Bronco II 1986 4x4 restoration+auto to manual tranny swap

[CarbedNotch]

Here is my 88 bronco. From the factory was a 2WD but a friend converted it to 4x4 and you would never have guessed it was ever just a 2WD truck... anyway I got it for $500 after it had been rolled over 3 times. The truck ran so good and never failed me I fell in love. Over time the 88 needed to be replaced because it was abused and the mrs complained about it. (BTW: after it stopped running she did say she missed it).


I found this super clean 86 bronco no rust and just a little damage to the fender I got it for a steal. The truck, it was an automatic so I pulled it out and then took the manual tranny and manual transfer case from the 88 and rebuilt it then now putting it into the 86 which originally was an automatic hub, tranny and transfercase system...




Currently I have the M5R1 tranny and BorgWarner transfercase rebuilt, flywheel turned and a clutch kit with the new master and slave hydraulics. I am rebuilding the engine by hone, new rings, and bearings freezeplugs. I want to lift it 4" suspension with extended radius arms on the front and rear with both center diffs welded solid.

[CarbedNotch]

[vabronconut]

better leave those bronco's alone , it looks like you might take the dogs bed away

[CarbedNotch]

Here is an update on my Bronco restoration...
The engine in the '86 had new heads on a worn .018" block, I had to take out the engine from the '88 which ended up being a virgin .005" worn. Perfect for a re-build.... So after polishing the crank, hone the bores, wash, paint, freeze and oil plugs, new cam+main+rod bearings, new cam+lifters, oil pump, piston rings, heads, harmonic balancer and seals, I began to assemble the shortblock. It took me all afternoon of wrenching in the living room to get it to this point shown here:


After that, I used the hand truck and rolled the shortblock outside to the chain hoist...


I used the heads from the '86 and the block from the '88. Once the engine was all sealed up, I decided to get the new clutch and turned flywheel bolted up... Had some bolts break and was able to pull some rabbits out of my hat...


Here the tranny is bolted to the engine and so is the transfercase. I want to put it all in at once.

[vabronconut]

its got to be the cleanest v6 rebuild i ever seen, very nice job

[chucknti]

nice any recent progress made?

[CarbedNotch]

Hello people ! The bronco runs great!! Right after the bronco, I built the suspension on the Toyota. Here they are side by side

Now I drive the toyota and the mylady takes the bronco around. It works great because I can call her if im stuck and need to get pulled.