Differences between modern trucks and 30+ year trucks
 

Besides nav systems, DVD players, Bluetooth, auto door locking, power windows/sunroofs etc...

Is there much of a difference in drive functions, capability, dependability etc.

In my 55 years driving I consider EFI to be the greatest improvement. Mixtures are better and the engines last longer. Also, how many remember replacing points and condenser every 10,000 miles? I like my 94 because, with the help I get here, I can work on it and I probably would not touch a new truck.

oh nice, efi

Do you think distributor would be an issue if it was only a rec vehiclke and was parked 90% of the year, in a garage?

Thanks

I own a 77 F150 and a 89 F450 diesel. I do like the EFI on moderen engines they cam be modiyfied ,....within limits. No I don't remember replacing points. I always converted to electronic.
I really dislike the nanny stuff on the trucks. it has driven the prices on new ones clear out of sight.
when I bought my 77 the previous owns say the radio doen't come with it. And I have left it that way.

Hi 80broncoman,

Do you know if it is possible to put a diesel into a bronco?

Yes, I know for a fact that it's possible to put a diesel in a Bronco. :D

As for the topic at hand, I drive my brother's '09 F350 sometimes, and honestly, it handles, rides and the transmission shifts about the same as my all-mechanical Cummins '78 Bronco with the C6. The steering feels just as tight on my old truck as the new one. But my fuel mileage is something like 5-7 mpg better on the highway than the F350, and it's better yet around town. My truck is 3000 lbs lighter, but his has overdrive, so I'm not sure how it all factors in. I think his truck is awesome, don't get me wrong, but I prefer my own truck. The newer trucks are more "car-ish", in that, they have all the luxury goodies, but I don't really care about all that. (Except on really hot days, the A/C is nice on the new rigs.. heh)

Hi A/T,

Thats really nice to hear. Cummins, thats a diesel right? Is that what you have in your Bronco?

:-newbie

Yes, my 6BT Cummins is an inline 6 cylinder diesel with mechanical injection.

trucks built 30+ years ago In My Humble Opinion, are the best of the best :) they Lasted, had very few problems, you could work on them with out needing complex scaning equipment, you could figure out problems very easy, the body was strong, the door hinges lasted, the metal was thick and strong, as far as points go, get a pointless hall affect kit, and replace the points, use a CDI system and your good to go, keep a point dist assy around just incase :) LOL remember just having one V belt :) water pump, alt/gen and crank pully. and they drove like a Truck, with leaf springs in the front and a straight Axle :) LOL, you did not have to have the front end aligned, unless you drove off a Cliff :)

http://www.fordmuscle.com/archives/2006/08/ESpark/

http://www.bonanzle.com/booths/hot_s...nique_12133976

Balian, I also have a diesel bronco. I went with the 6.9l idi out of an 86 f250. I also swapped out all the running gear so I am sitting on 3/4 ton suspenion.

30 years ago would be a 1980, in general the 72-88 were not much on quality, that era were the worse rusting, lowest power, horrible mpg, short lived vehicles . If you want to go on back to the pre-72's there was some quality, but there has been lots of great improvments in the last 10-15 years. There are many sports cars out these days which rival the muscle car years of 65-71, and trucks which can not only haul a load, but also has 375+ horsepower, and fun to drive. I have a 3/4 ton turbo diesel with tons of power/ torque and will get 20 mpg, NO 30 year old truck can touch that. Ive had most every concievable car / truck made in the last 35 years and in general I like todays cars / trucks.

that's nice but i will stick with the 30+ year old trucks . mine will out perform any modern truck in load an pulling power . plus if it gets scratched oh well . plus parts don't cost an arm an a leg for the older trucks. i also don't need a computer to fix the truck so you can keep the new piles of $60,000 junk!

I think and feel that it's only been in the last 10 years that we've finally started digging ourselves out of the bad vehicle design of the 70's and 80's. Once emissions and safety regulations began to bog down vehicles, it wasn't until the newer computer controlled vehicles we hove now even begin to come back to the economy and performance we had 40+ years ago. I can remember the first new car my parents had, a 1974-5 Mercury Comet, and it had the new Electronic ignition system and a straight 6. We had to replace the ignition module about every 2 years because the Bakelite or whatever it was in there to "protect" the delicate circuit board would cause it to overheat and burn out. I loved the little British cars when I was a kid and my 1st car was a 1970 Triumph Spitfire Mk3. It was exactly 1 month older than I was. They can be used to show just how bad it got in the 1970-80 time frame. They went from chrome/steel bumpers and decent performance from a 1300cc(1.3L) engine to a dog with grossly giant bumper, air pumps, exhaust restrictions that seriously hampered engine ability to a point that cut HP/Tq by up to half. Considering most of them only ran about 75-100hp to begin with, there wasn't much to work with.

Between the new federal regulations and the oil embargo thanks to OPEC, vehicles here in the States were poorly built and poorly designed. At least nowadays, when newer regulations are in place, the technology is at a point that it can nearly keep up with it instead of a lag time of many years.

i do agree trucks an cars of the 70- 80 in stock form were dogs but when you can pick a bronco or truck relativity cheap an you have the know how to rebuild it to your desires an make it better,an at half the cost of a new one that,s the route i'm going to take . one its payed for i don't have $600 payment every month . if i keep up on the maintenance it runs forever an doesn't cost an arm an a leg.

When I went with my brother to order his truck from the Ford dealer, I asked the guy if he could sell me a 4x4 passenger truck that weighed under 6000 lbs, had a big turbo diesel with auto trans, carried at least 5 people comfortably and got 20+ mpg. He might have thought I was joking, but I wasn't.