While the engine was in I decided to work on mounting the radiator and a/c evaporator coil. The existing front body mounts were in the way of the new wider radiator so they had to be removed. I decided to replace them with new ones from the '04. Here's a picture of the new one under contruction with the old one still in place.

Here's the follow up pic with the mount done and the old one removed. I basically had to just hit the old one with the plasma cutter until it broke in two. There was no disassembling that rusty thing.

I had to go through the same process on the other side, just not as much of an extension on this one. Here's the before.

And after. Notice how the lower radiator hose doesn't quite line up right. The steering box is in the way so I'll have to figure a way around it.

12/12/04

Check out the new radiator and a/c condensor coil! I thought it would take me two weekends to get those in but I did it in one.

Here's another angle.

I even had time to drop out the fuel tank from the '04. Is this supposed to be a fuel pump? Never seen one like this before. I believe the upper white thing is some kind of vapor intake to collect the fuel vapors before sending them to the charcoal canister. I hope it all fits inside my old tank. Hmmmmm.......may require some modifications.......

REPEATED DISCLAIMER: Don't work on fuel tanks unless you really know what you're doing. Again, you are responsible for your own safety so BE SAFE AND RESPONSIBLE!!!!

12/19/04

I finally dropped the tank out of the bronco so I could get the fuel system taken care of. Carbureted vehicles like the bronco typically run fuel pressures on the order of 6 psi (that's pounds per square inch). Fuel injected vehicles must force the fuel into the engine in short bursts and therefore run at 40 psi or more. Since it's easier for a pump to push than pull (sucking the fuel up a tube only has atmospheric pressure moving the fuel) Ford decided to mount this pump inside the fuel tank. Also this fuel system is a "returnless" system meaning rather than sending a fixed rate of fuel to the engine and returning what's unused this system varies pump speed to only send what's needed. Why would they do this? Emissions. Pumping a bunch of fuel around tends to create vapors that have to be captured and burned by the engine. The '04 fuel system still needs a canister for handling the excess vapors, but it has a lot less to deal with than an older EFI system with a return line.

Here's a shot of both tanks. Believe it or not the newer tank is only five gallons more than the older one. 30 vs. 25. I'm not worried about the reduced capacity since the smaller tank worked just fine with an engine getting half the mileage the new one will.

To fit the newer pump I needed a large hole with a flat edge to seal against. This is the fixture I used to pound the edges flat.

Rather than try to fab up something to hold the new pump I just cut the new tank around the pump and sealed it to the metal tank with some bolts and automotive sealer.

Here's the tank with the new pump mounted in place. Worked pretty well.

Have you ever heard of someone getting a check engine light on their new car only to find the gas cap was loose? This is because the pressure sensor on the tank detected atmospheric pressure. In order to keep those fuel vapors from escaping the tank the new systems must have a gas cap that won't let any vapors out. However as the fuel is pumped out of the engine they also need to let air in to keep things balanced. I've actually seen a 200,000 gallon chemical tank with huge dents in the side from not allowing air to enter as the tank was emptied. My old fuel cap simply vented the tank both ways. The cap off the '04 only lets air into the tank when the pressure inside the tank has dropped slightly. This means the tank will almost always be under a slight vaccum (less than atmospheric pressure) and the car knows this. If it continues to see atmospheric pressure after the engine has been running for a while it knows something is wrong and activates your check engine light.

What does this mean to me? I need to adapt the new gas cap as well as the new pump to my bronco tank. Here's a shot of the old cap and filler tube above the new cap with it's filler tube end welded into the bronco filler tube. My welds had to be air tight which a pressure test confirmed they were.

Here's a shot from the side of the bronco filler tube with the '04 filler tube end and gas cap in place.

1/2/05

Before I can start mounting up the fuel system I need to make sure all my wires are going to reach their respective components. This means I need to get the remaining wiring off the F-150. Below is a shot of the driver's side door of the '04. The trough the wires sit in is smashed shut such that the wires won't come out. The plasma cutter is very little help here since cutting the metal would cut the wires too.

I finally came up with using a couple of bottle jacks between the frame and body to put things back where they're supposed to be. It worked really well and the wires came right out.

I also decided to get the steering linkage taken care of. Here's a picture of what I had to work with. There's two new shafts from the F-150 and the old shaft from the bronco.

The upper shaft is the collapsible portion that keeps you from getting stabbed in a head on collision. I decided to leave that part alone. The second shaft from the '04 contained a slip shaft that isn't necessary for my application. I would have left it in there but it made the shaft too long. Once I had the proper length I welded it to the rag joint from the original linkage so it would connect easily to the steering box. It came out pretty well.

1/9/05

This weekend had to have the highest effort/progress ratio yet. If you're not into math this means it sucked. I don't have much experience working with small diameter tubing and it turns out I'm not very good at it. I got plenty of practice though and in spite of myself managed to connect the transmission cooler and get it mounted. Things would have been a little easier if the flare tool I bought didn't have a factory defect on the one die I needed.

You hard core off road folks are going to have a fit when you see where I mounted the cooler but don't dispair. Once I get the cooler for the power steering in place I'll mount a piece of heavy expanded metal screen such that no brush or branches can stick up there and spontaneously drain my fluids. Hopefully I'll find time this week to get under there and finish this up so I can move on to something else next weekend. Here's a shot of the transmission cooler mounted up with the lines connected. Hopefully the power steering cooler will go together better than this did.

1/16/05

I learned a few things from installing the transmission cooler and was able to get the power steering cooler mounted in no time.

The brake master cylinder and ABS valve assembly were some of the last remaining things still on the F-150 so I decided to get them mounted in the bronco. I still have to route individual brake lines to the wheels, but that's relatively simple. The big white reservoir to the right is the overflow for the radiator which had to come forward from where it was in the F-150. It was supposed to sit right next to the master cylinder, but the hood mechanism on the bronco is in the way. Luckily the hoses going to it are all rubber and easily accommodated the new location.