This building Bronco battle didn’t include any photon torpedoes, muzzle loaders, armed forces, or nuclear reactors (that we can speak of). What it did involve was an anthology of wrenches and power tools, a knowledge of Bronco resurrection, and Craig Wachter’s ’78 hobby horse. The retired hunting truck was purchased new by Craig’s dad in 1978 and was passed from father to son. It has seen the modifications that Ford should have made 23 years ago—and that has turned the old burro into the big Bronco.
The main muscle of this trick horse flexes from a 460 V-8 taken from an ’89 F-250. Craig said that his biggest challenge in swapping the engine came from finding, or rather not finding, a wiring harness. “No one makes one for this application so I had to take the entire wiring harness out of the F-250 and cut and splice it to work with the wires in the Bronco,” he said. Craig used Advanced Adapters engine mounts to secure the big-block, and exhaust flowage was upgraded to a Super Turbo dual exhaust system that exits at the rear.
The modifications fit well with the terrain that the Bronco is built for. In Utah, the topography gamut runs from intense rockcrawling to major mud whomping. With three months a year of snow, the do-no-wrong Bronco can handle the slippery stuff as well. Here are the highlights of the Bronco’s story.