Modding your Bronco for $1,500
We are back with our Building a Bronco on a Budget blog series and since its been a few months, we were able to save and increase our budget to $1,500 for our next round of mods! We will continue our build from the first blog, which can be read here, to go even further with our Bronco Build! With an increased budget comes the opportunity for some bigger ticket items. We will discuss our next $1,500 spent in this blog, but first let's recap how we spent our first $500 on our Bronco.
We started with our modding path with our bone stock Big Bend Bronco. It was a 4-door model with the 2.3L EcoBoost 4 cylinder without the sasquatch package. This vehicle is great on its own, but presents a blank canvas to customize to your taste. In fact, we went a little overboard and our Big Bend made it to the 2021 SEMA show! For more information on our build along with a budget breakdown, you can check out the video below! We documented our build every step of the way, and you can check that out on our YouTube channel! I digress, let's get back to the topic on hand.
In this blog series, our first $500 in mods were spent wisely as we were able to get a nice return on our initial investment. We started by getting ourselves a Diode Dynamics SS3 Ditch Light kit. We continued our shopping spree with a Zone 2" lift kit, followed by some Redline Tuning Hood Struts, and an ARB Snatch Strap. We spent our remaining $36 on a Panda Motorworks T-Shirt, Decals, and BPV Delete Kit!
Ideally, our next mod would be wheels and tires. However, the tires alone can easily exceed our budget of $1,500 especially if you are upgrading your spare tires as well. Wheels can also be a tricky thing to suggest since everyone's tastes are a bit different, however we really enjoy the Kansei Roku's and KMC Technics. They are not the most common wheel choices, but we love their unique styling and believe they compliment the Bronco very well! We would wrap those wheels in some meaty A/Ts or M/Ts from either Toyo or Mickey Thompson. Since a wheel and tire package will exceed our set budget, we will assume that our Bronco has a wheel and tire package already. No harm, no foul as this exercise is just for fun! With that elephant in the room taken care of, let's spend our $1,500!
Since adding our wheel and tire package, we have noticed that our 2.3L Bronco doesn't seem as quick as it used to be. This is because the larger tires are much heavier than the stock tires and the Bronco is now required to work harder in order to turn the wheels. Luckily we co-developed a tuning solution to give your Bronco a nice bump in power! Our Panda Power Module easily installs and gives you performance gains right away and even has its own app to help you control the device! We also include a set of NGK Pre-Gapped Spark Plugs to help your Tuned Bronco run smoothly! In this instance, we will be going with the 2.3L variant, but we offer a 2.7L variant as well!
Budget: $1,500.00
Panda Power Module: -$659.99
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Remaining budget: $840.01
Since we added a 2" lift and some taller tires, getting in and out of the Bronco has become more difficult. Because of this, we are going to be adding some side steps to our Bronco! We will be going with the Go Rhino Dominator Extreme DSS Side Steps. Not only are these our favorite side steps, but they are our top selling side step, along the the Go Rhino Dominator Extreme D6 Side Steps. They DSS Side Steps not only look great, but they are easy to install, and have a durable finish! Their low-profile design maximizes your ground clearance and they even offer some protection for your OEM rocker panel.
Budget: $840.01
Panda Power Module: -$529.05
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Remaining budget: $310.96
For our next and final mod, we will actually be going a little bit over a budget. If you are spending $1,500, whats another $50 going to hurt? Normally we would stay within our strict budget, but this next mod is such a great value we are willing to make an exception! Since our Big Bend Bronco came equipped with the Modular Steel Bumper, we are left without fog lights. The pockets in the bumper leave plenty of room for aftermarket fog light solutions, however many of these kits can be very costly. Depending on options, they can exceed $1,000 very quickly. This is exactly why we have put together a Diode Dynamics Stage Series 6" Light Bar Fog Light Kit for your mod bumper equipped Bronco. This budget-friendly kit offers a ton of light for only $360. With your choice of a Fog or Driving (Think auxiliary high beam) Optic in either white or amber, you can get a great lighting solution that won't break the bank. We also think that it happens to look pretty cool too!
Budget: $310.96
Stage Series Light Bar Fog Light Kit: -$360.00
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Remaining budget: -$ 49.04
There you have it, exactly how we would spend just over $1,500 on our next round of Bronco Mods! Whether you purchase everything together or individually, all these items will ship for FREE if purchased through pandamotorworks.com so no need to worry about a shipping expense. This is the mod path we would choose, would you do the same?
-ML