Need Advice: Dad Giving Me His '71 Bronco

[zeppelin_71]

Welcome to the addiction! We'd love to have you join Lonestar Early Bronco Club (LEBC). We have several members in the Austin area, including our president in Dripping Springs. He goes by Scoop on this site. Most all Bronco owners are more than happy to give advice and/or help. Visit or site http://lebc.clubexpress.com/ and sign up for the email list. You don't have to be a member to join the email list. I guarantee you won't be sorry. Introduce yourself and feel free to ask any and all questions. Occasionally someone will ask for help on a large prject (all day) in exchange for pizza, bbq, beer, whatever. If you can bbq, cook or just have good beer you will most likely get more help than you know what to do with.
My name is Todd. I'm one of the club officers. Come see us!

Thanks for the info. I'll refer back to this once I get the rig and have more questions.

 

[zeppelin_71]

Welcome and congrats!! I hope your good fortune continues. If you know the VIN or have a picture of the VIN plate that will tell you a lot about the Bronco and how it was originally configured.

I'll look for this next time I'm home or once I get it up here to ATX.

 

[zeppelin_71]

Welcome. Congrats on the super cool gift from your dad. You've come to the right place for Bronco advise. Great suggestions on taking it to BC Broncos for carb cleaning, power steering and power brakes with front disks. I did all of those upgrades to my '74 and it has made the drivability so much more safe and enjoyable.

Now, on a serious note, you mention above that you are not interested in a cage. The cage or roll bar, whichever route you go, is not about aesthetics, it's about safety. Even with the hardtop on, it is very little protection in the event of a roll over. You had mentioned your wife's desire to have a fun vehicle that can be driven topless, all the more season to have rollover protection installed.

The cage or roll bar will also allow you to install modern three point retractable seat belts.

Please reconsider rollover protection for you and the family.

Looking forward to seeing some pics.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Interesting. I'll have to think about that. I thought a cage was more for people who wanted to go offroad/crawling, etc. I don't really foresee doing that. If there is a more serious safety issue even for everyday driving, I'll certainly consider it. I guess you need something to mount the bikini top to anyway, now that I think about it.

 

[gnpenning]

Interesting. I'll have to think about that. I thought a cage was more for people who wanted to go offroad/crawling, etc. I don't really foresee doing that. If there is a more serious safety issue even for everyday driving, I'll certainly consider it. I guess you need something to mount the bikini top to anyway, now that I think about it.

If you do some searching on here you should find more than a few pics of wrecked Bronco's. Mostly on road. Bronco's with a short wheel base and larger tires or a lift really changes the COG then add some speed which makes them more prone to rollovers. The hard tops crush amazingly easy.


AS already mentioned a family cage will provide a place for mounting 3 point harness.

I have a convertible car without a roll bar. No where near the same as driving the Bronco. The Bronco is in my mind mandatory to have a cage on road.

Be safe and have fun. Involve the kids and wife as much as you can.

 

[67RT]

If you do some searching on here you should find more than a few pics of wrecked Bronco's. Mostly on road. Bronco's with a short wheel base and larger tires or a lift really changes the COG then add some speed which makes them more prone to rollovers. The hard tops crush amazingly easy.


AS already mentioned a family cage will provide a place for mounting 3 point harness.

I have a convertible car without a roll bar. No where near the same as driving the Bronco. The Bronco is in my mind mandatory to have a cage on road.

Be safe and have fun. Involve the kids and wife as much as you can.

Definitely cage and belts. I have had mine 3 years and family has not been in it yet. Have the cage sitting and waiting. Safety first. And pad the cage anywhere little heads might hit it. The roll bar can kill you too.

 

[broncoitis]

Congrats on the Bronco and finding the best site on the net for them! I'm jealous because I lived in TX for 10 years with my truck sitting in the garage and never even thought about looking online for a Bronco site so good for you brother!

As for the CAGE issue, it is MANDATORY and not an option for a truck that will be driven with yourself and your family! It will probably cost 1500 or so to get one installed but probably the number 3 mandatory upgrade IMHO! The Bronco is an awesome vehicle but compared to todays cars there is almost no structural integrity in the hardtop and given the right circumstances it will crush like a soda can!

BC would be a great place to send the truck if you wanna get that stuff done but to be honest, don't sell yourself short on doing those upgrades yourself with some assistance from some of the members down there! I think that they are honestly not that bad to tackle on your own! The carb I would have done by somebody that knows what they are doing because they can be very finicky but the PB and PS you could get done with some assistance I would be willing to bet. I wish I still lived in Austin because I would be happy to assist! ;D

 

[Ksm]

I'm going to chime in about the cage too. I worked on getting mine up and running for 10 years but never took my kids out in it until the cage was installed. I should have done that first!

More accidents will happen when you're out and about driving it than rock crawling.

 

[Scoop]

Welcome to the Bronco world! I'm just outside of Austin as well. You must be in the Wimberley area that got flooded the last couple of years? Anyway good luck on getting your Bronco up and running. There are a lot of LEBC members in the Austin area. As others have pointed out, roll cages are not just for rock crawlers anymore! Plus the roll cage gives you attachment points for shoulder harnesses. So unless you are going to do a totally stock restoration, a few safety upgrades will make your Bronco safer for you and your family. You might consider front disk brakes as well. They are essentially a bolt on upgrade that will greatly improve your stopping power.

Oh yeah, awesome vintage color too!!

 

[chuck]

IMO, if you leave the top on you don't need a roll bar, if you take the top off you need a roll bar. I have seen a few EBs up side down, wthout the bar they tend to rest on the doors and bed sides, the windshield seems to not do much to hold the road off your knuckles. Video on here showing this going slow on the way to work
To go with buckets and or rear seat you will need to remove the bulkhead and drill holes for the buckets and sear seat.
Get it running and the brakes working first then decide what to do next. If you decide you need more braking do power brakes first, if you think you need more go with front disk.
If you plan to use it hard go with a D-44, if you plan to drive mostly on-road the D-30 should be fine.
We would like to see pictures left side, right side, low back, low front, under hood and inside.

 

[broncoitis]

Now that response is a bit of a head scratcher to me! You don't decide against safety items based on MOST situations if you ask me! Oh well, to each his own!

 

[stout22]

Welcome to the site.
Did the Bronco get flooded? If so you may need to go through all the running gear and electrical to get it safely running.

 

[Bronco Junkie]

Top or no top....you NEED a roll bar!

 

[1strodeo]

Here's a convincing story, and it looked to be stock height. As mentioned above once you raise that center of gravity on these short-wheelbase rigs, the chance of rollover increases significantly.

https://slvsteve.wordpress.com/2012/12/14/that-1990-bronco-crash-on-hwy-9/

sorry to stray from the original topic...

 

[zeppelin_71]

Welcome to the Bronco world! I'm just outside of Austin as well. You must be in the Wimberley area that got flooded the last couple of years? Anyway good luck on getting your Bronco up and running. There are a lot of LEBC members in the Austin area. As others have pointed out, roll cages are not just for rock crawlers anymore! Plus the roll cage gives you attachment points for shoulder harnesses. So unless you are going to do a totally stock restoration, a few safety upgrades will make your Bronco safer for you and your family. You might consider front disk brakes as well. They are essentially a bolt on upgrade that will greatly improve your stopping power.

Oh yeah, awesome vintage color too!!

Thanks to all for the cage recommendations. Sounds like something I should do since we plan to take the top off for sure. That's the main reason my wife is excited about it. No jokes, gents. ;D

My parents are in Katy which flooded badly last March or April. They got something like 14" overnight. It was really bad; nothing like homes being swept away like in Wimberley, though -- just property damage.

 

[zeppelin_71]

IMO, if you leave the top on you don't need a roll bar, if you take the top off you need a roll bar. I have seen a few EBs up side down, wthout the bar they tend to rest on the doors and bed sides, the windshield seems to not do much to hold the road off your knuckles. Video on here showing this going slow on the way to work
To go with buckets and or rear seat you will need to remove the bulkhead and drill holes for the buckets and sear seat.
Get it running and the brakes working first then decide what to do next. If you decide you need more braking do power brakes first, if you think you need more go with front disk.
If you plan to use it hard go with a D-44, if you plan to drive mostly on-road the D-30 should be fine.
We would like to see pictures left side, right side, low back, low front, under hood and inside.

I'll try to get some pics next time I'm home.

 

[zeppelin_71]

Here's a convincing story, and it looked to be stock height. As mentioned above once you raise that center of gravity on these short-wheelbase rigs, the chance of rollover increases significantly.

https://slvsteve.wordpress.com/2012/12/14/that-1990-bronco-crash-on-hwy-9/

sorry to stray from the original topic...

No more convincing needed. Roll bar it is.

 

[zeppelin_71]

Welcome to the site.
Did the Bronco get flooded? If so you may need to go through all the running gear and electrical to get it safely running.

No, it didn't. The water in the garage didn't get high enough. I'm sure the tires were half covered or so, but it needs new tires anyway after sitting for 20 years.

 

[1strodeo]

No more convincing needed. Roll bar it is.

haha I was already getting a 4 point for the rear, but after this thread I'm going with a 6 point...may just have to use lots of Rain-X in lieu of wipers

 

[chuck]

I'll try to get some pics next time I'm home.

I did not mean to imply that a rollcage is not important in my above post. It seems I left a thought out. that being to get this eb going right now you don't need the bar. Many people drive for a long time without the bar like your dad did. But that doesn't mean it a good idea to not use a little extra safety and its a good place to mount the shoulder harness which is also a good safety add-on.

 

[stout22]

No, it didn't. The water in the garage didn't get high enough. I'm sure the tires were half covered or so, but it needs new tires anyway after sitting for 20 years.

If it got deep enough to cover the axles you may need to go through them. This may sound like you are getting a long list but you did start with a free Bronco