Taking car of your vehicle is one thing, but constantly working on it to keep it in shape, and on the road, is another. I had an 1984 Ford Bronco II 2.8L 4X4 small block V8 that was a great 4 wheeler. I rescued many a lifted Toyota's, Chevy's and Datsun's (remember them?). It had a great turn radius and climbed like a billy goat. Thing was 1984 was a transition year. It had a carb and a really touchy electronic ignition. Not to mention body design flaws that kept me busy. Long story short, I worked on it on the weekends just to drive it to work on weekdays.
The worst came when the head gasket blew out. So I strip it down and find out that every cylinder has two coolant inlet and outlet ports, except the number 8 cylinder...it only has one. And guess where the head gasket blew? Right at the number 8 cylinder, which was right in front of the passenger side firewall. If anything that one should have had the two ports as that part of the engine got zero air flow. Was extremely hot! And of course the head was cracked from the extreme heat, so I got new ones from Kimo, Hawaiian Head Hunters, who smiled and told me, "I'll be seeing a lot of you. Bronco II's blow head gaskets on a regular basis."
After I fixed it up I gave the Bronco to my nephew, who was a budding auto enthusiast. And he needed a project for his high school shop class. He gained a lot of experience from that truck as he was always fixing it...just like I had. After ditching, I mean giving, the Bronco away I bought my 1999 Tahoe LT 5.7L 4X4 with the pick up style rear end. Have been sold on Tahoes & Yukons ever since. Great vehicles, with some design flaws, but very reliable and they take a licking and keep right on ticking. Wouldn't ride with anything else.
Bill1013
