Good Morning

[PhantomEB]

Hope this is the last week before putting my place up on the market.

I got my eye on a 24x30 with huge yard to not see us needing more anytime soon once the house gets updated. Probably 80g ahead once realtors are paid out to boot. Gf has her eye on others but I told her appliances of your choice can go into this one and paint choices that suit us...not previous owners.

[71BRONCO71]

I haven't stopped by since Nov 2021.

Hey everybody!

[PhantomEB]

Hope we all can rebuild this site now the master overload is back!

[CityHick]

I just scored a pair of BMW E46 M3 bucket seats. They're power-adjustable heated leather seats with an integrated 3-point seat belt. They're in Sacramento but I go up there often enough that I should be able to get them soon. They will replace the PRP bucket seats that I've run in my Bronco since 2007-08.

Why did I do this? Because I am tired of what I have. I find the PRPs to be uncomfortable, and I don't really like the high bolsters anymore. I also don't like that the PRPs do not give any adjustment of the seat back angle, they're fixed where they are and that's it.

The BMW seats, per the "experts" on the internet, sit low enough to the floor, have several adjustments, and also tilt forward to allow access to behind the front seats since they were originally designed for a 2-door, 4-seater convertible.

I am going to spend some time reinforcing how they are mounted to the Bronco (an over-engineered solution I am quite sure), and I will run power to them of course. While I don't really care that they are power seats, the heat function might be kinda nice once in a while (snow run to Uncle Tom's next year, anybody?)

I'll update my build thread once I have them on hand and begin the process to install them. This is sure to be fun and a nice improvement once complete.

[crawlin68]

Those sound like they will be a nice upgrade from the PRP's. I can't wait to see them installed!

[CityHick]

Those sound like they will be a nice upgrade from the PRP's. I can't wait to see them installed!

Me too!
I will miss the "custom" look of the PRPs since I had them made to my spec, but I think the tradeoff will be worthwhile. I may have to do something creative with the PRPs - put them on rolling carts for garage chairs perhaps!

[Action]

dont set off the air bags.....

[CityHick]

dont set off the air bags.....

These seats do not have air bags. They have an occupancy sensor to let the car "know" which air bags to deploy in a crash, but the seats themselves do not have air bags. I made sure of this before deciding on this specific seat.

[904Bronco]

Happy 4th of July all.


Man it is so sad to see this Forum go South... I mean when I joined soo many years ago this place was active!!! I wonder how much longer it will be around?

[71BRONCO71]

im just a lurker these days. Maybe I will add some more tech one day....

[helbnd1]

10 or so years ago a lot more people were building rigs. Rock crawling isn't as popular as it once was, and that shows in this forum since quite a few builds aimed towards that type of off roading. I don't see that much involvement in the bronco community altogether, I'm guilty of it also. Need to finish my van and do some more wheeling.

[CityHick]

Count me among those who are not as interested in rock crawling as they once were. I went a bunch my first few years and tapered off to basically never going. I've enjoyed other kinds of off roading in my bronco but anymore it's just a driver. At times I've questioned my decision to stay on 37" tires but what the hell, it looks cool. lol.

When I am out in my Bronco and run into people in other Broncos (or Scouts, or Jeeps, or Land Cruisers, etc...) the questions are more about "which shop do you recommend to install xyz" instead of "can you point me to information and/or help me install xyz". The market has changed, I have changed, gas got expensive, Broncos got stupid expensive...

I enjoy checking in here to see what Doug and others are still doing; I still play with mine and add/change things because I like to tinker. Most of my projects center around improving ride, handling, comfort, and reliability. I'm pretty content to take mine camping a couple times a year, wheeling on lesser trails, and to drive it around town. I don't have much desire to do the kinds of trips I once did.

I think the answer to the question of how long this site will exist, depends on how long Carl's willing to keep it going. This being said I ought to kick a few bucks his way for keeping NCB up...

[904Bronco]

I hear you Tony...
It would be great to have Carl comment here...
But you know Life keeps you busy, your Job, your house, Relationships, working with yours Kids and all their activities takes a lot of time. I know, Scouts, Baseball, Drama activities, checking out colleges, and doing Family vacations while your Kids still want to spend time with you.
And as pointed out, Things change... Who knew that Broncos in general would go up in value soo much! Much like the NorCal Shelby club that I have been a member of for 28 yrs. When I started in 1994 you would see 65-66 GT 350 Shelby's out on the Track, Fox body Mustangs were the New kids. Today, the old Iron is not to be seen except for car shows, parade laps, and spirited drives on the back roads. The Fox body Mustangs have gone up in value and we don't see many of them open tracking.
Yes there is more bolt on stuff, that gives the impression you wheel, but mainly it is just the look that they are going for. (Think Jeeps for one) People don't know how to Wrench, not a skill they learned growing up, so the they look for a shop to do the work. Shop hourly rates are way up there in price to survive here in CA. And then there is the price of fuel, Reg, and Insurance.
I guess that I am happy to be able to do what I am doing, that I have exposed my kids to it. Maybe when they finish college they might want to get an older rig and fix it up?

[GloNDark2]

I feel the same as Tony. I come around and read posts and look at old tech posts. I'm here almost daily but haven't posted much.

The past few years have been crazy, work has been nuts. Got divorced after 20 plus years together. Gave her the 73 Bronco in the process. It was her stepdads Bronco and I bought it from him about 10 years ago. I bought myself a 2021 First Edition Bronco. Went to Wildhorses round up this year with it and got bit by the bug again to have another early Bronco. Bought myself a 70 Project Bronco off Classic Broncos a couple weeks ago. Was going to go full crazy crawler with it and have decided I want a solid daily capable rig that can go anywhere but in all honesty it will be more a dirt road, mild offroader than anything else. I'll start a post in the project section to show it off now that I have it at the house and have started some work on it.

[CityHick]

I just scored a pair of BMW E46 M3 bucket seats. They're power-adjustable heated leather seats with an integrated 3-point seat belt. They're in Sacramento but I go up there often enough that I should be able to get them soon. They will replace the PRP bucket seats that I've run in my Bronco since 2007-08.

Why did I do this? Because I am tired of what I have. I find the PRPs to be uncomfortable, and I don't really like the high bolsters anymore. I also don't like that the PRPs do not give any adjustment of the seat back angle, they're fixed where they are and that's it.

The BMW seats, per the "experts" on the internet, sit low enough to the floor, have several adjustments, and also tilt forward to allow access to behind the front seats since they were originally designed for a 2-door, 4-seater convertible.

I am going to spend some time reinforcing how they are mounted to the Bronco (an over-engineered solution I am quite sure), and I will run power to them of course. While I don't really care that they are power seats, the heat function might be kinda nice once in a while (snow run to Uncle Tom's next year, anybody?)

I'll update my build thread once I have them on hand and begin the process to install them. This is sure to be fun and a nice improvement once complete.

This idea is dead. I am bummed.

I finally got the seats here to my house and I've been playing around with them for a few days. All of the power adjustments work and the seats are dang comfy. The only problem is, despite the fact that the seat surface measures basically the same height off the floor as my PRP seats, the PRP seats being a "suspension seat" have more give to them, and that's why my 6'3" frame fits on them in my bronco so well. The BMW seats do not settle enough under my weight. As a result, my eyes are above the top of the windshield glass, and my head touches the bottom of the bikini top... which also means that my head is far too close to the roll cage while seated in the BMW seats. I guess I get to try to sell them now... dang.

I was really looking forward to having a modern, comfortable, adjustable seat in my rig, and to also have an OEM, tested, proven seatbelt system instead of the aftermarket seatbelts that I currently have. I am sure that the aftermarket belts are adequate, but I'm sort of anti-aftermarket anymore.

Oh well. Back to the drawing board!