Thinkin about trading my 86 bronco. Im going to college and i need a smaller vehicle (ranger 4x4 maybe?) with better mpgs than the 302 is offering me. Any ideas?

 

Find a Bronco II. Its smaller and looks like the full sized Bronco. The MPG's would be better than a full size but it still a truck, on the 89 B2 I had I got about 17 to 19 MPG's

 

Well I assume you mean private party trade or sell the Bronco and buy something else. I can't see any dealer taking an 86 in on trade and not raking you over the coals on it.

What condition is your Bronco in? If you've kept up on it and it needs very little it might be best to keep it. You're either going to pay a lot to get a newer vehicle or your're going to get one that needs a lot of maintenance. In both cases it'll take a while to recoup your initial outlay with gas savings.

When gas was $3 a gallon I had plenty of people telling me to dump my 86 F150 for a more fuel efficient one. I selected a Toyota Yaris as a sample based on cheap cost and good fuel economy and after calculating selling my 150, and making payments on a new car it would take me almost 6 years to recoup based on gas savings. At which point the Yaris would be pretty worn... So I confirmed my thought and got to tell people to STFU...

Are you commuting to college or living on/near campus? Can you get a cheap econo-box and keep the Bronco? This way you'd have a backup.

Also, how handy are you with fixing the truck. I do all my own work so for me it's not a problem but if you have to pay for the work it makes sense to get something newer. When I did brakes on my 90 Bronco it cost me like $25. A friend had the same thing done on his 94 F150 and it cost him $168... They didn't even turn rotors... I didn't either but I'd be mad as hell if I paid almost $200 and didn't get them turned.

 

Ill be living on campus during the school week and commuting 60 miles to live with my grandma on the weekends. I also do ALL my own work on my vehicles due to the fact that my dad is always working and i live in a town with no mechanics or jobs so i dont have money to pay someone to fix it which doesnt bother me one bit haha ive learned alot. My cousin has 2 bronco IIs that his dad said i could have if i hauled them. V6 motor and 5 spd transmission in a wrecked b2 and a completely gutted (interior and everything) good bodied b2. I wonder if it would be worth my time to actually swap the motor and tranny from the bad one into the good one.

 

I was given 2 bronco IIs by my cousin. One is totalled but the motor and tranny are fine in it and the other one is completely gutted out head to toe even the interior and electrical are gone. Should i use the time necessary to swap the good motor and tranny into the good bronco or just get a running b2 all together

 

If the engine runs it could be a good project. You can use the Full sized bronco for now and work on the B2 on the weekends. As long as you have space to do the work that might be your best bet. Take a good look at both and see what you're missing (ie wrecked on one and missing on the other). As long as you're not missing too much I'd say go for it.

 

Go for it, swap all the goodies into the better chassis vehicle. I would keep the 5 spd manual as the A4ld automatic is the weak link. I went through 2 trannys with my B2 and when the rebuilt one failed, I almost stuffed a 300 I6 in there! But the ex got it, but I may be getting it back. Time and $$ will tell.

What years are the B2's?

 

had an 86' Bronco II...love it!! Decent little 4x4 too!!

 

The wrecked one is a red 87 and the other is a blue 86. My cousin had the 87 bone stock with the five speed and i was really impressed with how much that thing could go through in an unmodified state. I tried beating him out of it many times before he rolled it and then i was talking to his dad and he was like if you can haul them you can have them so i fell into a good circumstance in a way

 

Give me the Bronco, and take the bus to school. ~MPG, and you get good Karma.

 

Gee, I get 17 to 21 out of my full-size truck.

 

300 six, TOD manual, 3.08 gears... Oh and I'll bet you're under 4k in weight...

The EFI 302/AOD combo in the bronco does pretty good but around town I'd say 13-15 is it assuming you drive easy. 50mph on flat roads without a lot of stops and you'd get 18-20.

OP, if you're not getting that you need to review your tuneup and your driving habits. Search for the Six Litre tune. Basically a good set of plugs, wires, cap, rotor AND a good coil. Then you open your plug gaps up. A basic MSD unit would help too just in case you go a tad too far with gaps. Then you bump the timing to 12-14*.

Then there are the other gas saving tips in no exact order. Make sure your truck is as empty as it can be. Extra weight = lower MPG. Pump up the tires and make sure you don't run anything much bigger than stock. I'm a big fan of 31x10.50's and that's what I run on my 86 F150 that has the same drivetrain as you. Make sure your exhaust is efficient; if you have the money a Magnaflow Y pipe ($225) and a simple cat back with a turbo or other similar muffler works great. The stock Y pipe sucks. Make sure your air filter is new. And drive like Grandpa.

That should get you to 12-15 MPG in city traffic and close to 20 highway as long as you keep the speeds down to 50-55. When these trucks were built that was as fast as anyone could legally go so that's what they were optimized for. Today it's 70 and my 05 GT gets better mileage at 70 than 55...

 

Keep the bronco. What are you getting for milage? 12-15? and you know exactly what it is.

You will get something else(your cousins B2) and dump all kinds of money into it it to get only 15-20MPG. Doesn't sound like a good move

 

x2. You're looking at dumping a vehicle that you know to gain ~3-5 MPG (if that). Do the math on how long it will take you to make up the difference.

 

Assuming you drive 12k miles per year and gas costs $3.50 on average if you went from 12mpg to 18mpg you would save $1,167 per year. At $4/gal it would be $1,333.

Now if you went from 12 -> 15 the savings at $3.50 would be only $700/yr and at $4 only $800/yr.

If your Bronco is a POS and needs everything then maintenance is maintenance and you work on the most fuel efficient car you can find. If however your Bronco is maintained and needs practically nothing you have to weigh the costs of getting a new vehicle to similar condition against the fuel savings.

Now, if you're at 10mpg and can do a tuneup on the Bronco and change your driving habits and get to 12 you will see the same savings as going from 12 -> 15... $700/yr at $3.50/gal and $800/yr at $4/gal...

However if the B2 is free and you can do most of the work I would still say do it. If nothing else you could sell it. Just watch how much money you invest with the goal of saving money on fuel. If you can make it a reliable car for say $2k and you intend to keep it for years then over time it'll pay off big. It's just going to take some time to break even.