6.0 swap into 79 bronco..?

82f100swb · Sep 16, 2011

I'm very curious about this swap also, I've stumbled across a complete low mile 04 that has a very bent frame for cheap($1500) and I am heavily debating repowering my 86 F350 on 44's with it. I was going to rip the drivetrain apart this winter anyway(needs an auto and a few other things.) I'm already on Super duty springs and all 1 ton anyway, so the weight isn't a concern.
Just how much wiring am I going to need out of the 04 to make the 6.0/5R110 happy?

6.0 p-stroke · May 13, 2014

Ok I'm bringing this one back from the dead. I've got an 04 cab & chassis single cab truck, and an engine, trans and a tcase. And I've still got the 79 Bronco that hasn't moved in a year or so. My plans were to chop the frame and make a shorty, but the body is rough and after collecting the panels to fix it I'd still have to buy a short bed and get it all painted. So I figure I've basically got everything to get my dream project rolling (I think) and it's never going to get done if I don't get started.
Here is a plan I've been working up in my head... I'm going to get an engine in the truck and get it started, after that I will strip all of the wiring and computer out of the truck and try to get it running with no body on the chassis. After that I figure I will need to chop and shorten the frame to match the length of the bronco body, then its a matter of getting all of the wiring and computers stuffed into the bronco body and getting the body set onto the chassis. I imagine I will have to do some firewall and floor pan modifications and new body mounts but I'll have the superduty suspension to handle the weight and power.
So what do you guys think? Am I on the right path? I've been researching other 6.0 swaps and I still can't figure out how much of the 6.0 wiring I will need to make the truck run and drive correctly. If anyone has useful information from similar swaps it would be much appreciated! I want to have all of my ducks in a row before getting in over my head, thanks!

6.0 p-stroke · May 13, 2014

Here is the C&C I traded Matt for that I plan to use. And some measurements I took of the two the other day.

markfuga · May 14, 2014

The first thing I would get is the EVTM for the donor truck; there's really no way to proceed without it. Then start by exposing all the underhood harness and splitting it open (not the engine harness). After all the wires are in the open, start "weeding out" things like headlights, turn signals, horns, etc; all the stuff you won't re-use and has no involvment with the engine/tranmission. You'll quickly whittle it down to the wires between the PCM, engine, trans and firewall connector.

Cleaning up the other side of the firewall connector (inside cab) will be best done using the EVTM. What I found on the first gen Powerstrokes is nothing is needed from inside the cab that can't be easily rewired on it's own (accelerator pedal, IVS fuse, gauges, etc). I'm sure you'll find the same is true on the 6.0 trucks.

The idea of moving the Bronco body onto the donor chassis is the direction I would try first. be sure to measure the width at the wheels to be sure the tires will be tucked into the wheel wells of the Bronco. Shortening the frame is simple, but make sure you do it properly by "fish-plating" the area on both sides of the cut. There's too many unsafe hack jobs out there to "google search" it. I'd call some reputable fab shops for advice on how to do it properly. I can recommend a welding site I frequent that has many professionals as active members that do frame modifications for a living if you want a "safe place" to read up on the topic.

Since the donor frame is narrower, making new body mounts will be simpler than if it was the other way around. You'll still have some challenges with reconnecting the steering linkage but that's somewhat trvial in comparison to other parts of the project.

Good luck and keep us posted.

6.0 p-stroke · May 14, 2014

markfuga said:
The first thing I would get is the EVTM for the donor truck; there's really no way to proceed without it. Then start by exposing all the underhood harness and splitting it open (not the engine harness). After all the wires are in the open, start "weeding out" things like headlights, turn signals, horns, etc; all the stuff you won't re-use and has no involvment with the engine/tranmission. You'll quickly whittle it down to the wires between the PCM, engine, trans and firewall connector.

Cleaning up the other side of the firewall connector (inside cab) will be best done using the EVTM. What I found on the first gen Powerstrokes is nothing is needed from inside the cab that can't be easily rewired on it's own (accelerator pedal, IVS fuse, gauges, etc). I'm sure you'll find the same is true on the 6.0 trucks.

The idea of moving the Bronco body onto the donor chassis is the direction I would try first. be sure to measure the width at the wheels to be sure the tires will be tucked into the wheel wells of the Bronco. Shortening the frame is simple, but make sure you do it properly by "fish-plating" the area on both sides of the cut. There's too many unsafe hack jobs out there to "google search" it. I'd call some reputable fab shops for advice on how to do it properly. I can recommend a welding site I frequent that has many professionals as active members that do frame modifications for a living if you want a "safe place" to read up on the topic.

Since the donor frame is narrower, making new body mounts will be simpler than if it was the other way around. You'll still have some challenges with reconnecting the steering linkage but that's somewhat trvial in comparison to other parts of the project.

Good luck and keep us posted.

What is the EVTM? I'm not familiar with that. And if I remove all of the head/tail light wiring will the gauge cluster lights still operate? I'm thinking I'd like to keep the gauge cluster and retrofit it into the bronco dash. I'm concerned with removing too many wires from the harness and messing up a circuit, for example if the wiper motor fails doesn't it affect other things? I know on my sisters f150 it kept burning up the right tail light and it would cause her radio not to work or something like that.

markfuga · May 14, 2014

EVTM = Electrical and Vacuum Troubleshooting Manual. Buy it for the donor truck (doesn't hurt to have it for the Bronco if you can find it) and study it. It takes a while to understand how it's laid out and how to follow along, identifying circuits, etc. Once you understand it you'll have no fear cutting wires.

From an electrical perspective what you want to do it eliminate all uneeded wires from the donor and get down to just the wiring needed for the engine/transmission (axle shift, AC other?). You want to have 3 wires "hanging loose" when you're done: constant +12v, switched +12V and the starter wire. The 79 Bronco body will bring over all the wiring needed for lights, tail lights, wipers, windows, horn etc. When you drop the Bronco onto the donor you should just be wiring in the 3 circuits mentioned above.

What you'll probably find (I'm not familiar enough with 6.0 trucks) is the constant +12v is pre-existing through the main 6ga wire coming into the underhood fuse box, leaving just the switched +12v and starter wire to deal with. The constant +12v is just for the PCM keep alive.

I have no thoughts on retro fitting the dash in terms of effort required since I'm not familiar with the two dashboards. If you can get it to fit then it will make it easier getting gauges and speedo working again.

Speedometer may be the biggest challenge since the Bronco is cable drive and the donor is electronic. I had this issue with my swap and I didn't want to replace or modify the dash so I bought a GPS reciever and motor drive unit (Dakota Digitals GPS-50 and ECD-100) to drive the cable driven Speedometer.

markfuga · May 14, 2014

Oh, and where are the pictures of the Bronco?? Good looking donor, but what's going on it?

6.0 p-stroke · May 14, 2014

Thanks! I will get a wiring and vacuum diagram for the donor truck, I know the one we used on my sisters Fummins swap has helped us out alot. Do you knopw of a good place to get an EVTM? We've used Mitchels before for a wiring diagram but idk if there is something better like an actual book or something. Also, I haven't decided what to do about the AC system yet, I might try to see if the superduty blower motor etc. will fit in the bronco. I might just have to get custom lines madeto use the 6.0 dryer and other misc. AC parts to keep the computer and AC compressor happy.