Mike's Ocho Cuatro Bronco

[the_fablab_]

Alright folks, be patient as there is a lot to sort through. Here is what the truck looked like when I first picked it up from Chris Puente aka BajaBronco13 on Instagram

Chris’ pics of my and my buddy Travis picking up the truck.

“I know lots of pics but hey it's like when you're kid is leaving home for college, lol. Chris”

 

[the_fablab_]

Few days after picking it up I went to work, building a rear bumper and installing and beefing up a factory swing out tire carrier

Did a few trips with the truck in this state.

OCD Clean Up Barstow to Giant Rock to Barstow...

Decided the truck needed a cage for safety, also picked up a fiberglass hood from Lake Havasu.
Start to finish 6 days....

 

[the_fablab_]

KOH 2012 180+ dirt miles, tons of problems on Saturday, but nothing that wasn't trail fixed and or can't be fixed later

Decided to skip hammertown after the race and eat at the best fast food place around

First flat I have EVER gotten (but I wasn't driving so does that count?

Leaking transmissions lines

got rid of the blown out Beards for some new seats (same ones I had in my old race truck) I love them!

Just a quick day trip. Only put on like 60-70 miles. But had tons of fun.

 

[the_fablab_]

The front end needed some major love, the shock setup was all wonkey and no bump stops, the old hoops starting tearing off the frame.

Mojave Road

Laughlin

First stop for Group 2 was the School Bus (becuase the bronco decided to take a crap)

RC crawling at camp #2 in the middle of no where

Hole in the Wall

Whoops whoops whoops

Mailbox

Lava Tubes

 

[the_fablab_]

 

[the_fablab_]

Vegas Trip. Some carnage.

Fremont Street

Mojave Road - Memorial Run for Jonny B!

Dry lake bed that wasn't so dry

taking a break why I dump fuel from the jerry cans

lava tubes

Bugs bunny got turned to stone, petrified rabbit

doing the bernie at the lava teepee

view while we ate lunch

on our way out from lunch, creepy old quarry

 

[the_fablab_]

long exposure at camp #2

missing shifter makes for some interesting packing...

Scott's attempt, he said he was too loaded down to go big... I call BS

getting tippy though the josua tree forest

all at the school bus

RIP buddy!

She's got more off road miles then most of the boys, watch out!

abandoned mine shaft

up and over a ridge to go check out the kelso sand dunes

thumbs up from mikey (yes i am talking in a third person lol)

KW get's a helicopter ride

camp number three (some sand wash because the kelso sand dunes are closed for offroaders, it's cool though, there were like two cars with hikers there... :roll: :roll: :roll:

look who we found just chilling out

excessive drinking, yelling, wood burning, and shenanigans

 

[the_fablab_]

Quick little day trip!

The map

That map up there might as well just be tossed. Only things we followed were the start and stop points. Nothing but barbed wire and locked cattle gates. Think that stopped us??? Not a chance!

freezing at home

freezing in Gorman

The lineup

lights on, no one in sight... creepy

found a little track in the middle of nowhere

linked and no cage, not scared!

 

[the_fablab_]

secret hideout

fully furnished

Whip!

View from the top of the mountain in jawbone

2wd low

All the pictures so far are my buddy Elliott's (AKA DWPHOTO) shots.

Little day fun in Lucerne Turkey Day weekend...

 

[the_fablab_]

After that, full prep and get it dialed for some 2013 KOH prerunning/spectating.

She did great! Better and better every trip!

Photos via DWPHOTO

Best of all, she got 12mpgs there and on the way home.

Next addition a better alternator, two new batteries, and new battery mounts outside the cab.

2013 Death Valley run with the boys over the weekend.

Pictures of the Bless Mobile courtesy of DWPhoto

More from Elliott

 

[the_fablab_]

Lipstick on a pig, another shitty JY motor painted up in hopes it lasts

Also 5 speed swapped the truck at some point in all of this.

2014 garage built big brake kit, The 2005 1500 dodge rotors didn't exactly bolt up like I've read they would but it all worked out in the end. Still on this truck to this day, same set of pads too

One off custom spring under setup using some springs I bought at the 2014 Offroad Swapmeet
mock up shackle to figure out lenght

checking to see what ride height is gonna be

mocking up the shock

trying to get the stock shackle pivot to last with all this new leverage

upper shock mount taking place

filling in the c notch

clearance between the gas tank skid and the truss is tight

getting the 9 inch ready to go back under the truck for the final time

start of the sheet metal work to reseal the cab

 

[the_fablab_]

Tommy cutting plates

primered and sealed

some pictures of how the rear cage work was finished off

all buttoned up

Tommy and I immediately took it to Barstow and sent it. Solo mission was a little sketchy but it worked out in the end

no more rubbing the inner fender with 37's yay

Pismo photos via DW Photo

Thanks again E! I owe you!

 

[the_fablab_]

2015, the motor was trash again, so I decided to try a diffrent mfg. Bought a low mile gen3 5.3l chevy from Tommy
[

cleaning up the frame

motor in, we mounted it to a Ford m5od, bad idea looking back now lol

Needless to say it broke a lot of stuff

 

[the_fablab_]

put some sheetmatal back on the back

then the old forum died and instagram kinda took over for sharing stuff so I am going to have to go back though my phone and start uploading more photos

Sheered a 35 spline currie axle

Jesse pulled me to the road and I rebuilt with new Yukon axles

Went to Glamis with the boys, brought my wife , who was my girlfriend at the time. We've only been dating for like a month at this point

 

[the_fablab_]

Had wiring issues in Glamis so naturally I ignored that and swapped in a 4l80 with a reverse manual valve body. At least I wont be pulling broken transmissions... or so I though

np205 mount

Bruce John and I built a crappy exhaust in a night while crushing beers

Naturally that's all the photos I have of the swap...

Bought some method beadlocks from an old Ultra4 car, they were beat to say the least, painted them with some homedepot exterior paint and a cup gun

got some new to me manual crank doors, no more troublesome electric windows you can't get parts for

So by design next trip out in glamis I put the bronco on its side

Willis said I am good

Banged the door dent back out, threw on some new sheetmetal on the rear, along with a new to me tailgate and shell and were rocking baby

Weather is already getting bad

snow whoops all weekend

 

[the_fablab_]

scenic drive

4l80 number two

Getting rid on the shocks that leaked ever other trip for some I haven't had to touch in years

redid a little bit of the rear too

Wedding day is coming up and my wife wanted the bronco in the wedding, but requested it be one color

 

[the_fablab_]

decided to put good shocks on the front too

New radiator and hold down

Halloween trip blew up another transmission

meatfest blew up the tired 5.3

since truck was down with a bad motor and baby was coming I decided to make the truck safer

tieing in engine cage to new cab cage

little hobo freight welder welds pretty good. Perfect welder for a hobbist

 

[the_fablab_]

since the welder was working so good I brought it to work to weld the rest of the cage up

paint

little hot cammed 6.0l bruce and I put together

relocated the batteries

exhaust work Jesse Hofer did

dbw pedal mounted

shes a runner till i got a stuck injector and almost burnt derek's face off

Hurt the motor a month later out at Thanksgiving. Not sure what exactly happened but we weren't leaving anything to chance this go around. 418ci full forged rotating assembly and brand new gen4 iron block.

put in a fuel cell during the change over with a big dual pump

also changed up the exhaust a little but to get it to spit out the side

wiring up some coms before last thanksgiving

 

[the_fablab_]

had a good season, no issues, motor and trans are holding up finally. Threw some new wheels on

crashed the truck this spring at Glamis. rain rut came out of nowhere

front end rebuild

bent by ram and steering swingers so I fixed that first then started making new frame rails

remounted everything

start of the bumper

lights getting mounted

and this is how she sits currently. I need to get the fiberglass fenders fixed back up and mount them

 

[the_fablab_]

Lots of stuff is missing, so if you have any questions feel free to let me know and I'll do my best to answer them