Landsharks 69er Build and Tune

[landshark99]

 

[broncoitis]

Nice lookin trail rig you have there and great work and play with it so far! Your welds don't look that bad at all and looks like you got decent penetration. However, I am no expert at all but good work. ;D

 

[landshark99]

Getting there, going to plumb bob the spring plates and then measure the radius arm mounts and bolt em in. Next is to fix my dope steering and see if I can get the York mounted

 

[landshark99]

So guess I should update this thread with my ZF-5 install behind the 400. For full details you can find the thread here:

http://classicbroncos.com/forums/showthread.php?t=228988

But heres the cliff notes

Decided I had enough of the NP435 and not only wanted overdrive but something that was a little more drivable. Decided to go with the ZF-5 behind a Ford 400. A few others have had great success with this conversion as the bellhousing on the 460 ZF-5 matches the 351m/400 engine block.

Although the ZF- will bolt up to the engine the input shaft is a bit too long causing the throwout bearing to fall off the input shaft and not allowing good pressure/clutch disk engagement. To solve this problem I had a spacer made that mounts to the front of the flywheel to the crankshaft and spaces everything back to allow good clutch/bearing engagement.

Anyway, here is the play by play...

Length of the 460 version of the zf-5 is 26.25"

I threw it in back of the Bronco and hauled it home

Custom spacer

Pulling out the bag of hammers...

Have everything ready to go to pull the trans and TC however after taking a look I think I will just drop the exhaust to get it out of the way.. anyway quit for the night it was getting cold out there.

Old stuff coming out.. nothing exciting...

ahhh so much better...

ZF-5 and NP435 side by side

Flywheel and spacer fitment.

[IMGhttp://www.almostmadeit.com/g/galleries/140110_ZF-5_Swap/ysune8uz.jpg[/IMG]

Back of the engine - pretty clean!

Spacer on the end of the crankshaft

Flywheel wheel and spacer mounted

ZF-5 in place, clears!

Getting the Dana20 ready for the zf-5 to D20 adpater.

Zf-5 mated to the Dana20 with the adapter

Twin sticks in! I must have mounted them 25 times to get them to fit right, had to bend, heat, cut and more to get them to work - but work beautifully now!

Rear output of the Dana20 - stepped up to a 1350 driveshaft

Working on the clutch linkage - going with a hydro clutch rather than a mechanical.

Clutch reservoir in place.

Clutch linkage - ended up with a threaded piece in the middle to be able to adjust if needed.

Fabbing up my transmission crossmember

Painted!

mounted

Had a bit of an issue finding a starter.. being a bit of a bone head finally tried the stock 400 starter and wouldn't you know.. its works! So found a mini 400/460 starter and got it mounted up.

Still need some final pictures and video, which hopefully I will have here soon but so far its working great, love the ZF-5.. just need to fab up a floor!

 

[landshark99]

And.. finally got done with my suspension fix/upgrade.

Got the Duff arms mounted, frame plated, Diff cover installed, new steering linkage / TRE's and lots of other stuff.

Heres my 7 bay garage where I work on the Bronco - fun times!

I was hoping that I could use the Bilstein 7100's I already had but after some measurements they were just too short. Ordered up some new 14" short body 7100's. I might be able to move the 12" Bilstein to the rear which would be fantastic. I will do some measurements when I remove em.

Anyway - going to re-install the air system, weld up the radius arm mounts, plates I added to re-enforce the frame and get the DOM supports for the upper shock mounts done this week.

 

[surfer-b]

You been busy, looks good. I'm with you on that 435, I had one in a 76 and never did like that tranny.

 

[landshark99]

Fabbing up my tunnel cover to cover up the holes cut into the floor board for the ZF-5 and transfer case.

got to use my shears! first time in 5 years...

next up is to cut out the shift areas and make the bends. Next I will take it to Line-x to see if they will shoot it to match the floor in the bronco..

 

[landshark99]

got the floor patch in with the shift boots, works pretty good but will be taking the floor piece into line x to match the floor and help the heat and noise.

On the lookout for a bigger shift boot, will have to keep my eye out at the boneyard

 

[landshark99]

Got the tunnel cover done.. like the way it turned out!

I might paint the screws eventually but kind of like the "rivet" look

It will look like the rest of the floor very soon

 

[landshark99]

Opps.. too much fun in Moab

Seems like the ZF changed the angle of the engine just enough to grab my fan shroud and eat the radiator..

Luck was with me as I found used radiator out of a 60s or 70s AMC (Maybe from a jeep wagoneer or something?) in the parts pile of a 4x4 shop in town, only radiator they had and unbelievable I got it to fit - bonus that the bronco mounts even worked. Made the repair on the trail and continued on - Matter of fact I ran Poison spider the next day...

I will have to take a picture next week when I pull it to put a new one in but its been patched twice (2 holes in it), it will be going on the garage wall as a "spare"

I will have to see if others have pictures of the actual carnage as someone took the fan to use as art...

anyway just ordered a new replacement from Summit and will be running a smaller spacer and clutch fan from now on...

 

[landshark99]

So a quick update. Turned out the radiator was from Summit and cost $159 - shipped.. so replaced it with the exact same one.

While i had it out I took advantage of the extra space did some belt tightening, fixed my power steering lines running them slightly better and then installed a clutch fan that I have had hanging on the wall for about a year thanks to Zoso. So far so good, now I have to make a fan shroud which shouldn't' be too hard.

Heres the radiator I used - Jeremy and I found it besides a 4x4 shop in Moab.. its out of a 87 CJ-7

New radiator in...

 

[landshark99]

a bit of an update, been driving the 69 allot this summer. Many wheeling and camping trips. Its running allot better now that I have taken some time to really fine tune the computer a bit more.

Picked up a deal on a BC top and love it so far, it even fits in the garage!

My next project is to replace the front bumper with a custom job and get the Warn 8200 winch installed, hopefully in the next couple of weeks. The rear bumper tire carrier is about to fall off, spindle is definitly the culprit so looking at replacing the spindle hinge with a barrel hinge. After or during winter I might try my hand at building a rear bumper with my new welder.

 

[66horse]

Everything looks great.

What size metal did you use for the tunnel cover. That is one of my next projects.

Cheers,
Steve

 

[landshark99]

Everything looks great.



What size metal did you use for the tunnel cover. That is one of my next projects.



Cheers,

Steve

Gauge? Don't remember but same as body thickness or close to it

 

[landshark99]

well after about 4000 or so miles the throw out bearing finally gave up the ghost and barfed its bearings out at the bottom of the inspection plate. I will have to pull the transmission off to see what caused it but i suspect its engaged just a bit too far and finally gave up.

I guess my two options are to cut and weld the fork so it angles back just a bit... or put a spring on the other end of the fork to pull it back off the clutch pressure plate. I am favoring the cut and weld option right now.

Any other ideas? The dodge bearing which i used (i think), seems like its the better option of the two to try as its thinner. I will check it against the other throw out bearing I bought...

Other than the throw out bearing its been a great swap so far. Consistently getting 14+ MPG, easier shifting and much easier on me and the Bronco when driving long distances.

I was about to pull it into the garage to fix the rear ARB as its leaking and suspect that its the seal housing or seals... have a feeling the line was installed short and not allowing the seal housing to move - which i guess its supposed to so will kill two birds with one stone

 

[landshark99]

I pulled the transmission and swapped in the dodge throwout bearing. The old throw-out bearing basically disintegrated into its basic pieces. It looks like there was quite a bit of heat generated which could mean it didn't like riding the pressure plate all the time but as pointed out I think the clutch fingers also had a role to play. I would need CSI to really find out what went wrong as there wasn't too much left as you can see from the pics.

The new dodge bearing is a bit thicker and it does ride the pressure plate quite a bit. I drilled a couple of holes in the fork while I had it out and plan on putting a spring to back off the bearing slightly. It only needs 1/8" or less to stop it from riding the pressure plate all the time.. should help.

Crossing my fingers as its not easy to stuff that zf back in an early bronco with a 400, takes some creative engine strapping to tilt things..

 

[landshark99]

I pulled the center section and found it just like this

Oh boy... talk about lucky.. lucky i had an ARB that acted as a warning before the ring gear exploded... that was the only bolt that had backed out but they are all loose. Pulled three none had thread locker on em...

already have the parts to repair so will start on that tomorrow - along with adding some red thread locker in the mix this time

 

[landshark99]

Wow haven't updated too much. Doing another round of "upgrades".

Working on the new front bumper I made to fit an early warn 8200/8274 winch and done LEDs. Looks good and hides my 3" body lift . Working on to electrical and building a custom overhead control panel.

Going to synthetic line. Probably pick it up in the next week or so.

 

[bax]

everything looks great. Good to hear the 400 is running good. love the trans swap.

 

[landshark99]

everything looks great. Good to hear the 400 is running good. love the trans swap.

It is running really well, cold starts still take about 5-10 seconds of cranking sometimes but thats about it - runs nice.

The trans swap was the best upgrade EVER.. love it.