1979 Ford Bronco Reborn
Welcome!
This page is dedicated to the restoration/modification of my Bronco.
I was searching off and on for a couple years to find a good 2nd Gen Bronco that wasn't a rust bucket that I could afford. The main issue was Ford only made this body style for two years - 1978 and 1979. These Broncos are somewhat rare due to the abbreviated production time. In 1978, Ford produced 77,917 Broncos. The following year, Ford produced 104,038 more Broncos - of which, 55,764 were Ranger XLTs.
I finally found a great Bronco on eBay. The owner (a Bronco shop that specializes in Gen 1 Broncos) was selling it with no reserve. The owner was able to send me additional pictures and videos to make me more confident on a site unseen purchase. I ended up winning the auction and paid $9,500 in December 2016 for this 1979 Ranger XLT.
The original 351m V8 engine made roughly 158 Horsepower and 277 ft lbs of Torque in these beasts. My engine was paired to a 3 speed Automatic Transmission. Needless to say, she struggled going 60 mph+ on the highway.
I finally was able to save up enough money to get the Bronco restored. I wanted to upgrade the brakes, engine, and transmission to make it more enjoyable to drive and started doing research on how to make that happen. I found out a lot of shops did not want to do the 2nd Gens or wanted to start with a new chassis or minimum $250k cost. Sorry but that's outside of the budget.
I finally found a small restoration shop in North Carolina and I shipped the Bronco up there in November 2019 after chatting in length with the team. They worked up a 32 page Build Sheet with multiple options (good, better, best) for upgrades. The options they suggested allowed me to decide where to get more bang for the buck.
I wanted to document the build with a website. My daughters helped me come up with the name for the website and Shadowsteed was born.
Take a look at the photos of the journey from my driveway, to the restoration shop, and through the restoration process.
I'll continue to update the website with new pictures as the build progresses. I'll also do some videos once she's back in my garage.
Thanks for stopping by.
She looks great after a wash and wax from 15 feet. Up close you could see the evidence of Bondo and pitting on almost every panel.
After 40+ years, all the gunk is finally off.
Raptor lined the entire frame.
We rebuilt the Dana 44 up front. ECGS built us a rearend to handle the huge horsepower and torque numbers the new engine will produce in the rear.
We went with King Reservoir Shocks. The sad thing was COVID-19 pushed the lead time for these to 53 weeks. Luckily a vendor hooked us up with some they had in stock.
Upgraded to disc brakes all around to be able to stop this beast.
New Gen 3 Coyote crate engine - 460 HP and 420 lbs of Torque
We decided to add a Whipple Supercharger to the Coyote. This should push 850 HP and 660 lbs of Torque on pump gas.
We are rocking the 10r80 Transmission, paired with an Atlas 4x4 Transfer case.
Custom made rear interior quarter panels ready for speakers, USB chargers, and push lights in the rear cargo area.
35" BF Goodrich All-Terrain T/A KO2 Tires wrap the Fuel Covert rims.
Protofab 4x4 Rear Bumper to hold that 35" beefy tire.
The current plan is to go with a 3M wrap - final color still up in the air.
Corbeau Sport seats up front coupled with a 3rd row seat from a Tahoe in the rear for the built in seatbelts.
