Project Vehicles

An American author from the 20’s – John A. Shedd – once wrote, “A ship in harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are built for.” So true these words of wisdom are, and it applies to our 4-wheel drives quite nicely, thank you. We can build or have built, the baddest, most capable off-road vehicle, and as …

  When we bought project Buckshot, the last owner told us that it came with “MayGo” brakes. He cautioned us before the test drive stating that the Bronco “may go left, or may go right” – sometimes they didn’t stop much at all. Now, with the Skyjacker 5” lift kit installed and the 35” tall Goodyear Kevlar MT/R tires, we …

  After 20 years, things tend to fall apart. When we bought Project Over Easy (our ’81 Jeep CJ8 Scrambler) it was in excellent condition. The bushings around the Scrambler had aged about as well as Joan Rivers without the plastic surgery though. So, we kick off Project Over Easy Scrambler with a focus on the suspension.  Nope, we’re not …

   Lifting your truck is virtually a rite of passage for you and your rig to progress to the next level, especially if you do the work yourself. Most lift kits for solid axle vehicles are pretty easy to install and can usually be finished in a weekend or two. Early Bronco’s are a bit more difficult in comparison with …

Mighty Mouse, Part 5 of 5 “On this build, I did make one mistake, and I was extremely lucky…” It’s a wrap – our final installment of our 5-part tech article outlining what it will take for you to build your own engine. Part 1 covered our build plans, engine prep and machining. Part 2 showed you how to build the …

Mighty Mouse, Part 2 of 5 In Part 1 of our article our GM Performance Parts (GMPP) 383 stroker block had arrived and we took it to Schmidt’s to give it the royal machining treatment. Now that all of the goods from Wiseco, Holley and Lunati have arrived, we are ready for the lower engine build. If you haven’t built an …

Mighty Mouse, Part 1 of 5 Our poor project vehicles. Each of them has literally seen, hundreds of modifications over the years. To make matters worse, our job is to give the products we test a royal beat-down each time we bolt or weld on a new component. To add insult to injury, the foundation of our test mules (think: engine, …

Our FJ40’s 11 year life span as a product test mule has officially ended. We celebrated its life with a few cold libations, said a few words and then threw some dirt on it memorializing its past existence. Its days of having hundreds of goodies bolted and welded to it have finally come to an end. Just moments after our …

  This is it. The build for project Buckshot, our 1975 Ford Bronco Sport, has officially begun. Most of the parts are in, the build plan is finalized and we’re off to the races. Our plans had us installing our 5 ½” Skyjacker suspension early on. However, for our 35” Goodyear MT/R tires to fit on the Bronco, even with …

Welcome to the oldest build plan in 4X4Review Off Road Magazine’s history. It’s so old in fact, that it outdates the magazine, and the actual vehicle’s age. How in the world, you might ask, can this be? Has 4X4Review found some method by which to bend space-time? Have they stolen components from their project vehicles to fabricate a time machine? …