Smith Racing 1978 bronco build.

[baja-chris]

In our case, where we do everything ourselves so there is no labor cost, the cost of the 4-link would pay for itself in 1 season due to reduced costs for leaf rebuilds and bushing replacements. Coils last many years. Heims a season if sized right. Leafs and bushings 1 race.

BTW, technically it's not legal to put TTB on a frame that came with a solid axle even in class 8. Supposed to keep the front suspension and spring concept same as delivered for that frame. Not that I care, I think the class 3 rules are too restrictive eliminating entries such as Dave Moore, Billy Bunch to name two who have said they would be racing class 3 if they were legal.

[Rmc]

I still don't understand why your leafs are getting that beat up that fast Chris, I never had the issues you guys talk about on my prerunners but then agian I didn't go maxed out for 10+ hours straight either. Hope you guys get that stuff sorted out. Sorry for the thread derail there too.

[Smith racing]

We would build all our own parts to begin with and what if we said we put a 78 body on a 90 bronco frame.

[baja-chris]

78 body on a 90 frame is totally legal, always has been. And now with the "chris wilson rule" you can modify that body to make it fit or look better if you like.
but if it's actually a 78 frame and you say it's a 90 frame and you put 90 suspension design on it, then technically it's not legal.
but would anyone care? i doubt it. would anyone be able to tell? i doubt it. would anyone bother to even try to check it? i doubt it.
but it sure would suck to have something like a baja 1000 win taken away so better to just do it legal in my opinion.
why not put a 90 frame in it? we swapped the frame out of a stock full once, it had been repaired too many times for our liking, and it was not that hard.

[baja-chris]

I still don't understand why your leafs are getting that beat up that fast Chris, I never had the issues you guys talk about on my prerunners but then agian I didn't go maxed out for 10+ hours straight either. Hope you guys get that stuff sorted out. Sorry for the thread derail there too.

we have yet to have a leaf failure on the race bronco. on the first outing we had the truck under-sprung because we guessed wrong on the weight and just ran what we had.
the leafs work great. but as we did in stock full, we service the leafs each race. and that is a lot of work and not free. this is my point. for us, coilovers/links are cheaper and less work.
btw, the leafs on my prerun bronco last a few years, many 1000's of race course miles. but racing is harder on leafs than prerunning.
and a dnf on a prerun is more tolerable than a dnf in a race. i run leafs on the prerun bronco until they actually fail then field fix, limp home and repair.
for the race bronco we try to avoid this with frequent rebuilds. i would guess we are not the only ones. i'd be surprised if Moss did not service leafs between san felipe and the 500, and between the 500 and 1000.

[Smith racing]

Just want to say thanks to you guys that gave your opinion on going ttd and 4 link, but now that I'm thinking about it were just going to keep our set-up we have and just play around with our suspension and just keep upgrading the stuff that needs to be upgraded. Our next race is on Memorial day weekend in Texas, so i will update you guys on what we are doing to the bronco before the race.

[Smith racing]

Finished installing the lights to the new light bar we got.

[Rmc]

Sweet! I wanna see that bad boy mounted up.

[Smith racing]

Mounted the new light bar

[Rmc]

Nice!looks good. When's the next race?

[Smith racing]

Thanks, and the next race is Memorial day weekend in El Paso

[Rmc]

Sweet. See if you can get some video footage. Out of curiosity, have you ever tried racing it with the top on or will it end up self destructing? Either dammage the bed/roof or crack up the top.

[Smith racing]

We will get more footage on this next race, and no we've never raced it with the shell on it, we just put the shell on it to store it and keep the neighbors happy

[Smith racing]

Light bar all lit up.

[Smith racing]

Today we finished up wiring the light bar, we put a spacer in between the carb and manifold so the air cleaner sticks out farther, and we moved the old amber light that was in the back up to the front so we now have two up front.

[Smith racing]

More updates.

[cdnbronco]

Men keep the updates coming. It gets me motivated to work on mine!
How is the Dana 44 holding on with the desert abuse?
Are you still running the 1310 U-Joints?

[Smith racing]

Will do, and the Dana leaks from every crevice but it does great during the races, and were running factory dana parts from Bronco Grave Yard.

[Smith racing]

Look were shooting for.

[Rmc]

Those lights will help a ton. I'm hoping there a euro type pattern as the pencils are waisted light ( in the hella brand anyway) the euros go just as far and have a bit broader pattern. 4 on the front of mine is great but at this point ill be adding more foreground light. Keep up the progress it's looking good.