I've been a big fan of dent side Ford trucks and have owned a few. I currently own a 79 F150 4x4 w/ a NP435 and a NP 205. I'm not crazy about the 351M it has in it and the body is going to require a lot of work to get it into nice condition.

Meanwhile I've sold my 95 F150 and have some cash. Ive been looking to see if I can find a truck that is already fairly nice condition rather than fix the other. In searching, suddenly a 68 uncut Bronco ad appears for 6500. According to pictures it looks pretty straight. It's a 3 on the tree transmission and is having an 80s 302 replace the worn out 170 that was in it. I am a fan of manual shifting.

My question would be:
What might I want to salvage off my 79 150? Is the Dana 44 from the 79 something I might want in the Bronco? What about the 4sp and 205 tc? I don't think this Bronco has PS....... is the PS gear arrangement from the 79 F150 something adaptable? I had the front axle in my F150 gone through recently and it has disc brakes and new premium warn hubs.


The truth is, I won't be driving it off road, lifting it, or cutting the rear fenders. The appeal of 4wd for me is not getting stuck in the occasional snow. It might go to ski areas in the snow too. Other than that, the appeal is of a convertible truck with a small v8 in it.
I've always loved how 1st gen Broncos look, but couldn't justifiy the high prices (same way I feel about jeeps)

 

Front end is too wide for an EB. The NP435 can be used easily with a $200 adapter and reusing your six cyl intermediate housing with the Dana 20. I inch body lift is advisable and shifter will have to be rebent. The NP205 is difficult to fit in the narrow EB frame though it has been done. I think the PS box is adaptable and hubs should be the same. For your intended use, the stock Dana 30 front end will do fine. If the 302 is not already installed you will need to move the motor mount perches and rework radiator/core support to the V8 style. Good luck with your decision.

 

The shift lever on an NP435 comes out really close to the firewall in an early Bronco. There are shift linkages that deal with this, or you can bend the shift lever to come out from under the dash, but it's not completely clean. Here's a link that (hopefully) will show you where it comes out and what the linkage might look like.

https://www.google.com/search?q=np43...2F%3B400%3B300

Otherwise the 3 speed isn't that bad, and it can be converted to floor shift with a Hurst shifter.

 

That's the GearBanger shifter. I installed one in a previous project. It really does make the NP435 more pleasant to shift.