Had a great Easter weekend with the family at my folks place in the mountains of northern Idaho. Looked over dads 1961 International Scout project while I was there. I’m excited for him to get it back on the road, its been parked for over 25 years. Then, once the Bronco is bucking again, we can explore the Panhandle National Forest together to do a little gold panning and camping.
But back to the issue at hand. I’m a firm believer that a successful exploration/overland vehicle should be factory built to be reliable, then you add the various things you think you need to make your perfect vehicle. However, I do not listen to my own advice. This engine swapped 79 Bronco isn’t with out its flaws, that’s for sure. Since the engine was never offered in this chassis, the exhaust header was never meant to be happy in this configuration.
The header, by Clifford Performance, normally is an awesome header, but in the right application. However, in the Bronco, the header that connects to the rear 3 cylinders dumps at the transfercase crossmember. So, tonight, the intake and headers came off and the rear header went under the knife. I was able to cut a pie shape out of the collector as well as the pipe that connects to it. After a little fiddling around, my plan worked. Tomorrow, I’ll do a little gasket surface prep, again, and clean up my “welds” and paint the header again.
So, todays lesson: Test fit everything at every stage. I should have noticed this the first time. Oh well, I got to work with my tools and actually solved a problem. Hopefully by this time tomorrow night, I should have it all back together and start building the pipes the connect the headers to the Y pipe. Have a great week everyone.
Almost Overlanding with Craig Cooper and Family 