My Bronco

This week's post I will chronicle the first 3 years of my Bronco's build. 
It all started in March of 1985, I was 15 at the time, about to get my license and was looking for a job. I told my Father I wanted to build a Bronco. He happened to have a frame from a 1971 Bronco that he had parted out (it was totaled in an accident). He said I could have the frame and he would help me build the Bronco I always wanted.

I dragged the frame out of the sticker bushes, blew the rat's nets (not metaphor, there really were rats living in the frame rails) and set it into the garage. I didn't think to take a picture at the time.

We immediately began tracking down parts. My Dad knew a guy who had some running gear, so we went to see him and scored a deal: for $500 I bought a 1975 vintage Dana 44 front and 3300lb 9" rear axles, drives shafts and transfer case. Here it us partially assembled, I spent many summer days with a drill motor and wire brush cleaning the rust and dirt off the parts.

I apologize for the picture quality, these were taken with a cheap Kodak Instamatic camera back in 1985.

 A friend of ours, who was also building a Bronco, spotted this 1967 frame and body tub in a wrecking yard. It had a nice custom winch bumper (which he wanted for himself) so we split the $300 cost. The Bronco body wore the original Harbor blue paint job (same color my Dad's Bronco was when it was new)

 We also purchased a 1970 Bronco that was in pieces for parts:

here my Dad is cutting the rust out of the tail gate

 We had the body tub and tail gate just about ready

 Now came time for the fenders and hood. You would not believe how hard it was to find a straight passenger side front fender. We found this one that had been opened up for a weird set of fender flares, we used the bottom portion of another fender to make it match the driver's side.

 You may notice the "Bronco lean", the suspension consists of F-150 big block springs, providing about 1.5-2" of lift. I had not put the track bar drop down bracket on yet.

 We had a local machine shop bore the 1974 302 block .030 over and rebuild the heads (new stainless valve seats and reground valves). We purchased an Isky "256" RV cam, short duration with high lift for better bottom end performance.

 Installing the doors, we found a matching set of rust free doors (came off the same Bronco as the passenger side fender). I purchased a set of 31 x 10.50 x 15 Cooper "Bronco STD" tires...the STD is short for "studs" (they were set up for winter studs)....The wheels are American Racing white spokes...which were still en vogue in 1987...

 The windshield came from yet another Bronco, you can see the home made bumper I built in high school, also note the un-cut body tub in the background. That later became my Dad's project that he turned over to my nephew.

 Smittybilt 6 point roll cage going in, something that is mandatory in our family

 Back from the paint shop. My Father had a co-worker with a paint booth and was willing to paint it for free, he did a pretty good job. The color is '86 Toyota MR2 Blue, with Wimbledon White and Pewter Gray accents.
I originally wanted to go all white, but we had a family friend who was killed in his father's Bronco a few years before...the Bronco he was driving was white. 

 Here it is done....well they are never really done.

For my 18th birthday my parents got me some personalized plates

 

We used parts from over 10 Broncos to complete this build. We also used plenty of non-stock Bronco items.

The seats were from a Chevy Astro cargo van, the wiper motors were Bosch units meant for a boat, there were other various parts from other Ford cars and trucks.

Specs:
1971 Frame
1967 Body tub
1974 Ford 302, bored .030 over, Badger cast piston, Isky RV cam
1975 Dana 44 with drum brakes, 3.50 ratio and Warn Hubs
1975 Ford 9", 3300# axles, drum brakes. 3.50 ratio
1975 Dana 20 transfer case
1966 Ford 3 speed top loader "RAN" transmission, with RV Shift Cat floor shifter.
Manual steering
Manual brakes 

The suspension consisted of:
F-150 Big Block Coil Springs
Stock Rear Leaf Springs with one extra leaf
8 Rancho shocks


of course, most of this changed over the years...but I'll get to those modifications later