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Welcome Early Bronco owners!
Post up some pictures of your rides and share some of your go-fast or hard-use knowledge in our tech area. Thanks for joining!
I will start by saying this is going to be a Go Fast Project. I know where I want to end up (Everyman Challenge) but I have some time before I'm ready for that level of racing. I want to do a major off-road race in the next seven years. Plan is to build a stock class EB: 347/C4/ possibly NP205, 35" Cooper Discover STTs. It all started with a frame, then a tub, then piece by piece... My friend has a sandblaster so everything cleans cleaned up then primed.
Thanks. I am open to suggestions, I've never built one like this so comment away. New adventure and new territory. Full width axles from a '79 F150 soon to have a complete rebuild with 4:56, drive flanges, Detroits front and rear. Picking up a 78 Ford Bronco steering box for the 4x4x2 conversion and a NP205 this weekend. Not sure if I ultimately want the NP205 due to lack of low gearing but it's cheap and tough as nails so I'll use it. Moss Bros and Mark Noto run it in "Super Truck" with no issues so I'll give it a go. Also picking up this weekend a 302 from a 75 Bronco for FREE! Still in the initial parts gathering phase.
Personally I'd say maybe the 5.5" lift and skip the body lift. Or I guess the 3.5" and go with the body lift if that's what you'd prefer. I'm all about keeping things as low as possibly while still clearing the tires though
I would love to run a C6, have a small block one sitting in my garage. Can't though, have to run a transmission that was available to that make/model/year. That leaves me two options: C4 or that 3 speed everybody hates.
Learning as I go too. Have a friend who wants to swap me his D20 for it now, so I may go that route and upgrade the output shaft. Isn't there a guy who sells a D20 upgrade kit he designed? AA doesn't make an adaptor for it but there is a Klune trick to get it done from what I'm reading. It does work but not popular so there's not a lot of info from what I've found.
If you want any handling at all on an EB you dont want anything above 3.5"--a 1" bodylift is a great idea but I wouldn't ever add more than that. A 5.5" lift on an EB is way to sloppy for any handling to work. In order to get full and complete upward wheel travel you need to move the tracbar mount back about 1". The 3 speed is good for mockup as its identical to the C4 length wise but its not good for much. If you can run a HP front end you wont be killing front driveshafts-- another reason you dont want to run more than 3.5" of lift.
VintageIronFab wrote:If you want any handling at all on an EB you dont want anything above 3.5"--a 1" bodylift is a great idea but I wouldn't ever add more than that. A 5.5" lift on an EB is way to sloppy for any handling to work. In order to get full and complete upward wheel travel you need to move the tracbar mount back about 1". The 3 speed is good for mockup as its identical to the C4 length wise but its not good for much. If you can run a HP front end you wont be killing front driveshafts-- another reason you dont want to run more than 3.5" of lift.
Great info. I've never heard the tracbar trick of moving it back, will give it a shot.
Picked up my steering box, tcase, and engine this weekend. I want to dig into the engine but going to stay focused and stick to Stage 1: Axles and suspension. Goal is to have a rolling chassis that is fully set up before diving into other areas of the Bronco.
Bought a 78 Bronco Ranger XLT for $200.... Then I bought a doubler for it so that makes three Broncos I'm building. This 74 EB is slowly coming along, got the engine disassembled and the front D44.
Well, you are a bit ahead of me. I'll be starting my build here in the next few weeks. Gonna do the same as far as tearing down, blasting and painting the frame, but I am going in a little different direction on the build. Best of luck, and HAPPY BUILDING!
I cannot believe how fast time has flown. I've blasted the tub and primed it and set it on top of a rolling frame. I've bought 2 more Broncos since last year so this build is very slow and won't be a go fast anymore. I bought some Super Duty axles for it so it will be an off-road beast.
Here's a 75 I bought that was a mud racer and my new go fast Bronco to replace the original post. It has a new 351, auto, ps, and 3.5 coils in the front. This Bronco still has the original seats, rubber mat, and a bunch of other untouched things despite what it looks like with the quick red paint job.