1978 Ford Bronco

Been working on some interior and electrical upgrades over the past few weeks at the LEB North Shop, thought I'd share some progress.

So, I have an electric fuel pump, MSD, and a 2 speed fan that had previously been run on just switches in the dash and I had a rats nest of wiring running everywhere with ring terminals on the battery. It worked, but wasn't very clean and not the safest. I decided it was finally time to rewire the beast.

Goals were to add relays, fuses, clean up the switches, and make it all function with the key on/off so nothing got left on when I shut her down. Came up with a game plan. One large relay with one wire run off hot side of starter solenoid. Started by removing all of the old wiring

No ring terminals on the battery, yay!



Next, I installed a 150 amp relay onto the firewall on the inside, behind the glove box. I ran wire from the hot side of the starter solenoid to there. I wired the relay to a key on and key crank wire so my fuel pump and msd would be running when cranking the motor.

From the other side of the relay I ran to a fuse panel that I installed on the backside of the glove box. The other wire you see on the hot side is for the radio I also installed.



Next I welded some studs to the back side of the glove box and mounted my 3 relays (fuel pump, fan high, fan low). Then wired them up, using heat shrink and high quality crimp connectors (the heat shrink kind with the goo, can't remember what they're called lol).



Here it is installed and the rest of the wires hooked up. Obviously have a little tidying up to do with zip ties and wire sleeves, but done for the most part.



Close the do, see no mo



Moving leftward, I decided to install a radio and some speakers. Might not have too many pictures of this. I got some flack for the length of the wires when I put this up on facebook, but I'd rather be able to pull the whole thing out without contorting myself to reach behind and un clip the wiring harness from the radio, so I leave them with plenty of slack.



I also installed four speakers from my old super duty, don't think I got any pictures of that, but the door speakers did require modification of the door to get the super duty speakers to fit.

A little cutting and a little welding, head unit mounted:



Next I started working on the switches. Again, not many progress pictures here. I decided to go with lit switches for fuel pump (blue) and msd (red) and use the metal 3 way switch I already had for the fan with high speed indicator (red) and low speed indicator (green)



Here it is all installed back into the dash. I've decided that I'm going to go with all metal switches with switch labeled switch covers and indicator lights. I don't like the way the plastic switches look when lit.



I got this switch cover as a christmas present from LEB Kris, I decided to install it as a starter switch. #ENGAGE





Video of them all installed. https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=619407274032&l=654208703312380600



That's it for right now, gauges and gauge cluster work to be posted soon. Time to go to new years party right now though

Looks good Paul!

That goo is an environmental seal to keep moisture out...did you solder the wires after you crimped them?

No, I did not. To be honest with you, when I was first starting out at this the only thing I used was cheap crimp connectors, no heat shrink or anything and never had a connection fail in many years of abuse (mud bog truck). I've started using the better crimp connectors with the goo and heat shrink as extra precaution. I just don't see the need unless it's a battery terminal. I'm pretty confident this setup will hold up to what I need it to do.

I'm just anal

LEB Kris solders everything too. Guess I'm the hackjobber of this operation

LEB Paul said:

LEB Kris solders everything too. Guess I'm the hackjobber of this operation

Click to expand...

I'll refrain from comment...

In my experience,,,any unsoldered connection is open season on corrosion, that gets overlooked.
Btw, why is the battery charger connector not directly on the batttery post?

Moved it off to the side because I was taking the ring terminals off.

Moving on... Picture of the radio. The bezel was cut by the PO, I have 2 or 3 of them, unfortunately this is the one in the best shape.



Got some gauges from my gf for christmas:



First I installed the tach:



woopow! https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=619421824872&l=9103477662888907991

Decided to get rid of the stock gauge cluster all together and make my own. Will have oil pressure, volts, water temp, speedo, and fuel gauge (side note, what ohm range for fuel gauge on these trucks?)

This was the basic idea:


Took the stock bezel out, cut some metal, did some forming..





Laid it out, realized it wouldn't quite fit.. decide I will trim the stock bezel some and make it work.



Will Look something like this when done





That's where I left off last time I worked on it. Will post more pictures as I find time to work on it.

Once again....looks good!...I just checked the manual and 10-70 ohms is what it sez.

Went out and did a little bit of work. Probably shouldn't have after last night. Effed up and probably have to start over. Started out nice though..



Cut the holes the wrong way on the left side. Was supposed to be opposite, not the same as the other side.



Came back inside after doing that :lol:

brainfart moment? or too many beers moment?

Too many beers last night I guess. Brain not functioning today.

Decided to scrap that idea.

Cut the bezel up:



Concept



Getting somewhere





Made a couple mistakes on it with the welder (new welder, still getting used to it), but got all the measurements I needed from that one to go for v3.0, plus make it easier to reproduce for LEB sales.













Mounting brackets









Hole saw time..



Add turn signals..



Wire lights..



Turn off shop lights and try it out...



Put it in the truck, wire, plumb gauges, etc



Then my phone died and I couldn't take any more pictures.

Me like. Plans for final finish?

For mine probably black. I'm looking into vinyl wrapping for the versions we're going to sell though.

Vinyl would be pretty cost effective. I'd love to see it painted and slathered with clear. Nice work.

Looks good Paul...I'd consider powdercoating for one to sell....you could do that yourself pretty cheaply.

Never looked into it. What all is involved?