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Just picked this up yesterday. '79 Bronco Ranger XLT with 118k miles and one owner. It has a 351M and auto trans. I drove it home but it needs some work to make a road worthy. Other than LMC, where are yall shopping for parts?
Jeff's Bronco Graveyard, eBay, Amazon, and Rock Auto are other sites I've used for Bronco parts. I'm also fortunate to have a Bronco fanatic that buys and parts out Broncos about 20 minutes away from me, so I also use Facebook Marketplace as that's where he lists his items.
Ebay, and look for NOS bronco parts
It's the only place you might find a Motorcraft Duraspark module or a stator for your distributor
Same with a breakerless ignition tester
I still have DU30C Motorcraft stators and DU5 stators for my vehicles I got on Ebay
Finally got a chance to pull the motor, my youngest son helped. The ring groove is a bit excessive, and the cam bearings look horrible.
Main and rod journals look ok, but I'll be sending the block, crank and heads to the machine shop to have everything checked before I buy any parts.
What are your plans for the motor? Stock rebuild? Those 351m and 400s actually respond really well to a little more oiling on the mains, compression, and intake/exhaust opened a bit. They plead to breathe!
I haven't taken the block to the machine shop yet. If it needs bored, I will go with a set of flat top pistons. The heads are already over there to get them like new. I'm going fuel injection with this too. My plan is to utilize a later model Bronco tank with a return and stuff a higher volume fuel pump in it, like I did with my Lightning. I've pulled and blasted most of the brackets, and now I'm contemplating on yanking the trans and transfer case out of it too. This is getting really addictive.
Nice
79 Bronco with a 351M-400
The valve cover once had a sticker that said either 351 or 400 (fine print, upper left side of sticker under 'displacement")
Maybe you can order a sticker for your valve cover once you do the stroke check
Quite sure it will run pretty damn good, if fuel injected with flat tops
Maybe have somebody grind you a mild cam for it
When you said your heads are at the machine shop... How far are you going with them?
Those heads like bronze guides
Going with machined pedestals and adjustable rockers is a plus
Machining the head for a bigger diameter valve spring is a plus
I have a 78 XLT 351M. I've had an Auto Cool Fan controller with 4 SPAL fans on a Champion radiator for several years, and the system works just fine. You can feel a real boost in low end power by eliminating that big clutch and fan. I have AC and the fans keep the engine cool when idling at low speeds. I also run a Holley Sniper 2300 EFI. I used a later model Bronco fuel pickup with a return for the fuel system. I used a low-volume pump in the tank as a helper and a high-pressure external pump. These Fords tend to vapor lock in hot weather so the electric is a must even if you don't go with fuel injection. My engine is getting tired, so I think I'm going with a 460. The 335 series engines are great motors. They are bullet proof; they just need compression and spark timing to get going. Jeffs has all the parts you need for the fuel upgrade.
The heads are at the machine shop to be brought back to like-new condition: cleaned, inspected, new guides, seals, springs and a valve job. My plan was to go with a carb, but then my baby brother donated his old Fitech EFI system, so that's where I'm at now. Basically looking for a noticeable HP increase, and also where the Ol' lady can jump in it, turn the key and go!
I've been blasting and painting a bunch of parts, and I plan on taking the trans and transfer case out too, to drain/fill fluids, fix leaks, clean and paint.
While I have all of that out, I plan on working on the underside to clean it up as well. This isn't going to be a show vehicle, but hopefully it'll look much cleaner when I'm done.
Just curious though, are there people out there that buy factory cast iron intakes and factory carbs? If not, then these pieces are going to the recycler.
