One of those days...

The Bronco has been out of commission for almost 2 years now. That is depressing. It died the same day Tucker did. We were headed out to go camping at Lake Pleasant. Paige and the kids were up at my moms, and I grabbed some last minute supplies and loaded up Tucker in my Bronco. We were cruising down the highway, and all the sudden Tucker gets all woozy and can't stand up. By the time I get pulled over on the side of the road, he was dead. No heartbeat, no breathing, nothing. Just a limp dog and the rancid smell of death in my passenger seat. So I pulled off the freeway to turn around and go to the pound. As I pulled up to the my truck started making awful clanking noises. Sounded like I had a wrench bouncing around the oil pan. Not good. I made it to the pound, dropped off Tucker, drove home, parked the Bronco, loaded everything into the Escape, and went camping. The Bronco has sat in the garage ever since, because I was too scared to to find out how bad the repairs were going to be.So last weekend Levi and Noah and I did a little investigating...

After some dead ends, I finally discovered the harmonic balancer had failed, and the outer ring was just bouncing around, making a huge racket. Not such a bad repair after all. So I ordered the balancer from Auto Zone, and wen't to go put it one. Wrong part. My old one has three bolt holes for the pulley, the new one has four. Crud. Finally thanks to searching classicbroncos.com, I find the part number I need (of course the Autozone monkeys aren't able to do this.) Order that one, and wait for it to show up. Since I've got it torn apart anyways, I decided to pull off the water pump and replace the gasket, since I have a small annoying leak somewhere in there. Start pulling that off (last night), get to the last bolt holding it in, and... SNAP! Freakin' bolt snapped off! Great, so now I have to pull the timing chain cover off as well so I can remove the bolt. So I pull all the bolts out of that, but it is hung up on the one that snapped off. So I pry a little with a screwdriver, and... CRACK! Freakin' timing cover crumbles to pieces. Oh lovely. Guess the coolant leak wasn't from the water pump, but the corroded cover. Now I have to find one of those as well. So I get the cover off, and take a look at the timing chain. It is really loose. So might as well replace that too.

Progress as of this morning, with new timing gear installed:

So this morning I call Driven Auto Parts, and they have a timing cover. NAPA has the timing chain and gears. So I drive from Gilbert to 35th Ave, in morning rush hour traffic, pick up the parts, and head back home. I pull off the old timing gears, slide the new ones on... and the fuel pump eccentric doesn't fit back on. Argggghhhh!!! Call all over town, try to find anyone who has a different set. No one does. So I swing by All Mustang Performance. They have a set, but it still isn't the right thing. So I head back to NAPA, this time in afternoon rush hour, to try my luck at finding the right timing gear. The first lady is completely useless, just looking up the part number I already have. Finally some guy comes over, takes a look, and suggests looking up the part for a '74 Bronco. Sure enough, that is the right part. Totally logical... '74 timing chain in my '70 engine. Get the new gear and head home. Pick up the harmonic balancer on the way home, and it actually looks like the right one!

I got the gears installed, timing cover back on, new water pump back on, radiator and fan back in. Now the final task... to remove the other bolts that I broke off in the intake manifold (for the water neck.) I broke them last night, tried to removed them this morning and they wouldn't budge, so I soaked them in oil all day. I tried to back the first one out slowly with an Easyout... BANG! Easyout exploded. Great, not I have the Easyout stuck in the broken bolt, so I'll never get it out. Guess I will also be getting a new intake manifold. Let's hope I can find one in stock somewhere tomorrow.

So the simple job of just the harmonic balance turned into:
- new timing cover
- new timing chain and gears
- new water pump
- new intake manifold
- and who knows what else will go wrong tomorrow...

My goal was to get it running tomorrow and head to emissions and MVD and get it re-registered. Chances of that happening look slim now...

Progress as of tonight...