it was in the garage, loaded up with clothes, tools, ect.. dead battery, checked all the boxes for me!!
Pure disappointment, the battery was totally dead. I asked if he had a charger, which he did & It wouldn't take a charge... i asked for speaker wire, & I ran a ground to the frame and it immediately started charging. The guy was not very mechanical & seemed amazed I figured that out (bad ground). I turned the key forward, heard a fuel pump kick on, hmmm maybe some hope? I checked the oil, radiator fluid, all checked out.
While it charged I ran to the local auto parts store & bought a ground cable, antifreeze (just in case) & a 5 gallon gas can. I installed the new ground in the guys driveway, put some fresh gas in it & I turned the motor over by hand, which it was free, and it fired right up. It ran ok, but it was so loud, like open headers LOUD exhaust! It ran, but not good at all, & I wasnt sure it was good enough to take around the block on a test drive at idle speed, but I did it anyways & It shifted, brakes worked (kind of) the drivetrain didn't clunk... It was sketchy, but lots of new parts, so I took a chance hoping I could do a much better job than this guy at making it a good running vehicle, so I bought it & had it shipped home.
The bad: the rear crossmember is completely gone, the tailgate is rusty but fully functional, rusty door bottoms, rusty fenders & rear wheel wells, & lots of bad paint, but its got character!! It looks like a fairly minor fender bender tweeked the front bumper, but not too horribly, just enough to twist the bumper & push the fender into the door, which was promptly trimmed away with a cutting wheel or something?
The good: New crate 302 & new Monster AOD, new gear in the rear end. The back window works fine. The frame was nice, floor are decent, sills are in tact, it doesn't look bad at all between the rear quarter & body tub isnt bad when i look up in there amazingly?? All of the TTB has been gone thru & had shiny new bushings everywhere... the raduis arms were all rebuilt, as well as all new upper & lower ball joints, and steering ends. It had a new core support, and the interior was all there & in pretty decent shape overall. The A/C is all there, but the lines & fittings were left loose after the motor install. I think after the new crate engine install the guy couldn't get it running right & just decided he was done with it & he bought a beautiful, low mile, rust free 1980 Bronco out of California which was also in his garage next to this one.
When it was delivered to my house I spent the first few weeks investigating & ordered every bit of EFI wizardry to start with a clean slate. EGR, PCV, TPS, MAP sensor, O2 sensor, Air intake temp sensor, vacuum lines... I replaced it all & it ran much better, but still had a little surge in the idle, which turned out to be the rusted thru cruise control module. A quick cap on that vacuum line & it had a nearly perfect idle, just a little wandering idle when it comes off high idle & a little engine rev seems to fixe that.
Now that it ran decent in the garage, on nice days would take it on short drives around the block, & it appears that nothing was adjusted after the motor trans install?? I adjusted the shift cable, & replaced the severly stretched throttle cable, speedo wasnt hooked up, I had to set the timing, fixed the non working (broken wire) temp guage, ect...
Were into April now & got some miles of short test drives had built up a little confidence that i can ventire out further & even at night a bit & man do the stock dash lights suck, I couldn't even read the guages at night, so i ordered all the LED's for the cluster, took off the blue caps, got LED's for the blinkers, dome lamp, cargo lamp, glove box lamp, & license plate bulbs, & footwear lamps? Also ordered a clear dome lamp lens, to replace the opaque & yellowed factory one. Everything is much brighter & better now.
![169480]()
April 6 2020 I noticed the heat barely blew any air out of the ducts. After some reading posts about this on the forum about the 80-86 large cowl openings allowing leaves & sticks in there. I pulled the blower motor out & mine was packed full of debris. I filled half of a 5 gallon bucket with all the junk that was packed in there!! I replaced the heater core for $12 while I was at it. Much better heat, I would say this tripled the performance of the HVAC system. Look at the pile of stuff in there!!
![169481]()
May 01 2020 i tackled the steering, it was horrible, on my alignment shops advice, they said to put in front springs before I bring it in, so I put new stock height front springs on it, & Just as a test, I measured the before & after height. This lifted the height of the wheel well lip height by 1.5" which took care of most of the caster problem. That is some serious spring sag I'd say! Then just because, I changed the front camber bushings to the Moog adjustable caster/camber bushings then did a string alignment as a temp, then took it in & got a real alignment done ($55) & it is much better now.
So It's getting mechanically better, I started on the creature comfort things that were bugging me. Powerwashing the underbody & cleaning up the engine bay. My rear view mirror glass was stained, so I got a new one from JBG, then found the correct Eddie Bauer badges on ebay for the fenders, as mine had the chrome but no Eddie Bauer badge in there.
![169482]()
I added kick panel vents i found at the junkyard (a temp fix to my non working A/C) & holy cow they move some air.
During all of this searching the forum, I came across the cupholder mod, awesome fix for those useless cupholders, no more dumping the Yeti on my lap!
![169483]()
July 2020 The A/C repair, it looked like it was all there, but all original. I tightened up all the loose connections/hoses, added some leak detection dye, an ounce of new style oil, then pumped a can of R134 in it, & was almost shocked when the compressor actually kicked on. I let it run for a bit, then saw some green dye leaking on a few of the O-Rings & the accumulator had a crack, but no major things,, so I ordered the accumulator ($34) & disassembled everything, cleaned out all of the lines with a/c flush, flushed the evaporator, & replaced all the o-rings with new ones. I put a new orfice tube in, pulled a vacuum & it held 30lbs, so I added 34oz of R134 & R134 oil & its been working great all summer. 38-40° out the vent.
Sep 01 20 I am so over the flowmasters & turndown dumps right after the headers, its so loud!! I am having an exhaust system built & installed from the headers back, which is a 2 1/2" Y pipe that goes to 3" where the two pipes come together. That goes into a 3" Hi-Flow catalytic, then a 3" Magnaflow. Then 3" tubing all the way out, up over the axle, & an exit behind the pass tire, as the stock would do, just in 3"
I bought it to be a drivable/running project to enjoy as i finish a frame off restoration on my 64 Corvette I've had since i was 26 years old. I've had 3 Bronco's in the past 79-85-96 & have wanted another Bronco for a long time. I have steadily watched Bronco prices go up, so I figured I better get in sooner, rather than later...
This 86 was a Tennessee truck, brought up to Michigan a few years ago. It was 2 hours away from me & not driven in the winters here, so it wasn't totally rotted out like everything here in Michigan that I've looked at.
I was looking for an 78-86 & I had to have air & power windows/locks & no lift cuz I need it to fit under my 4 post lift so stock height was a must & I was looking for 5-6 years for the right Bronco they were just impossible to find in decent shape that fit my criteria, so when this Blue 86 EB popped up, I knew, even with the rust, I had to have it.
So to the 86.... ugh!! When I went to see it, it was in rough shape, the guy had put it for sale, but hadn't touched it for a while, & when i got there, it was in the garage, loaded up with clothes, tools, ect.. dead battery, checked all the boxes for me!!
Pure disappointment, the battery was totally dead. I asked if he had a charger, which he did & It wouldn't take a charge... i asked for speaker wire, & I ran a ground to the frame and it immediately started charging. The guy was not very mechanical & seemed amazed I figured that out (bad ground). I turned the key forward, heard a fuel pump kick on, hmmm maybe some hope? I checked the oil, radiator fluid, all checked out.
While it charged I ran to the local auto parts store & bought a ground cable, antifreeze (just in case) & a 5 gallon gas can. I installed the new ground in the guys driveway, put some fresh gas in it & I turned the motor over by hand, which it was free, and it fired right up. It ran ok, but it was so loud, like open headers LOUD exhaust! It ran, but not good at all, & I wasnt sure it was good enough to take around the block on a test drive at idle speed, but I did it anyways & It shifted, brakes worked (kind of) the drivetrain didn't clunk... It was sketchy, but lots of new parts, so I took a chance hoping I could do a much better job than this guy at making it a good running vehicle, so I bought it & had it shipped home.
The bad: the rear crossmember is completely gone, the tailgate is rusty but fully functional, rusty door bottoms, rusty fenders & rear wheel wells, & lots of bad paint, but its got character!! It looks like a fairly minor fender bender tweeked the front bumper, but not too horribly, just enough to twist the bumper & push the fender into the door, which was promptly trimmed away with a cutting wheel or something?
The good: New crate 302 & new Monster AOD, new gear in the rear end. The back window works fine. The frame was nice, floor are decent, sills are in tact, it doesn't look bad at all between the rear quarter & body tub isnt bad when i look up in there amazingly?? All of the TTB has been gone thru & had shiny new bushings everywhere... the raduis arms were all rebuilt, as well as all new upper & lower ball joints, and steering ends. It had a new core support, and the interior was all there & in pretty decent shape overall. The A/C is all there, but the lines & fittings were left loose after the motor install. I think after the new crate engine install the guy couldn't get it running right & just decided he was done with it & he bought a beautiful, low mile, rust free 1980 Bronco out of California which was also in his garage next to this one.
When it was delivered to my house I spent the first few weeks investigating & ordered every bit of EFI wizardry to start with a clean slate. EGR, PCV, TPS, MAP sensor, O2 sensor, Air intake temp sensor, vacuum lines... I replaced it all & it ran much better, but still had a little surge in the idle, which turned out to be the rusted thru cruise control module. A quick cap on that vacuum line & it had a nearly perfect idle, just a little wandering idle when it comes off high idle & a little engine rev seems to fixe that.
Now that it ran decent in the garage, on nice days would take it on short drives around the block, & it appears that nothing was adjusted after the motor trans install?? I adjusted the shift cable, & replaced the severly stretched throttle cable, speedo wasnt hooked up, I had to set the timing, fixed the non working (broken wire) temp guage, ect...
Were into April now & got some miles of short test drives had built up a little confidence that i can ventire out further & even at night a bit & man do the stock dash lights suck, I couldn't even read the guages at night, so i ordered all the LED's for the cluster, took off the blue caps, got LED's for the blinkers, dome lamp, cargo lamp, glove box lamp, & license plate bulbs, & footwear lamps? Also ordered a clear dome lamp lens, to replace the opaque & yellowed factory one. Everything is much brighter & better now.
April 6 2020 I noticed the heat barely blew any air out of the ducts. After some reading posts about this on the forum about the 80-86 large cowl openings allowing leaves & sticks in there. I pulled the blower motor out & mine was packed full of debris. I filled half of a 5 gallon bucket with all the junk that was packed in there!! I replaced the heater core for $12 while I was at it. Much better heat, I would say this tripled the performance of the HVAC system. Look at the pile of stuff in there!!
May 01 2020 i tackled the steering, it was horrible, on my alignment shops advice, they said to put in front springs before I bring it in, so I put new stock height front springs on it, & Just as a test, I measured the before & after height. This lifted the height of the wheel well lip height by 1.5" which took care of most of the caster problem. That is some serious spring sag I'd say! Then just because, I changed the front camber bushings to the Moog adjustable caster/camber bushings then did a string alignment as a temp, then took it in & got a real alignment done ($55) & it is much better now.
So It's getting mechanically better, I started on the creature comfort things that were bugging me. Powerwashing the underbody & cleaning up the engine bay. My rear view mirror glass was stained, so I got a new one from JBG, then found the correct Eddie Bauer badges on ebay for the fenders, as mine had the chrome but no Eddie Bauer badge in there.
I added kick panel vents i found at the junkyard (a temp fix to my non working A/C) & holy cow they move some air.
During all of this searching the forum, I came across the cupholder mod, awesome fix for those useless cupholders, no more dumping the Yeti on my lap!
July 2020 The A/C repair, it looked like it was all there, but all original. I tightened up all the loose connections/hoses, added some leak detection dye, an ounce of new style oil, then pumped a can of R134 in it, & was almost shocked when the compressor actually kicked on. I let it run for a bit, then saw some green dye leaking on a few of the O-Rings & the accumulator had a crack, but no major things,, so I ordered the accumulator ($34) & disassembled everything, cleaned out all of the lines with a/c flush, flushed the evaporator, & replaced all the o-rings with new ones. I put a new orfice tube in, pulled a vacuum & it held 30lbs, so I added 34oz of R134 & R134 oil & its been working great all summer. 38-40° out the vent.
Sep 01 20 I am so over the flowmasters & turndown dumps right after the headers, its so loud!! I am having an exhaust system built & installed from the headers back, which is a 2 1/2" Y pipe that goes to 3" where the two pipes come together. That goes into a 3" Hi-Flow catalytic, then a 3" Magnaflow. Then 3" tubing all the way out, up over the axle, & an exit behind the pass tire, as the stock would do, just in 3"
