THE NEXT STEP - 88 Bronco II

[410Fortune]

Here is the "short version" of my immediate plans for the BII

A. INSERT COILOVERS HERE. IN order to maximize the flex and ride from the TTB I am planning some more modifications. The currenbt shock and coil setup works well but it is noisy, limits flex, and TTB coils aren't known for their compression. The plan is to fabricate a set of coilover mounts/engine cage and mount some 10-12" coilovers. The radius arms and crossmember will be modifed as well with some rod ends to eliminate the bushings. Steering, brake lines, and bump stops will be addressed along the way.

B. To match the new found flex in the front I plan to go through the floor of the BII and build another shock mount cage. In the back some custom leafs, shackle, and long travel resevoir shocks will be setup for a better ride and more articulation. Much of the cargo floor of the BII will have to be modified for clearance, the spare tire will be re-located inside and down as low as possible (C. O. G.)

C. Roll over protection. Can't escape it forever! The danger of rolling over is real no matter how prepared or cautious you are, when you follow the big dawgs, you get off camber. I dont need a full race cage, but something as light weight as possible while still providing full protection for the driver will be incorporated in to the truck. Keeping it tight to the body and roof is the plan.

D. Finally! Is the top coming off of 410's BII? nope! Many people dont know that the reason why the BII has those large side windows and no remove-able top is because Ford intended for the side windows to come out! Thats right, the side glass was to be hinged and you could take it out to get that open top feel. I am planning a full custom 2 piece tailgate, with the upper section being mounted with a quick release. This will leave me a truck style tailgate on the back of the BII. The side windows will come out and be swapped with some soft windows that can be bolted in place. All glass will be removeable and I will retain a hard top setup for those "Colorado winters".

These are the BIG steps in the next stages of my buildup, my truck is always changing and I am sure as it gets built many of the details I think I have worked out, will be modified. I have been thinking about these next major steps for a few years, and I consider them the "finishing touches" to reward my truck for its long hard duty as my daily driver and off road beater for the last 7 years...

OTHER smaller projects include:
-sliders/rocker panels
-Pulled bedsides (possibly a first on a BII, extensicve cargo floor modifications and window channel mods required)
-more under carriage protection
-sunroof
-custom center console
-tool/spare part storage
-35-37" tires
-gear reduction/doubler
-rear ARB

 

[mhn3773]

the no windows thing will be awesome i love wheeling in an open air feel..make it that much more exciting =)

i cant wait to see how this will evolve =) gunna be awesome

 

[unclemeat]

One you start a buildup do you ever finish?

 

[Hotweels]

sheet metal is for wimp's

 

[410Fortune]

I would like to see you drive that sucker to go snow boarding in CO in the winter during a full white out! hahahahaha = COLD.

What are the plans for that bad boy??? I really like the green!!!
Have you considered just putting a Ranger cab on the BII frame? You can cut out the rear wall still if you want.
I have seen a supercab cabin on a BII frame with a bobbed ranger shortbed centered over the rear axle. Looked and worked killer, kinda a 80's sport trac.....



I have been considering taking some inspiration from people like Brian (TRCKMAGIK) and Brett and building another BII...

Chopped top, EFI 5.0L, AOD, D44, 9",EB fiberglass door inserts, narrowed front, full cage. Then get a full size Bronco (96 if possible) with the 351 to pull the little bronco around with


Here's a Photo chop of her topless...don't think I haven't thought about it....

 

[Hotweels]

i am going to stretch the wheelbase 12" then do a 1/4 elip in the back and 3 link the front with full width diff's, rear mount the rad and grab a fuel cell once i have the cell and rad i will add onto the cage and make a rear basket the width of the frame rail's and to the centerline of the diff ( 90*+ approach and departure angles).... but i am thinkin of racin tuff truck this summer with it so i am not sure if/when i will get started on it.

kinda like the idea of pullin a B2 with my SFA 92 eddiebauer, should get a few look's thats for sure
oh ya... it was free and it run's

 

[jimbo74]

colorado winters? are you moving?

also i dont think it will look as cool topless.... it will then look like a modified ranger, and although rangers are sweet, everyone has them........ i think the wierder outside the box normal of the sweet b2 is the better way to go......

 

[410Fortune]

JIm,

Colorado will always be my home hahaha well not for the next few years anyways but it will be again, plus the snowboaarding there is better anyways

 

[Kirby N.]

Jaime,
Sounds all good to me. I like the coilovers. I don't like the whole soft windows/ tailgate idea. I want to cut my sport behind the traingle windows and move my rear hatch up there for a little bed and still 4 seats. I finished my Diff Skid. It is beefy. I will have to get a pic. I pm'd you about your front end. I don't know if you got it, or just never responded. What springs are you running? Do you have a pic of yours or bretts completely flexed? I want to run 35s, but I think I might have to turn my beams to do it. If you wouldn't mind helping me with it a little.

Oh, snowboarding was awesome last saturday! The snow was nice and I bet it was 65 degrees. Miss it?

 

[Brett]

Now, this is a thread I should subscribe to

 

[410Fortune]

Heck what do you mean suscribe Brett you will be the one answering all my questions as they come up!!! hahaha

Kirby:

I always respond to my PM's??? I looked and I did not see one from you recently? Resend it if you've got it...

Also the whole poiint of going with soft windows and the two pice tailgate is to keep the BII roof and windows, anybody can sawzall the top of the BII off and clean it up, nobody I know of has yet to make a hard top to go back on...I will esentially have the best of both worlds. Also there is a Sport in Colorado that has done exactly what you describe, kind of an Explorer Amigo type conversion....looks really good!!

 

[Kirby N.]

Does that mean Brett will be the mastermind or the mustle behind all this stuff?


I would love to see some pics of that sport. I know there is a white or a grey Navajo that has been chopped but the door isn't welded back on. I want to chop mine, but it is soooo nice with the tool box I got back there for camping. It folds down and in goes a queen size airbed. I would miss that. I am not too stoked to sleep on the ground in a tent (niether is the wife)...

I will resend the PM.

Brett,
You got some pics of yours flexed up? I am getting close to cutting my front end. My 33s got about 6 or 8 months left on em, and I am definately not buying more 33s. I got to make some room for some 35s

 

[410Fortune]

Brett is the wall I bounce my problems and ideas off of, usually he throws back a better solution then I could come up with....

Also Brett is/was my wrenching partner, couldnt have built half my truck without his tools/help/input.

Also why weld the hatch back on? First off most of it is fiberglass, second you can retrofit a ranger tailgate MUCH easier then messing with the remains of the Explorer hatch....

 

[Kirby N.]

As far as I know, my hatch is completely steel (unless the part around the rear window is fiberglass, then my idea is out the window) I want to weld it on behind my back seats. I will still have the use of the window hatch. Then I want to fab up a ranger tailgate for the very rear where my hatch is now. Then I will have a little bed with the extension of the tailgate when down. I will also have the ability to take off the hatch window, roll down my windows, and use the triangle windows. Almost open air with the ability to seal it all up for winter. I am trying to come up with a way to do all this and still be able to sleep in my truck when I want to camp...

 

[Rhett]

If the top was chopped, it would look a little like the "Lil Mule" in the 80's movie, "Romancing the Stone". The Lil Mule was a full size Bronc with rear plastic/glass removed.

If I still got out to Denver a lot, (which I don't anymore) I would snowboard every weekend and work on my truck in the summer and fall. Heck I probably can't even ride my board anymore, but at least I can work on my truck. I'm makin' it a point to go out there again next winter.

 

[410Fortune]

Rhett, I love the Lil Mule, thats a great movie and the truck is badass
hahaha

I wont chop the top, I have other plans, maybe someday it will get a full chop, but I doubt it.
I dont like snowbaording as much as a pair of skii's but then I have skiied since I was 4 and only started to board when I was 19.
I prefer a wakeboard over waterskii's anyday though, isnt that weird? hahaha