Thanks and thanks again for the HB Chad. There were probably quite a few people wondering if I would ever give in to power brakes. They are very nice. I kept the 1" bore master cylinder and that seems to make them work gradually with more pedal travel so they don't seem like they are either on or off. I also drove it around without the hoses for a while just to see how it felt. It did take a little more pressure than usual to stop. My right leg will now atrophy back to normal size.

Damn it Viper, there you go with that damned m word again

I finally finished up my bikini top. It'll be nice to have some shade! Easily removed and stored if wanted.

Pulled two front shocks during lunch at work.

After work, I cannibalized a donor hard top lift gate (thanks again Phlyer!) for the right side latching mechanism. Stroppe'd has never had one on the right side and I was finally tired of listening to it bang all about. I will say this. There were many times I was tempted to break out the reciprocator and chop that SOB out. But persistence won today and I was able to pull the latch, clean it up, and reinstall it into my DD lift gate while keeping the donor lift gate 100% intact.

I replaced the 2nd mod I ever did to this Bronco today. It served me well for many years and many axle breaks but I've never truly liked it. Inspecting it shows that it would have been fine for a long time but I've always wanted a full spool anyway!

Sexy

So what's the full spool replace?

I love my full spool offroad. Had a mini in it and it made a mess when the centering pin sheared!!

Finally installed 3.5 lift with a lot of stellar help from Kirk.

In the past week I was able to cut out and install a new door post. Took a little cutting to get it to fit (didnt remove dash or rocker) but the door lines up nicely. Also patched the passenger front door post and think I saved it, I guess time will tell.

Used my new garage lights and outlets and started going through my list of maintenance & upgrades I want to do by Moab.

Started a few things, but with most my tools at work, I stalled out on each.

Pulled the 5/8" heater/coolant outlet from the intake manifold to install one from the F250 351W motor. It has a 3/8" barb off it to circulate coolant even with the heat control shut. I'm tired of having to crack the heater control valve to check the water temp on my gauge.

Broke the capillary to my mechanical temp gauge. Does anyone have a cheap/used 2-5/8" water temp gauge? I don't want to buy a new one, because I have new gauges to install. I didn't want to get into my new dash & wires before Moab, but I might just do that.

Also worked a little on getting a hand throttle installed. I'll have to stop by the bike shop to buy a longer cable & housing, but it should be easy.

Measured for front shocks. I'm going to order some Bilsteins. When I went to long arms, I had to limit my front end travel to match my old shocks. Its time to swap them out.

Pulled my fuel tank filler necks out, and started figuring how to add my tank vent/check valves. Should be easy, just need to bring some tools back from work. Made a couple brackets to hang the vents.

Considering rock skis, new front bumper, modify rear bumper. We'll see how much time I can get with the truck between now & Moab.

Gunni, which rock skis you thinkin about ?

I'm gonna order these.

http://www.bcbroncos.com/store/product_ ... ucts_id=92

I'm going to cut my flimsy rockers off & build some from 1/4" 2x4 box steel.

When I asked around the consensus seemed to be the that 3/16 was enough.

No problem. I scored about 40' of 1/8 wall 2x5 this weekend incredibly cheap. I'm temped to reinforce the bottom and use that.

Mine are 2x3 x 3/16" as well and have yet to dent them. I did mine a little different than most welding two together to form an L-shape.

Finally finished stripping one of my spare steel hoods. Took nearly half a can of stripper and 2 hours with a flap disc on the grinder.

Shot two coats of flat black primer on it. Went to pull off my fiberglass hood (sending it off for repairs) and snapped two of the bolts off.

Picked up my new EFI harness and computer from EFI Guy today. He and his wife are putting together some top quality harnesses at budget prices! This thing is nothing less than top shelf. Looking forward to seeing it in my engine bay now!

I finally got around to doing the math and fabrication on my hood shocks. I could have just purchased a kit from one of our vendors but, with my job, I have access to a bunch of used shocks of varying lengths so I've been grabbing them as I think they may work. Found that the hood shocks from a 2008 Dodge Ram 1500 work perfectly. They weren't strong enough to hold up the Ram's hood but they are great for my hood. I get the hood about a third of the way open and they take over. They don't feel like the hood is going to fold in half while trying to close it either. I've always wanted hood shocks on my bronco and now I'm really glad I have them!

it was a big week so I'll let the cat outta the bag. I sold my 74 today. but no worries I replaced it with this...

Glad you found a replacement so fast! What's your dad going to do? Oh yeah I own your old one now.

Nice Rob, does this mean you might be a driver in Moab?

Mike added a whole 74 to his parts collection?

I plugged away at my hand throttle, just need a cable stop and I'll be done.

Finished installing my new coolant lines with bypass.

Removed & replaced my broken H20 temp gauge, and replaced it with a cheapo Summit gauge, should get me through Moab. I didn't want to try to do my new dash & wires before. Its something I know I'll want to take my time with, and it will probably be more work than I'm expecting. Don't want to rush it.

Hung my gas tank vents just under the bed rail, just need to run a 5/16" line from the rear tank, and install a 5/16" nipple into the rear tank fill line & connect.

Pulled my front bumper, started figuring out a new bumper. It will just be some 2.5" SCH 40 pipe, with a receiver for my winch. I had installed a receiver into an old Smittybuilt bumper, the receiver was strong, but the bumper was flimsy & I didn't trust the strength of the D-rings. I don't want to fold the bumper in half in front of the Bronco Safari.

Measured for new shocks, talked to Lee @ Raceshocks. Will be ordering 7100 resevoir shocks (14" travel/short body) for the front and 10" 5125's for the back. I'm going to have to move my rear mounts a bit, they are just a little too short to accept the new shocks.

Picked my new (to me) 1974 Bronco Explorer Edition, drop it off at akafrankcastle's castle. He has gratuitously agreed to store it for me until I complete my EFI build.

Returned to my house along with Rox Crusher and installed the new 23 gallon fuel tank and started running the new fuel lines.

When I get a little closer I'll give you a call and we can talk over ideas. I have a pretty good idea of what might work but always appreciate more ideas.

Chad I wont be driving this one this year in moab. Maybe next year.

Got the bulk of a 1" body lift installed. What a PIA made even more fun due to rhino lining covering all the interior bolt heads. Thanks PO. :) Only snapped one bolt off but had to use a Sawzall for all but 2 mounts. For some reason I forgot to tape the pass side rail and dropped a sleeve in there. The original mounts were flattened pretty good so the difference is over 1".
Made a mess of the garage and me and found a few other items I need to address at some point. Will finish snugging it all up tomorrow.

Slapped on a sticker !!!!


The 2 most commonly used tools in the foreground. Drivers side done



Brett