I just bought a 1995 Bronco a few weeks ago. My plan is to drive it around for a while, see what I like and don't like, and then start modifying it. Right now I haven't driven it at all because I'm still waiting on the limited-slip rebuild kit to arrive. It seems to idle well but I've barely driven the thing.

It's California original 1995 Bronco so this means it's factory equipped with mass air, OBD-I, and a roller cam. It also has the E4OD transmission and it has about 160,000 miles on it.

I'm not looking for a ton of horsepower. I will never race it. I probably won't ever rev the motor past 4500. However, I would like gobs and gobs of low-end torque. It will see about 90/10 highway/offroad.

What parts do I need to start looking at? I don't have a set budget and I would like to do all the assembly myself. I wouldn't want to spend more than $3000 or so total although if I could build exactly what I wanted and it was $3500 it wouldn't be a sweat. I've never built a motor before but I know it's not rocket surgery. I'm not against building a 408W either.

So... suggestions?

 

Then that's what you should do. You don't need to go bonkers with the top end maybe just a little more cam and a little bigger heads, longtube headers and a 393 or 408 stroker kit and you got the better part of 500 ft/lbs of torque.

 

Long tube headers are illegal, unfortunately, and I can't pass smog with them.

Can you recommend a cam? And would I better off porting the heads I have vs. buying new ones?

 

If you want torque, can you get smogged with tri-Y headers? They are designed for Torque down low and they sound great.

 

I don't believe that is true as I know of other California residents that have passed emissions with longtubes. CARB certified headers would take all the guesswork out of it so you probably want to find a set of those just to be safe, but if you end up using shorties then that's not the end of the world.


Cam suggestions would include the Comp 35-349-8, 35-512-8, 35-320-8. The stock heads are brutally small for a stock motor so even professional porting can only do so much, untouched GT40s are as good as ported stock heads, and something like an Edelbrock Performer is as good as ported GT40s. Optimal heads for 351 based stroker would be something like an AFR 205 just to put it in perspective, but heads that big will require a matching intake and much larger injectors and MAF meter since at that level the motor would be making a lot more power than a stock 460.

 

I think you'd be better off leaving the motor alone and just changing the gear ratio in the differentials. You'd get more bang for the buck and no worries about emissions tests. There are some minor things you could do though once this is done, like changing the rockers to full roller 1.7's, a drop in K&N filter, shorty's and a free-r flowing exhaust, you don't have mass-air EFI, so you're pretty limited as to engine upgrades without getting into the computer.

 

A '95 Bronco should definitely be mass air and if it's a native Cali truck it could even be OBD2.

 

As the OP says, it's mass air and OBD-I.

 

Thought mass air started on the 351's in 96 ? Both my 95 Van and pickup's 351 had SD.

 

Not in California, Massachusetts, and one other state that I can't remember right now.