Bronco Graveyard Featured Broncos and Ford Trucks » Karl Bradley's 77

This fine bronco was purchased from the original owner with 68,000 original miles on it. It was a 1977 model fully loaded with all of the options uncut. From the outside it looked great rustwise/paint and according to Karl he paid too much for it! First it received a 3.5 lift, then Karl had another bronco at this time with a top loader 4 speed, rear locker, cage, supension etc., so...the plan was to enjoy this bronco with the C4 do some minor mods and drive it. First he replace both floors, one rocker and cut it for flares. All sheet metal parts that were purchased from Jeff's Bronco Graveyard and his fab guy Roy Jones was very complimentary on their fit. I purchased new front and rear bumpers and added a grille guard to round out this project. Later added a CD player and drove it in this form for about a year and a half. He was hooked when he rode in his friend Alan's truck equipped with National leafs and coils with 36" tires. On Labor day weekend of 1998 he stripped everything out of the interior, removed the seats(drove it to the shop on a pile of cardboard), took the top off and started ordering parts. Karl had conned his fab/body guy into a paint job earlier in the summer and hinted to him he might "change a few things". The first area addressed was the suspension and axles. Karl installed National leafs with shock hoops in the rear, variable rate coils with hoops in the front and a 2" body lift. Both axles came out and in went Currie front axle shafts and a TruTrac with 4.88 r&p(the warns were not available till the next month!!) The rear is still 28spline FMC with 4.88's and a Detroit. Also along this time the fab guy made the front and rear bumpers. In went a rebuilt C4 with an Art Carr shifter and the cage(modified to our taste, later) seats and harness were installed also about this time. The roll bar was complimented with a Kayline FastTrack soft top and a Bikini top periodically. The truck then received new lengthened driveshafts to accommodate the additional flex. In Nov Karl tried out the suspension, gears, lockers and tires and after a couple of local runs he went to Tellico. Big Fun. In Dec he took everything back out of the interior and began the body prep. The motor was pulled to make it easier to do the engine compartment and then after getting prices on a "rebuild" with cam and head upgrades etc.. ordered a GT40 crate motor. When the fenders came off they were replaced with new OEM Ford front Fenders before they became unavailable. Small parts of the floor and the pass rear door post was installed with our repair panels as needed. It was then decided to completely take it apart and paint it later in pieces. The dash came out and was modified below the hear/def controls for three AutoMeter Guages-Temp, oil, volt and an AutoMeter "Silver series" tach. While the tub was getting Rhino lined Karl cleaned and painted the frame/axles w/POR15 from JBG. He selected PPG concept 2000 series-primer, basecoat/clear '97 Viper Yellow with GunMetal grey and red accents. He can say with pride this rig is "all metal"!! The Seats are Beard racing seats, Simpson five point harness, and the a modified Smittybuilt cage. Wired in are two Optima red tops with the Painless wiring kit, made a center console on the cage with toggles for the XD9000i winch, Quick Air, with a storage tank, KC's, and backup lights. Initially the GT40 was carbed with an Edelbrock carb, MSD ignition w/ MSD dist and 6al box. This was the form he went to the ECBR @ Tellico in May of last year. Karl took the bronco out of the shop on Thursday afternoon, hauled it to Tellico and was listening to the Carb puke on Guardrail hill Friday morning. This let down resulted in the realization that Carbs won't cut it on steep angles, imagine that. To add to his frustration, he was not comfortable with the TruTrac which was replaced with another locker. In July of last year in went efi using a GT40 lower, Explorer/Cobra upper, Cobra inj. external Paxton pump, BBK fuel press reg, etc. That is the form it is presently with 5 12.5x36 TSLsx's on 15x8 ARE Baja wheels. Karl's next trail rig will be a modified '66eb with dana 60's. He found one last week and could not pass it up.