1969 Ford Bronco

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If yall are interested in this stuff a few good books that you can get at Barnes and Noble:

Ford Performance by Pat Ganahl
-good older book about building sbf, bbf, FE and clevelands

How to Build Max Performance Ford V8s on a Budget by George Reid
-also covers all ford V8s, little bit newer info and some EFI related stuff

High Performance Ford Engine Parts Interchange by George Reid
-tons of info about factory and aftermarket parts

How to Rebuild the Small Block Ford by George Reid
-good info on actual rebuilding with lots of pics, covers SBF and Cleveland

Ford Windsor Small Block Performance by Isaac Martin
-info on building SBF

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Good info Grubb. I'll have to go do some more reading on Ford V8's. I was just trying to talk myself out of trying to build one for my rig too.

Gus, is that an actual dyno sheet or what, like Grubb was saying? I'd be interested to know.

Also, does the truck bumpsteer? That draglink and panhard bar angle difference is pretty drastic.

I also went back and edited that right after you posted to add some 400 building info.

[pcparas]

Thanks for the information Grubb. Due to the confusion about the engine in the Bronco I went straight to the source and asked the previous owner about the motor.

The bottom end is a 400, bored .030 over. The heads are Australian 302Cs with Ferrea stainless valves and roller rockers. Since its a "franken engine" with the Aussie heads, the previous owner referred to the engine as a 400c, which is where my confusion came from.

The Dyno sheet I posted was for the engine in the bronco with a carburetor (not sure what model carb). At the time of the build the previous owner had a engine dyno set up in his shop for his business. On the dyno the engine made 496 ft-lbs at 2900 RPM and 342 peak HP at around 4400 RPM. The engine was later converted from a carburetor to the Holley Commander EFI. At that time the vehicle was tested on a rear-wheel dyno to get the fuel map dialed in. I do not have an information from this test.

[pcparas]

Its been a while since I have posted an update on the Bronco. I am constantly working to make this bronco my own. Since I have gotten it I have:

-Rebuilt the radius arms/radius arm mounts
-Rewired a bunch of circuits behind the dash and installed two new fuse boxes
-Installed a sound system and built 2 roll cage speaker boxes
-Relocated the battery in an attempt to move some weight out of the front of the vehicle
-Redesigned the rear bumper and cleaned/serviced the rear winch
-Installed a new (New to the Bronco) front clip on the bronco. The previous owner ran several competitions with the bronco prior to my ownership and wanted the fenders and grill back to hang on his shop wall. In return I got a complete front clip in decent shape, a top for the bronco (full cab or half cab) and a transmission rebuild kit.

Currently I am working on removing the sheet metal structure from the front of the Bronco so I can replace it with a tube structure. The tube structure will run from the door posts forward and meet up with the frame at the original body mount location. All of my body panels for the front clip will mount to this tube structure.

The radius Failure at the Big Dogs Ice Breaker 2015


The Fix - 3 ratchet straps, 3 C-clamps and a hitch. Drove the Bronco out of the rock garden like this.


The repaired radius arms with 1.25" joints.


New radius arm mount



The new fuse box that I wired up for the Bronco




Speaker Box #1


The Speaker Boxes Installed in the roll cage



I didn't have a convenient/safe location to mount the stereo/head unit in the bronco. I ended up mounting the unit under the passengers seat with the control face plate remotely located on the floor just behind the shifter. I have yet to mount the face plate, but I have set it up the head unit to operate from the remote face plate. I also installed an amp to run the 4 speakers in the roll cage, I do not have picture of the amp at this time.



When I got the bronco, the rear bumper sat several inches too low. The bumper sat so low to cover the rear winch and assure the fair lead sat in the proper location at the bottom of the winch. To allow me to lift the bumper I flipped the winch and will be running it upside down. This puts the winch output at the very top of the bumper.

The rear bumper when I go the bronco.


The rear bumper now


The winch after I pulled it all apart to clean and re-oil


The new synthetic line for the rear winch



The Bronco with the new front clip. Parts from 4 different broncos.





Extra body parts for future use

[pcparas]

This summer at a local 4x4 event I managed to break my driver side RCV joint. I decided it was time to start looking for a HP Dana 60. I have yet to pull the trigger on a complete Dana 60, but I have been keeping my eye out for a good deal on parts.
This weekend I found a steal on a set of new Solid knuckles with high steer arms and couldn't pass up the opportunity. Now I really need to find a housing!

Stuck in the hole where I broke the driver side RCV joint. All this was was a muddy steam crossing. We couldn't believe it when we heard the RCV go.


The carnage




The knuckles. It appears the knuckles had been used to mock up a front axle, but they were never run.

[pcparas]

With 20"+ of snow, I decided it wasn't the right day to work outside bending tube for the front of the bronco. Instead I worked on finishing up the sound system in the bronco. I have had issues placing the stereo head unit in the dash board due to limited space on the dash and behind it. Because of this, I decided to mount the head unit under the passengers seat with the control face plate on the floor, in between the driver seat and the passenger seat. To do this I had to make a mount for the head unit face plate on the floor board and a wire jumper to connect the contacts on the control face plate to the contacts on the head unit.

Here is the head unit in the aluminum box I welded together to mount it.



I am mounting the control face plate right under the shifters.


I am mounting a marine cover over the control face plate to protect it. I need to figure out how to protect the head unit from the elements.

[wheelertaco]

you could put the unit in a waterproof pelican case, drill a hole for wires and seal it with a rubber grommet or some sort of sealer.

[FJCcrawler]

you could put the unit in a waterproof pelican case, drill a hole for wires and seal it with a rubber grommet or some sort of sealer.

I second that, but not sure if heat and lack of ventilation might affect the longevity of the radio.

[pcparas]

Ventilation is the only concern I have. I can seal off the head unit box, but then I chance overheating the stereo. I need to do a little more research on the amount of heat produced by the head unit.

[BadAssEddie]

Ventilation is the only concern I have. I can seal off the head unit box, but then I chance overheating the stereo. I need to do a little more research on the amount of heat produced by the head unit.

I've been looking into this as well since my headunits keep crapping out. From what I've read on the weatherproofing options, they will overheat in the fully watertight enclosures, some crap out some don't. It depends on how loud and long you listen to music (i.e. wattage demand). With enough ventilation, they are overexposed to the elements and die that way. Even, the marine units can't handle being wet all the time. The way they survive in boats is sealing off the faceplate and having ventilation into the generally waterproof hull. I'd say higher-end units would fair better both to exposure and heat but I am unwilling to spend $100+ to find out.

You gave me the idea of waterproofing with clear coat which worked great, but I think it caused the radio to either overheat or short some components out because it stopped working a coulple of weeks after I got the radio working again.

My plan now is to shelter the new unit from dripping rain and mud but leave it exposed to air and coat the board in an ESD grease and using one of the panel flip-ups like you have and see how that does before I enclose it completely because I think it will burn up. Without an external amp, I turn the volume pretty hgih, which should create a good bit of heat.

[pcparas]

The head unit installed in the bronco is a nicer unit, I am hoping its a bit more durable than the cheaper stereos you can get these days. I am thinking of putting covers over the front and back of the stereo box with downward facing vents. This should let the stereo vent heat while still being somewhat protected from water. Being that I have an amp driving my speakers I believe the load on the head unit should be minimized, meaning it should produce less heat.

[pcparas]

Work on the bronco has been a little slow recently, but things are still moving forward. The Bronco Round up at Roush Creek is coming quickly, and I have quite a bit to do in the next few weeks. Either way here is a little update on the recent work:

-Finished rebuilding the front clip of the bronco (for the time being). When I install the Dana 60 I will being moving the axle forward. At that time I will run a second lower tube from the cab to the front hoop.
-Rebuild the fuel system
-Relocated the air tank and ran all new air lines
-Redesigned the radiator mounts and relocated the oil cooler to the front of the vehicle.
-Bought a 1979 Dana 60 that will eventually go into the Bronco

Removed the old sheet metal front clip




Building of the tube front clip












Replaced all of the old rubber fuel lines with PTFE braided stainless steel fuel line, replaced all of the fuel filters, and relocated the fuel accumulator from the front of the engine bay to the firewall.


Finally, here are a few pictures of the new Dana 60. The axle came with a TnT axle truss, an Altec hydraulic Ram mount, Reid Knuckles and high steer arms, 4340 axle shafts, a new set of 5.13 gears, a heavy diff cover, and solid axle drive flanges. Ill try to take some better pictures tomorrow. The Reid knuckles and high steer arms will probably be for sale soon.

[pcparas]

Here are a few more pictures of the 1979 Dana 60.

Just to make sure everything fit, I removed one of the Reid knuckles and installed one of the Solid knuckles with a Crane kingpin spring eliminator bushing. Currently I am planning to sell the Reid knuckles. I had picked up the Solid knuckles a few months ago before I bought the dana 60, the price was right for the knuckles/arms and I couldn't miss the deal. I do prefer a few features of the solid knuckles so I am planning to run them instead of the Reid knuckles.