Need advice

[ark75bronco]

i have a 75 bronco that I absolutely love. I'm interested on hearing your feedback on some things. This thing will spend 99% of its time on the pavement. I also have young girls that I plan on giving rides to when they get older...I'm not sure the lap belts will cut it for safety.

I'm not interested in fully restoring it but I am interested in turning it into a daily driver. I want to swap out the engine, add disc brakes add a roll cage etc. Like all old cars it does have rust issues. I guess my question is what is the first thing I should tackle? Should I get all of the rust fixed and then knock out the rest?

I welcome any advice/feedback anyone has. Any recommendations on brakes? What motor to use? Any gotchas I should look out for...

Thanks in advance

 

[Bferrari]

Got any pictures you can post?

 

[DrLathrop]

Brakes & fuel lines first. Make it safe & make sure it runs well. Add a cage for safety & good seat belts. Put fresh tires on it to make sure that it will run& drive and most importantly stop well before rust or cosmetics. Your kids will love bronco rides as most if not all of their friends will not have the chance. How long have you had it? History on it? Tune it up well enough to enjoy as you plan other upgrades as there will be many ahead of you. Welcome to the sickness.

 

[JSBX]

I agree with DrLathrop. Brakes, steering, cage, seat belts, tires new fuel lines with metal filter and fire extinguisher should be at the top of the list.

 

[70_Steve]

i have a 75 bronco that I absolutely love. I'm interested on hearing your feedback on some things. This thing will spend 99% of its time on the pavement. I also have young girls that I plan on giving rides to when they get older...I'm not sure the lap belts will cut it for safety.

I'm not interested in fully restoring it but I am interested in turning it into a daily driver. I want to swap out the engine, add disc brakes add a roll cage etc. Like all old cars it does have rust issues. I guess my question is what is the first thing I should tackle? Should I get all of the rust fixed and then knock out the rest?

I welcome any advice/feedback anyone has. Any recommendations on brakes? What motor to use? Any gotchas I should look out for...

Thanks in advance

You haven't provided many details of what you're starting with, so there are assumptions to be made.

If you're going to continue to drive it while doing the modifications, then Safety First! Do the mechanical mods before the body. Front disk brakes should be a priority, especially if you're running oversized tires. Hydroboost brake booster is the best upgrade I've done on my Bronco, but does require a power steering system. Power steering could also be considered a safety item, again, if running oversized tires.

If you plan on maintaining the back seat, then a full Family cage is a necessity. Consider mounting the seats to the cage. The cage will also allow you to install 3-point belts.

For safety, and especially if the girls will eventually drive the Bronco, stay with a maximum 2 1/2" suspension lift and 1" body lift. That should provide plenty of clearance for 33" tires, and still maintain pretty good steering and handling .

For a street driver, the stock 302 is more than adequate. You may want to consider Fuel Injection to make it more of a driver. And if that sounds appealing, you may consider swapping in an Explorer 5.0 and maintain the OBDII EFI. EFIGuy, on this board, would be the go-to guy for that conversion. The stock Ford fuel injection works quite well. You didn't say what transmission you have now, but if highway driving is part of the plan, consider an overdrive tranny. Lots of options regardless of manual or auto tranny.

 

[ark75bronco]

http://s1377.photobucket.com/user/Ericstandard12ericstandard/slideshow/

I hope this works!

I've had it for a year or so. My dad bought it from the original owner around 1980. Thankfully it's never been in an accident and the top has never been off. If you can see the pictures you will notice the wench; I was told that was a dealer option. My dad was just letting it waste away in the driveway so I rescued it and had the seats rebuilt in order to even sit in the thing. The rebuilt motor and trans has less than 5k miles so it runs great.

I'm going to take everyone's advice and start with replacing the brakes. She is in bad need of a new wiring harness as well. None of the signals work and the lights only work when you turn the brights on.

 

[ark75bronco]

I failed to mention a few things. It already has power steering, I can't imagine driving this thing without it.

It has the stock 302, auto trans.

How much are the EFI conversion? It's my understanding you can buy around a 93 5.0 motor for the same or less than the conversion, true?

 

[70_Steve]

How much are the EFI conversion? It's my understanding you can buy around a 93 5.0 motor for the same or less than the conversion, true?

Like anything else, you can spend as much or as little as you want. Part of that depends on how much of the work you are willing to do yourself. The other part depends on what you want to wind up with.

The motor is only half the EFI system, and that's the easy half. The difficult part, and usually the more expensive part, is the electronics, and the biggest part of that is the wiring harness.

I've read of guys on this forum doing EFI conversions for around $200. But that usually involves having access to a 88-93 Mustang complete. Then pulling parts including the wiring harness, reworking the wiring harness themselves, then installing.

Or you can opt for a new wiring harness, which you could budget at around $600. This is for the OBDI, 88-93 Mustang EFI.

Or, as mentioned, find yourself a wrecked 5.0 Explorer and pull the engine (or just the EFI components) and harness, send the electronics to EFIGuy for modifications, and wind up with a newish wiring harness and the OBDII EFI, with all the fun goodies.

 

[Eoth]

You are starting at a good point (although I would not worry about an EFI engine if your current is running good). Something to keep in mind... Modern vehicles have roof supports that protect passengers in a roll-over situation. An EB does not.... There are many pictures of accidents where the roof and windshield just crumples... I strongly urge you to get a roll cage (family style if people are going sit in the back). When you add the cage, it then allows you to add 3 point seat belts. It always makes me chuckle thinking how they thought that the padded dash was considered a "safety feature" to bounce you head off of...

 

[ep67bro]

If you have a good solid motor stick with the carb for now. A well tuned carb will run just fine. Save the cash for a new Painless wiring harness and other safety mods. Brakes, steering, tires, fuel lines, seat belts, and roll bar, are way more important than EFI. Good Luck!