Buddy just picked up a Ford

[Robert D]

For those of you who remember my mild virgin-offroad trip I described previously where I was ticketed for a river crossing....

My buddy, who I let drive my Jimmy for a bit, was sucked back into offroading. He did the 'smart' thing when we hit college and sold his mid-90s bronco with the motor he'd rebuilt (his first) and financed an economical Honda Accord. I guess the combination of driving my truck and seeing/hearing his truck around the UT campus (he sold it to a guy who works at one of the leasing agencies near campus) got him looking for a project truck.

We found one! A '79 Bronco with the top already off, ugly roll cage and front bumper replacement, and plenty of rust....BUT it has 400 in it! He picked it up for ~900 and we're now dismantling the body in order to treat as much rust as possible with rust-bullet/undercoating. I'll try to get him posting on the forums at some point! It's going to be mean once we chop it up!

 

[mofugly13]

Tell him to part it out and buy a chebby!

 

[BizeeB65]

Tell him to part it out and buy a chebby!

 

[1985_K5_Silverado]

Those 78-79 Broncos are the only big (78-96) Broncos that were SFA. They are also the best-looking big Broncos ever made. 9-inch rear axle, a sturdy piece of drivetrain. Much like Blazers, they rust like mad in road salt states. There's one for sale near here, up in Omaha, a '79 Bronco for $1500 that they claim needs mech work, but they also claim the body is solid. It was kind of tempting me to drive up and see it.

 

[Thunder]

I like 78-79 FS broncos. Good strong 4x4s. IMHO way better built and better offroad than Blazers of that year. Stronger frame, Stronger Drive train, Shorter turning radius, better angle of approach, Plus in stock form they had 3" height on the Blazer.
When ford introduced the Full size Bronco. They studied Blazers and Improved the few faults Blazers had and enhanced in areas where Blazer was lacking. For a few years Ford Made an awesome FS Bronco.
Then they screwed it all up and went to D44 in the rear TTB front ends.

 

[3 on the tree]

FYI, THE 400 AND 460 share the same bellhousing bolt pattern. Find a 460 pickup or 1 ton, and bolt a 460 into that puppy! The weight is not much heavier, but the power is way more.