Introduction - 1971 Bronco

[LUBr LuvR]

Welcome to the addition. Plenty of enablers.....I mean help on this forum. Smart lady you have there. Sounds like both the Bronco and the wife are keepers. Enjoy the ride!

 

[DirtDonk]

Ok indeed! Good incentive for sure.

I see what's going on there. Your dad wanted extra protection so he put the original factory (optional) skid plate back on with the larger tank. Hence the long bolts with a big space in-between. Originally the skid plate was bolted directly to the frame with the smaller tank.
The strap for the NWMP tank hooks to the original holes where the factory strap also attached. Just a longer and different shaped strap got the job done.

My guess is that either your dad drilled and tapped the frame holes directly, or did the old pretzel two-step and managed to wangle/wrangle some nuts up inside the frame. Or, perhaps with the bumper off he used a custom nut-plate which was long enough to simply insert by hand and encompassed all three bolts.
I guess you'll find out someday...

Paul

 

[DirtDonk]

And it's not just the 302 that causes the bad mileage. Well, they weren't exactly efficient even by the day's standards, but the Bronco itself is just not very conducive to fuel economy.
Less than efficient running gear, some additional weight from all the cool stuff, poor gear ratio choices for the power band and weight, and horrible aerodynamics.
They're not exactly svelte in the weight department, but lots of vehicles weighed in at near or the same 4,000lb mark. I think a stock base model was rated at about 3700lbs if I'm remembering correctly? Then all the options with a hard top etc and you were probably easily past the 3,900 mark. My '71 with larger tires, tools and spares in the back and me in the seat comes in at 4,250lbs.
New cars are heavy too, with all that insulation and technology, but the engines are generations past ours in efficient power building! So a 4,000lb car might get 40mpg and we're still lucky to get 10!

But more now than ever, the engine upgrades are netting more mileage too. I can finally get 20mpg with one. Still thinking I can do better by changing the gears, or tire size. But that's a long-term experiment who's day has not come yet.

Good luck and have fun with all of yours.
And if you have kids, then you might as well accept the fact now that, if it's not your wife's Bronco, it'll be theirs by high school!

Paul

 

[jonesallu]

I see what's going on there...

As I mentioned, the darn directions show that's how to reattach the skid plate - with those longer bolts. I would hope the nuts are prevailing torque nuts or at least nylock nuts. We'll improve on that design - that's for sure. I'm going to evaluate if that skid plate is really doing anything - even with improvements.

 

[DirtDonk]

I would think the main improvement would be to use hard spacers between the frame and the plate so that heavy impacts aren’t still acting directly on the tank.
The skid plates were surprisingly robust for their day and for their size. But they certainly weren’t expected to hang down that low originally either. However, any extra layer seems like a good one. I don’t remember the instructions even mentioning the skid plate when I installed mine, but maybe I didn’t bother to read them!
Fabricating your own skid plate is not out of the question, along with a new mounting style as well.

A strap tank is not the strongest design for a hard-core four wheeler that’s going to be landing on rocks or tree stumps with their gas tank. I used mine as a skid plate occasionally and never had a problem, but the real hard-core off roaders have literally knocked the straps out of place and left their tanks hanging by the hoses!

If you’re not gonna take it out on difficult technical trails, and are not an animal about it, you can even leave the skid plate off and never worry about bending up the strap.
I loved my big tank. Missed my skid plate, but it still worked. My current set up is a tank with a skid plate integrated into the bottom plate. Basically a double thick bottom.

 

[gnpenning]

Welcome, looks like you have a great vehicle to start with, along with a smart wife. The backstory is a great one.

I'm going to touch on a couple things that might help you since you mentioned you know Chevys. Quadrajet carbs work very well on broncos both on road and off. The same power steering pump (Saginaw) on your Chev is a great upgrade for your bronco. But wait, there's more!! You can use a hydro boost from a 1 ton Chev or astro van to improve your brakes for those larger tires. Many in cold weather areas upgrade to the same blower motor as your truck. Chev 1 ton tie rod ends work well for the tie rod over you mentioned. You can also use either Ford or Chevy disc brake systems on the front as long as they are Dana 44. I'll stop before the Ford only crowd gets to upset. Realize Ford used Saginaw parts and Dana made axles for pretty much everybody. Ididit steering columns are GM based. I just used a telescopic / tilt from a Oldsmobile.

Depending on how you plan on using it would depend on the best engine/transmission combo. The C4 is a better choice for most than the C6. Don't over look the newer overdrive automatic transmissions.

We have some facts and tech articles you might be interested in reading that would be helpful for you.

 

[romegadave]

Love seeing it come back to life
We're glad to have you aboard!!

 

[stupidboy]

Welcome and good luck with your build.

 

[JeffG]

As already mentioned, welcome! It looks like you have a great Bronco to work with and the knowledge to go along with it.

I'm with DirtDonk, after you remove the stock skid plate you may not even want to mess with putting it back on.

 

[DirtDonk]

Although when I said that I did ignore the fact that dad put it there to begin with. So it does have a certain family provenance if you will.
So this is one of those “it’s up to you“ scenarios you are bound to run into a few times. If you’re wanting to fine tune it and dial it in the way you want and don’t plan on needing it, you can leave it off and keep it for some future project.

 

[JeffG]

I didn't think of this, but one could always modify the stock skid plate by lengthening the sides to reach the frame rails, eliminating the long bolts.

 

[dnsenne]

I just showed my lovely spouse what all the Broncos are selling for and mentioned it would save a lot of time to let it go. As a testament to her, she said we're keeping it and I better get on it. Oh-kay.

BigAl

You have to love a woman like that But does she know what you are getting into

 

[sprdv1]

Howdy Forum,

Introductions here as a new-ish Bronco owner. I have a somewhat unrestored 1971 that I'm trying to figure out the extent to what I want to do to it.

History: my Dad bought it around 1990, had the engine rebuilt, put a new wiring harness in, power steering, a granny low 4 -speed, and a couple of other things, like his custom roof rack (obviously retired military re: Dexion). He drove it until about 2000 and then it sat and it would only get started about every 5 years when I would give it some TLC (we lived quit a distance apart). He passed away in 2019 and it came to me. I thought my wife would want it gone. We have over 60 wheels on the ground we maintain with about 2/3 of those we insure and register so I thought four more wheels would be a non-starter. But she said she kinda liked it and would support making it go again. I recently put the thing on the lift and it's in pretty decent shape for what I've worked on in the past. My biggest disadvantage is I know very little about Fords - all my experience is in Chevs and Dodges. We have a Ford Semi so I know the Ford part numbering system but I suspect any real Ford parts for early Broncos have long been sucked up through the years. I don't know if this thing is called a wagon or a what? He put a Edelbrock manifold on the 302 with a new Carter AFB carb. The carb is all messed up with bad gas in it (obviously) and will need rebuilt. At one point I had it running pretty good for a while and am mildly impressed with the grunt the engine has. I think there's less than 5000 miles on it since the engine rebuild and I forgot what the odo says. It's sat in our shop for the last two years and now I'm ready to resurrect it.

Me: I'm a twice-retired engineer, 20+ years in Puget Sound and 20+ years in higher ed in South Dakota. I have access to what I need to fabricate anything (water jetting, laser, CNC, etc.) and an ample shop. I could do my own fabrication from scratch but I'm getting old, have done all that through the years, and would rather see the Bronco achieve road status quicker than taking the time to fabricate everything myself. The Jeep $ should provide what is needed for a refresh. I will be doing all the work myself.

For the future: my hopes are by the spring of 2023 to have it trail ready for the ION country (Idaho/Oregon/Nevada) where I grew up. Nothing radical like you young folk do, just something to have as a secondary rig as we enjoy partial retirement on the road. We have a 73 Chev pickup that is extensively modified to serve as our home-base (with pick-up camper) during trips and plan to trialer the Bronco on our trips. As soon as I get a friend's 48 Fleetline off our lift and maintain some of our own stuff, I'm going to pull the body and get the drivetrain and frame where I want. The drive train and interior gets the full banana, the exterior gets any repair it needs but no paint - it stays in it's patina. To that end, I hope to rely on this site and all of you, given my lack of Ford knowledge. I paid the upgrade fee for this site and appreciate what folks do to keep things running.

Photos follow.

BigAl Jones
Brookings, SD

View attachment 873861

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Love it....

 

[sprdv1]

Ok indeed! Good incentive for sure.

I see what's going on there. Your dad wanted extra protection so he put the original factory (optional) skid plate back on with the larger tank. Hence the long bolts with a big space in-between. Originally the skid plate was bolted directly to the frame with the smaller tank.
The strap for the NWMP tank hooks to the original holes where the factory strap also attached. Just a longer and different shaped strap got the job done.

My guess is that either your dad drilled and tapped the frame holes directly, or did the old pretzel two-step and managed to wangle/wrangle some nuts up inside the frame. Or, perhaps with the bumper off he used a custom nut-plate which was long enough to simply insert by hand and encompassed all three bolts.
I guess you'll find out someday...

You know it...

 

[sprdv1]

DirtDonk, thank you very much for the replies.

Can you decode:

U15GLK07365
092 K U150 9U C 08
74
?

I'll look for the original items you have listed. I did not know that. Yes, I believe it is the original paint (shiny-er parts are there) except of course where there is primer in the seams. I sanded some off to test. There is also some of the original seat upholstery. The paint is weathered back to bluish-green. The seats look cream. Is there a standard color embedded in the VIn plate (provided)?

Yes, as part of the next 12 months, essentially every nut and bolt will be disassembled and refurbished. I envision a degree of mods in the drivetrain. I will disassemble the engine as well to make sure I know what I have - at the present time, it leaks out of just about every gasket and I don't know the quality of the rebuild. I'll likely be switching to a C4 or C6 (and hope to read about those on this site), keeping the original axles but adding lockers, changing to high steer and stuff like that. I do not know if the transfer case is "up to the task" so I'll be reading about that on this site. In any event, if I keep it, I will overhaul it as well. The front drive shaft cannot be saved due to maintenance neglect. I've been reading about stock ride heights and lifts. It's all very useful and I will decide for sure if I want to go to 33s on the wheels it currently has 31s and rides pretty good.

Thanks again for your responses/help.

BigAl

a good plan goes a long way...

 

[sprdv1]

Although when I said that I did ignore the fact that dad put it there to begin with. So it does have a certain family provenance if you will.
So this is one of those “it’s up to you“ scenarios you are bound to run into a few times. If you’re wanting to fine tune it and dial it in the way you want and don’t plan on needing it, you can leave it off and keep it for some future project.

yes sir, do it and be proud..

 

[sprdv1]

I loved my big tank. Missed my skid plate, but it still worked. My current set up is a tank with a skid plate integrated into the bottom plate. Basically a double thick bottom.

skid plates are a great addition...

 

[sprdv1]

Although when I said that I did ignore the fact that dad put it there to begin with. So it does have a certain family provenance if you will.
So this is one of those “it’s up to you“ scenarios you are bound to run into a few times. If you’re wanting to fine tune it and dial it in the way you want and don’t plan on needing it, you can leave it off and keep it for some future project.

Point is to make it your own...