Early Bronco Grille on 1st Gen

[bmxking5]

Ok, after going to Tellico and riding more and more trails, I've noticed that the front corners have a tendancy to get in the way of rocks and trees sometimes = no more corner lights. Also, I bought new headlights about a year ago, but the crappy made in Asia quality has one side turned yellow, and the other side looking new (even though they are the same brand, age, everything)!?!? I've been thinking about doing something different with the front end, such as the 03 Sport Trac Conversion offered by Perry's, or some other conversion, but I really don't want fiberglass. Out here, there is a lot of trail riding, so I don't want to be riding around with a bunch of messed up fiberglass body panels.

That's why I was thinking about an Early Bronco grille on the front of my rig. It would allow the side markers to be pulled in towards the middle of the truck, so it would be pretty tought to bust them out. I'd have a metal grille so it would be pretty strong. I can get IPF replacement headlamps (h4) for 33 bucks each, plus the cost of the bulbs, so they would be brighter than what I have now, much cheaper. Also, this is my favorite part of it: These high performance lamps can be used with either of our bulbs and will not fog, discolor or peel like other cheaper brands can. On top of all of that, it would be really different than everything else out on the street. I love the look of EB's, so I think if I did this right, it would look really nice on my truck. Any opinions or comments? (Please don't fill this thread with several "wow, you're awesome with photoshop" comments. )

BTW, I'm also planning to build some diamond plate corner guards (like Heeps and EB's) similar to the ones on this XJ in the second pic.

O yeah, Thanks Burns for letting me steal this pic from you.

 

[XplorerKid]

wow, you're awesome with photoshop

 

[rookieshooter]

Do it. Also like the D plate.

 

[justin146]

Are those Explorer center caps on that Jeep?

I say go for it. A guy here in town made some sheetmetal fillers to put where the front lights are. His were painted black and have lights installed that look LR D90 lights-round headlight with 2 small round signals. The pieces were just flat metal with one bend to fill in the hole.

 

[bmxking5]

Yep, they're Explorer fender flares as well.

Hmmm...I'm debating whether I should try to do the entire grille or just try to do like you're saying and just make like a filler piece and put in different lights and markers. I might give the fillers a try first since the grilles go for around 250-400 for the steel ones.

 

[XplorerKid]

Yep, they're Explorer fender flares as well.

Hmmm...I'm debating whether I should try to do the entire grille or just try to do like you're saying and just make like a filler piece and put in different lights and markers. I might give the fillers a try first since the grilles go for around 250-400 for the steel ones.

get off the Computer while at school

PS: bryan i didn go to sleep till like 5

 

[SplashMan]

I have seen a couple Bronco IIs with the EB grill mod. Looks pretty cool. Here is a writeup on it...
http://broncoii.org/fordforum/index.php?showtopic=1912&hl=grille

 

[bmxking5]

Caleb, right after I got off AIM, I went to my room and fell dead asleep.

Thanks Splash. I'm reading that thread right now and so far it seems to be great!

EDIT: How much difference in the front end width of B2's compared to 1st gens? Aren't they within like an inch or so (judging by the WMS of each)?

 

[410Fortune]

M Supertek's truck already reminds me of this with his headlights

 

[bmxking5]

I agree, the more I think about it, building a metal filler would be the easiest, cheapest, and cleanest looking route most likely. I'm still somewhat of a newbie with body work, so I think the metal filler would probably turn out the best. This way, I can still get those IPF EB headlamps and the h4 bulbs for them. I can try to do something similar with my markers and I'd still keep the Exploder look.

 

[Stic-o]

I don't like it looks like a old Dodge grill :thumbdwn:

 

[bmxking5]

The real EB grille looks less similar to the Dodge grille than my photoshop'd one does. But you're right, they are sort of similar. Just goes to show how bad my PS skills are.

I'm really liking the metal filler idea though.

 

[95offroadx]

that would look really sick! go for it

 

[bmxking5]

What would? The EB grille or the metal fillers with the EB lights (which would keep my stock grille, etc)?

 

[justin146]

You could make your fillers similar to this.....

 

[FROADER]

I say if you're doing it at all, do the whole grill. If you just do fillers it won't look like a EB it will look like an Explorer with fillers.

That BII looks pretty cool that way. I think yours will look better with it being all lifted and stuff in the year 2009.

 

[FROADER]

found a couple of pics of them on another BII and a pre-89 ranger.

http://images.google.com/imgres?img...num=10&hl=en&lr=&client=safari&rls=en-us&sa=N

 

[bmxking5]

I say if you're doing it at all, do the whole grill. If you just do fillers it won't look like a EB it will look like an Explorer with fillers.

That BII looks pretty cool that way. I think yours will look better with it being all lifted and stuff in the year 2009.

Hahaha. I was saying that I could just do the fillers because I'm nowhere near a pro with body work and it would be quite difficult and expensive. The grille costs roughly 250 for a good non-rust one. The lights are 66 bucks, about 80 for the bulbs, side markers, blah blah blah. I'd be just as happy with an EB front grille as I would be with an Explorer. I personally like the look of first gens once they're lifted.

That second bronco 2 looks better than the first one, probably because it isn't dragging the ground.

EDIT:This grille swap would be more difficult on a 1st gen since the corners/markers curve around the front end. I'm just trying to figure out how you could add more metal to it so that it would curve around the body and still not look like crap. I know you can fiberglass and stuff, but that's the whole thing I'm trying to get rid of.