1979 Bronco Buildup

[Cody Texan]

Life for this Bronco has never been easy as you can see when I got here in PA and rescued this gem it was not pretty. People thought I was crazy and said they paid you to take it away right? But none the less i worked on this bronco and now it's running and driving and looks a lot better then when I started!

Here is the beginning,




The Worst side, (Driver and rear)





Alittle rust along the passenger side fender,


The Interior,








Worst of the rear floor,




The Engine,

[Cody Texan]

Started stripping it down and removing the rust.









Pictures of the rearend before I rebuilt it.




There's one way to get the tailgate open!



once i removed the tailgate I cleaned everything up and started painting everything with POR15.

[Cody Texan]

Here is pic of the rebuilt rearend,


After getting the rearend rebuilt it was time to start on the front end.







Here is the front of the Bronco that the neighbor sees when I'm working on it,







New Radius Arms from a member of another site,



While I had the front axle out it was the perfect time to take care of the engine and freshen it up some with new gaskets and parts.




I will be building another motor for it along with rebuilding the transmission and transfer case but so far it's driving and running pretty good.

[Cody Texan]

Cleaned the front clip some,


New Tailgate,




Also I put a 4 inch lift kit under her while it was apart.






The fact that the springs was broken in 3 places didn't sway my decisions to change them! LOL

And here it is before I started on the body work,

[Cody Texan]

Got the interior patched up,




Got the inside painted and everything looking good for awhile,

















A $30 paint job later and I got this,









The doors and rear quarter panels need to be replaced but this is good enough to ride around in and go through the woods for a little while.

Oh and after driving it for awhile I destroyed the rear drive shaft so I got a replacement in there,
http://www.supermotors.net/getfile/886498/fullsize/303826_10100351563810268_16712297_50833118_4041032 65_n.jpg[/img]

Can you say Beefy? Only weak link is the u-joints.

[Cody Texan]

Here it is as it sit today.









I built the soft top myself. Just letting a upholstery shop sew it for me with my directions.

As it sits the build is

1979 Bronco
400 wornout engine
C6 worn transmission
NP205 transfer case
9 inch rear and 44 Dana front axle with 3.55 gears
4 inch lift and 35" tires.

The plan is to build a new 400 for it and rebuild a C6 and NP205 soon.

Oh and the front drive shaft needs to be rebuilt but it's turning good enough for now.

[Cody Texan]

This Bronco had just about every nut and bolt removed at one time or another. I also repaired all of the wiring and did some upgrades to it to make the headlights brighter.

I also had to rebuild the heater core as rust caused it to not work right plus the rat nest didn't help.

New brake system from rear to front and new fuel system was included since all of the lines was rusted up and no good.

So far all of the work on this thing has been done by me and only me. It's been a long hard road but I enjoy driving her through town!

[jeep ride]

Turned out real nice

[ridgerunner97]

Nice work! You don't live very far from a lot of the more active people on this site, we'll have to get out on a ride or to get some beers sometime and BS

[Cody Texan]

Thanks for the kind words, it's not a pretty rig up close but it's perfect for some trail riding!

Now to replace the solenoid. Got in the bronco yesterday to go to work and it wouldn't start. A little trouble shooting and a pair of pliers and I determined the original solenoid finally failed, who would have thought a 30 yr old solenoid would fail? lol

[chux72vette]

Nice Rescue!!!! Keep it up as these were workhorses in their hayday plus alot of fun to work/play in. Nice seeing a YesterYear Bronco!

[carthief007]

nice, i like the late 70's broncos....

[CESCO]

Nice.......

I have a 79 that I have been robbing parts from if you need anything let me know, maybe I can help you out for cheap.. it has a 400 in it and what was a good c6 when parked..

[Cody Texan]

Actually i have 3 C6 in my possession, and a spare 400 motor.

But, I need a crankshaft and a few good piston rods.

Seems the previous guy left a bearing or 2 out!




This is the spare motor I bought to build up and swap out for the current one.

Can't complain as I got the 400 with a c6/NP205 for $100.

But I might be interested in a Front Driveshaft, never hurts to have a spare!

[CESCO]

not sure what kind of shape the 400 would be in, but if i remember right it was balanced with .30 over forged pistons.. i would let you look at the internals before you bought it if you are interested...

[brooks294x4]

nice build, glad to see someone else rockin a fullsize.

it took me 3 years to bring mine back from a rust bucket to a nice rig. keep up the good work man.

[The_War_Wagon]

As a FORMER '79 Bronco owner, I salute your life-saving efforts!!!

[chux72vette]

Hope to see at the M&G Saturday Code!!! Almost had some deer mush for ya last night as we came within a foot of clipping an 8 point with a runny nose. Yeah, that close,,,lol.

[chux72vette]

Hey Cody, hope to see ya at the M&G saturday!!!

[Cody Texan]

Good grief Chuck, why didn't you reach out and slap that deer in the nose! LOL

While I was in Casper, WY I gave my top to the upholstery guy and had him do this....













Sure does help with the blind spots! Plus it's done now. I'm thinking of when it comes time to put the new quarter panels on I'm going to put aluminum rail in place where the hard top will bolt on. This way it will be flat and instead of snaps in the quarter panels they will be on the aluminum rails. But for now this will do the job.

[Cody Texan]

Just a update as I notice I didn't keep this thread up to date,

I rebuilt and modified the NP205 for twin stick,

What I started with,





Between work and stuff, I got the transfer case halfway back together,









Done, one modified NP205.





Now for the transmission rebuild.

[Cody Texan]

The Spare tranmission that I needed the output shaft from,


That's transmission fluid from the first one.


Thrust bearing number 1! LOL


Pump scared,


No good clutch,


Couldn't get it off it was welded to the reverse case,


But this is still good and it's all I needed!


Now the good transmission,


Pretty Red!!


Better thrust bearing number 1!



The Good Transmission parts,


Cleaned and painted the best case,


Gauge came in,


and the Torque Converter,


I went with a Saturday Night Special!


That's where I am right now with the transmission rebuild.

I did a redneck thing because I didn't have a reverse spring compressor for the springs in the transmission so I used my vise and a couple of bolts!






Then I got the transmission finished!!

Now lets see if it works when I install it...

[Cody Texan]

Got some more stuff in today,



Twin shifters, remote filter mount, and external cooler.

Just waiting on the remote filter to come in along with get over this cold I got.

I might start working on it tomorrow by pulling everything out of the way and dropping the transfer case if i get that far.

[chux72vette]

And we were just talking about You getting a bunch of new goodies,,,LOL Awesome for the Win!!!!

[Cody Texan]

LOL, yea I had all of this stuff on order or already built cause I knew the transmission was the next weakest link in the drivetrain! After I get this done it will be the motor turn, when does it end! LOL

Well I'm 4 torque converter nuts and 4 bellhousing bolts away from getting the transmission out. Everything else is off and out of the way even the transfer case.

My left shoulder should feel good tomorrow morning as I hit that shoulder with a prybar trying to pry the floor up some to get the bolts out of the frame that held the transmission cross member in place. Who the hell thought that was a bright idea putting bolts on the floor side of the frame!!