69 Dudes-- Just the beginning

[Gunnibronco]

Nice,

Glad that worked. I've had that link saved for a long time.

How much body lift do you have?

[Eck]

Nice,

Glad that worked. I've had that link saved for a long time.

How much body lift do you have?

2"

[Eck]

Removed the long tube headers that had originally come with the Bronco. Will be installing shorties from BH. Pretty big difference.



The passenger side does touch the inner fender so I'll have to figure that out. Might first try to loosen the body mounts and slide the body over 1/4" or so. If not, I'll have to cut and move the inner fender over a tad...

[Gunnibronco]

Are those BC Broncos?

Mine are way too close to the transmission. I couldn't even get the ZF in with the headers on. Not even close.

[Eck]

Are those BC Broncos?

Mine are way too close to the transmission. I couldn't even get the ZF in with the headers on. Not even close.

Bronco Hut. Dropped right in from the top.

[Gunnibronco]

Damn. Trade ya? LOL.

Don't push the body, you'll screw up your hood/fender gaps.

Adjust the inner fender.

[Eck]

Damn. Trade ya? LOL.

Don't push the body, you'll screw up your hood/fender gaps.

Adjust the inner fender.

I don't follow. Isn't the hood and fenders all part of the body? You push the body and everything moves over?

[Gunnibronco]

If you just push the front of the truck (2 body mounts under radiator support) it will only push the front over. It will make your hood opening diamond, or parallelogram shape, not a square or rectangle. So your square hood won't fit in the opening with even gaps.

You'd have to loosen all the bodymounts, and push the whole body over. I don't know that its worth it.

Just bend the inner fender.

[Eck]

If you just push the front of the truck (2 body mounts under radiator support) it will only push the front over. It will make your hood opening diamond, or parallelogram shape, not a square or rectangle. So your square hood won't fit in the opening with even gaps.

You'd have to loosen all the bodymounts, and push the whole body over. I don't know that its worth it.

Just bend the inner fender.

Ok gotcha. Yah I was thinking of just loosening all mounts and pushing the whole body. All of my mounts are easily accessible. Plus my engine compartment and fenders are lined with Raptor Liner and I'd prefer to not have to weld and respray if I can help it.

[Gunnibronco]

It would probably work. just labor intensive.

[Kinder]

Don't move the body, the BH headers touching the inner fender skirt is common. Pop a couple of the spot welds and make a small bend at the seam, then re-attach.

[Digger]

I'm with Kinder. Modify the fenderwell. I had to do the same thing on mine.

[Eck]

After a long day yesterday and a lot of help and fab skills from Justin, the transmission is now officially attached and installed. Everything tucks up nicely, and feels very strong. We were also able to re-use the stock holes.







I was able to get the D20 and Trans mount to barely hang below the frame rail.



Also- I did cut the fender where it was tight on the passenger side. I was a little frustrated trying to fit the BH exhaust as no matter what we tried, it refused to line up. I finally called BH and ultimately talked with Tyler. He actually came over to take a look and admitted both sides were about 1.5-2" too short and took a couple pieces with him to add a couple sections that will hopefully be the trick. A little frustrating but I feel fortunate I'm local to BH and kudos to that kind of customer service from Tyler.

[Kinder]

Trans crossmember looks great!

[D&D72]

That crossmember is damn sexy. That Justin is a swell fella...... Nice work, both of you.

[landshark]

looks great!

[Viperwolf1]

Good job.

[Jesus_man]

You guys did a great job! You will like having a nearly flat belly.

[Digger]

That cross member is damn sexy. That Justin is a swell fella...... Nice work, both of you.

[Gunnibronco]

Super nice.

[D&D72]

That cross member is damn sexy. That Justin is a swell fella...... Nice work, both of you.

ok ok

[Eck]

Shiny new parts have been installed! Bronco Hut headers and exhaust are in (not without modification). So I'm running a 351W EFI with stock truck oil pan and ZF5 transmission. The passenger side headers just barely hit the inner fender so I cut the seam, folded over the back side and spot welded the seam back to look relatively stock. I went for the ceramic headers and the passenger side easily dropped in from the top and the driver side easily went in from the bottom.







Now onto the exhaust. This is where things got a little frustrating. Overall, the exhaust is very nice. Modular with the option to clamp or weld. All SS so won't rust. 2" pipe from headers, through the crossover to the collection piece where it goes 3" for the entire rest of the way. It also came with the O2 sensor bunges installed. What BH doesn't tell you is this was made to fit a stock Bronco oil pan (or "smaller" oil pan). It's designed to hug the oil pan so tightly, that there is no room for even a stock truck pan from a 351W, which I had. If you have a 351W, be sure to know which oil pan you have as modifications will be required for this to fit. After welding a couple of inches to the two pieces attaching to the headers, I eventually got everything to fit. I did have to pay for the modification so keep that in mind if you're budgeting for this exhaust and have similar engine components as mine. Another frustration was the lack of instructions but I've been told they're working on that. Fortunately I picked this up at BH and Tyler was able to give me some pointers and give me a few important notes on the install. The headers/exhaust also didn't come with any bolts to connect the two but when I picked up the modified pieces, they gave me bolts. They also gave me the header gaskets at no charge.

All said and done, I'm pleased how it looks and fits now. I can't wait to hear it and see what kind of performance improvements I get.

[Jesus_man]

Looks great. Have you chosen a muffler? Running a cat?

[TOOLMAN]

Looking very good!

[mickphatmac]

Nice work Eck!
I like the inner fender mod. It always sucks to start out on one project and get side-tracked with another, but you took that inner fender and made it your B*!$H!
Keep it up

[Eck]

Looks great. Have you chosen a muffler? Running a cat?

No cat. The exhaust came with a muffler. I asked them what kind it was and they didn't seem to know a brand.

[Viperwolf1]

There is no real brand. It's a clone of the sample they sent to the manufacturer.

[Justin]

Do you know who the exhaust manufacturer is? It's one of the nicest I've seen.

[Viperwolf1]

Do you know who the exhaust manufacturer is? It's one of the nicest I've seen.

I believe the system is made in china.

[Eck]

I'm currently in a holding pattern for finishing the front axle. Yesterday I was able to get the radius arms mounted to the axle with bushings and they ended up very even on the first shot (thanks Tim for the help).

I decided to start running electrical and install the ARB components. I'm going to fab a small box to mount on the roll cage between the cage and vent window. Should hide everything nicely and give me easy access to the switches. This is probably temporary until I decide what I want to do...