1990 Bronco 4BT Build thread

[jfritts]

Little history on the project vehicle. 1990 Ford Bronco Eddie Bauer edition. 240,000 miles on the clock. Had a 351w with a E4OD and BW1356 manual transfer case. The 351w had been leaking more and more oil and I was getting about 9mpg. Finally found me a 4bta (3.9L Cummins turbo diesel with a aftercooler) with only 62k miles on it.

Plans for the Bronco include:
4BT swap
ZF-5 swap
4 Inch lift
36" super swamper Iroks
Some performance mods
Dana 60 front and rear or Sterling 10.25 rear.

Pics of the bronco

 

[jfritts]

Bought a 1986 Chevy Step van with a 4bta. Couldnt find a buyer for the body so I sold it for scrap. Cutting up a aluminum van is no fun.

Engine in van

Cutting up the van

1200 pounds of steel in my bronco

Pulling the engine

Safe in my very crowded garage

 

[jfritts]

Found a ZF-5 S-42 transmission up in jersey. So i road tripped it to go get it.

Parts hauling in a camry. Not the idea way to do it

Found some adapter parts on another forum. Adapter plate, starter, flywheel, clutch, pressure plate all for 800

 

[jfritts]

Found me a intercooler on CL that I couldnt pass up. Its off of a dodge 2500/3500. For reference its leaning against a 38 inch tire.

Also ordered some gauges. Boost, Oil pressure, and pyrometer. Along with a A-Pillar mounting pod.

 

[jfritts]

At the start I was a little ignorant. It seemed like a pretty straight forward swap and I thought I could do it in a week with my brothers help. Also thought I could do it before my apartment complex noticed and got angry. I couldnt be more wrong.

Started Friday afternoon straight after work. Got the drivetrain out by Friday evening. It all went downhill from there.

My workshop

Goodbye E4OD!

Cleaned and painted my crossmember. Much better now

Also degreased the engine and repainted it.

 

[jfritts]

Realized I didnt have the correct transmission crossmember so I had to make a jy run.

ZF-5 in place by sunday evening. JY run came on monday.

That was as far as I got at my place. Apartment cracked down and I woke up tuesday to no more bronco.

Got it towed to the hobby shop.

Getting the engine in wasnt to bad. Used the stock stepvan mounts that bolt to the engine and stock ford I6 engine mounts for the frame. A little redrilling and some bushings and she bolted right up.

Test fittings. Went thru about 10 of em

 

[jfritts]

Pulled it back out to install the flywheel and clutch

Back in and bolted up to the transmission.

Hood clearance looked like it was gonna be close

Finally no hoist!!!

 

[jfritts]

Plenty of space in front. Still need to push the radiator back 3 inches for my intercooler and install a electric fan tho.

Tried using the Hydro-Boost setup from the step van but it was nothing but problems. I didnt have the rod that went from the booster to the brake pedal and finding one at the JY was almost impossible.

Ended up getting another hydroboost from a early 2000s F-series truck. Little more redrilling on the firewall and she bolted right up

 

[jfritts]

Finally got 3 pedals in my bronco

Fuel lines ran

Ran the filter right over to the side for now. Till the intercooler gets in

Interior shot

Driveshaft reinstalled. I was able to use my stock one.

 

[jfritts]

First time I drove it.

Ran my exhaust out right before the passenger rear tire

 

[jfritts]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDAmqRUUujg

Can you not embed videos on this site?

 

[jfritts]

First startup. Had to shut it down because we only had one heater line hooked up so I shot coolant everywhere when i revved it. Fun stuff.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAckywtVrl8

 

[jfritts]

Startup and overview. Shes a champ!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sILeF4xIjuI

 

[ctdiesel99]

that's awesome man. about how much do you have in the whole conversion? pm me if you want. Congrats!!!

 

[jfritts]

I haven't added it up yet. Im sorta afraid to. I would estimate around 5k.

 

[SSpeeDEMONSS]

nice conversion.

you can embed videos, just put the link in between the media code. thats the button with the blue M.

Garrett

 

[jfritts]

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sILeF4xIjuI[/media]

[MEDIA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAckywtVrl8[/MEDIA]

[MEDIA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDAmqRUUujg[/MEDIA]

 

[jfritts]

Gauges mounted up. Boost and pyro on the A-pillar

Oil pressure and temp gauges on the dash

All cleaned up and waxed.

 

[jfritts]

New parts that came in yesterday and today.

Denny T fuel pin and Autometer diesel tach

3200 rpm spring

 

[RJM06590]

Awesome job! How many hours do you think it took you you?