1984 Ford Bronco Project

[Dakota Houligans]

Removed to bracket that the old spare tire carrier mounted to and cut out some rusty cracked metal.





First patch tacked in place



First patch welded up and smoothed out.



Second patch tacked in place.



Cleaned up and sanded.



And added some epoxy primer to the mix to seal every thing up for the next step.

 

[Dakota Houligans]

Managed to get some filler on the rear panel and some sanding done.



And after some more primer and some finishing glaze it was time more sanding!



Then it was time for some cleanup and to seal it up.





Turned out pretty good. To bad I'll probably scratch it up or dent in with a year or 2 of use.

 

[Dakota Houligans]

Then it was back to the drip rail delete project. After some epoxy primer and some filler on both sides. I had a few dings on the passenger side I smoothed out as best as I could with wood and a hammer. Then some filler to smooth it out the rest of the way.



Drivers side was in better shape. Didn't need the hammer and less filler needed to smooth it out.



After some sanding.





Got it all smoothed out and put on some more epoxy primer to seal it up.











So far so good. It turned out pretty good for a clown in his garage.

 

[Dakota Houligans]

Finally back to it again. We had some water issues. So the house kept me busy for a bit. Got the main hoop of the roll cage bent up.

Test fitting the main hoop with the base plates in place. I must have done something right. The fit was nice and snug.


Bolted into place.





Now to start the A pillars. I have the first one pretty close. A little more trimming and possibly adjust the bends. I've just about got it pushed as far forward as I'd like it.

 

[mknielsen]

Very impressive build, it's nice to see a fellow Bullnose Ford in a sea of jeeps and yotas. I look forward to seeing it completed, she will be better than when she was built the first time by Ford.

 

[Project hermes]

Love a bullnose I have one not my overlander thought she’s an 85 f250 flat bed my overland rig is my 14 f250

 

[Dakota Houligans]

Very impressive build, it's nice to see a fellow Bullnose Ford in a sea of jeeps and yotas. I look forward to seeing it completed, she will be better than when she was built the first time by Ford.

That's the plan anyway. I've always been a little different. Now if the house and kids would just leave me a little more spare time...

 

[mk-Zero]

Wow, nice work! It's a ton of work you're putting into it, but in the end youre going to have a uniquely awesome Bronco. Can't wait to see more!

 

[Dakota Houligans]

Finally have had some time to get more done. Turns out I didn't like how the front tubes turned out. I don't like how they fit at the A pillar. So I decided to go with a Halo style up front and do the A pillar bars separate.


I'm much happier with the fit doing it this way. I was able to get the A pillar bars where I wanted them.



I Started the gusseting of the corners.



I got the rear hoop in place and the rear bars tacked in.



Time to make some seat belt reinforcements that also tie the cage to the body. I made some paper templates and then cut them out of 3/16 plate with the plasma cutter. Marked where I want the bend.



I used a cut off wheel to notch the metal where I wanted to bend it. and bent it in the vice.



Then I welded the edges to make up for what I cut out.



Test fitting.



Drivers side welded in.



Passenger welded in.



A pillar bar welded to the body on drivers side. I recessed it into the body a little for clearance.



Brackets welding in on passenger side.



It's coming along slowly. I'm starting to think I've been overthinking it. But I'm trying to make sure it is strong and yet needs to be usable for everyday family transportation.

 

[Dakota Houligans]

Time to get going on the gussets. Due to the everyday status and hauling kids. I don't have the space to run big x's and cross braces. So I'm going to all a lot of gussets and each corner. I'm also considering plating them to further reinforce it.

To get it to line up on the top bar I had to offset the notches a little.


But I did eventually get the hang of it and managed a decent fit.


Welded in.



And another one in.



And another. It might look a little goofy. But I need strength and room. I don't feel like fishing a kid through a jungle gym and hitting my head every time I need to get them in or out of a car seat.



I'm considering putting another gusset in on the corner of the b pillar tube to strengthen it from the side and give the kids a handle to use to climb in. Not sure though. Probably have to put the seat in and see if it would be a problem.

 

[Dakota Houligans]

Time to do the same on the drivers side.









So far I have been able to keep plenty of space and good visibility.

Now I have to do some more body tie in up front and some more gussets and then more of the same in the back. But it's getting closer ish...

 

[Dakota Houligans]

Found some pictures of the rear hoop going in.









A few of the front halo and A pillar bars going in.

 

[Lanlubber In Remembrance]

After while it was time for another upgrade. Time for the carburetor to go. I ordered a FAST ez-efi kit and started installing it.
View attachment 44203
Carb off and starting to install the fuel injection. Regulator and wiring started.View attachment 44205
New fuel sender with a port for fuel return.
View attachment 44206
Welded in a bung for the oxygen sensor.
View attachment 44202 View attachment 44204
Throttle body on and plugged in.
View attachment 44200
View attachment 44201
with the air cleaner on you don't even see much.
View attachment 44207

The installed engine bears no resemblance to the engine you had on the stand, why ? Were these pictures taken over a period of years ? I don't know how you decided just where to start on this Bronco, the body was trash before you rebuilt the beast. Why didn't you start with a rust free body, It would have been much easier and cheaper. I commend you on all the work you did and the final outcome. I love Bronco's and had several lined up before I found my Land Rover Discovery 2, It was a hard choice for me but the LRD2 won out for hundreds of financial reasons.

 

[Dakota Houligans]

Originally the engine was running a carb. Then switched to fuel injection. It was originally built and the 1984 bronco was built over 15 years ago. It is the same engine. The only changes have been serpentine belt set up, fuel injection, and intake plumbing. And years of dirt, mud, snow, and water. After having kids and traveling in it. The wife requested a quieter and more comfortable ride. Also a roll cage for kids safety. Turns out the body was shot on the 1984 so I found a decent bodied 1995 bronco. Which is what the more recent posts are from. The drivetrain is solid. The newer body is the best one found within about 5 hours of home. It actually has much less rust than 2015 trucks around here. Not much reason to Barrow money to buy an overpriced truck that's less capable and needs just as much work. To get a rust free bronco would take a week of travel and over a $1000 in gas. Not too mention food and cost of bronco. For a third of that I can patch a few spots and save time and money.

 

[Lanlubber In Remembrance]

Originally the engine was running a carb. Then switched to fuel injection. It was originally built and the 1984 bronco was built over 15 years ago. It is the same engine. The only changes have been serpentine belt set up, fuel injection, and intake plumbing. And years of dirt, mud, snow, and water. After having kids and traveling in it. The wife requested a quieter and more comfortable ride. Also a roll cage for kids safety. Turns out the body was shot on the 1984 so I found a decent bodied 1995 bronco. Which is what the more recent posts are from. The drivetrain is solid. The newer body is the best one found within about 5 hours of home. It actually has much less rust than 2015 trucks around here. Not much reason to Barrow money to buy an overpriced truck that's less capable and needs just as much work. To get a rust free bronco would take a week of travel and over a $1000 in gas. Not too mention food and cost of bronco. For a third of that I can patch a few spots and save time and money.

To get a rust free bronco would take a week of travel and over a $1000 in gas. Not too mention food and cost of bronco. For a third of that I can patch a few spots and save time and money.

I don't blame you for doing it the way you did. You did a fantastic job with what you had to start with.
DH, I'm just not use to seeing vehicles with that much rust. The worst I have seen usually comes from the gulf coast states, I guess I'm lucky to live in the SW USA . This makes me wonder why the west coast vehicles dont rust either. Or at least the ones I have seen. (lets hear it from you west coasters) I would think that your frames would rust just as bad as the bodies. Is it the salt they put on the roads that make them rust so fast in SD ? They don't use salt in the SW USA. They use sand so rust is rare other than a fine surface rust. I also didn't realize your build thread was that long ago, you have kept good records. I use to build roundy round race cars so I can appreciate all the work you have done on your build. You have the best built roll cage as far as strength I have ever seen, those gussets are awesome triangulation. I think you and your family are safe even if you rolled off a cliff ! The weakest point is your floor attachment, but it is adequate. Your welding the body to the roll cage definitely helps to strengthen the whole thing. When you rebuilt your engine, did you use the 351M or the 351C blocks, crank, rods, and heads ? If I wasn't so old I'd like to build another bronco myself using a 300ci inline six, off road cam, 10 to 1 Pistons, Chevy 202 valves, roller rockers, ported exhaust ports and headers, and topped off with 3 side draft weber carbs or a fuel injection. That's a 400 hp version for that engine. With that long 4" stroke it will out pull even the largest V8 engines and still turn 6000 rmp's.

 

[Dakota Houligans]

The green beast has been with us awhile. Couldn't just completely dump it. Silly sentimental stuff. My kids love the bronco. Lots of good memories and some bad. It did get me to the hospital in time to hear my middle Son's heart beat for the last time and as silly as it may seem to some that has earned it a lot more willingness from me to keep it around in one form or another. We thought about just buying a dodge power wagon. Figured it would handle both our towing and exploration needs. But I wouldn't know what to do with something that nice driving between pine trees. I'd feel bad scratching up a $60,000+ rig.

Up here I wish they just used sand still. They started using salt with some other chemicals in it. And the darn stuff destroys cars if you don't keep it cleaned off. It's usually the thinner metal that gets is the worst. Frames normally hold up ok. it just sucks when you have to take suspension parts apart.

I plan to support the floor plates of the roll cage under the body and to the frame. Just haven't done it yet. I probably overthink the roll cage but it has been time consuming to get strength and still leave room to move in and out.

The engine is a 302. Full roller cam and rockers. Torrington bearings on cam plate, flat top pistons, full arp studs for head and mains, bored out a little, fully balanced, oil galley enlarged, If i remember correctly the valves are 2.02 and 1.6, ported and polished, and milled down a little for more compression. With a mild cam it makes about 375 hp. engine was built to handle around 550 hp and then tuned down the cam and intake. The old girl is smooth up to 8500 rpm and likes it.

I had an F-150 with the 300 6 in it. Always liked that engine. It wasn't fast but in never struggled to pull. Wanted to go through it and add a turbo and put it in my current F-250. But for some reason my accountant shot that idea down.

 

[Lanlubber In Remembrance]

The green beast has been with us awhile. Couldn't just completely dump it. Silly sentimental stuff. My kids love the bronco. Lots of good memories and some bad. It did get me to the hospital in time to hear my middle Son's heart beat for the last time and as silly as it may seem to some that has earned it a lot more willingness from me to keep it around in one form or another. We thought about just buying a dodge power wagon. Figured it would handle both our towing and exploration needs. But I wouldn't know what to do with something that nice driving between pine trees. I'd feel bad scratching up a $60,000+ rig.

Up here I wish they just used sand still. They started using salt with some other chemicals in it. And the darn stuff destroys cars if you don't keep it cleaned off. It's usually the thinner metal that gets is the worst. Frames normally hold up ok. it just sucks when you have to take suspension parts apart.

I plan to support the floor plates of the roll cage under the body and to the frame. Just haven't done it yet. I probably overthink the roll cage but it has been time consuming to get strength and still leave room to move in and out.

The engine is a 302. Full roller cam and rockers. Torrington bearings on cam plate, flat top pistons, full arp studs for head and mains, bored out a little, fully balanced, oil galley enlarged, If i remember correctly the valves are 2.02 and 1.6, ported and polished, and milled down a little for more compression. With a mild cam it makes about 375 hp. engine was built to handle around 550 hp and then tuned down the cam and intake. The old girl is smooth up to 8500 rpm and likes it.

I had an F-150 with the 300 6 in it. Always liked that engine. It wasn't fast but in never struggled to pull. Wanted to go through it and add a turbo and put it in my current F-250. But for some reason my accountant shot that idea down.

Was the accountant your wife ? LOL
Like what you did to the engine, did you put studs in the roller rockers to handle that kind of RPM's without floating a valve. I built one like yours with 289 Shelby HP heads reworked by a California head builder for my old 67 Bronco (double pumper 750 holly carb) and it was a street terror as well as the best sand hill climber in my area. Wish I still had it but my accountant wanted a new 84 Thunderbird and got it, I got the old 80 Ford van Van !

 

[PeaksToPints Overlanding]

Epic build thread, I just finished reading the whole thing! You are doing awesome work!

 

[Dakota Houligans]

Yes she is. Now and then she manages to keep me inline. Poor lady has her hands full sometimes.

I used the arp studs for the rockers and some better springs to help keep them closed. We also used torrington bearings on the cam plate to reduce a little more friction. The cam doesn't make much power that high so I usually keep it below 6500. I always enjoyed building engines. Sounds like a fun ride up the hills! Not sure my wife to talk me into a van though. Well, maybe a Quigley 4x4 one.

 

[Dakota Houligans]

Epic build thread, I just finished reading the whole thing! You are doing awesome work!

Thanks, It's coming along.