More Das Bronco Upgrades

Today, we're upgrading the transmission ignition and adding all new gauges to your favorite trucks off road project. Das

Bronco,

and we're taking a trip to L MC truck to show you one of the biggest restoration parts companies around. It's all today here on trucks.

Hey guys, welcome to trucks. Well, now the D Os Bronco is a little bit easier to steer. Thanks to our hydraulic assist upgrade. We're definitely going to be taking this tank out and wheeling it a lot more. And since a full size rig, 37 inch swampers and a 460 big block are torture enough for an automatic transmission. We want to make some upgrades to it to make sure our transmission lives a long and happy life. Now, Daw Bronco has more than proven itself as

a

reliable and great budget bill. So we're ok with spending a little bit more money on it in the spirit of reliability. For instance, it's a big block. You don't wanna over rev a big block. So a giant dash mounted tack will help us keep an eye

on engine revolution. So we don't spin a bearing out on the trail. And everybody knows that heat is the number one enemy of an automatic transmission. So maybe a larger capacity pan, a cooler and a trans tamp gauge will help us keep an eye on the transmission temperature. So that way we can go wheeling with this thing beat on it mercilessly and still be able to drive it home. At the end of the day,

we gave B and MA call and they sent us one of their high tech super coolers with a thermostat controlled electric fan. Now with a big full size rig like ours, we've got tons of options for putting this just about anywhere we want. But if you're running a late model vehicle and your space requirement, well, it's a little bit tighter. This is a great option because all you have to do is find some real estate with some air behind it or some space behind the cooler and the fan will push the air through so you can put it just about anywhere you have room. We got an extra deep capacity pan that ships with a quart gasket that we're going to replace with a little more permanent rubber gasket, all the hardware filter and a drop pick up come with the kit. And we also got

their transmission temp gauge to keep an eye on the fluid temperature.

Now, with the transmission out the fluid drain

and the old pan off, you could clearly see the difference between the sheet metal pan and the cast aluminum B and M pan that we're going to put on. It's bee

here much stronger and it's a lot deeper for extra capacity. Now, it's also got an extension for the filter because this guy right here, the stock one's not going to cut it, we're not going to get the circulation that we need.

Now, whether it's by laying them out in a pattern, making a diagram or punching holes in cardboard, it's really important to keep track of the orientation of your fasteners if you put them in the wrong place. Well, there's a chance that you can punch a hole in the valve body because some of these bolts holding the filter down are longer.

You also want to pay attention to how much you tighten these things down. Now, obviously, we're not using a torque wrench, but we've got a really good feel for what's tight up, make sure you don't over torque your fasteners.

Now, when you're putting your pan on, don't get carried away with a bunch of R TV on both sides of everything. Chances are you're gonna push the gasket out with too much silicone anyways, all you need is some gasket glue or high tax sealant on one side, use a dry fit on the rest of it.

There's also added benefits aside from not making a mess all over the place for not using our TV as well with a thin like that

doesn't take very long to set up.

Now, if you do have to drop the pan again, dry fitting one side of the gasket makes it really easy. And if you have to replace the gasket, well, you can scrape it off easily just from one side, but you also stand a chance of being able to reuse that very same gasket saving you time and money.

Now, that torque spec here is 12 to 13 ft pounds in no particular order, just make sure you tighten down in an even pattern.

The reason you don't want to over tighten is because you can damage the gasket. A damaged gasket is a potential leak and you don't want to be doing a field fix because this thing is hard enough to put in on a rack.

Now, the pan comes with a magnetic drain plug that'll pick up

any metal debris that's in the pan

and a washer with a seal on it. So it doesn't leak.

Now, for your temperature Cinder, you've got some options.

You can use a brass fitting that's provided with the gauge.

Just install your temperature probe

into the fitting or

do like we're gonna do

put it right in the side of the pan.

The transmission in DS Bronco is a remanufactured unit. The people that rebuilt it, put this adhesive sticker that is heat sensitive on the side of the pan. Now, this is just to show you how important heat is to the life and to the warranty of an automatic transmission.

Now, this is a little over the top in that you're not gonna have open flame on the inside of your transmission pan, obviously, but we wanted to show you what happens with the little indicator dot on the transmission.

Now, if your remanded transmission stops working, you get underneath the vehicle and you look at the inspection sticker and it's changed color. Well, you might hear something like this.

Oh, sorry sir. You voided your warranty by overheating your transmission because that little dot is designed to change color at 260 degrees fluid temperature, which just drives home the point how important it is to keep your transmission cool.

Now, to try to keep our transmission from getting anywhere near that 260 degree fluid t

we're gonna be installing this modular cooler and fan assembly that we showed you earlier.

Now to keep it away from any flying debris coming off the tires, we're going to mount it here to the bottom side of the floor right above the rear axle.

Now, our solution for mounting the span assembly is pretty simple. We're just using some bolts

now finding some clean metal to weld to

that was a different story.

Just remember when you're installing one of these to leave a few inches for air flow, you don't want to cram the fan up against the bottom of the floor, you're not going to pass any cool air over the cooler.

Another nice feature is that you don't have to monitor the transmission fluid temperature and flip a switch manually to turn the fan on.

It's got a thermostatic switch built into the cooler and it'll turn itself on

right.

Uh Thank

you.

Next Das

Bronco gets new ignition goodies and later a trip to L MC trucks. Amazing facilities.

Hey guys, welcome back to the shop. Well, now that the transmissions received a couple of upgrades in the form of an extra capacity, deep aluminum trans pan and a cooler and fan assembly to keep it from overheating. It's time to shift the focus and give this 460 big block a little bit of attention as well.

Now, when we first put this Bronco together a few years ago, we just reached for some over the counter cheapo ignition parts, but this time around

we're looking to upgrade.

Now, you may have noticed I didn't bother using tape or markers to identify which plug wires go to which cylinder. It's because we know some information that can help us. We know the firing order is 15426378 on this 460. We also know that the distributor spins counterclockwise and we know how Ford numbered and laid out the cylinders of the engine starting in the front on the passenger side, its cylinders one through four again on the front, on the driver side, its cylinders five through eight. So it's just a matter of looking at the distributor cap finding the number one, identifying the number one plug wire and following the firing order, 15426378.

It's that simple.

Now to replace the generic part store ignition components that were originally on this truck, we picked up a number of products from Excel including their eight millimeter extreme 9000 ultra high temp plug wires. They'll also help transfer some of the voltage that this high energy coil is going to produce and send it on to the spark plugs. We've also got a new ignition rotor

and distributor cap.

Now, the rotor button only goes on one way, just make sure it's fully seated.

Same with the distributor cap.

Now, the coil we're putting back just where it was on one of the carb, hold down bolts. Now we laid all the plug wires out shortest to longest and started with the number one cylinder.

Then we just worked our way around the distributor using the firing order, going to the next closest cylinder until we were out of plug wires.

Now, as far as the old plug wires go, well, don't just throw them in the trash, take one or two of them and stuff them in the glove box if you're ever out on the trail and you burn through a plug wire that got laid onto the manifold.

Well, you'll be glad you did

now to finish up our ignition system upgrade. We're going to be installing these Excel high performance header plugs. It's a U groove design just like other Excel plugs. But what makes this a header plug is it's physically shorter in size, maximizing clearance and that will prevent the spark plug boost coming in contact with the header and burning up and it may even keep you from having to dibble your headers for clearance. Now, I know we're running the cast iron factory exhaust manifolds for now, but we do plan on making this thing breathe a little bit easier so we might as well be prepared.

And when compared to a stock replacement spark plug, it's pretty clear that the Excel header plug has at least 3/8 of an inch clearance advantage.

Now with all our new ignition parts installed and the air cleaner lid, nice and shiny. It actually looks pretty good under the hood.

We'll see if it stays that way after we take this thing out next time.

Hey, welcome back to trucks. Well, if you remember way back when we first built Doss

Bronco, we reached for several parts and pieces from the L MC truck catalog

and when it comes to finding obsolete parts for just about any older truck. Well, a lot of people turn to L MC. They're located about 10 miles south of Kansas City,

founded 30 years ago by enthusiast Leo. Long today L MC truck is America's leading supplier of truck parts

from classic to late model Chevy GMC Ford or Dodge. You can restore, maintain and customize your truck by ordering parts online

by phone or visiting the parts, pick up counter.

And just behind the showroom walls is the largest inventory of truck parts and accessories in the world.

We offer about 30,000 different parts which allow our customers to order almost anything they need for their restoration project on their truck

with the footprint of over 300,000 square feet. That's the equivalent of over six football fields. L MC warehouses, millions of parts. It both makes and sources from vendors

in a nonstop process, everything from bumpers to body panels are received, sorted, inspected, labeled and stocked while they are simultaneously being ordered, picked and carefully repackaged for shipment to thousands of truck builders all around the world

that never ending cycle of accurate delivery. And 95% order filled starts with a customer call center where up to 100 reps process online orders and phone orders in English, Spanish, French and even Portuguese.

A lot of people think of it as domestic pickup trucks that it's all usa

but it's amazing where these us trucks have shown up to. And so we're able to service them worldwide.

Having more parts in stock, more customer service and fast delivery are key. But LM C's most important differentiator may be its catalogs and their unique format.

Leo long knew that to successfully rebuild. A truck enthusiasts need accurate model specific research material.

Darryl

Malikoff, a 24 year veteran with L MC runs the company's elaborate communications department responsible for advertising and cataloging.

His team of photographers, layout artists and illustrators crank out nearly 125 vehicle specific catalogs per year.

Their unique technical illustrations on everything from hardware to complete suspensions has been a real game changer for L MC customers.

We've got a uh also I have a fully staffed research department that supplies us with the information that we need

to create schematic drawings that will help the customer guide them through their restoration project. Almost as a shop manual approach, not just to be able to buy the part to know how to put it on their vehicle as well

to ensure the accuracy of the catalog illustrations. And specs L MC maintains a serious collection of early and late model trucks and suvs for reference.

This fleet also doubles as a test bed where L MC develops thousands of new replacement parts,

increasing their line of over 4000 proprietary parts is one of the many goals owner Janet Long and her team of 300 specialists are committed to.

Uh We always said chrome is king,

it makes a little bit more fun

uh whether it's a bumper or grill, um you know, some chrome mirrors, um you know, interior chrome

side chrome, you know the Xenon lights and you know, it's really kind of fantastic to be able to do that for your truck. L MC is also expanding into late model parts like a new dash for the Dodge Ram to replace factory dashes that often crack.

They didn't exactly build the perfect truck back then.

And so we're trying to take some of the second dairy issues out of the parts as we develop, we fix a lot of parts

that had a lot of original issues.

Yeah. What would Leo do is a fantastic phrase that goes through my head all the time for where it goes to. It doesn't end here. It's just gonna keep growing.

You're watching trucks for a DVD copy of this episode, just go to Power Block, tv.com and order your copy for just 595 plus shipping and handling. Start your own trucks, collection delivered right to your door from the power block.

Hey, welcome back to trucks.

Well, the first time we took Doss

Bronco out and wheeled it. It was a budget build with a capital B.

The only gauge we had in this whole rig was this cool temp gauge which quite frankly worked better as a tax than it did as a cool attempt gauge because it had a ground problem. It was kind of bouncing around.

Thankfully, we've traded this in

for a much better set of gauges and better communication with the whole rig.

The first thing you're gonna notice is the giant tack by auto gauge. These are from auto meter, but they're a more budget friendly line. It's got a programmable shift light and it's gonna help us really keep tabs on not over revving that big block and the trans tamp gauge, like we showed you on the bench top is gonna help us keep an eye on the fluid tamps of the transmission. So we don't burn that one up too.

Now, another project we've done that you haven't seen on the show is the addition of an A RB air locker to the open Dana 44 front diff. Now, this

gives us a lot more versatility on the trail and the ability to help get this big full size rig out of trouble. When we're wheeling

again from auto gauge, we've got a three gauge panel for basic communication,

a volt meter so we can keep tabs on the alternator oil pressure. So we don't starve at the top of the engine in an off camera climb and a full sweep water temp gauge. So that way we're not going to run the risk of overheating this rig and we're, they get a lot more enjoyment and a long life out of wheeling this thing.

And finally, with the help of our buddy Monty Lloyd, we got a stock bezel and instrument cluster back in the dash which gives us two very important things.

Number one, a fuel gauge,

number two, a speedometer in case we ever take this thing on road.

Now, we've still got a couple of projects that we're gonna do with D Os Bronco before we take it back out on the trail and beat the tar out of it. And we wanted to say thank you to all of you guys for helping us make this one of the most popular trucks TV off road projects ever. So, now, the D Os Bronco definitely has a reputation to uphold, we're gonna do everything in our power to do just that and make this thing even better.

Now, our big two post lift is indispensable here in the shop, but it requires a lot of ceiling height 220 volt power and it's stationary. Whereas the IO

tech mobile lift jack may be a good option for you.

Their lift master 3000 is a 110 volt screw drive portable lift and it can reach a height of 36 inches in just 35 seconds.

It's got a max capacity of 2250 pounds and it's really, really simple to operate.

And there are also a number of attachments so you can live from different points on the vehicle, like the tire and wheel, the bumper or even the pinch seam. Now, if you got any questions about any of this stuff, check out the website guys. Thanks for watching trucks. See you next week.