David's little mule

[Wrightracing.net]

Thanks.

[Wrightracing.net]

So should I steal the motor from my 98 z28 for the Bronco. It was a dealer pace car in Phoenix. My Mom was looking for a convertible and the only one in town at that time was a dealers promotion car used at a Nascar race. It was Red white and blue with promo sponsored stuff. It has a 6speed with a 200mph speedo along with upgraded computer modifications to override the speed governor and let's the car do over 150mph. I had the car in cruise control at 150 going from Phoenix to Sedona and still had some room to go faster but not the balls to. Good thing I had a radar detector. I slowed down just in time to avoid a ticket from AZHP.

How you like the wing. It is right in the middle of the rear view mirror when looking back.

[Rmc]

That would be pretty sicky my friend. I wonder what a bronco would do at 150+ for some reason I picture the hood ripping off or something

[Wrightracing.net]

I have had my Bronco up to 120 mph with the AOD tranny down the grade in to the desert flats of Ocotillo on 8. That is the fastest I could push it and was measured on the Lowrance GPS. I don't know about any faster? :-/ The fiberglass up front was shacking pretty bad. Another reason I am going to re do the whole front core support with a tube one and it will give me more cooler mounting options. I have 4.10 gears now but plan to go with the 4.88 so 150mph may not be in the cards with a C6. Unless I break down and stretch the Bronco and add a Gear Vendor overdrive. Maybe I can crash the rv I have and steal the Gear Vendor and T400 out of it. It's time for a Class A diesel pusher any ways. Thinking out loud.

[Rmc]

Gv is big bucks... I was thinking of you putting the whole Chevy power train in it. 6 speed mmmm 6 speed....( in my Homer Simpson voice)

[Wrightracing.net]

I will most likely stick to a Ford based 351w. I have a 302 in the Bronco now with cam, head, intake and exhaust mods hitting it in the 230-250Hp range. i just got a quote on a build for a 408 stroker that will be around 450hp with aluminum heads and a custom ground cam. He said it will pass smog as long as they don't check the displacement and it will run clean. The cost will be $4600 which is tempting. We will see, I have a complete ground up Honda 310cc two stroke race quad I need to finish and sell, along with a Yamaha Blaster 200 quad I plan to sell to fund the Motor for the Bronco. I have moved to 4 stroke quads now with my Honda TRX450er and a 400ex. 4 stroke motors have come along way from the days when I raced bikes back in the 1980's Back when 4 strokes sucked and 2 strokes trucked. I even had a sticker that said it!!!! Times have changed.

I remember when a Baja race truck was cool if it had stiff suspension, because that was stronger :-\ and John at Auto Fab would put 8 shocks on the front end of a 16" travel kit for our Bronco's. B-)

[Wrightracing.net]

So I am was thinking about my dash layout and center console.

In my Bronco I was fed up with the constant dash shaking. What do you expect from a 1986 Bronco with thousands off road miles in Baja, Dunes and playing around in any dirt I could find. I have been hard on my little mule for the last 22 years I have owned it.

So the dash had to go and a custom one will go in. I have many of my guages. They are Autometer Phantom guages.

I also have an Art Carr shifter and plan to put in a cable shifter for the Np205 transfer case. I want the cable shifter to make the center console easier and to be able to reach the shifter while in the 5 point belts.

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For my light switches I am going with waterproof boat rocker switches. I might paint or cover the panel with carbon fiber wrap.

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I already have two Lowrance 5" GPS units, one for the passenger and driver. I have a Kenwood 110 watt race radio with a remote head and flush mount bracket.

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I have been thinking about a stereo for the Bronco, but I do not want to take up so much space on the dash with a standard 1 din unit.
I found a small JBL 170 Marine stereo with Blue Tooth. It is around the size of a 4" round dash gauge. Also it is waterproof.


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I want to find some small marine speaker I can hide away and I will have it hooked into my intercom so I can listen in when we have our headsets or helmets on. I already have my headset, I have 5 David Clark helicopter headsets and I rewired the plugs for our off road plugs. The helicopter jack is the same as off road but wired different. Easy fix. Then I have helmet kits in my fresh air Pyrotec helmet and on a couple dirt bike helmets. Eventually I would like to have 5 fresh air helmets for the Bronco. It would be nice when running without the shell.

I better get to bed, long day tomarrow. Baja 500 is just around the corner.

[Wrightracing.net]

Today I found a guy that might have an 82 Dana 44 with the bolt on axle. He is going to check tomorrow and if the price is good with shipping I will be good.

[Wrightracing.net]

I have been contemplating changing my 1986 Bronco back to a Carburetor. It was 302 Fuel injected but I am putting in a 351/408w and for smog I can put a smog legal carb in place and after put a good performance carb in.

In 1986 the 351w in a Bronco not Fuel injected, so it would be legal. As for the Carburetor, It is easy maintenance for me because I grew up rebuilding and working on my own trucks. It will simplify alot. Also the tuning for the 408 will be way easier.

[ChaseTruck754]

I say go for it. run the Edelbrock air gap intake manifold (think it's carb legal - may need to check) and have a sweet setup

[Wrightracing.net]

So I was thinking body and pain stuff for the Mule.

I have AutoFab fenders all the way around. Still Grey after running them for a few year's.

I am doing factory White. I have white doors and a tail gate from a donor bronco I striped a few years back and a emerald green hod I picked up off Craigslist for $20 in perfect condition. I am thinking of doing the hood and shell black and the lower rock panels below the trim line with bed liner material in black. The grill and bumpers will be black. I have black soft 8 hole rims.

Nothing fancy. The rear King 3.0 ×18 shocks are glossy black with aluminum top and bottoms. The resivor is glossy black. I am using high temp paint on those.

The front shocks are all Fox 2.5×16. The shock bodies are the standard silver but I am thinking of power coating the springs black.

The engine bay panel's will be Grey High temp paint.

Cage will be black .
Interior will be grey. Seats are grey tweed with black backs. Dash will be grey on top but I was thinking of a carbon fiber wrap over the dash guage panels.

The dash will be simple with two horizontal cross tubes and the dash panel's between them. I want to have it tall enough to recess the Gps for the driver and the passanger. I already have two Lowrance 5" gps. They are older but work well in Mexico and the desert.

The front sh

[Wrightracing.net]

I hate auto correct and lack of edit. Pain was ment to be paint. Yet paint is a pain

[Wrightracing.net]

I also have Auto Meter Phantom Guage ' s.

[Wrightracing.net]

I am also putting a center console in that will go to the dash and have an art Carr shifter, a NP205 cable shifter for the transfer case, Kenwood Tk730H head recessed, in the console and waterproof boat
Switch's. The switch panels are white right now but I plan on painting them or maybe wrap in Carbon fiber film? The panels also have breakers on every swith.

I am going to get one of those JBA boat Stereo ' s with Blue tooth that is the size of a guage pod. I will put in some hidden speaker but also have a line into the intercom for the headset or my Forced air race helmets. I also already have a Sigtronics intercom.

Right now the Bronco is on the trailer at Mom's, but I have parts here at the house I can work on like the hood and fiberglass. I hope to get time to paint those soon.

[Wrightracing.net]

Well it has been a while since I have done some work on the Bronco.

Today I picked up a 0° camber bushing. I am not going to run it on the Bronco, but use it on the beam and knuckle when they are in my new jig for the
Beams. I am going to make a jig, so if I bend or break a beam, I can easily rebuild and replace the beams. Also, it will help keep the ttb housing from warping the housing while welding the truss in place. I originally used a 0° camber bushing at Glen's shop, Complete Fabrication, when he taught me how to do the cut and turn. I will be doing a jig/fixture like Glen does. If you can get your project in to his shop for anything you will not be disappointed.

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[Tchajagos]

What do you use to build a jig with?

[Wrightracing.net]

Square 2x5 .120 mild steel. And .120 double walled plate. Then use upper and lower ball joints, welded in place to locate the cut and turned beam in place for final welding. I plan to make the ball joints adjustable for 3" and 4.5" extended beams.

David...

[Wrightracing.net]

The jig will also be for my radius arms that will be welded and plated to the extended beams. I do have a set of Camburg beams I won in a raffle at the Powder Puff race a few years back. I am still using my stock width mid travel modified Rancho suspension that came off the original owner of ORW, Howard's Bronco. He gave it to me when he went to a Autofab long travel kit back in 1992. My plated and modified Rancho radius arms have done great for 24 years. But now with the extended, cut and turned beams, I am doing a design similar to what Glen from Complete Fabrication.

I will probably sell the Camburg radius arms at some point. I want 4130 arms on the Bronco and I plan on tig welding them. I am an OK mig welder, but I need more practice to be consistent on my Miller tig welder.

David...

[ChaseTruck754]

Here's a few pics of the fixture (jig) Glen did for the beams on Chris Wilson's bronco. You can make a fixture out of all sorts of stuff but general point is to kae it out of something strong enough to keep the parts in place & from being able to warp during the weld up process.

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Notice the bolts in the round tube under the lower ball joint here.

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Ball joints are welded to the fixture to keep the ball joint spread correct when doing your C & T.

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Here the beam has been cut & the end slid out (bolts in the tube under bottom ball joint = allow fixture to move for beam widen)

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[Wrightracing.net]

Yep, that is the same jig Glen used on my Beams when he showed me how
To do the cut and turn on the lower ball joint for my Bronco. Glen uses a 0° bushing on the upper ball joint to give a baseline for a good alignment.

That is the basic design of jig I am going with.

David...