GoFastBroncos.com

C'mon EB guys, let's see those rides!

In a shameless effort to get the EB section of the site going, here's mine.

Nice flex.... Those airbags?

Very nice!

Damn!

So tell us a little bit about your rig, engine/trans mods ect. I for one am very curious due to smog laws not applying. I know if I were in your shoes I'd want gobs of hp. Sadly most of us are stuck within the confines of carb legal junk aka no fun lol.

Sweet truck! Thanks for getting the ball rolling.

Front axle is a high pinion Dana 44 from a '78 F250 so it's got the big twin piston brakes. The diff is an ARB with 4.88 gears. Chromemoly axleshafts with CTM joints. Yes those are Goodyear 14" travel air bags at all 4 corners.

The rear axle is a Sterling 10.25" with a Lockright and 4.88 gears. I converted it to disk brakes with Dodge rotors and the big 1 ton GM calipers.

I'm using custom 10" extended front radius arms and, on the left side, I welded stock control arm wedges to the axle so I can use either factory or aftermarket busings. On the right side, I never welded the wedges to the axle tube. Instead, I machined the wedges with extra clearance so I could wrap a delrin tube around the axle before bolting on the radius arm, bushings, and wedges. This acts like a wristed radius arm but the center of rotation of the wrist is actually the center of the axle tube. Then, to locate the right radius arm, I have a short link that connects back to the axle housing near the diff casting. Clearly I need to provide a picture because my description sucks. The short story is that there is zero articulation bind in the front suspension.

The rear is also unique in that it's basically a 2 link. I've heard it described as a trailer ball suspension. It's got a trackbar for lateral location and a large A-frame that extends forward from the axle with the point of the "A" being a stud bushing at the middle of a cross member in the frame. Again, zero articulation bind.

The engine is a '69 351W block with a Coast High Performance "427" stroker bottom end. It actually displaces 425.5 inches (4.030" bore and the stroke is 4.170"). Cylinder heads are old TFS Twisted Wedge high ports. The cam is a custom Crower grind hydraulic roller that made 425 hp in their computer simulator with my setup. I'm running solid roller lifters with .002" lash because this cam replaced a solid roller I had in it and I didn't want to spring for new lifters if I didn't have to. Intake is TFS upper and lower. I'm running injection based on a stock Mustang computer with a 90mm throttle body, 90mm mass air sensor, 36 lb/hr injectors and a Aeromotive fuel pump. Exhaust is 1-5/8" primary tube equal length shorties from a Mustang running into 2.5" pipes that merge into a single 3.5" pipe. I'm currently working on tuning the computer because it's awfully confused by this engine. I just recently completed fabbing a custom serpentine accessory drive for the front of the engine using a short explorer water pump. I have a York A/C compressor serving duty as an air compressor, a Saginaw power steering pump, a high ouput 3G Ford 2-wire alternator and a Sanden 5 cylinder A/C compressor. The Sanden was just me planning ahead for a time when I might install air conditioning. It's not hooked up to anything at the moment.

The transmissionis a NP435 granny truck 4 speed and the t-case is the stock Dana 20.

Clearly I built it as a rock crawler with 2 major weaknesses - the front Dana 44 and the stock transfercase. My intended use has been changing as of late. Thinking about building it in the direction of an expedition rig with high speed capabilities. That means that the front axle will be just fine the way it is but the suspension needs work.

As a rock crawler, it works great as long as the trails don't get too extreme and I don't get into anything that'll break the t-case rear output or the front axle. However, it's somewhat terrifying to drive at speed due to the fact that the air bags have super low spring rates and there's no lateral stiffness at all in either the front or the rear suspensions - no sway bars. Plus, for spirited driving, the four speed just doesn't cut it. The gaps between the gears are just too wide.

All that being said, future plans include a T56 6-speed tranny, an NWF black box underdrive, an Atlas 5:1 transfer case, Light Racing jounce shocks all around, front and rear disconnectable sway bars, and some serious shock and sway bar tuning. Incidentally, spring rate tuning with airbags is super easy. A little antifreeze poured into each bag will remove air volume and raise the spring rate. Just have to be careful not to pour in too much or risk hydraulic locking the bag.

Oh yeah, and a few more details - Cooling is from a '95 vintage Ford Explorer radiator with a Lincoln Mark 8 electric fan. Works great to cool that engine by the way. The brake booster is a GM hydroboost unit adapted from a GM 3/4 ton van I found in the junkyard. The steering is a mid to late 70's F150 4x4 steering box. When I built the suspension, I extended the front axle forward 4" and the rear axle back 2". 21 gallon fuel tank. Roll cage is a crappy setup I installed back in high school (yes, I've had this rig for a loooong time - bought it in '89 and been modifying it ever since) so it needs a new cage. There's more but it's mostly boring...in case all that I've said so far wasn't.

Sounds (and looks) like one heck of a rig!

Thanks! I've had it since high-school (almost 25 years now) and have been modifying it almost since day one. The way I figure, I've actually done a crappy job on it because I should be a lot farther along than I am after that much time.

At least you're driving & enjoying yours. More than I can say about any of mine at this point! If I had something cooler than a '90 Mazda pickup when I was in high school maybe I'd still have it & be enjoying it. Probably not though with my track record...

yellowbronco wrote:Thanks! I've had it since high-school (almost 25 years now) and have been modifying it almost since day one. The way I figure, I've actually done a crappy job on it because I should be a lot farther along than I am after that much time.

Haha! That's awesome. You'll fit right in here for sure. Not too many ballers on this site. Love your Bronco. My Dad had a banana yellow '67/68?? Bought it new. More pictures!

Ya man that's a heck of a parts list, sounds like a great combination for your needs. So what's next? Are going to convert to coil overs or stick with the airbag set up? As far as high speed stuff I for one have no idea about the durability of airbags in a higher speed application. Most crawler guys I know use those walker Evans air shocks on there rigs. I guess looking into what the king of the hammers crowd runs wouldn't hurt, they do both.

Rubicon last summer



Did great until the 3/4" stainless allthread I used as the stud holding the rear suspension together gave up.



We got it chained together and limped off the trail under our own power. Rear suspension is now held together with a 7/8" grade 8 bolt. We'll see if it holds up. The previous setup held for years and years and the new solution is at least twice as strong. Typical work-hardening and then it snapped at a thread. Now I'm on bolt shank so there's no thread to snap.

Leaning away from a rock that got everyone else's door.



Workin on the fix to get us outta there.



I'll work on getting some detail shots of the suspension but, if it takes me a while, you'll understand because I've got a lot of projects.

1970 BMW 2002 with a 5.0 Windsor V8.



Yep, it fits...so far.

NICE!! My buddy has a 2002 with Honda S2000 motor and 6 speed trans in it.

It looks pretty where ever u took those pics at where the broken rear end thing happened. What state were u in?

Rmc wrote:Ya man that's a heck of a parts list, sounds like a great combination for your needs. So what's next? Are going to convert to coil overs or stick with the airbag set up? As far as high speed stuff I for one have no idea about the durability of airbags in a higher speed application. Most crawler guys I know use those walker Evans air shocks on there rigs. I guess looking into what the king of the hammers crowd runs wouldn't hurt, they do both.

I've got no beef at all with the airbags. When the rear suspension broke last summer, the axle walked a bunch (as you can see in the pictures) and tore the right rear bag enough that it wouldn't hold air. Plus, the left front was leaking back through a control valve and wouldn't hold for more than a few minutes. No problem, I compensated by adding more pressure to the right front and left rear bags. Held me up just fine for finishing the trail.

The bags are also really handy around the house. I've unseated tire beads by airing it up, sliding the tire under the front bumper, attaching a debeading tool I have for just this sort of thing and then dropping the weight of the rig down on the tire. I also used it to load an oven in the back of my truck. I had no help and couldn't lift it up there by myself so I aired the front all the way up and the back all the way down. This put the tailgate only a few inches off the ground where I could then tie the oven in place. Aired it up in the back and slid it across into my truck. I also have a hitch hauler for my motorcycles that plugs into the receiver in the back bumper. It's not quite such a heave-ho to get a bike on there with the suspension all the way down.

Plus, as I mentioned before, tuning the suspension is a lot easier than trying a coil rate, finding that it's not what you need, and then exchanging coils for what you do need...only to find that it's still not right. You just add a little antifreeze (carefully measured) to each bag until you get the performance you're looking for.

The air bags can compensate for different loads very easily as well. If you're going for a long weekend on the trail with your girl, your kids, your dog, all the gear, food, fuel, tools, guns, ammo, etc. No problem, it just takes a little extra pressure in the bags to carry the load. If you're headed out to do a little wheeling after work with some friends and you're not carrying all that stuff, no problem. The bags will need less pressure.

My setup has 4 manual directional control valves mounted to a plate between the front seats and it's all plumbed to a tank that's maintained between 80 and 145 psi by the York compressor and a pressure switch. The bags are rated to 100 psi and I find they hold the rig up just fine between 30 and 40 psi depending on the amount of crap I'm carrying with me. Just going to and from work it wants about 38 psi in the front bags and 32 psi in the rear. I can tell that I'm getting a little too fat because the left bags want a little more pressure than the right bags. So...apparently my Bronco makes my butt look fat.

No, the future is not about switching to coils. It's all about fine tuning what I've got, making it more capable at speed and more civilized to drive so I don't have to get my wife a Polaris RZR. I'll be happy if I can stick her and the baby in the Bronco while I lead the way on the motorcycle. If I look back and she's keeping up, then I'll consider it a success. I just hope she'll let me borrow it back every once in a while.

Rmc wrote:It looks pretty where ever u took those pics at where the broken rear end thing happened. What state were u in?

Rubicon Trail, Lake Tahoe National Forest Nor Cal

Nice project for that 2002. I bet that thing will scoot! I've seen the 2002's with all sorts of motor combos. I think my favorite was a current (at the time - around 2001) M3 motor in one.

My buddy tried a bit to talk me into putting a 302 in my previous Alfa Romeo GTV but I didn't have the time at that point. Sold that car (a '71 euro import) and replaced it with my current '72 (US version) a few years later. I'm almost tempted to think about it, but I need another project like I need another hole in my head!