David Moore and his brother have been involved with off-road racing for more than 30 years. Together, they have formed Gun-It Racing, which has led Class 1, Class 12, Stock Mini, and Stock Full vehicles to the finish line many times. In need of a solid-performing prerunner and chase vehicle, David called R&H Longtravel out of Apache Junction, Arizona, to work with him and make his dream vehicle come to life. You are now looking at what came of David's vision and R&H Longtravel's skills with a toolbox.
When the first image of David's '80 Ford Bronco came across our desk, we fell in love with its classic lines and hidden prowess. A flashy paintjob and racing stripe down the side would have killed the goal of this project. This truck is a sleeper, an undercover lover of dirt, a thoroughbred, and a one-of-a-kind high-stakes good time. This truck's capabilities cannot be seen by the naked eye as it screams by you. You need to strap in to hit that point of ear-to-ear grins that can only be accomplished when soaring through the air. Did we have fun during our photo shoot? Thank you, sir, may we have another?
The entire cage work built by R&H Longtravel is using 1.75-inch, 0.120-wall DOM tubing. The cage is tied to the frame in eight points and tied to the cab in four points. There are also integral mounts for seats, rear shocks, and spare tires. Both the front and rear bumpers are made with 1.5-inch, 0.90-wall DOM tubing with a 2-inch hitch receiver in the rear. The skidplates are 1/4-inch-thick aluminum, and the front bumper holds three Hella Rallye 4000 Series lights. Pro Comp 35-inch tires and wheels run at all four corners. | 
If you saw this driving down the road, you would never know that he could hit the dirt at any moment and continue to blow by you. We love it. The driveline is a Ford C6 transmission rebuilt to race quality by Doug's Performance Transmission with new driveshafts using 1350 super-heavy-duty U-joints. Both axles are stuffed with Detroit lockers and 4.56 gears using a Strange nodular big-bearing third member and Daytona pinion support. Moser Engineering supplied 35-spline alloy axleshafts in the rear as well as hardened wheel studs. R&H gusseted up a Ford 9-inch rearend and also converted it to allow disc brakes. |  |
The front suspension has cut and turned-down I-beams originally from Camburg Engineering. They have uniball pivots that R&H reinforced. Also found are Camburg radius arms with Heim-joint ends. King 2.5-inch coilovers, 2.5-inch bypass shocks, and King hydraulic bumpstops are matched on both sides. R&H handbuilt a custom single-swing crossover steering using 1.25-inch chrome-moly tie rods and 7/8-inch Heim joints. | 
Under the hood is a 5.0L GT40 full "roller" engine with Cobra heads pushing out over 315 hp and 300 lb-ft of torque. C&J Engineering hand-assembled a Holley 60-cfm carb with a sucker pump and its own off-road kit for increased performance. An Edelbrock Performance RPM Air-Gap intake was spotted as well as a K&N filter, MSD distributor, and BBK headers. All of this being shot out a Flowmaster 2.5-inch exhaust. | 
David does not have the use of his legs, so the guys at R&H had Monarch Hand Controls installed, giving him full control of the vehicle with his hands. The entire system was installed at Leeden Wheelchair Lift and Sport out of Tempe, Arizona. |
The original interior of the Bronco was completely removed. Now it holds three PRP race seats, RJS five-point harness, Perry's Fab 'n' Fiber fiberglass dash, Winters gate shifter, Auto Meter gauges, Lowrance 7200C GPS, and a PCI Roadmaster radio for communications. Dual Optima RedTop batteries are mounted behind the front seats. | 
The guys at R&H wanted to keep the factory tailgate working, so they tucked both fullsize spare tires in the rear of the cabin. | 
Behind the driver's seat is an air compressor and tank system. Having something like this is invaluable to a support vehicle. In fact, we even needed to use it during our photo shoot because our Project Tundra tires were looking a little low. |
 |  | 
The rear suspension is using National Spring leaf springs from an F-150, measuring 2.5 by 64 inches, using 13 leaves. R&H mounted custom spring mounts and fabricated custom shackles tied to the frame. King 2.5-inch bypass shocks and King hydraulic bumpstops are plenty to soak up the whoops in David's Bronco. |
 | | |