12-07-2011, 11:34 AM
This isnât actually a build thread, more of a âbuiltâ thread, but Chuck asked me to do it, so here it is.
First a little background. Iâve had the Bronco for close to 20 years now, it was my daily driver for about 8 years, never did much off road, nothing more than rough gravel roads. It was cut with rear flares, but sat on a stock suspension and 31's. Had a lot of fun driving it, but I eventually got a second vehicle so it sat unused for almost 4 years until the first rebuild started in 2000. I had wanted to get the Bronco back on the road, but it wouldnât start. Nothing electrical worked and we couldnât figure it out. Looking at the mess the original harness was in I was surprised it hadnât burned to the ground years before, so I figured I would just install a new one. When I started to remove the old wiring, I couldnât help but think it would be nice not to have to look at the road through the floor and the drivers kick panel, and the paint was really bad, and there was more rust in places, so the major re-build began. It took me almost 2 years to tear it down and re-build it and finally get the new wiring installed, it was a great day to finally hear the engine running again. During the re-build, I replace any sheet metal that had significant rust in it, did a few upgrades and got the seats recovered.
At that time it was sporting 31âs stock gears, 4 barrel carb, stock exhaust manifolds and a cheap JC Whitney dual exhaust system. It now looked great and ran well, but I started to wheel it and soon realized I needed to go bigger.. Around 2004-2005 I started the 2nd build. This time it was new gears, new axles, lockers, lift kit and 33âs (the biggest tire I was going to ever run - yea right). It wheeled great, and I ran those 33âs for one season and bought the 36âs, and of course had to cut more sheet metal, add bigger flares, etc. Only real problems I had wheeling were with the carb. I went through a couple different ones and even changed intakes, but I just couldnât get it to run the way I wanted. I had been collecting parts for about a year to convert to EFI and one winter afternoon in 09 I wanted to move the Bronco out of the garage and it wouldnât start. Frustrated, I pulled the carb and intake that day and started the EFI install. Parts wise, I only needed a few things, the real work was with the wiring harness. I simply refused to spend the money on a new one so I set out on the task of converting a Mustang harness. The first wire I cut was the scariest, after that it got easier and with a good wiring diagram and a bit of time, I made it all work,. Best thing is that the engine fired the first time and there were no error codes, I was now fuel injected.
Since then there have been little upgrades done along the way. I eventually added a ram assist, did a rear disc brake conversion and added a hydroboost brake system. I re-did the exhaust and some other modifications last winter. Iâm sure I will never call it âdoneâ but right now itâs really close to being exactly what I want it to be, at least until the next latest and greatest upgrade comes along.
Here are the specs. Iâll try to get some pics posted of the mods soon.
1973 Ford Bronco Sport
Engine
Year - rebuild 1986 HO block bored .30 over RV type cam.
Converted to 1990 5.0 Ford Mustang EFI mass air flow
Cooling - 4 Core Copper Radiator, BC Broncos Radiator Guard, Toms Radiator shroud
Exhaust - Wild Horses Ceramic shorties with custom dual 2.5â pipes into a single Magnaflow muffler with 3â exit pipe.
Drive Train
Transmission - Beefed up C-4 Automatic
Transfer Case - Dana 20 - J-Shift with WH Twin Stick and Tera Low gearset
Front Axle - Dana 44 with Warn CM axles and Longfield U-Joints
Front Diff - 4.56 gears with Detroit EZ Locker
Hubs - Warn Premium
Rear Axle - Ford 9â with shaved housing, 31 spline Yukon CM Axles
Rear Diff - 4.56 gears with Detroit Locker
Suspension
Front â CAGE Offroad 3.5â coils
Shock Hoops â Protofab Shock Hoop Front - CAGE Offroad Rear Shock Mounts
Radius Arms - CAGE Offroad Long Arms
Shocks - CAGE Offorad for 3.5â lift
Trac Bar - Heim Jointed Adjustable
Rear - 3.5â Wild Horses 11 Pack Leaf Springs
Homemade rear traction/anti-wrap bar
Steering/Brakes
Gear Box - 1976 Power Steering tapped for Ram assist
AGR - Ram assist mounted to Drag Link
Steering Control - Heim jointed Over Knuckle System
Brakes - Hydroboost Ford Discs Front with â78 Thunderbird calipers, Rear disc conversion with Cadillac calipers with e-brake
Tires - 13.5âx36x15â Interco IROK
Wheels - Aluminum Eagle 589âs
Brake Hoses - Braded Stainless/Hard Tubing (No Rubber Lines)
Body
Flares - Gorilla Wareflares mounted as high as possible
Front Bumper - Homemade with Superwinch 9000lb winch wired for in-cab controlls
Rear Bumper - Homemade
Rock Protection - Homemade Rocker skids
Paint - Diamont 2000 Ford Denim Blue
Interior
Seats - PRP Daily Drivers with custom made mounts
Belts - 4pt harness
Gauges - Stock except added tach
Steering Wheel - removable/lockable Grant
Roll Bar - 6 point Protofab cage
Floors - Sprayed in SEM tintable Bedliner
Stereo - Amplifieer with wakeboard speaker pods with i-pod input.
CB - Cobra 19 CB radio
First a little background. Iâve had the Bronco for close to 20 years now, it was my daily driver for about 8 years, never did much off road, nothing more than rough gravel roads. It was cut with rear flares, but sat on a stock suspension and 31's. Had a lot of fun driving it, but I eventually got a second vehicle so it sat unused for almost 4 years until the first rebuild started in 2000. I had wanted to get the Bronco back on the road, but it wouldnât start. Nothing electrical worked and we couldnât figure it out. Looking at the mess the original harness was in I was surprised it hadnât burned to the ground years before, so I figured I would just install a new one. When I started to remove the old wiring, I couldnât help but think it would be nice not to have to look at the road through the floor and the drivers kick panel, and the paint was really bad, and there was more rust in places, so the major re-build began. It took me almost 2 years to tear it down and re-build it and finally get the new wiring installed, it was a great day to finally hear the engine running again. During the re-build, I replace any sheet metal that had significant rust in it, did a few upgrades and got the seats recovered.
At that time it was sporting 31âs stock gears, 4 barrel carb, stock exhaust manifolds and a cheap JC Whitney dual exhaust system. It now looked great and ran well, but I started to wheel it and soon realized I needed to go bigger.. Around 2004-2005 I started the 2nd build. This time it was new gears, new axles, lockers, lift kit and 33âs (the biggest tire I was going to ever run - yea right). It wheeled great, and I ran those 33âs for one season and bought the 36âs, and of course had to cut more sheet metal, add bigger flares, etc. Only real problems I had wheeling were with the carb. I went through a couple different ones and even changed intakes, but I just couldnât get it to run the way I wanted. I had been collecting parts for about a year to convert to EFI and one winter afternoon in 09 I wanted to move the Bronco out of the garage and it wouldnât start. Frustrated, I pulled the carb and intake that day and started the EFI install. Parts wise, I only needed a few things, the real work was with the wiring harness. I simply refused to spend the money on a new one so I set out on the task of converting a Mustang harness. The first wire I cut was the scariest, after that it got easier and with a good wiring diagram and a bit of time, I made it all work,. Best thing is that the engine fired the first time and there were no error codes, I was now fuel injected.
Since then there have been little upgrades done along the way. I eventually added a ram assist, did a rear disc brake conversion and added a hydroboost brake system. I re-did the exhaust and some other modifications last winter. Iâm sure I will never call it âdoneâ but right now itâs really close to being exactly what I want it to be, at least until the next latest and greatest upgrade comes along.
Here are the specs. Iâll try to get some pics posted of the mods soon.
1973 Ford Bronco Sport
Engine
Year - rebuild 1986 HO block bored .30 over RV type cam.
Converted to 1990 5.0 Ford Mustang EFI mass air flow
Cooling - 4 Core Copper Radiator, BC Broncos Radiator Guard, Toms Radiator shroud
Exhaust - Wild Horses Ceramic shorties with custom dual 2.5â pipes into a single Magnaflow muffler with 3â exit pipe.
Drive Train
Transmission - Beefed up C-4 Automatic
Transfer Case - Dana 20 - J-Shift with WH Twin Stick and Tera Low gearset
Front Axle - Dana 44 with Warn CM axles and Longfield U-Joints
Front Diff - 4.56 gears with Detroit EZ Locker
Hubs - Warn Premium
Rear Axle - Ford 9â with shaved housing, 31 spline Yukon CM Axles
Rear Diff - 4.56 gears with Detroit Locker
Suspension
Front â CAGE Offroad 3.5â coils
Shock Hoops â Protofab Shock Hoop Front - CAGE Offroad Rear Shock Mounts
Radius Arms - CAGE Offroad Long Arms
Shocks - CAGE Offorad for 3.5â lift
Trac Bar - Heim Jointed Adjustable
Rear - 3.5â Wild Horses 11 Pack Leaf Springs
Homemade rear traction/anti-wrap bar
Steering/Brakes
Gear Box - 1976 Power Steering tapped for Ram assist
AGR - Ram assist mounted to Drag Link
Steering Control - Heim jointed Over Knuckle System
Brakes - Hydroboost Ford Discs Front with â78 Thunderbird calipers, Rear disc conversion with Cadillac calipers with e-brake
Tires - 13.5âx36x15â Interco IROK
Wheels - Aluminum Eagle 589âs
Brake Hoses - Braded Stainless/Hard Tubing (No Rubber Lines)
Body
Flares - Gorilla Wareflares mounted as high as possible
Front Bumper - Homemade with Superwinch 9000lb winch wired for in-cab controlls
Rear Bumper - Homemade
Rock Protection - Homemade Rocker skids
Paint - Diamont 2000 Ford Denim Blue
Interior
Seats - PRP Daily Drivers with custom made mounts
Belts - 4pt harness
Gauges - Stock except added tach
Steering Wheel - removable/lockable Grant
Roll Bar - 6 point Protofab cage
Floors - Sprayed in SEM tintable Bedliner
Stereo - Amplifieer with wakeboard speaker pods with i-pod input.
CB - Cobra 19 CB radio
'73 Bronco - trail modified