I always had a love for Bronco's. One of My first memories as a child was riding in the back of my grandfather's 80 bronco when it was almost new. I tracked down that bronco and bought it. That will be a later project though.

I just bought a 79 bronco that was intended to be used as a parts truck for a better one. I traded a 72 f100 for a 78 bronco a couple weeks ago and it was exactly what I was looking for!!

Here is the new 78 project.



Its kind of a bad picture but don't worry, there will be lots more to come. The picture is the one that the seller sent to me. I made the deal pretty much without looking at it. There is not many broncos around here in Amarillo, TX within the 78-79 models.

Here is the parts 79 bronco I scored in Oklahoma. It has a great body with no holes, large dents, or anything:


As soon as I have taken all the parts I need off this one, I will gladly share anything I have with the rest of the bronco guys. I have no intentions of letting this go to the crusher. They did enough of that during "cash for clunkers". They are not making any more and this is the best SUV around.

This is not going to be a frame-off resto or anything, just a place for me to log progress and get any tips and advice from those of you that have already "been there and done that".

I am not looking at spending a lot of money on cool little useless gadgets and trinkets and stuff. We have some of the best off-roading available here and I plan on wheeling pretty good in mine.

I will have to play catch-up for the last two weeks of working on it so this thread will probably grow pretty quick.

Any advice or ideas is greatly welcomed!!

~Justin

 

OK, here are a few more pictures so you can get a better idea of what Im dealing with:


I guess this what you get when you buy without viewing first. I guess a test drive is out of the question.


I need a driver side headlight bezel.


Straight body.


Gotta love the "custom" sticker.


The only decent tire left on it.


Needs some work.


More work...


This HAS to go!!!


Where the magic happens...


Tired old 351m

 

I got bored on Friday night and since I'm a night shifter, I called over some help started to prep for the heart transplant. It just so happens that I have a built 408 sitting around in the garage. I'll get more specs and pictures on that in a couple of days.

 

I'm sure you guys are going to give me all kinds of grief for this but here is the color I'm painting the engine.



I made some engine/transmission alignment studs from these bolts:

 

Looks good so far Justin. I've always wanted a 78-79 Bronco. Keep up the good work, a 408 should be alot of fun.

 

Thanks a lot man. To be honest, I'm not sure what to expect from this motor. Let me give you the rundown and maybe you will be able to fill be in.

I got the motor with my parts bronco. The guy works in a machine/engine building shop. He had to get rid of it all because of a new baby and new house and angry wife..... Here is what I know:

400 bored .030 over
Aussie 4v heads (closed chamber)
Block and heads were machined
Gasket match port and polish
Hyperutectic Pistons
RV Cam

I have an Edelbrock intake for it, Long tube headers, Edelbrock 1406 600cfm carb. Everything else is pretty much stock. I have built a few chevy motors in the past and a couple of Jeep motors but not a Ford.

What are your thoughts on the motor?

 

Well the 400 is both a great and poor motor. It was great for the time, but as emissions changed the motor was designed completely around the older standards, thus dramatically shortening its lifespan. There are a good many debates over whether they are good or not, but I had a 78 F150 with a 400 and it was a blast, plus it was easy to work on.

Anyway, The Aussie heads were supposed to give a slight bump in compression IIRC. The list there is a bit padded, obviously if the block was bored it would have been machined...port and polish gasket match is nice, until you replace a gasket then all that work has to be re-done to match the gasket with the ports. The RV cam should give it a nice bump in power and idle as long as you time it right (not to 78 standards lol).

I do feel that the carb may be a bit small for the motor. I am looking at that carb for my 302, I feel you should be looking more at a 650 or a 670 to be able to fully utilize the motor.

 

The white one is very nice!

Man I wish I could get my hands on a tub that clean, this should be a great build to watch...

 

Yeah, the carb kinda sucks for the motor. I'll see what I can find on ebay or something. I have a 1407 edelbrock but it's a 750 cfm. While I have the motor on a stand, do you think it would be worth anything to get some straight up timing to get rid of the 2 degree ofset? I hear that helps with the torque band at lower rpm's.

 

I think with the 408 going you won't have to worry much about low end torque, the 400 is a torque monster!

 

I'm getting rid of the parts bronco body when I've got all my stuff from it. I won't let it get crushed. It even has a clear title.

Vehicles don't rust as much here. They don't salt in the winter for the occasional snow and the humidity is usually very low.

 

Straight up timing would help alot, you may be able to gap the plugs a bit more too.

BTW if you want to sell that 1406 let me know, I'm looking for one.

 

Great, just great. Now I am gonna be online looking for "noisy" gear drive timing. The thread has been up for 8 hours I'm getting off track. Actually I just texted the Guy and he said it already has straight up timing. I guess I got a pretty good surprise.

 

Ok, I couldn't always ask myself if the motor was put together correctly so I decided to start tearing it apart and retorquing everything properly. It seems that everything I checked was done properly so I didn't break down anymore,

The motor has been sitting for a couple of years since the build. The internals look pretty good aside from a little surface rust on the passages. The valves all looked pretty good. I am starting to question whether or not the heads are Aussie heads. I don't know enough about that but I'll do a little research and report back.

The timing is NOT straight up timing. I did break it down that far and confirmed that one to be false. I am not sure the PO knew what I meant when I called him yesterday. Here is a picture of what I have so far. The intake that is on there is not going to stay for too long. As soon as I can afford a new one, It will be replaced. I believe in functionality over appearance anyways. If it's too pretty then I won't wanna hit the mud with it.



I thought the green was a little different and I had a couple of cans from a previous project. I prefer not to have any chrome. Oh and that's not a really thin air filter, I just forgot to pick up a new one yet. I think I'll get the motor in the truck tomorrow.

 

Can somebody tell me the differences between these two radiators? The one on the right (bigger) came from the 79 parts bronco and the smaller one came from the 78. I know that bigger radiators mean bigger cooling but I have read that there is three different ones. I just don't know if it is the "supercool" radiator or not. Either way, I'm going to use the bigger one and get rid of the smaller one if anyone is interested. Just pay shipping.




It is a bit thicker too.