I have two bronco's a 78 and 79. I bought the 78 for parts for my 79 custom then realized not too much goes wrong with the 79, so i was going to strip the 78 and store the parts, but i don't have much storage space. Then i thought why not make a low budget wheeler so i dont wreck my 79 before i get a chance to restore it( which won't be for a-while). So this is what i set out to do. I read in a forum here awhile ago that a guy put a 79 cab on a bronco frame(too cool a 79 f-150 with a 92 inch wheel base) with little or no trouble. So that's what i set to do as cheap as possible. The 78 was mechanicly sound but the body was so rotten it was litteraly breaking apart from wheeling it. I started looking around for a cab. Jackpot! i found a guy who had a 75 flat deck with a 460 that he wanted pulled and replaced with a 400m he had in his 79 f-150, so i offerd to do the swap in ex-change for the 460( wich runs great)and the f-150. SO that was all i needed to start. Let the build begin. I have already stripped the 78 bronco's body of any parts and cut it off the frame. I won't be doing to much to the frame other than wire wheeling it down and painting it. THis as far as i have gotten so far. Next thing is to pull the f-150 cab off it's frame and plce it on the bronco frame. Then i can realy see what i have to do from there. So i will update this thread as more happens, along with some of the ideas i have for this build. Till then Good Truckin.

 

Sounds like cool project, do you have any pictures you could post? And where abouts in BC are you?




Jared

 

I do have some pic's and i will get them up asap. Belmont park here in victoria,where you at in vic? I just had a look at your profile and see that you have an 87 f-150, well i have an 80's parts truck that was crashed but there are still alot of good parts kickin around on it. It's going to the junk yard soon but not before i pullout the hydraulic clutch and motor mounts for the 300 six and trans i already pulled. So hit me back and let me know if you can use any-thing off it.

 

my buddies brother did a similiar swap with a dodge pickup and a ramcharger. it will look nice with a ford though. we dont need no stinking dodges......

 

Sounds like a really cool project robins. What year is your 80's parts truck?

 

Ok i have made some more progress on the build. I have cleaned up the frame and inspected the brake lines and electrical on the frame rails, they are all good.So i went ahead and put the f-150 cab on the bronco frame and it's almost a direct bolt up. The front body mounts on the f-150 mount up in the stock locationbut i had to make a cross-member for the rear cab mounts because the f-150 frame is three inch's shorter in width than the bronco frame so i could'nt even use the cross-member from the f-150.I moched up the front clip to the cab and it seems to line right up ,except for the inner fender wells,they need to be cut because the steering colum and box are different. But as i have the inner's from my 78 bronco they bolt right in. So that's where i am so far. It looks real cool with that short wheel base, odd but cool.I want to post pic's but have'nt figured out how to do that yet so if some-one could help me with that i will get them on here ASAP.

 

Pics are pretty easy to do, all you have to do is create a gallery. To do that, go to user cp up near the top left, and you can edit a bunch of stuff in there, including a gallery. If you need more specific help, let me know.

 

well i managed to fluke some pics of the biuld. The bronco was the doner frame,the f-150 the cab. I will take some more pics when i get it to fire up so i can get it out in the open where i can get a good look for those interested.

 

Nice, the frame looks good in red!

 

ya the frame was solid only had to clean it up and my boss gave me the paint from the ware-house(red oxide primer). i havnt had much time to work on it latly but i get this weekend off so i will do some more

 

Thats really cool. Nice when you dont have to do a whole ton of extra work to get it ready too.

 

man if youve got a grinder, some bolts and a drill you can lower your front coil buckets 2", and flip your rear shackle hangers....keeping in the $0 build theme.
If that was the bronco body you took off it wasnt too bad! Ive brought worse back to life!

 

Ok I have heard about lowering coils, but have no idea how to do it, can you fill me in? That would be sweet to know how to do. As long as they arent too unsafe after!

 

the coil bucket is riveted to the frame, just mount it down lower on the frame. 2" lower will lift the frame off the suspension 2" and BOOM! ghetto 2" lift.
Since hes got a solid axle the only thing he has to worry about is steering and you should be able to compensate that difference by adjusting the drag link. My brothers 77 just had 4" lift coils and a 4" drop pitman arm, stock radius arm brackets and bushings. Not ideal but it'll get er done

 

It sounds easy,so I went out and had a look and I think I can do it,but will I have to move the shock tower down 2" as well ,or find bigger shocks? I also have a longer sterring column from the f-150 cab,I will messure to see if it fit's. Before I do any mods to the truck I plan to get it saftied so i can insure it. I want to be able to drive it to the trails,but after it passes inspection and it's road worthy I plan to lift it,weld the rear end,add a gas tank behind the seat,snorkel intake and exhaust,and make the whole front clip tilt forward for easy mechanical access,oh and i will be chopping a set of doors to half size. But I still have a ways to go to just get it fired up let alone road safe. I have more pics of the donner trucks and of my bronco, I will try to get them on here as well.