1987 full size bronco 2wd conversion

Pulled the plenum off to replace the valve cover gaskets,I am going to glue them on good so I wont have to do this again for a long time. The more I think about it I should have gotten the 87 from Florida with a knocking motor that was on ebay since it had a 351 and it had a carb but had nothing to drag it home with,EFI is nice but I like the simplicity of a carb and with that bronco I could have put on a dual exhaust and not had to worry about O2 sensors.

Do you have to put up with emission inspection there?

No we dont at the moment but since we did a few years ago I suspect sometimes in the future I think they might try it again.

It sucks! The whole Metro area around Nashville hasit. That's most of Middle Tennessee. Makes it tough to get too far from what came from the factory. Fortunately they only go so far back.

There is no talk of going back and all the buildings have been sold and converted to other uses so I might be safe but I dont trust the politicians.

Took the buffer to it and got the paint to shine a little better and going to price a exhaust system for it this week and replace the cracked exhaust manifold with one I have in stock,still trying to find a set of lightning front springs before I send it down to get aligned.

Just finished installing the freeze plug and one exhaust manifold and glad I bought the freeze plug installation tool over 20 years since it went in with ease,putting the freeze plug in the freezer helped too so after the bathroom break I will put the other manifold back on but will have to finish tomorrow since I did not get new nuts and will have to go to the hardware store after work tomorrow.

Picked up some nuts so I will be in the garage tomorrow night early if anyone is in the area,might stop by the parts store and order a tail pipe and glasspack so I can finish the exhaust saturday. Even with a glasspack it will still be stock quiet due to the catalytic convertors but not as much back restriction as a stock muffler.

The bronco is ready to go to the suspension shop for new ball joints and all the springs replaced,I should have replaced them when the beams were off but they seemed to be good and I need a hot wrench to get the springs off so I am going to have it done so it gets done quickly. I picked up a set of lightning front springs so they will go on when the ball joints go in,I should be driving it in a couple weeks.

Pics!!!! Pics!!!! We've been hearing about this forever with no evidence.

I will try to post some pics after the lowered springs are on and had to order some parts for alignment since its going to be lowered so it will be next saturday before if goes to the shop,I need to get plates and insurance on it before it leaves my house and then I can drive it when its done.

Its done now and will be picking it up tomorrow night,since I did not have a working hot wrench I had the rear springs and balljoints installed. I went and looked at it today and its sitting alot better,I was hoping it would be a little lower but the rear springs might settle and not sure about the front since they are used lightning springs. The rears dropped it about 2 inches and the front about a inch.

I was the one yelling at you the other day when you were in your work parking lot...

That thing looks a lot better than I imagined. I don't think you would want it much lower, would you?

A couple inches all the way around would be better but good enough for now.

Turned out good

I hope that's the before shot of it being lower.???

Thats as low as it will go without dropped beams and a axle flip,its about 4 or 5 inches lower in the front then when it had the 4x4 parts and a couple in the rear. The lightning front springs dropped it about a inch and if I do flip the axle I will have to c notch the frame,there is less room between the axle and frame on the bronco then with the trucks so what I done was phase 1 and phase 2 to come in a year or so.

Man that thing must have sit hi before. I get what you are saying though. It's a good looking truck.

I hope the springs settle a little,the rear are new and the front are used lightning springs and who knows how long they are off the truck.

They did set high.You could put 33-12.50x15's on them without touching the suspension.

I just picked up a mint tailgate for it today,I had to spend a little money but it has no rust.

That's cool. Even here it's hard to find one that isn't rusted out.