Koda's Bronco II

[koda6966]

So something rather heart wrenching happened this past Friday. I sent my beloved never-ending project 1993 Ford Ranger to the scrap yard. After years of rebuilding it, parting it out, rebuilding it, and parting it out again I decided it was time. It's parts will live on in three different local race trucks (we have a racetrack a town or two over) and helped out several people with their daily drivers. Of course I also hung onto a few parts for sentimental/"I've never seen these parts elsewhere" reasons. 10 years was a good run for my first truck.

Then, I received a text from a guy on craigslist letting me know that a Bronco II I was interested in was still available, but he had several people interested in looking at it Saturday morning. So what do I do? Drive three hours to go pick it up Friday night of course! (Excuse the Nissan, I make bad decisions.)

So far, I've just been working on giving it a quick tune up and looking things over. Immediate plans are to do a mild 2-3" of lift using a mixture of parts I already have and some junkyard goodies. New tires, old rims from my ranger (maybe, I like the stock ones too) and installing my CB from my old Jeep (when I figure out where the heck to put the antenna). It needs a rear dome light, and I never liked the factory dome lights without the switch on them so both of those will be getting changed out. The interior is pretty clean, so despite being red I might leave most of that alone for now. Should be registered and on the road Monday morning.

Pretty clean for spending most of its life in Northern PA.

Tired ol' 186K 2.9L

Ugly red interior. (Slowly growing on me, I'll admit.)

Lots of space for the dogs, who will probably always sit in the front seat anyway.

And I even found the original 1988 sales invoice in the glove box!

Crazy-probably-never-going-to-happen plans include full width axles, 6"+ of lift, and a smallblock. Ha, right.

I'll try to keep this post updated when I can. Life got a whole lot busier and I find it hard to keep up with forums like I used to. Feels good to be back in the RBV game though.

 

[fangotango306]

That thing is clean. Great score!

 

[koda6966]

It's got some rust here and there. Nothing that isn't easily fixed though.

 

[bronco2fan]

Very nice score. You're absolutely right, it looks real nice for being in the Northeast it's whole life. Good luck with her.

 

[bobbywalter]

DOOOOOOD!!!






i am very very jealous....

 

[koda6966]

DOOOOOOD!!!
i am very very jealous....

I've been getting that a lot. Haha

 

[wildbill23c]

Looks good. Mount the CB antenna in the middle of the roof, best place for an antenna to give you a good ground plane for signal. Magnet mount is best, don't go drilling holes in the roof that eventually leads to leaks down the road which you won't realize until its too late.

I have recently finished up a radio shelf in my 88 B2 and the antennas are magnet mount on the roof. Waiting for a larger magnet mount for my Ham Radio antenna though. Ham Radio antenna is 5-1/2 feet tall the little 3-1/2" magnet just doesn't cut it with that antenna on the highway.

The shelf is actually a Shelf-It organizer which ended up being for a Full Size Bronco however, its aluminum and was easily cut down to fit. While in the process I replaced the stock sun visors with the dual visors out of a 96 Explorer. Took a bit of planning, and a bit of modification but its done and its installed. I'm still trying to figure out the best mounting solution for the microphones. Got them basically just stuck wherever right now, the ham radio and CB mics are close at hand on the front of the shelf, but the GMRS radio mic is just tucked in the corner in its retainer. Not the greatest but its functional and everything is easy to reach. Also included a 2 12V power port and a dual USB charging port over on the passenger side of the shelf also hides the circuit breaker and fuse block too LOL.

 

[koda6966]

i was thinking about using the rear gutter as a mount but I'm afraid of just ripping the whole thing off lol. Most of the trails near me are heavily wooded, and going for crazy distance typically wouldn't be much of a factor. Anything mounted to the roof would just be constantly getting whacked off from it.

 

[koda6966]

Being a PA vehicle most of it's life it never had a front plate but the holes were there for the bracket that it probably left the dealer in NY with. Normally I'd just throw the front plate on the dash until I got a chance to hit the junkyard but the dash style of these trucks doesn't work well for that. I tried the one that was on the ranger bumper from my old truck but the holes didn't line up. Time to make one.

Grabbed a chunk of scrap that I've been hanging onto and traced it out.

Drilled and tapped four holes, and welded a couple bolts to it that I picked up at TSC.

Had to put an extra nut on for a spacer to keep it level and keep the plate bolts off the bumper.

And she's finally legal! Which is good, because I took my other daily driver off the road for the summer.

Next will be just a few creature comforts, like a dash mount for my phone, speaker/lighting upgrades, and a CUPHOLDER.

 

[4x4junkie]

Nice score indeed!

FWIW,
I have a triple-mag mount (very similar to this one) with a 5½ foot Francis CB26 antenna on the roof of mine. I also put a heavy-duty Firestik spring on it. The spring allows the antenna to move harmlessly out of the way if a low branch hits it (and it happens all the time in the places I go, such as the Sierra range here in CA.).

Seems this is the best pic that shows anything of the antenna mount I have on the 'net at the moment...


There's also a small dual-band V/UHF mag mount just barely visible behind the CB antenna (for which the CB antenna offers a little bit of protection from being knocked over).

Just for the sake of people who have to hear you, try to mount the antenna as high up as you can, even if it isn't on the roof. Turning off the squelch to pull someone out of the noise because they don't have a good (or properly-placed) antenna can be a pain at times (I deal with this too often with Jeep guys on trail runs).


Hope that helps

.

 

[koda6966]

I used to have my CB antenna mounted at the mid line of my Jeep so I know what you mean there. I was worried that a firestick spring might be too stiff, I have the heavy stainless one they sell on mine. This is the only picture I could find of that setup. There's no good spot to mount it on the BII like this because of how the hatch closes and the angle of the back. I think I might do the magnet mount, the only thing I liked about the way I had it on my XJ is I didn't have to keep taking it on and off.

 

[koda6966]

Been playing around with some ideas on how to mount a light bar on this thing. The first idea turned out upside down (don't ask) and the second was a flop. This one has some potential I think. Definitely need to tweak it a bit. It's going to be longer too, this is just a test piece.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

I think you are just going to mangle the gutter mounting it like that.

I had a spring on mine, it whipped back and forth like the tail on a happy dog going down the interstate.

 

[koda6966]

It's no different from any other gutter mount I've seen.

 

[4x4junkie]

Maybe this can help if you need to take it on & off:
http://www.amazon.com/Hustler-QD-2-Antenna-Quick-Disconnect/dp/B0149K72AW?tag=959media-20


Couldn't you fab up a bracket similar to that and mount it onto the angled flat area directly above the tail light? I seem to recall access can be had behind there for some screws w/nuts if you remove the tail light housing.

Should provide acceptable performance with it mounted there (at least as long as the antenna is tall enough that 60% or more of it's height is above your roof).