Yes, you can cram the Super Duty’s 7.3-liter “Godzilla” V8 in a Ford Bronco [Video]
I joke that engine swaps are the fantasy football of the car world. We love to sit around and say, “If I had a 68 Charger, here’s the modern HEMI build I’d do for it.” Or, “You know what the perfect vehicle for a 12-valve Cummins swap would be?” But while the rest of us flap our gums, the mad scientists at Ready to Rock put their money where their mouth is. They just slammed a 7.3-liter “Godzilla” V8 designed for Super Duty trucks into a desert racing Bronco. The result is glorious.
The biggest engine Ford offers in the sixth-generation Bronco is the 2.3-liter EcoBoost V6. That makes 300 horsepower and 325 lb-ft of torque. That’s 15 horsepower on a Wrangler, and enough more most off-roading enthusiasts. But not Vaughn Gittin Jr., founder of RTR.
RTR built a Godzilla-powered Ford Bronco
When Ford released a new Bronco, Gittin saw his chance at a new platform. First, he dropped a GT500 Mustang engine in a Bronco. Once he proved a V8 could fit under the hood, he aimed for the moon. The latest “Fun Runner” RTR Bronco makes 430 horsepower and 475 lb-ft of V8. No turbos. No superchargers. Just oodles of displacement.
What do you do with all that power? Well if you’re RTR, you bolt on 42 inch Nitto Trail Grapplers. No, that’s not a typo. This thing would give a Raptor “37” driver an identity crisis.
How do you clear the wheel wells? Lifting it to the sky with RTR Off-Road Team-spec Fox performance Elite shocks. The result isn’t all for how, it gives the desert racer 18 inches of wheel travel.
How do you keep from covering the Jeep behind you in mud? Fenders that are thicck! RTR’s “Fun-haver” fiberglass wide body kit, to be precise.
How do you keep 42s on an IFS Bronco pointed in the same direction? A custom hydraulic steering system, of course.
RTR is very much the modern “Shelby America,” offering everything from performance parts to fully customized Mustangs. As far as Gitten knows, his is the first Godzilla-swapped sixth-get Bronco. He calls it a one-off. But of course if anyone shows up at RTR with a big enough checkbook, he’d be thrilled to build another. Gitten said, “We’ve spent the last few years pushing the Bronco to its limits on and off the racing circuit and now we’re excited to offer something that lets others push those same limits.” See the Bronco for itself in the video below:
