Hello BroncoZoners,
Awesome site here.
I live in Northern New Mexico. Been here my whole life. Beautiful place here, I just wish that they would stop closing off access to the land around here. If it is not the Gov't giving land to the reservations, it's the Park service grabbing up land so they can close it off to any access. What a shame!
I have been married for 26 years to my Best friend, my wife. We own four vehicles, all 4x4s.
We have a 91 Explorer, an F-250 PowerSroke, a 2003 Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited, and then there is my baby, my 77 Bronco Ranger.
The Cherokee (my wife's new ride) is SWEET! It's loaded. Leather, power everything and a V-8 motor that hauls ass. First new car I have ever bought, and it was the right choice. Every other car that I have ever owned, I bought wrecked or totaled. Power Stroke was a roll-over, put it back together. The Explorer went through a chainlink fence sideways, screwed it up good. Put it back together. Bronco had a "meeting of the minds" with a tree stump.
Three years ago I started a "frame up" custom restoration on it. I say "custom" because I am not doing an original resto. I am making it the perfect vehichle for me. I wanted a daily driver that I could take to work and back every day. and also something I could get out on the highway and run at 80 mph down south to my sister's ranch to go Deer hunting, and when I get there I want to be able to go over the extremely rough country that they have down there. I also do a lot of Elk hunting around here, usually in a lot of snow.
So I decided I wanted a very quick, high geared, high ground clearance, good looking, comfortable ride. I am about 95% finished with it and it is turning out GREAT!
Took apart every nut and bolt on the vehichle, welded in all new sheet metal replacing any part that had a speck of rust on it, (that was most of the body and tub). Sand blasted everything that could be blasted, and coated everything with POR-15. WOW, that stuff is like magic. Replaced all bushings with Poly, JD 3 1/2" lift with shock hoops and double shocks all around. 11 leaf rears.
Rebuilt power steering box, brake booster, etc etc as I went along. Went in to the instrument cluster and rebuilt the whole thing. it now says 000000 miles. I figure that a brand new resto deserved a brand new milage. Installed a shift kit in the C-4 and put a 2400 stall converter to help with the 33x12.50 ProComps and the 3.50/1 gearing in the diffs.
Had a very good speed shop in Alb. build me a 300+ hp motor that will still be able to run on something beside Premium gas. Topped it with a complete Eldelbrock package that is matched to the cam and valves/ports. Had the motor balanced and had the dreaded "humps" milled out of the 302 exhaust ports. MSD system. Nickle coated headers.
SST braided brake lines, all new break and bearring components. New u-joints all around, new driveshafts, Detroit locker in the rear, 23 gallon rear tank, nice seats form a 83 Celica GT, custom made roll bar and bumpers. 12,000 lb wench, and a bunch of other nice little mods that I can't remember right now. All I know is that I will have close to $20K invested after I am finished (plus my labor). Worth every penny of it. It is a sweet ride.
I had 100s of step-bystep photos of the project, then my hard drive crashed and they went away. (I know, back-up, back-up, back-up) So anyhow that means that I don't have any photos to post right now, but when I'm done you can bet that I will take plenty of the finished product.
Well I will quit blabbing on. Thanks for the geat site.
Pat in NM
PS- ABOLISH THE EVIL NATIONAL PARK SERVICE, GIVE IT ALL TO THE 4X4 FRIENDLY NATIONAL FOREST SERVICE!!
Hello Fellow Four-wheelers
Started by
Guest_NMBronco77_*
, Sep 16 2004 11:53 AM
6 replies to this topic
#2
Seabronc
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- Moderators
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- 683 posts
F-Series Commander
- Location:North of NYC
Posted 16 September 2004 - 05:55 PM
Wow, what a story. Be sure to post some of your photos in the gallery. Welcome 
<' /> to the Zone.
Good luck,
<' /> to the Zone.Good luck,
"I know you think you know what I said, but what you need to know is, I did'nt say what I meant"
#3
Justshootme84
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- 914 posts
F-Series Commander
- Location:Palacios, TX
- Interests:4wd trucks, hunting, fishing, music
Posted 16 September 2004 - 07:56 PM
Welcome to Bronco Zone!!! Hopefully you can share your experience on the EB and help others with their resto projects. IT sounds like you built her right, and some pics would be sweet. I spend a little time around Hobbs, NM and Lovington, NM when I'm working out of Lubbock, TX. Lots of good offroading out there!!!
1984 Bronco XLT, 351W H.O., C-6 AT, Ford 9", SkyJ 6" lift, 35" tires on MT Classic rims, S&W Racecars 10-pt cage kit, custom "shaker" assembly.
1988 Bronco Custom, 302 EFI, C-6 AT, Ford 8.8". parting out
1986 Bronco Custom, 300I-6, NP435
1988 Bronco Custom, 302 EFI, C-6 AT, Ford 8.8". parting out
1986 Bronco Custom, 300I-6, NP435
#4
Ktomek06
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- Moderators
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- 509 posts
F-Series Commander
- Location:Bay City, TX
- Interests:Hunting, Fishing, Lifeguarding, my bronc, and a lot of other stuff.
Posted 17 September 2004 - 03:40 AM
Cant wait to see some pics! Welcome to the Zone!
1994 Eddie Bauer Bronco
http://ftw.truckmoxi...ery.ten?id=9316
http://ftw.truckmoxi...ery.ten?id=9316
#7
Ranger429
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- Members
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- 34 posts
It's Only Money, Right?
Posted 17 September 2004 - 04:07 PM
Welcome to the site NMBronco, get some pic's up!!
79 Bronco Ranger XLT 400 4" lift 33" BF's KC Lights
79 F250 Ranger XLT '70 429 Thunderjet, balanced and blueprinted, mild cam, DOVE head's with roller rockers, stealth intake, holley 770, Dana 60 F+R with 4.10's, Custom 6" lift and 36" Fun Country radials
Did FORD still make a truck after 79?
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