Project "long and drawn out" Update 3/01/09

[Mherriford]

I bought my bronco almost 11 years ago, it wasnt a good deal and a lot of issues that I didnt know about, but being a know it all 19 year old I decided I had to have it, this is what it looked like when I got it. Sorry about the crappy photos, these are all film pics so some turn out better than others.
When I got it, it was wearing 4 mismatched tires, completly missing the c bushings from one side, a wiring mess with household wire nuts holding crap together (this caused many interesting moments, what is that smell?), and a cheapie paintjob that looked good from afar but was far from good. rusted out floor boards and many other questionable "mods".

 

[regshawn]

Nice to see what you started from, but aren't they supposed to get better with age!? I am of coarse kidding, I wish I had mine half as long as you, and it was actually running!!:-[ %) What ever happened to those door inserts?
I would say you have made it along way from there, whens the new gears and locker's going in?

Shawn

Lets see some more Pictures.

 

[Mherriford]

After I had the bronco for a while, I decided I needed to be able to stop so I swapped in the disks from a big bronco, this was a great upgrade, it actually stopped! I drove it this way for a long time untill the engine started to have a horrible case of piston slap, that I could no longer ignore, so I decided in the interest of time and money I would just throw a 100 dollar rebuild kit in it and run it untill I could build another engine.
RIGHT
in true bronco fashion what started out as a quick and easy job snowballed into a complete rebuild of the engine with an edelbrock intake carb and camshaft, full msd ignition etc etc.
while I was at it I did a 19 year old kids best job at rewiring the whole thing and a new paint job (not any better than before really) after a year in the shop it finally rolled out under it own power, I dont have any pics of this point when it really looked pretty good, they were lost somewhere in a move

After another year and a half or so the three speed floor shifter decided to crap out at the beach (4 hours from home) I got to drive home in first and third, it was a crappy time for sure.
So I decided the best thing to do is swap in an np435, so I did that and drove it for a long time, not much happened to the bronco for quite some time untill I happened upon the oppertunity to score an EB power steering swap, so I installed that and was amazed at the difference, WOW one of the best thing I have ever done to it. it has pretty much remained that way untill now, hereis some pics as it sits now.

 

[Mherriford]

Ok now for the fun part, I am waiting on parts to come in, everything is ordered just waiting on it to come in, finally get to do some much needed upgrades. I am going to do it all in one fell swoop, to a certin extent. This round is going to be a new big bearing rearend, with 4.10's an aussie locker and disk brakes. A new 3.5 inch cage lift. matching 4.10's for the front and for good measure a hydro boost system, I will try and document these upgrades better than the rest- having a digital camera makes this much nicer and cheaper than before. A big thanks to all on this site that have helped, there are a lot of you that have helped even if you did not know it at the time, stay tuned for updates soon

Oh and Shawn- I still rock the inserts in the summer

 

[Tito]

Looking good Mark, the aussie should work real well for you. Which hydroboost setup are you going to install?

 

[Mherriford]

astro van w/ a corvette disk/disk m/c

 

[Mherriford]

Time for an update, axles, bushings, and everything else is here except the disk brake caliper mounts, and I go pick up my lift tomorrow. I have to prep out the rear end housing, and finish putting that together, but it will be soon

Oh and the locker is all set up and ready to go

 

[Mherriford]

I went and picked up my cage lift and the caliper mounts came in, I dont think the wife appreciates my decorating style though, keeps saying something about getting all these damn boxes out of the living room

 

[mr incredible]

just wait till you bring the bronco into the living room ,,, wonder what she will say then huh ?

 

[regshawn]

So you should have all of that on the Bronco and ready to go by tomorrow huh? Just let us know if you need a hand, I can find some spare time.

Shawn

 

[Mherriford]

yeah its going to be a little while, Maybe two weekends, one for preping every thing, and one for the teardown/rebuild

 

[howiebilt]

Looks like a fantastic job ! can't wait to see more and see it on the trails


howiebilt

 

[Mherriford]

WOW what a f%@king weekend. With massive amounts of help from Mr. Incredible,and his awesome shop/tools the bronco is sitting on a new suspension, rear end, and sporting disk's in the rear.

We had a horrible time getting the rear lugs to work with my disk setup, only because I did not double and triple check everything before we started. Sorry for all the grief I caused you David! I will be sure to smooth out all my sharp corners before I ever ask you to help me again.

All in all it wasn't too bad, but it is something I am not going to rush out to do again real soon. Here are a few before and during pics, I forgot the camera today so I will have to snap a few after pics in the next couple of days.

A big thanks to Tito for the radius arm delivery today

And thanks again David!!! I owe you two or three now! Let me know when ever you need a hand, I'll be there you just let me know when!

Gotta love the Bronco Brotherhood!!!

 

[Ohio Bronco 21]

Cool, I love it when you can make a big step in progress in just one weekend.

 

[Mherriford]

yeah it was nice to get a bunch done at once, but at the same time, rushing to make sure we got it done by sunday kinda sucked

 

[kbldawg]

Nice work guys.

Now go out and break something!!! Just make sure you get more pics.

 

[mr incredible]

WOW what a f%@king weekend. With massive amounts of help from Mr. Incredible,and his awesome shop/tools the bronco is sitting on a new suspension, rear end, and sporting disk's in the rear.

We had a horrible time getting the rear lugs to work with my disk setup, only because I did not double and triple check everything before we started. Sorry for all the grief I caused you David! I will be sure to smooth out all my sharp corners before I ever ask you to help me again.

All in all it wasn't too bad, but it is something I am not going to rush out to do again real soon. Here are a few before and during pics, I forgot the camera today so I will have to snap a few after pics in the next couple of days.

A big thanks to Tito for the radius arm delivery today

And thanks again David!!! I owe you two or three now! Let me know when ever you need a hand, I'll be there you just let me know when!

Gotta love the Bronco Brotherhood!!!

oh . you know i will get even , mabie even just a bit ahead !! hahaha ... no problem buddy , sorry about the rush , but got a working shop monday through friday , cant clog it up to much ,, well mabie a little with my own junk !! cant wait to see yall at sand lake fer the s.o.b run !!

 

[Mherriford]

Allright, time for an update. I finally got around to getting the front gears set up 3 days before sob. I ran around like a crazy man (I know not much of a stretch huh?) trying to get the bronco ready to head to the beach. I had a nasty driveline vibration that made the locker act like crap, so I swapped in my spare driveshaft. I had a front caliper crap out on me and not want to bleed, so I swapped that out. And some odds and ends as far as wiring goes then it was Off to SOB. WOW what a great change in my bronco, I had not had the chance to test out my new cage suspension before going, and let me tell you what it was like driving a different truck!! I could not believe it. Last year I had one problem after another on the sand, but this year was rockin!! The only casualty was one muffler clamp, it went missing out on the sand.

So now on to the next step in the never ending bronco saga, My floor boards and most other front end sheetmetal are toast. My bronco will never be a beauty queen, but I would like to keep it from falling apart as I drive it!

Total sheet metal list will be both floorboards, passenger side striker panel,both kick panels, and last but not least both front inner fenders.:-[

Oh well, at least I've got something to do right?

As I was washing Sandlake off my truck this year I noticed the paint in the rear wheel wells was peeling, exposing original paint, then I noticed the paint was lifting at the quarter panel seam, I knew the seams needed attention, but had never noticed the paint lifting before, and just look at what I found, more original paint, I am heavily leaning toward returning the bronco to this color, The truck already needs repainted, might as well do it while I have the whole front end apart for metal replacement anyway right?

So here is a pic of the paint that was exposed on the quarter panel, I snap some better ones tomorrow, oh and here is a pic of what the paint looks like now, mine is the Christmas colored bronco in the front.

Oh yeah the original color was light copper metallic

 

[regshawn]

It will be hard to get used to your Bronco not being green, but I too like the light copper metallic. Let me know if you need some help in metal replacement (when I'm feeling better) I could give you a hand. And dang, for some reason I really like that picture of the four of you, just looks like a great time.

 

[Mherriford]

Yeah it has been green for nine of the 11 years I have owned it. I never thought I would be willing to tear the whole damn thing apart to change the color again, I always just figured that I would repaint it green. But I REALLY like that copper color, so whatever, I guess I'll tear the damn thing apart again. Why not?