"Ole '68" Race Bronco Resto

[J Burleson]

I have been needing to start a build thread for this along time ago. Well, here we go!
It started with an innocent post by a guy named Ramsey. Maybe you guys have heard of him? He was looking for a partner to restore an old race bronco he had picked up sight unseen out of Oregon. I threw my hat in the ring and about 6 months later we met up in for the first time. We talked over the project. Straight restoration, nothing over the top, keep it simple. We shook hands and a week later Ramsey delivered it to my shop in Anaheim.
Now mind you, when we met up for the first time, the bronco was there. But I was on my way to meet up with some friends to surf so I wasn't dressed to crawl around under a vehicle and really look it over. Now that it was at my shop, I had that opportunity. "Wow" is all I can say! Not like a "wow, this is gonna be the easiest restoration I've ever done", or "wow, that is some beautiful work". But more like, "wow, this is gonna be a [email protected] ton of work!" or "wow, look at all the buggered stick welds over paint and rust!" Lol
But as the saying goes, I bought the ticket, so now it was time to take the ride! Or more accurately, tear the ride apart, cut off all the sin, get it blasted and go about rebuilding it with the intent of keeping the original design intent and "spirit" of the "ole '68", but making it safe and Baja worthy!

 

[J Burleson]

More to come tonite when I get home to access all my photos.

 

[J Burleson]

We know very little about this bronco, other than it came from Oregon and was supposedly raced in Baja in the early 70's. It was originally a 289 stick truck and was the sea foam mint color. Not sure as to when the stretch happened or the Chevy drivetrain swap. It now has a 383, and t400 mated to the original dana20 tcase. Axles are original d44 front and 9" rear. The 9" is a full floater utilizing d44 front hub stuff(same vintage as the front axle). It is leaf sprung all around and was running 4 rancho rebuildable shocks per corner. It will most likely be running Fox when it pulls up to the start line for NORRA 2017.

Hopefully we can come up with some sort of history on her. And I'm really excited to create some more in the near future! And thank you to Ramsey El Wardani for giving me the opportunity to do so!

 

[taco07]

So badass


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[J Burleson]

Here are some more pics that Ramsey just sent me. I should also note that this bronco was probably well built originally, but through the years it was obvious that it had been repaired many times by a bird who enjoyed bubble gum but had no clue how to weld.

 

[Team Todo En]

That's gonna be all kinds of fun in Baja!

The D44 probably isn't original as Ford didn't start using it standard until late '71. The 289 was standard until '69 when they went with the 302.

What's the wheelbase? I looks like it was stretched at leas a foot, so it must be 105+