[79F150]

1) abrojal

2) Tullio

3) zepman

4) Ziggy

5) Gacknar

 

[Gacknar]

Got my Bronco when I was 15, as my 16th Birthday present. :toothless
That was about 1993.

This is the oldest picture I have of it, spring of about 1995.

Modifications at this point are 32" BFG MT's, cheap no name grill guard, Stainless KC Daylighters with covers, custom painted 4x4 tag, 15x8 Chrome mod wheels, and chrome tow hooks.

Tow hooks and KC's are still on it (But the KC's are on the back with different bulbs in them)

 

[379sinvb]

Cool, old school photo and I remember when chrome was in back in the day. What else you got?

 

[abrojal]

come on guys!!!!

and good luck!!!!! :beer

This is my 79 Ford Bronco Ranger XLT 400 T18

I got it last year. i was insane because i was rebuilding my 79Custom, and I could not drive it . So I bought it :toothless

 

[abrojal]

Both together

I took this pic in 2009, the ranger(left) was not mine yet

It is very rare to see a couple of 78 79 broncos side by side here

 

[raleigh]

It is very rare to see a couple of 78 79 broncos side by side here

Hell, it is rare to see 2 78/79 Broncos together here!

Looking good, bit of a slow start so far, pick up the pace!!!

opc1:

 

[Tullio]

This is when we first bought it.

Bone stock, strait body, good interior, running and smoggable for $1,500.

And promptly took it to the first hill I could find :rofl:

We gave it a tune up, fixed all the window motors, welded the drivers seat upright (It would fall back when you sat in it :toothless) and did some regular maintenance.

Soon after we picked up a 6" lift suspension lift for it.

We have never installed anything like that before but we are not timid people so we went at at and after 16 hours (Two, 8 hour days) we had it installed.

I drove it (embarrassingly) to the tire shop where they had our American Racing 16x10" aluminum wheels and 35x14.5 Pitbull Bias Rockers waiting for me. I wasn't planning on buying aluminum wheels but I found 5 of them for a steal at $90 each so I could not pass them up.

And you know what I did? Took it back to that same hill :toothless

We did more serious off-roading after that, trust me :thumbup

For the next little while, not a lot happened to it. We just had fun.

This was the first time in Azusa Canyon going mudding. Had mud over the top of the 35's

And fulfilled my duty as H2 recovery vehicle

From the H2 guy - Don't hook up to the chrome D-rings, they are only held on with sheet metal screws :haha

Took it up to the mountains for some great off roading and snapped the radius arm bracket in two on the way out

That's it for now, more to come later.

 

[zepman]

Hi Guys, Really sweet trucks and an honor to be even on the ballot with you.
I am original owner of this 1995 XLT (original configuration was a "sport" package. They came with no chrome instead bumpers were same color as trucks.)
4 inch Pro Comp suspension lift.
"rockcrawler" wheels
33x12.50 Mickey Thompson MTZ
Broncoair HD Front Bumper
Smittybilt 8000lb winch

KC lighting
Explorer "in bumper" lights
Front recovery: Warn D rings/ Winch
Rear recovery: "snatch" hook ( damn that word still makes me smile:goodfinge)
U Haul Receiver Hitch
CARR step hoops

Here is a video "walk around"
http://s1237.photobucket.com/albums/ff464/zepman/?action=view&current=2011-10-03095247.mp4

Thanks john

 

[abrojal]

This was the night I bought it

I drove it all the night. It was snowing and the higher part of the road had ice. I went alone

I think i was excited heheheheheh

 

[abrojal]

the morning after

 

[Saltlife]

abrojal knows we like snow pictures!! Great start guys and great pictures and reads by all.

 

[Gacknar]

The picture I posted in post one, as far as I can find, is the only existing picture of the "Mall Crawler" before the body lift. I will look for more, but I think that's it.

After the body lift.

Folks give body lifts a really bad rap, but mine allowed me to run 35" tires for just a $99.00 investment and some labor.
These pics are all around 1999-2001

Mods at this point are a grizzly grill guard to replace the cheapo one, 6x9 driving lights, 15x10 Chrome Modular wheels, ford racing valve covers and headers, and a really bad single to dual exhaust setup. I also had a stereo system in it, but don't remember exactly what I had.

I was hard on engines in my early years. This is what happens when you hydro lock an engine at 4,000rpm.

That was 302#2, It still amazes me that my Bronco survived my teen's and early '20s.

I have no pictures of 302#3, but I broke the crank in it.

This is the only existing picture of 302#4

Immediately to be replaced by 302#5

We don't talk about 302#4, so don't ask.

302#5 was the last 302 put in the Mall Crawler, and it lasted the longest.

Here is a random pic from the roof of my house looking down in the bed after an unexpected afternoon thundershower.

 

[Tullio]

After some fun off-roading, next up was the axles. We put in a Detroit Locker in the rear and a Detroit TruTrac (worm gear LSD) in the front with some 4.56 gears to match.

That was a good decision. :rockon

This thing felt unstoppable and it was so far with everything I have thrown at it. I am not gentle with my vehicles and this was no exception.

It was awesome. It just could not go up a hill on the freeway above 35mph but other than that it WAS AWESOME. :toothless

It didn't take long before the Bronco was only running on 6 cyl and of course would not pass smog. The compression was down and it was time.

Earlier, I had picked up up a 302 roller longblock with GT40 heads, recently rebuilt for $500. It was from an Interceptor (I was told).

Anywho, I had never rebuilt, installed or done any engine work at all because I was terrified at the thought of it. But, I had the block in the garage and was slowly learning and building. However, when the Bronco's engine bit the dust, I had to kick it into overdrive.

Pulled the stock engine and sold the long block for $200 (If I remember correctly). I then learned the difference between flat tapped and roller. :duh

My plans of reusing the Bronco cam went out the window. Luckily, the 302 roller came with a F cam in the block and a X cam on the side. So, I sold the two cams and used the money to pick-up a new cam from COMP (off-road specific).

I put it all together, threw on some tube headers from Summit and painted a few things. Never did get around to taking pictures once the engine got installed. Will do later.

Once in, the bugs were worked out and it roared to life. I did not realize my big ass Bronco could move like that :toothless

Got a one day pass to drive it over to my friends dyno shop to get it on the rollers and see how the smog numbers looked before taking it in.

Long story short, the transmission grenaded and it was down again.

After spending so much time doing the engine, I didn't have it in me to pull it back into the garage and try the transmission. So, I had a good shop rebuild it will all HD internals, shift kit, TQ converter and whatever else. (One of the very few things that I paid a shop to do).

When it was all said and done, it passed smog and felt great.

We took it to Johnson Valley to watch KOTH (4 hours away) without a single problem.

Good times.

More to come later.

 

[abrojal]

that mourning we went to test the new 79 bronco in the mountain.

Frozen lake

 

[Saltlife]

Awesome pics abrojal......

 

[abrojal]

 

[zrxw13]

Wow! :shocked That's a lot of 302's Gack... How come you never got a 351?

 

[abrojal]

Awesome pics abrojal......

thanks! :beer

 

[THOROUGHBRED]

Awesome pics abrojal......

you can say that again.

nice start guys. opc1:

 

[379sinvb]

Four down one to go. Everything I have seen so far looks like its going to be another great month. What else you guys have for us?