For the last 4 1/2 years my brother and I have been restoring this 1979 Ford Bronco. Bought it off a guy in northern MN who saved it from a rotting barn.Ask me anything.
Cool machine. Engine?
>>27837115What do you use for undercoating / rust proofing?
>>27837122Thank you. It has the 351 Windsor. Not the 400 unfortunately.
>>27837128Simple Rustolium Rust Converter (black) from Home Depot with a second coat of matte black enamel.Undercoating is bedliner.
>>27837115I'll post some more pictures from my phone
>>27837141Here's an example of the undercoating
>>27837172God damnit the phone flipped it...
Are you replacing any of the body panels, and if so, where are you getting them from?Are you using a bunch of rock auto parts, junk yard parts, or going to ebay and hoping you get lucky.Does it run?
>>27837176Yes, all the body panels are getting replaced. I have not bought any but, I'm 90% sure I'll be getting them from LMC, however, I will be doing some price shopping between them, Rock Auto (if they ever get them stocked), and/or Dennis Carpenter.I have only purchased parts from Rock Auto, Jeffs Bronco Graveyard, etc... I have not done any scavenging or eBay guessing.Yes it runs (quite well actually), however it does need new belts and its so rusted (the body) that it was too dangerous to drive down the highway.
Heres a good picture of the stripped interior and after a majority of the welding was done.
>>27837211
>>27837184Bronco Graveyard is also a good source for parts.
>>27837130What's wrong with 351? 302 mods and tech work with it.
>>27837375Just admitting its not the largest V8 that you could get in this from the factory.I personally don't care about the engine size. However, I also understand that *some* people find the larger engine sizes to be more coveted
>>27837385I'm pretty sure you could bore and stroke the 351 to a 400. Quick Google shows that they're both the same base anyhow. Also sure powernation has a video on stroking it up to 427. Personally I got a 94 f150 with a 351 I'm working on. Pretty sure that's the year they switched over to roller cams so I might mod it up since it'll take it. It's a really cool block, I think early 70s 351s are heavily coveted for their strong material construction. The whole array of those engines are super durable and undertuned. See plenty of people claiming you can double the horsepower on them and swap cam for more torque, bottom end will easily take it. You still have a cool truck dude.
>>27837229what's up with all the bondo in the floor
>>27837404You can technically get a 351W upto 427 cubes but most blocks are maxed out at 383 due to cylinder wall thickness during casting.The 400M is based off the 351M, which took aspects of both the 351W and 351C.Yhe 400 is a different engine (uses big block bell housing pattern and motor mounts).You can put a 400M crank in 351W block but not the rest of the rotating assembly.351C cank won't fit in a M or W400M heads are from the C family and not compatible with the W's.
>>27837404>>27837551Absolutely! I didn't even think about boring it, thats actually kinda cool that people do that, as I've only ever heard of doing that to boat motors.But I digress, I have also heard the 351W is VEARY durable, which is why I was okay with buying a pile of rust, at least I knew the motor would run.Not opposed to doing engine upgrades but I honestly do like the stock feeling of it. I plan on keeping most of the interior and wheels in a stock configuration, I just want a cool pavement princess lol.
>>27837413Seam-sealer for the welds.
Here's an early picture before we dug into the suspension.
>>27837551Good info>>27837737Still a consideration for me in the future, but pulling it and working on it could be fun. I've only just tuned it up and swapped tps on the body. Runs good, I've been seeing people say they really benefit from a higher flow exhaust and I'm considering that as one of the first things I do with it. Nothing obnoxious.
>>27837761I like the idea of pulling and working on an engine as well. If it blows, that's a good opportunity to throw some cool stuff into it.
>>27837115>4 1/2 years what the fuck have you idiots been doing for all that time
>>27837130Really? the modified series using a big block bellhousing pattern. there were a few early 80s 351s that were mated to a c6
>>27838111Garage isnt insolated or heated. Cant work on it during the winter months. Since we live in MN, that leaves ~4 months a year to work on it. And we only have so much time on the weekends.Its a full resto, not some backyard fix that you see on youtube.Also, nice trips.
My "85 came with the 300 (4.9) big six.I am 1 or 3 people known in history to have killed a 300.So I swapped it out for a 351W.78/79 is a completely different truck but it's still similar.You can get pretty far with just bolt-ons.I'm running the standard edelbrock performer intake and a holley (700dp, it's really not the correct size but it's what I had on the shelf).I threw on some fox body mustang equal length shorty headers- they fit with zero issues. Ran dual exhaust down the passenger side with the crossover in front of the bell housing so nothing interferes with ground clearance or skid plates.Im pretty sure they didn't start throwing I 8.8"s until 1980 so you should have a 9".30 spline axles either way.Both are good axles really. 9" has 3 pinion bearings vs 2 but the 8.8 has a larger pinion shaft diameter.And the c-clip debate could take its own thread so I'm not going there- both styles have their merits.
>>27837184I'm not an expert, by any means, but when the body is really fucked sideways, like that, I'd check the alignment before welding that middle section. If all of the mounts have sagged, just a little bit, it can really throw things off. If the doors don't shut easily, or if the gaps are all wrong, I'd shim the body before cutting/welding. I went through this with a Scout II, which probably started rusting on the assembly line.
>>27837136>>27837172Rustolium is worse than nothing sandblast and redo with Mastercoat >>27838111it took me like 8 years to frame of restore my trans am, mostly body work, finding parts, then trying to afford them.
>>27837752you should have at least put primer down
>>27838111people have jobs and actually have lives too.he probably just does a few hours of work on the weekend, since that's all he can spare.not everything happens in a few weeks zoomzoom, and doing things right takes time, to which OP's truck looks nice.
>>27840423oh shut the fuck up faggot
>>27840282That's the least of his worries. It looks like he just welded a new sheet on top of the old rusty metal.That's some Joe Biden tier shit right there, kek
>>27837752what the fuck am i looking at? i thought this was a top-tier resto, not a meth hack job. fuck me that looks horrible.
bump for more retardation
>>27840468I agree with everything you said.
Were there any moment where you spoke to yourself 'man the original owner of this thing deserves to die if they didn't lready for this solely'?
>>27837752That's clearly body filler.
>>27837172>>27837211>>27837229>>27837752
