Thanks. I agree on creating a gap between the tank and skid plate to aid with clear out. I had a lot of dried mud (dirt for the lay man) in between the old tank and skid plate that I tried to wash out prior to me dropping the tank. It didn't work so well. The idea with the inner tube was to layer it enough to get a gap plus having the cushion properties of the rubber. We'll see what happens once I get around to that part.
Whippin' the 78 Bronco into shape.
25
I've been slacking hardcore. Ever since I started my new position at work about 1 1/2 years ago I've been wiped out during most of my time off when I'm at home during the day. 12-13 hour graveyard shifts suck bad. Anyway, I made some recent purchases for my Bronco to help motivate me to finish some plans. It's nothing impressive like I see a lot of guys doing on here with lots of bodywork and engine swaps, but my rig needs some things done here and there, so I'm going to use this as a way to document what I do as I go along. I'm also wanting to go to Moab in April/May with the others on here, so that'll be some extra motivation to get the Bronco in good enough shape where I feel it'd make the... roughly 450 mile trip there.
When I got the Bronco the rear window was non-functional. The previous owner had the glass propped up with two lengths of pvc pipe. Pretty ghetto, but it does manage to keep the glass nice and tight in the top. I think it'd be a much cooler ride, in more than one way, if I could get the window working again. For now it's a manual affair by removing the pvc pieces and slowly lowering it down by hand.
It took a while, mostly because I've never seen the inside of a Bronco tailgate and there aren't too many around in the JYs here for me to compare to, but I did manage to figure out what all was missing and what I need to do. Everything seems to be there in the tailgate, except for the window regulator and the tracks that attach to the window that the regulator uses to lift and lower it. Last year I managed to find another 78 Bronco in one of our local JYs, so I lucked out and was able to obtain those parts from that rig. They've been sitting in my back room with my stockpile of parts for my Bronco and my 77 F100. If I ever manage to stay awake, I'll get my backlog done.
Another thing that I noticed about the Bronco, and I"m just assuming here from observation, is that the tailgate is from a different rig. My Bronco is red, but this tailgate, under the access panel, is black. It's also got some black in spots where the red is chipped. Another thing I noticed, which just tickled me silly, is that the wiring for the tailgate that goes through the left side quarter panel has been cut. I'm just guessing that they cut it there to swap tailgates, because nothing else makes sense. So, that's where I decided to tackle this job today. I spent a couple hours before I left for work getting things set up and soldering those wires back together for the tailgate.
I am a 100% amateur solderer. I'm pretty embarrassed by the look of my soldered joints, but they always seem to hold and by god I'm gonna make it work.
I'll give an overview of what I did and then let the pictures speak for themselves.
I checked to make sure the wires still had power from the battery. My test light confirmed that one wire always had constant power regardless of key position. The other two did not, but I'm fairly sure that's because they're used for up/down on the switch which completes the circuit depending on which way you push the switch or turn the key in the gate. Then I disconnected the battery negative, so I didn't become a parable. I then stripped back the insulation on both sides of the wires, cleaned them with what I had available, attempted to tin them (lol), bent both ends into hooks and hooked them together, soldered the ends together, shrank the heat shrink tubing I put on the wires, wrapped each wire individually with black electrical tape, wrapped all three wires together with more electrical tape, cut the grommet that the wires go through into the tailgate and fitted it over the newly soldered wires. I would have kept the grommet on the wires before I soldered them, but there wasn't enough room with all the heat shrink and I think it'll function well enough for the job it's required to do with the way I put it on. Blah!
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Next step will be bolting in the regulator and pop riveting on the tracks to the glass. I did check to make sure the wiring is functioning properly. I had about 10 minutes to spare before heading out to work, so I pulled out the regulator and rigged up the wiring real quick then hit the buttons for the window on the inside of the tailgate, the ones that move it when you turn the key in the gate. The regulator started moving, so I think it's a shoe in from here provided I don't crack the glass putting the rivets in. I think my regulator/motor might be OEM from 78. The Bronco I pulled it from was a 78 and the markings on the regulator motor indicate a 1977 manufacture. At least that's what I'm getting from it. Pretty neat that it all still works. I need to either find a matching connector to the one in my tailgate for my regulator or come up with two new ones of my own.
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Here are some more items I'll be addressing later on this week/next week. Some weather stripping for the top of the tailgate and the anti-rattlers for the doors. The rest seem to be pretty decent if not really good. I have a relay kit for the head lights. Metal "finger cups" for the door panels. New fuel filler hose since mine is cracked out and leaking when I fill it up. Some other tailgate innards. I have some new door panels on the way since mine were toast and some new LED headlights as well. I still need to get my fuel tank dropped, so I can add a fuel return line for EFI and I need to get my headers installed. I have a nice list of things I need to do that I haven't mentioned that's on my fridge. One thing at a time.
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When I got the Bronco the rear window was non-functional. The previous owner had the glass propped up with two lengths of pvc pipe. Pretty ghetto, but it does manage to keep the glass nice and tight in the top. I think it'd be a much cooler ride, in more than one way, if I could get the window working again. For now it's a manual affair by removing the pvc pieces and slowly lowering it down by hand.
It took a while, mostly because I've never seen the inside of a Bronco tailgate and there aren't too many around in the JYs here for me to compare to, but I did manage to figure out what all was missing and what I need to do. Everything seems to be there in the tailgate, except for the window regulator and the tracks that attach to the window that the regulator uses to lift and lower it. Last year I managed to find another 78 Bronco in one of our local JYs, so I lucked out and was able to obtain those parts from that rig. They've been sitting in my back room with my stockpile of parts for my Bronco and my 77 F100. If I ever manage to stay awake, I'll get my backlog done.
Another thing that I noticed about the Bronco, and I"m just assuming here from observation, is that the tailgate is from a different rig. My Bronco is red, but this tailgate, under the access panel, is black. It's also got some black in spots where the red is chipped. Another thing I noticed, which just tickled me silly, is that the wiring for the tailgate that goes through the left side quarter panel has been cut. I'm just guessing that they cut it there to swap tailgates, because nothing else makes sense. So, that's where I decided to tackle this job today. I spent a couple hours before I left for work getting things set up and soldering those wires back together for the tailgate.
I am a 100% amateur solderer. I'm pretty embarrassed by the look of my soldered joints, but they always seem to hold and by god I'm gonna make it work.
I'll give an overview of what I did and then let the pictures speak for themselves.
I checked to make sure the wires still had power from the battery. My test light confirmed that one wire always had constant power regardless of key position. The other two did not, but I'm fairly sure that's because they're used for up/down on the switch which completes the circuit depending on which way you push the switch or turn the key in the gate. Then I disconnected the battery negative, so I didn't become a parable. I then stripped back the insulation on both sides of the wires, cleaned them with what I had available, attempted to tin them (lol), bent both ends into hooks and hooked them together, soldered the ends together, shrank the heat shrink tubing I put on the wires, wrapped each wire individually with black electrical tape, wrapped all three wires together with more electrical tape, cut the grommet that the wires go through into the tailgate and fitted it over the newly soldered wires. I would have kept the grommet on the wires before I soldered them, but there wasn't enough room with all the heat shrink and I think it'll function well enough for the job it's required to do with the way I put it on. Blah!
Next step will be bolting in the regulator and pop riveting on the tracks to the glass. I did check to make sure the wiring is functioning properly. I had about 10 minutes to spare before heading out to work, so I pulled out the regulator and rigged up the wiring real quick then hit the buttons for the window on the inside of the tailgate, the ones that move it when you turn the key in the gate. The regulator started moving, so I think it's a shoe in from here provided I don't crack the glass putting the rivets in. I think my regulator/motor might be OEM from 78. The Bronco I pulled it from was a 78 and the markings on the regulator motor indicate a 1977 manufacture. At least that's what I'm getting from it. Pretty neat that it all still works. I need to either find a matching connector to the one in my tailgate for my regulator or come up with two new ones of my own.
Here are some more items I'll be addressing later on this week/next week. Some weather stripping for the top of the tailgate and the anti-rattlers for the doors. The rest seem to be pretty decent if not really good. I have a relay kit for the head lights. Metal "finger cups" for the door panels. New fuel filler hose since mine is cracked out and leaking when I fill it up. Some other tailgate innards. I have some new door panels on the way since mine were toast and some new LED headlights as well. I still need to get my fuel tank dropped, so I can add a fuel return line for EFI and I need to get my headers installed. I have a nice list of things I need to do that I haven't mentioned that's on my fridge. One thing at a time.
21 - 40 of 1368 Posts
3
I've gotten most of my painting done. The weather has been back and forth with the rain and I have nowhere to do it indoors, so I said eff it, set up my little card table, and started painting it all on my front porch. It's less than ideal, but nothing is getting wet as I paint. It's just cold with high relative humidity which paint does not like.
Originally I had planned on using the old tank and hitting it with some POR15 before putting it back on. That didn't happen obviously. I already had the POR15 (one pint, really goes a long way) and in the spirit of using what I have already, I used that, and as a top coat some spray paint I had sitting around collecting literal dust for another project. The new gas tank comes coated already (Ni-Terne), but I wanted to put an extra layer of protection since I plan to use this Bronco as a secondary vehicle primary off-road.
I removed the oily coating that comes on the tank. I'm not sure what it is, has vaseline like properties and color. It took a while to get that crap off. All things said, I got a less than ideal paint job, but it'll definitely do. I went with a couple layers of black POR15 and finished it with my lovely hammer finish silver spray paint which, as I had hoped, hid a lot of the imperfections in my black paint job. I painted the POR15 by hand with a cheap 2" brush and you really have to work the paint to get it to stick to something other than say... a rusty frame. I'd say one coat of black took about 3 hours to dry and that's dry to the touch with no tack left. Each coat of the silver took about 30 minutes before I could tap my fingers on it and not have paint come off. I learned, a little late into it, that you really get that hammer effect if you go slow and spray a LOT of paint per stroke. Like enough paint to where you think it's gonna run (like my black paint did), that's what it likes. Prior to doing that I was just getting a flat silver paint job, the directions did not mention any certain way to spray it. Lesson learned.
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Originally I had planned on using the old tank and hitting it with some POR15 before putting it back on. That didn't happen obviously. I already had the POR15 (one pint, really goes a long way) and in the spirit of using what I have already, I used that, and as a top coat some spray paint I had sitting around collecting literal dust for another project. The new gas tank comes coated already (Ni-Terne), but I wanted to put an extra layer of protection since I plan to use this Bronco as a secondary vehicle primary off-road.
I removed the oily coating that comes on the tank. I'm not sure what it is, has vaseline like properties and color. It took a while to get that crap off. All things said, I got a less than ideal paint job, but it'll definitely do. I went with a couple layers of black POR15 and finished it with my lovely hammer finish silver spray paint which, as I had hoped, hid a lot of the imperfections in my black paint job. I painted the POR15 by hand with a cheap 2" brush and you really have to work the paint to get it to stick to something other than say... a rusty frame. I'd say one coat of black took about 3 hours to dry and that's dry to the touch with no tack left. Each coat of the silver took about 30 minutes before I could tap my fingers on it and not have paint come off. I learned, a little late into it, that you really get that hammer effect if you go slow and spray a LOT of paint per stroke. Like enough paint to where you think it's gonna run (like my black paint did), that's what it likes. Prior to doing that I was just getting a flat silver paint job, the directions did not mention any certain way to spray it. Lesson learned.
3
I also went ahead and bought a new skid plate. If I spent enough time I could probably pound out the massive dent in the old one, grind and wire wheel it, paint it, and put it back on, but I have no desire for that honestly. Sometimes doing that is a lot more practical for me, like when I cleaned and painted my transfer case skid plate and my drive shafts when I rebuilt those. Don't worry though, I plan I using the old skid plate for something else on the Bronco. It'll get chopped up and re-purposed for my electric fuel pump bracket that I'll need.
This will probably irk some people, because I'm not a fabricator and don't have equipment to do it and I always get people who say stuff like "Why don't you just build yer own?" as they type from their garage with a post lift, welder, and sheet metal brake. I one day hope to have that once I get out of the current house I'm renting and into something I own. So I took the easy way out and bought the one from JBG. Pricey? You bet. Good quality? We'll see. Would I rather have a NOS skid plate? I dunno, honestly. This one is "deeper" than the old one, so I'll probably find it easier to create a gap between the tank and plate which is what I want. I'll have to measure them again and post pics of that so you can get an idea. The JBG is about an inch taller than the old one from what I remember measuring the other day. It was like 7" vs 8". I like the fact that the JBG one has several drain holes in the center section. I also like the fact that it's made out of galvannealed steel. Being that it's galvannealed, my painting process worked a lot better than it did with the gas tank as far as adhesion goes. I still may hit it with another layer of the hammer finish silver as I painted the skid plate before I realized how to get that hammered look I was after and ran out. I only ended up with one little corner of the hammer look. It doesn't really matter, but I'll know what it looks like if no one else ever does. Overall I think it'll do well for me. I don't think I'll have to mess with the tank for corrosion issues for a little bit, which will be nice.
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This will probably irk some people, because I'm not a fabricator and don't have equipment to do it and I always get people who say stuff like "Why don't you just build yer own?" as they type from their garage with a post lift, welder, and sheet metal brake. I one day hope to have that once I get out of the current house I'm renting and into something I own. So I took the easy way out and bought the one from JBG. Pricey? You bet. Good quality? We'll see. Would I rather have a NOS skid plate? I dunno, honestly. This one is "deeper" than the old one, so I'll probably find it easier to create a gap between the tank and plate which is what I want. I'll have to measure them again and post pics of that so you can get an idea. The JBG is about an inch taller than the old one from what I remember measuring the other day. It was like 7" vs 8". I like the fact that the JBG one has several drain holes in the center section. I also like the fact that it's made out of galvannealed steel. Being that it's galvannealed, my painting process worked a lot better than it did with the gas tank as far as adhesion goes. I still may hit it with another layer of the hammer finish silver as I painted the skid plate before I realized how to get that hammered look I was after and ran out. I only ended up with one little corner of the hammer look. It doesn't really matter, but I'll know what it looks like if no one else ever does. Overall I think it'll do well for me. I don't think I'll have to mess with the tank for corrosion issues for a little bit, which will be nice.
18
I removed the filler neck to remove the remains of the hoses I cut off. I didn't realize how simple it is to remove it. There's two bolts holding the gas door on, which also hold the plastic part of the filler neck. There's one phillips head screw and then there is a clamp on the neck holding it to a little metal hanger of sorts on the actual body. There's a grommet or whatever it is, that holds the metal neck to the plastic part, but I wasn't about to try and pry that off and ruin it. The neck was rusty enough for me to decide to do what I seem to be doing a lot of these days... wire wheel and paint. It cleaned up really well and then I hit it with a couple coats of the black spray paint I've used on my drive shafts and my transfer case skid plate. The black really makes all the dents pop now. Beautiful. As you can see, there's a lot of room between the frame and the body for the filler hose to fit through. The hose, which is the same one for my F100 apparently (I bought two), comes with that metal sleeve around it to keep the center flattened out. I took that off while fighting the hose onto the filler neck and decided it wasn't needed since the opening between the frame was so large and would probably allow for easier filling. FWIW, the old one didn't have the metal sleeve either.
My gas tank is looking like an NBA player, lotta running in the paint. Like I said, it's on there, I don't care anymore. I cleaned the area of the frame that the skid plate bolts to and put some POR15 on it the day before I installed everything so my skid plate flange wouldn't immediately rust. Also used new grade 8 hardware to keep with the theme of non-rusted parts going together.
I got an inner tube from a tire shop and cut some strips and laid them down to cushion the tank. I didn't bother to layer them thick. I think there's enough gap between the tank and skid plate as it is. I just cut the strips freehand about 1 1/2" - 2" wide and laid them in place.
I killed my battery trying to get the line primed with gas. I was attempting not to crank the engine too much, because the last thing I wanted to do was kill my starter that's now buried under some headers. What I ended up doing, right before the battery died (I think it was weak to begin with), was take out the electric fuel pump for the Holley Sniper and attach a couple quickly made leads to it and use that to prime the line. Took about 10 seconds and I wish I had started that way rather than cranking the engine and filling the carb's fuel bowls by hand. If you work on or troubleshoot fuel systems a lot, I would highly recommend keeping a cheap electric pump around. It was really that easy, hooked the wires to my jump starter, aimed the hose into a fuel can, then turned the switch on my jump starter for a few seconds of glory. Done.
I went to take my battery out to have it tested (it's bad) and noticed some of the PO's handywork. Gee, I wonder what this board is doing here. OH, OK. The battery tray is half gone. lol Shit, so I hit the JY today and snagged a tray off a mid 70's supercab truck. I ran out of time before I had to come to work, but I'm going to finish cleaning it up and use some of my remaining POR15 on it before putting my new battery in. I splurged again and went for a deep cycle Yellowtop Optima with top and side terminals. I plan to use the side terminals exclusively for the EFI and any power requirements it has. I'll have to lengthen my positive cable going to the solenoid a little (it barely reaches, but fits) since the posts are swapped in polarity compared to the old, "correct" battery. I keep justifying all these purchases knowing that if I decide I really effin hate this Bronco 6-12 months from now, I can literally take most of my upgrades and put them on my F100. The gas tank and skid plate will swap right over along with the EFI. I'm hoping I don't fall out of love, but ya never know.
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My gas tank is looking like an NBA player, lotta running in the paint. Like I said, it's on there, I don't care anymore. I cleaned the area of the frame that the skid plate bolts to and put some POR15 on it the day before I installed everything so my skid plate flange wouldn't immediately rust. Also used new grade 8 hardware to keep with the theme of non-rusted parts going together.
I got an inner tube from a tire shop and cut some strips and laid them down to cushion the tank. I didn't bother to layer them thick. I think there's enough gap between the tank and skid plate as it is. I just cut the strips freehand about 1 1/2" - 2" wide and laid them in place.
I killed my battery trying to get the line primed with gas. I was attempting not to crank the engine too much, because the last thing I wanted to do was kill my starter that's now buried under some headers. What I ended up doing, right before the battery died (I think it was weak to begin with), was take out the electric fuel pump for the Holley Sniper and attach a couple quickly made leads to it and use that to prime the line. Took about 10 seconds and I wish I had started that way rather than cranking the engine and filling the carb's fuel bowls by hand. If you work on or troubleshoot fuel systems a lot, I would highly recommend keeping a cheap electric pump around. It was really that easy, hooked the wires to my jump starter, aimed the hose into a fuel can, then turned the switch on my jump starter for a few seconds of glory. Done.
I went to take my battery out to have it tested (it's bad) and noticed some of the PO's handywork. Gee, I wonder what this board is doing here. OH, OK. The battery tray is half gone. lol Shit, so I hit the JY today and snagged a tray off a mid 70's supercab truck. I ran out of time before I had to come to work, but I'm going to finish cleaning it up and use some of my remaining POR15 on it before putting my new battery in. I splurged again and went for a deep cycle Yellowtop Optima with top and side terminals. I plan to use the side terminals exclusively for the EFI and any power requirements it has. I'll have to lengthen my positive cable going to the solenoid a little (it barely reaches, but fits) since the posts are swapped in polarity compared to the old, "correct" battery. I keep justifying all these purchases knowing that if I decide I really effin hate this Bronco 6-12 months from now, I can literally take most of my upgrades and put them on my F100. The gas tank and skid plate will swap right over along with the EFI. I'm hoping I don't fall out of love, but ya never know.
12
Here's my temporary routing of the EFI hose. There's actually a small section of rubber hose that attaches the two lengths of factory steel line, so I replaced that while I was down there. Out with the old, in with the new kinda deal. Also a bonus shot of how low the headers hang in relation to the transfer case skid plate, etc, while I was under there looking towards the front. Not the best, but it is what it is.
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2
I dropped off the Bronco at the shop before leaving to work tonight, so they can make the rest of the exhaust tomorrow. I'm a bit paranoid that they're not going to do it the way I want it as I haven't spoken directly to the guy that does their exhaust work. I get off at 6:30 am and take my kids to school about an hour later, so I should still be up around the time the shop opens. I just want to confirm that they know exactly what I want. I don't plan to hang around or check in on the work, because I hate that crap at my job and I know it would irk me the wrong way if I was a mechanic and some customer was always lookin' over my shoulder so to speak.
So, hopefully, provided nothing gets lost in translation and they're able to do what I'm lookin' for, it'll go 2.5" pipe from the collectors into a Y over the crossmember, O2 bung where Holley wants it located within 1-10" from the collector and pointing at least 10* north of horizontal, then 3" single in and out of a Magnaflow muffler and exiting in the stock location. I'm wanting the exit to be similar to what deathmobile2 has on his Bronco for maximum clearance off road. I'm tempted to just print a picture of his and take it in with me and say here, do this.
Here's deathmobile2's
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So, hopefully, provided nothing gets lost in translation and they're able to do what I'm lookin' for, it'll go 2.5" pipe from the collectors into a Y over the crossmember, O2 bung where Holley wants it located within 1-10" from the collector and pointing at least 10* north of horizontal, then 3" single in and out of a Magnaflow muffler and exiting in the stock location. I'm wanting the exit to be similar to what deathmobile2 has on his Bronco for maximum clearance off road. I'm tempted to just print a picture of his and take it in with me and say here, do this.
Here's deathmobile2's
19
Since I don't have any pics of what I did the past couple of days I'll share some of the other stuff I did to the Bronco last year.
I removed the transfer case skid plate, cleaned it, painted it, and put it back on with new hardware. It was pretty nasty.
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The number off the skid plate if anyone needs it.
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I also rebuilt both driveshafts as inexpensively as I could. I cleaned them, painted them, replaced all the u-joints, and rebuilt the double cardan CV yokes rather than replacing them since they are about $50, $45 a piece for a spicer unit from JBG, and I have one on each driveshaft. JBG currently sells just the centering ball and spring for $13. I'm looking at their website right now and to buy 2 of those and ship to my zip is $33.55. Even with JBG's shipping prices that's less than buying one complete unit. Rebuilding them was a bitch though. My priority was on the front shaft. The first time I used 4wd on the Bronco after I bought it it sounded like I was on a roller coaster going up hill. Click click click click click. After rebuilding the shaft that was gone, so whatever was clicking clicks no more. Had to use my 75 F150's tailgate as a work bench at the time, along with the kitchen counter for reassembly. This was my first time ever doing this, I had never even changed a u-joint before, so I dove right into the unknown. I've since expanded my tool repertoire, so this would be a lot easier for me now had I done it today. Who the hell wire brushes a driveshaft with a toothbrush sized wire brush? This effin guy. You'll also notice that I got creative with where I hung things to let the paint dry, I have more ingenuity than I do space and tools, plus it always seems to rain when I'm painting parts for this pos.
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The hardest part of rebuilding the CV was removing the sleeve that holds the ball. It was basically welded to the housing is sits in by corrosion. I took it to a shop that does driveshafts and simply asked the guy there for advice and nothing more since I didn't want to buy another CV and didn't want to pay someone to do what I was trying to do myself. He took it out of my hand, looked at it, put it in a vise, tack welded for spots around the inside of that sleeve (north south east and west), slid the end of a slide hammer behind the welds and popped it out with two strokes. He handed it back to me and told me to have a nice day. It took about 30 seconds of his time. I was like, why didn't I think of that. Oh yeah, I don't have either of those things. I used my little wannabe dremel to remove the other one once I got around to rebuilding the other shaft a month or so later. Loads of fun...
Not the greatest pics, but that's what I have in my archive it seems.
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I removed the transfer case skid plate, cleaned it, painted it, and put it back on with new hardware. It was pretty nasty.
The number off the skid plate if anyone needs it.
I also rebuilt both driveshafts as inexpensively as I could. I cleaned them, painted them, replaced all the u-joints, and rebuilt the double cardan CV yokes rather than replacing them since they are about $50, $45 a piece for a spicer unit from JBG, and I have one on each driveshaft. JBG currently sells just the centering ball and spring for $13. I'm looking at their website right now and to buy 2 of those and ship to my zip is $33.55. Even with JBG's shipping prices that's less than buying one complete unit. Rebuilding them was a bitch though. My priority was on the front shaft. The first time I used 4wd on the Bronco after I bought it it sounded like I was on a roller coaster going up hill. Click click click click click. After rebuilding the shaft that was gone, so whatever was clicking clicks no more. Had to use my 75 F150's tailgate as a work bench at the time, along with the kitchen counter for reassembly. This was my first time ever doing this, I had never even changed a u-joint before, so I dove right into the unknown. I've since expanded my tool repertoire, so this would be a lot easier for me now had I done it today. Who the hell wire brushes a driveshaft with a toothbrush sized wire brush? This effin guy. You'll also notice that I got creative with where I hung things to let the paint dry, I have more ingenuity than I do space and tools, plus it always seems to rain when I'm painting parts for this pos.
The hardest part of rebuilding the CV was removing the sleeve that holds the ball. It was basically welded to the housing is sits in by corrosion. I took it to a shop that does driveshafts and simply asked the guy there for advice and nothing more since I didn't want to buy another CV and didn't want to pay someone to do what I was trying to do myself. He took it out of my hand, looked at it, put it in a vise, tack welded for spots around the inside of that sleeve (north south east and west), slid the end of a slide hammer behind the welds and popped it out with two strokes. He handed it back to me and told me to have a nice day. It took about 30 seconds of his time. I was like, why didn't I think of that. Oh yeah, I don't have either of those things. I used my little wannabe dremel to remove the other one once I got around to rebuilding the other shaft a month or so later. Loads of fun...
Not the greatest pics, but that's what I have in my archive it seems.
7
Here's what I came up with for a fuel pump bracket. I cut out a chunk of the old gas tank skid plate, bent the mounting flange, wire wheeled it and painted it black, drilled a couple holes for the pump, mounted the pump, and mounted the whole shebang on the front side of the new skid plate. It was incredibly hard to bend the bottom end of it. If I had a vise I'd take it back out and bend it up a little to help cover the pump a little more, but it'll do. The flange with the bolt holes was pretty easy to bend. I just whacked it a few times with my rubber mallet and it bent to where I wanted it. If I didn't bend the flange then it stuck out too close to the diff for comfort.
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