78 Bronco Fixer Upper

[RedneckFoxBoy19]

Hi I have a 1978 ford bronco ranger xlt that i am thinkin about fixin up. The body is in perfect shape and has already been repainted once. It has been in my family since it was new and has been under a barn since it broke down about 10 years ago. The interior is perfect too with the exception of a little mold. Anyways the motor is shot and i was thinking about putting a 460 in it. The tranny is also shot and i wanted to rebuild that up with heavy duty parts if it will bolt up to a 460 which i heard it will. A buddy of mine is goin to be puttin a complete coil spring suspension under his 86 bronco which i think i am going to copy off of. Also he is goin to be runnin his bronco of propane to do away with the fuel fpump and carb and everythin else. I was wonderin if anyone has any experience with this he says it will be good for crawlin rocks and in the water and muck. Basically this is just gonna be a mud truck but it might do a little pullin and rock crawlin. I don't really want to go any bigger than 40 inch tires because anythin above that i think looks just to big on the broncs. Since the interior is entirely blue i was thinkin about gettin rid of all that and goin to tan. My friends have said that you can keep the blue plastic and just dye it tan but w/e thats the least of my worries. Anyways i was wantin some other people input on whether or not they thought a 460 would be a little to heavy or not. Also i was thinkin about goin with 2 1/2 ton axles which i know i don't need i just think i could find them a bit cheaper than dana 60's or even 70's like what my friend is puttin under his 86 bronco. My main question is do you think that with 40's it will have enough ground clearance with the 2 1/2 tons or should i stay at a dana 60 or 70? It a pretty big project. Anyways if ya'll got any suggestions, cool ideas, or any helpful sights where i can find interior parts, weather stripping, axles and basically all the stuff it needs to move please let em fly its always good to get someone elses point of view. Thanks a lot.

 

[TX_BEAST]

yes the 460 will fit if it was originally a 351-400m block with auto tranny. in regard to axles probably be best to stick with dana 60 or 70 because of weight and hassle of changing suspension, by the way you already have coil sprung front suspension,

as for propane im not the person to ask.

just a personal note im running 40's with stock d44 axles and not having any problems. ive talked to people runnig them with 500+hp 460's and they just upgraded shafts and havent had any problems.

 

[RedneckFoxBoy19]

Now after looking at it a little bit more i think i am just going to bore the 351 out. I found that there is like a 400 kit or something like that for it. It will prolly save a lot of money on buyin a while new block and everythin. I know the front suspension is already coil spring but my friend is goin to set his up a little differently so it will flex a lot more. I don't really know the details just that he is gonna do it on his bronco and if it works out pretty well i might copy his design. I am not bashin on the 1/2 ton axles either no doubt they are strong i just want somethin a little bigger. I have better plans for the bronco axles like puttin em under a CJ-7 with 44" tires. A buddy of mine has set his up like that and it turned out pretty well. I got more projects than i know what to do with. If i take em all on one by one and actually get em done it might be pretty cool. Right now i am fixin up a 66 cj-5 not doin anythin special just gonna be a mud vehicle i can toy around on so i don't have to take the super duty out and break it and not have anythin to drive. Best to leave the road truck out of the mud. But thanks for the tips.