Gary's ***Project Bronco***
 

Well since the original thread appears to have been lost in the Labor Day crash of 2009, I've decided to reboot a new thread.

It all started back in 1981 when my father bought a full size Bronco XLT Lariat. He lifted it. Put a 3/4 racing cam in it. Full headers and a custom dual exhaust. It was a beast. From that day forward I always wanted a full size Bronco. Though even in 1981 they had a sticker price of $15k and by the time I was driving prices had risen to over $30k. I think in 1996 sticker prices were $36k. Insanely expensive in its day. So I moved on. I thought.

In 2007 I bought my first Mustang new. I had also always wanted a '89 LX 5.0 coupe. But I could never afford that either. Well once I finally got my first 'second' car in teh 2007 GT, all bets were off. Once I started modding the '07 I realized I could easily do the same to my dream truck from childhood. So I went about looking for a '96 Bronco. Last year they were made. Of course I wanted a 351w and I wanted it in good shape. So this is what I found back in September of 2008...
http://i358.photobucket.com/albums/o...6bronco/16.jpg
http://i358.photobucket.com/albums/o...6bronco/17.jpg
http://i358.photobucket.com/albums/o...6bronco/18.jpg
http://i358.photobucket.com/albums/o...6bronco/21.jpg
So that's how she looked when I got her.

So after driving it a little while I decided what I wanted to change about it.

First of all the mocha interior had turned a gawd awful shade of peach.

So I stripped the interior bare. Pulled the dash and seat out. And started painting interior panels black.

http://i358.photobucket.com/albums/o...Picture118.jpg
http://i358.photobucket.com/albums/o...Picture117.jpg

So far I've managed to paint the dash and the door panels black
http://i358.photobucket.com/albums/o...1243830726.jpg
http://i358.photobucket.com/albums/o...1243830683.jpg
After about a 1.5 years I'm sad to report that about it.

I did buy a '91 LX 5.0 Vert in August of 2009. That kind of put a halt to the Bronco work. Plus I supercharged my '07 in July of 2009. And I continue to modify the '07 to this day. But I have sold my '06 F150 daily driver/work truck and until my new truck thats on order arrives I'm driving the vert to work. This frees up some time now in the next month or two to work on the Bronco.

So I've restarted this thread to show some of the work that I will be doing. Ultimately I'm looking to do something along these lines, but with my own twists. Some things I like, some I don't. Ultimately I'm looking to go big and go white and black on the exterior. But still streetable too.
http://i358.photobucket.com/albums/o...s/IMG_0340.jpg
http://i358.photobucket.com/albums/o...s/IMG_0269.jpg

Glad to see it's finally getting going again! :poke:

Well on the interior plastic panels it has turned out to be a chore. Apparently years of armor all and grease and smoke mean that you have to scrub the ever loving crap out of the panels. I got some special detergent that I cleaned it with. Then scuffed it up with some sand paper. Cleaned it again to make sure none of the dust was left over. Then I used a plastic primer specially formulated to help the top coat stick and finally sprayed it with some satin black paint made to paint interior auto panels. I've got to say that it looks like it was always black when its done. They've held up laying in the back of the Bronco in the sun for these past 8 months or so. We'll see how it does with scratches.


As far as the exterior goes I'm keeping the white. But basically everything that is tan will be painted with line-x bed liner spray in black.

I'll definitely be asking some questions when and if I ever redo the notch's interior. :poke:

that bronco has such a badass stance now

That's not mine. That's just what I want it to look like someday.

NIce, too bad they dont have those anymore

Off-topic, but do you have any pictures of 5.0? I don't think I ever saw it.

https://themustangsource.com/showthread.php?t=476690

This is all I have right now. Nothings changed yet and with the exception of a new front bumper that needs to be done and the new wheels I'm putting on it (10th Anniversary SVT wheels) it will look like this when I'm done too.

Nice car. :nice:

If Gary wasn't such a cool guy I would seriously consider stealing his car collection :jester:

You wouldn't make it far. Most of it doesn't run because they're always down for mods.

Working on the Bronco today. Lots of painting of interior panels. Some vinyl work on some of the door panels. I only hope I can remember how all this stuff goes back together after a year.

Gary, just curious, are all bronco's of that era 4wd? I found one same body type, for a decent price but didnt acctually look close at it, it was raining and wife and kids were in car waiting so I did a quickie glance.

All Broncos 1977-1996 are 4WD.

From the early 80's and onward they had 3 motors available. 300 straight6, 302 and 351 Windsors.

Towards the end the large majority produced were 351w. Tailgate rust is a big deal. Hard to find one without it. Mine has it of course. They only have front disc/rear drums. They are essentially a 1/2 ton Ford pickup with a unique frame and body. Alot of the parts are readily available because there were so many F150 and F250 trucks made. Some parts are more rare. Mine ad dash damage that I'm currently trying to fix. They put a soft vinyl covered foam pad on teh dash and they dried out in the sun, became hard, and cracked. You have to get the dang dash of to get at it and nobody makes a replacement. They do make some good looking covers I wish I had found before attempting this.

There's tons of aftermarket lift kits, plus you've got all the 351 and 302 parts you can find.

I think the 94 and 95 Broncos got MAF, and 96 is the only year to be OBDII.

Transmissions are strong IF they've been taken care of. I'm gonna add an external filter and probably a secondary cooler on mine when I get down to the details.

I'm just trying to get the **** dash and interior back in it so I can drive it to get an inspection and get it back on the road again.

Thanks for the info Gary. I want to say this one was a 92/93 if I remember right.

well if you see somebody milling around out back and staring at your cars with drool running down his face, don't shoot!


are you going to uprgrade things like the radio to make them modern, or try to keep it stock?

Everything is getting upgraded. I plan to keep this one forever too. My 10 year old daughter wants it so it'll be for her someday.

I will replace most things as I go. Everything will get a refresh. On this one I'll be doing interior first, then exterior, and then lastly the motor/trans. 4" lift and full exhaust will be soon. I may even try a rear disc upgrade too.