- Joined
- May 11, 2013
- Messages
- 1,760
Howdy folks. Well here is my long promised build thread...... I never felt I was doing anything special, and really had nothing new to offer, so I kept pushing it off. It seems that the project has the momentum now to get a thread started.
This all started when I was considering to put a v8 in my 2000 jeep TJ.
That seemed complicated and expensive (so silly of me) so I starting looking for something with a V8. I was in El Paso for work and came across a beauty of a 78.
They wanted a lot for it and I would still have to ship it to NH. Oh no I say, that will be too expensive.......
I get home from El Paso and go into CL. The ad for this one had just been posted. I called the guy. When he called me back the next am, he had received 35 calls. I jump on it figuring I could flip it if I didn't like it. I wasn't looking for the project, it was looking for me
I had my first ride in a bronco in Wyoming in 1974 and have always loved the lines of the Bronco. I had an 88 Eddie Bauer for a while back in the day.
Equipped with a sawzall, grinder, torch, and a buzz box welder I did a ghetto build of a 72 FJ40 in the early 90s. 5 months start to finish including a home built tub and floors. " how much harder can a bronco be I say"
The basics....
71 Bronco that came out of Alabama
Delivered to me early last April (2013) by a local guy that hauls rust free truck beds and such north. I would like to say the bronco is rust free.....
I have always wanted to do a true body off. Being better equipped and better funded than when I did the FJ, it seemed like a fun project to start. I had three minimum requirements for the build, Holley 4 barrel, hurst 4 on the floor, and headers/dual exhaust.
I was planning to drive to Colorado in July to see my parents so I wanted to have the body and sheet metal at the media blaster for early July. I pushed real hard to get it all apart. I mostly have to work alone and don't have a huge shop, so I get creative to lift stuff. There was a lot of stuff already yanked off the truck when I got it, but the rest came off really easy, including the body mounts.
Classic Car Blasting here in NH blasted with crushed glass and zinc phosphate coated.
All the while I'm reading everything I can on this site and the sourcing begins. Engine hoist and stand from pawn shop near Dads house.
I shopped my way east from Colorado scoring windshield frame and dash from WildBill in Topeka, a top and doors from a kid in Illinois, and then swung by JBG to pick up all the heavy stuff (3.5sl, fenders, floor panels, disc conversion etc)
I got home and dug into the chassis demo to get it off for blasting. All in all it was in great shape under the heavy tar undercoat.
The stock 302 was seized. By this time I'm onto EFI ( so much for requirement 1). I found a local 97f250 plow truck with a broken front axle and just 60k on the 351w for a song. Out comes the engine.
I find a nice RUGJ2 top loader and hurst shifter locally!
Over the winter I dig out the EFI and front dress and Gt40 heads from the local pull a part. The harness and ECM goes off to EFIGuy. The engine goes off to builder in Nashua.
Today, the frame is hanging on a engine stand rotisserie and my wingman and I are painting it this weekend along with the axles etc.
There is much more to tell, and so many more of you to thank, but here it is so far!
Will post more photos of the build to date, along with the results of the painting event Saturday.
Hank
This all started when I was considering to put a v8 in my 2000 jeep TJ.
That seemed complicated and expensive (so silly of me) so I starting looking for something with a V8. I was in El Paso for work and came across a beauty of a 78.
They wanted a lot for it and I would still have to ship it to NH. Oh no I say, that will be too expensive.......
I get home from El Paso and go into CL. The ad for this one had just been posted. I called the guy. When he called me back the next am, he had received 35 calls. I jump on it figuring I could flip it if I didn't like it. I wasn't looking for the project, it was looking for me
I had my first ride in a bronco in Wyoming in 1974 and have always loved the lines of the Bronco. I had an 88 Eddie Bauer for a while back in the day.
Equipped with a sawzall, grinder, torch, and a buzz box welder I did a ghetto build of a 72 FJ40 in the early 90s. 5 months start to finish including a home built tub and floors. " how much harder can a bronco be I say"
The basics....
71 Bronco that came out of Alabama
Delivered to me early last April (2013) by a local guy that hauls rust free truck beds and such north. I would like to say the bronco is rust free.....
I have always wanted to do a true body off. Being better equipped and better funded than when I did the FJ, it seemed like a fun project to start. I had three minimum requirements for the build, Holley 4 barrel, hurst 4 on the floor, and headers/dual exhaust.
I was planning to drive to Colorado in July to see my parents so I wanted to have the body and sheet metal at the media blaster for early July. I pushed real hard to get it all apart. I mostly have to work alone and don't have a huge shop, so I get creative to lift stuff. There was a lot of stuff already yanked off the truck when I got it, but the rest came off really easy, including the body mounts.
Classic Car Blasting here in NH blasted with crushed glass and zinc phosphate coated.
All the while I'm reading everything I can on this site and the sourcing begins. Engine hoist and stand from pawn shop near Dads house.
I shopped my way east from Colorado scoring windshield frame and dash from WildBill in Topeka, a top and doors from a kid in Illinois, and then swung by JBG to pick up all the heavy stuff (3.5sl, fenders, floor panels, disc conversion etc)
I got home and dug into the chassis demo to get it off for blasting. All in all it was in great shape under the heavy tar undercoat.
The stock 302 was seized. By this time I'm onto EFI ( so much for requirement 1). I found a local 97f250 plow truck with a broken front axle and just 60k on the 351w for a song. Out comes the engine.
I find a nice RUGJ2 top loader and hurst shifter locally!
Over the winter I dig out the EFI and front dress and Gt40 heads from the local pull a part. The harness and ECM goes off to EFIGuy. The engine goes off to builder in Nashua.
Today, the frame is hanging on a engine stand rotisserie and my wingman and I are painting it this weekend along with the axles etc.
There is much more to tell, and so many more of you to thank, but here it is so far!
Will post more photos of the build to date, along with the results of the painting event Saturday.
Hank
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