- Joined
- Jun 17, 2004
- Messages
- 359
I am hoping to get a few opinions (which are so rare around here;D) about my current dilemma. Long and short of it is I got a 75 about 14 years ago while I was newly married, no kids, etc. Began tearing it down and rebuilding it as an off road beast/krawler.... then daughter was born and things slowed down. Then my son was born and things slowed down even more. Then I was transferred with work and things came almost to a stop, but I got so far as to get a 351w that i rebuilt under the watchful eye of an old school engine builder who taught me tons. I was dreaming of fuel injecting this beast and managed to get the brackets to an explorer front dress and upper intake as well as a mustang harness and A9P computer, and to top it all of a lightning lower intake off a buddy';s truck (he couldn't remember to keep it rubber side down). Then life changed again, got an amazing position at work, caught my wife cheating, subsequent divorce and move with the kids and getting things stabilized.
In all of that last gong show the new owners of the house agreed to keep my old 75 body there till I could come back and get it in a few weeks, but I ended up in the hospital with them reconstructing a leg after a bad work accident. They did't care that I was in the hospital and sent the body to the crusher. Luckily I kept the glove box door with me so I have at least those parts.
Now things have stabilized, and the new girlfriend is very pro-Bronco and encourages me to continue the dream. I picked up a 74 in pretty decent shape here a couple of months back and have been back reading as much as I can and planning the new build (hoping to move to a new house/acreage here with a shop this winter). I know my lifestyle has changed since those early years and can say that I am not into building the hardcore off road machine anymore, more of a daily driver, weekend off road warrior. And realistically something my kids will learn to drive and my g/f will enjoy rolling around in.
So now I have a 351w rebuilt sitting on bare frame stored at my parents place for the past few years. In reality it has been sitting since we built it a long time ago. It gets turned over quite often and the oil pump primed and oil moved through it, but it just hasn't run. Reading online I have been rather curious about explorer swaps as it seems that they are a nice simple all-in-one swap into the Bronco. I checked my local pick and pull yard and low and behold there were two there, both running with a whopping price tag of $208.
So who thinks I would be better off with the Explorer rebuild and swap and selling the 351 for whatever I can get for it or ...
should I stick with the 351, try to piece meal an efi system onto it and go with the Mustang FI?
Wow that turned out way longer than the thoughts in my head....
In all of that last gong show the new owners of the house agreed to keep my old 75 body there till I could come back and get it in a few weeks, but I ended up in the hospital with them reconstructing a leg after a bad work accident. They did't care that I was in the hospital and sent the body to the crusher. Luckily I kept the glove box door with me so I have at least those parts.
Now things have stabilized, and the new girlfriend is very pro-Bronco and encourages me to continue the dream. I picked up a 74 in pretty decent shape here a couple of months back and have been back reading as much as I can and planning the new build (hoping to move to a new house/acreage here with a shop this winter). I know my lifestyle has changed since those early years and can say that I am not into building the hardcore off road machine anymore, more of a daily driver, weekend off road warrior. And realistically something my kids will learn to drive and my g/f will enjoy rolling around in.
So now I have a 351w rebuilt sitting on bare frame stored at my parents place for the past few years. In reality it has been sitting since we built it a long time ago. It gets turned over quite often and the oil pump primed and oil moved through it, but it just hasn't run. Reading online I have been rather curious about explorer swaps as it seems that they are a nice simple all-in-one swap into the Bronco. I checked my local pick and pull yard and low and behold there were two there, both running with a whopping price tag of $208.
So who thinks I would be better off with the Explorer rebuild and swap and selling the 351 for whatever I can get for it or ...
should I stick with the 351, try to piece meal an efi system onto it and go with the Mustang FI?
Wow that turned out way longer than the thoughts in my head....