Hi all. I am doing a restoration of my 1978 Bronco. I purchased this truck for 500.00 from a tow yard in 1988 and rebuilt her once before. I put all Richmond gears in the Dana 44 and an ARB and did the same to the 9”. I rebuilt the 351M the best I can living in the communist State of Smog Afornia, (California) The engine build was around 4k. I replaced all the gears in my tranny and Transfer case. The shop beefed up the bearing sizes and some other trick mods. She always handled well in the mud, show and hill trails of Northern CA. Road performance was a whole different animal. Going up 5% grades I would have to down shift to third. The gas mileage SUCKED!! I was getting 8 in the city 12 on the highway. It always hurt at the pump. Don’t get me wrong I love my Bronco! I just was never happy with the outcome of the engine.

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I wasn't going to do a post here, but a few friends said I should.

 

Here is the List of changes for this build I will add more as I go. Below is the main goal
1. 6.9 IDI Turbo / Meth injection
2. Dana 60 4.10 Richmond Gears and ARB locker 8 lug rear disk brakes
3. Dana 44 4.10 Richmond Gears ARB Locker change to 8 lug disk brakes
4. New Leaf Springs from Wild Horses
5. Yukon 4340 Crome-moly 35 Spline Axles
6. Redhead Steering Gears
7. Hydroboost Braking system Wild Horses
8. Keeping the Rancho suspension
9. Larger yoke Mods
10. Changing all lighting to LED
11. Custom 50 gallon fuel tank
12. Body work and Paint
13. Looking at a Gen 2 Doubler 4:1 dual Transfer Case

 

I have had her put away for 10 years now.

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I already have a thread in the 6.9/7.3 IDI. I have been building a 6.9 IDI for the past year and half. The motor is almost ready to be put together. I am going to video my teardown and rebuild. I have a YouTube Bronco IDI where I am going to start the complete teardown and rebuild. I will post info and picture as well here. I will have as much detail as I can on my build. I am building this for me. What is it going to be used for you ask. Whatever I need at the time I need it. I am not a rock crawler guy, but I have done it when I needed to, I am not a mud slinger, but I sling mud when needed to. I use my Bronco as a tool and I take care of my tools. I have been in Wyoming in the middle of winter hunting, Colorado, Idaho, and Rubicon Trail, Beaches, Baja California Dunes and the salt flats of Utah. I have always felt the Bronco is a Great off-road vehicle. I am the first to admit it’s not a Jeep; But a Jeep is not in the Bronco Class!

 

You have a great foundation for your second build on the Bronco. It is nice that our Bronco's are so versatile that we can build and rebuilt them as ou needs for them change over the years. I look forward to the updates on your progress.

 

What I have done to the engine so far.

Block
Line Board
Decked
Balanced Rotating
Cryo Rods, Piston Pins and Pistons (milled piston for balanced deck height prior to coatings)
Tri-Coated Pistons (seal Power)
Dry Film coated Main and Rod Bearings (Clevite 77)
Crank Nitrided
Total Seal Rings
R & D Stage 1 Cam

Heads
New Valves –Ceramic coated face
Intake Valves (Perfect Circle)
Exhaust Valve (Stellite)
Comp Cam 910 Springs
4 angle Valve grind
Harland Sharp Custom Roller Rockers
ARP Head Stud

Misc.
Victor Rienz Complete gasket set
R & D Custom Intake

I am waiting for the bearings to get back from being coated.

 

Hey... eso en la parrilla son unas arepas???. Are those on the bbq grill arepas???

 

That's a pretty nice bronco. I hope the rebuild goes well, You don't see too many diesel swaps. Correction, I don't

Anyways, it looks like it's going to be fun.

 

I was looking your Bronco pics over again and I noticed the first pic it has full glass side windows in the top. In the later pics it has sliding windows in the top but the sliders appear to be split sliding windows without the upside down smoker window. I was wondering if you built the windows yourself or if you found them somewhere. I have solid glass in mine but had sliders in my first Bronco and would like to change my current windows to sliders but I like the split setup that you have. Any info is greatly appreciated.

 

Hey Bigzirb, This is a factory window. It's my understanding these are very hard to find. I still have the solid smoked glass. I picked these up at a ford dealership closing down in 1990 when a friend of my worked at the parts counter. I paid 350.00 for the set

 

Those ones are nice, I like em. I want to find a second top for my 78 and do something like what GS92 did with his. Make it a bikini top.

 

I vote to keep the stripes just like it came from the factory.

 

Here is a quick Video before I tear it down.