Barn Find Restomod Build

Another day in the garage. I was rushing the disassembly because the heat was coming and the coating for the the frame is supposed to be done with the temp lower than 85 degrees. Engine out, then 3-speed/D20. Pulled the brake and fuel lines, and the steering box. Dropped the rear suspension and took off the leafs. Dropped the front and stripped the suspension and steering pieces. Cut off the shock towers. Cleaned up and called it a day.

Another free day, another Bronco day! Disassembled the brakes off the axles. Lots of dead spiders in there freaking me out when I pulled the drums off. Pulled out the front axles (more spiders), then tried to get the spindles off. Broke the tool. Another run down to a parts store to get another spindle tool. Hint: tap the top of the ball joint bolt to loosen it first, then the lock nut loosens up enough to come out easily. I read you shouldn't do this, but I was replacing the ball joints anyway. Out come the ball joints. I didn't take any pictures of removing the back drums, but they're off also. Again I was fortunate enough to get an EB with the big rear bearings. All 4 wheels will eventually have disc brakes. This was another full day.

I am most envious of your garage, I pull my floor jack through the grass and have to work within the time it takes to get fried in the sun,

my Barn find is really quite close to yours, though I admit finding small bearings on mine,

nice truck ;D

Next day I welded on F250 shock towers. This was a difficult decision and I read as much as I could about shocks, hoops, suspensions etc. I also paid attention to all the Broncos I test drove. My philosophy on this build is to make it similar to stock, but upgraded. Stock didn't have hoops and multiple shocks, and the rigs I drove that had them rode too hard for me. My understanding (right or wrong) is that the issue with shock performance is heat. The multiple shocks make up for overheating a single shock. But an external reservoir can serve the same function. Thus I'll go with a longer travel Bilstein 7100 where I get the external reservoir, and can fine tune the ride by playing with the valving.

I'm extremely envious of the guys that do their own differentials and D20s. I don't have the tools for the differentials (although I read many threads where people have done them and thought about it). I probably could have pulled off the D20, but my differential shop had an expert in them and did it for good price.

Once the shock towers were done, I loaded up the frame (for sandblasting), and the axles, and D20 to drop off for rebuilding.

Again, choices. I read all I could find on lockers with the endless debates here and on jeep sites, and decided on Detroit soft-lockers for the back and True tracs for the front. I didn't want ARBs and am not going to be doing much crawling. The True trac will allow me to steer in the front and I'm not worried about a tire in the air causing it to spin. The locker in the back might click if I gun it around a corner, but it's automatic, simple, and dependable, and I'm all about simple and dependable. Less to go wrong when you're out in the middle of no where. The gearing was raised to 4.11s as I'll be running a 5 speed and 33's.

73BroncoRanger said:

I am most envious of your garage, I pull my floor jack through the grass and have to work within the time it takes to get fried in the sun,

my Barn find is really quite close to yours, though I admit finding small bearings on mine,

nice truck ;D

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Yeah my wife was envious of the garage too. Her car got kicked out for about a week. Then I found out that due to the short wheel base, I could put the body up against the back of the garage, and the chassis and her car would fit straight in. As for your "backyard" garage with the sun, been there/done that/too old now!

Thats a great find. It is addictive. Guys on this site make the tough stuff not so scary. Good luck with the build.....

Scott

Ugggghhhh!!!! If you want anything done right you just have to do it yourself. The sandblaster took 6 weeks to get around to my frame. In the meantime after 3 weeks I went to get the differentials and they did the lockers backwards, with the locker in the front and the true trac in the back. It took another 3 weeks to get them redone. To make it up to me they offered to put the brakes on. I wanted to do them myself, but now it's HOT here in AZ so I let them.

Brought everything home. I cleaned up the factory slag and welds on the frame with a sanding disc for a neater appearance. For the frame I decided on KBS coatings 3 stage frame system. I know a lot of people like to powder coat, but once you powdercoat, you can't change anything. If you remove part of the coating to add a shock mount or something, it'll peel off everything around it eventually. I like having the option to modify in the future. The system was easy to do: apply a diluted zinc compound with a sprayer (I used a weed sprayer instead of the bottles they provided), rinse, then brush on the primer. The primer is UV sensitive so if it's going to see sun, it needs a top coat. While the frame mostly won't see direct sun, I put a top coat on anyway. Then a residual problem from the sandblaster. Because he took 6 weeks, the air temp now tops out ABOVE 85 degrees in the afternoon, and the primer requires 4 hours to dry tacky and any topcoat within 6 hours of application or you'll have to sand it before you can add the top coat. Even though I started early in the morning, by the time I could put the top coat down, it was hot. I added reducer, but the final coat shows some brush lines and some drips. The primer coat was perfect and looked beautiful because it has low surface tension and flows to a nice, even, flat coat. The Top coat wouldn't flow the brush marks out, yet ran on the vertical surfaces. Not too bad, but damn it, It WAS perfect. Once this stuff is on, the only way to take it off is a grinder so I'll have to live with it. If I do it again (and I will with the underside) I won't brush such a large area. I'll spray it.

The differentials came back. I used Chrome moly on the front and some Yukons on the back, upping the 29 spline to I think 31 or 33 (can't recall now). Also upgraded the bearings.

I chose a WH 2.5 inch lift kit. Partly because I didn't want to modify everything to go higher, and partly because I'm also doing a 1 inch body lift for the NV3550, 33 inch tires, and it needs to fit through the garage door with the top on. Since I'm not going to be crawling, I didn't see the need to go higher. I guess I'm just part of the "camping" crowd as their website states. Poly bushings except the radius arm to frame which is rubber. I upped to 7 degrees for the "C" bushings and use their 6 degree wedge for the back springs. I splurged on their Extreme U bolt kit. I couldn't get the metal sleeve out of the rear shackle so I took it to a machine shop. They couldn't either so I had to get new ones. Picked up a BC Bronco 23 gal tank, and bolted it all together. I'll torque it to correct specs after the new engine is in and it settles.

God damn man, you are hauling ass! I like your choice of lockers, gear type limited slips are awesome and most people don't know it as everyone rags on em.

Could you post up the dimensions for the body dolly? I simply love that idea and think it would be a great idea for my next project...

KyleQ said:

God damn man, you are hauling ass! I like your choice of lockers, gear type limited slips are awesome and most people don't know it as everyone rags on em.

Could you post up the dimensions for the body dolly? I simply love that idea and think it would be a great idea for my next project...

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I drew it up in April when I built it. I'll see if I can find the plans. If not, I'll remeasure and post tomorrow. FYI I plagiarized the idea from another build I read from here. That guy made his slightly longer and I couldn't understand why. I thought I would just keep tripping over the ends sticking out. Later he posted a pix of why - he bolted 2 sheets of plywood next to each other on each end with the bottom cut into a 1/2 circle and used it to "roll" his tub over 90 degrees so he could paint the bottom. In another build later on he used 2 harbor freight engine stands, one on each end, and welded 1X1 steel box tubing between them to make a rotisserie. Creative to say the least.

Very cool - thanks. How hard was it to lift the body off? I noticed you bolted steel where the doors would go and connected it to where the top sits - looks like your A pillars are a bit more solid than mine

KyleQ said:

Very cool - thanks. How hard was it to lift the body off? I noticed you bolted steel where the doors would go and connected it to where the top sits - looks like your A pillars are a bit more solid than mine

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Not hard at all once I got the jig in. I didn't mount the lifting cross member with bolts since I didn't know where the center of gravity would be (you can see it's missing in the first picture), so I used big vice grips to hold it in place as I did test lifts, then when I found the center, I used a couple more to keep the cross member in place for the lift.

If you look at Baja71's build thread he welded a brace across the top of the door jambs and used chains mounted at the seat belt bolt holes if I remember correctly

http://classicbroncos.com/forums/showthread.php?t=122019&page=4


After I lifted it enough for the engine to clear inner wheel wells, I pulled the engine hoist back (so the legs wouldn't block the Bronco's tires) and pushed the chassis into the garage. Then I pulled the dolly out and lowered it on. I messed up and forgot that the engine hoist's legs had to fit UNDER the dolly. I cured this by putting some scrap wood under the dolly's front wheels (see picture), but I would suggest either putting an extra piece of wood under the dolly's base to mount the wheels to or getting bigger wheels.

Here's my original drawings in PDF and jpg. I measured from a central point at the rear to each body mount bolt and then measured the distance across to it's matching bolt. I also went under the rig and measured from the floor to the base of the tub at each body mounting bolt and used those measurements to design the dolly. This dolly fits mine, but I'm a firm believer in measure twice, cut once. Measure yours to see if it matches and adjust accordingly. I designed it so 4 of the uprights rested on the dolly foundation, and that 2 more could be attached on 2 sides. The other 2 are only attached on 1 side and I thought about using joist holders, but got lazy and just used a bunch of extra screws. I used Powerlag Hex-Head Zinc Screws. They hold better than nails and are easy to install with a drill. I believe with all the wood, Screws, and wheels it was about $100 to build it. I had to use my version of a pickup truck to get the wood home. UPDATE: I ended up raising the front 2 4X4s about an inch to reach the body. Others have noted slight differences in heights, but this will get you real close.

Great work.... I will definitely be following along.
Looks like you are doing it right.

Ok, having problems with the track bar. This is the second one I've gotten and I've called all the major bronco houses and asked about it. They all say this is the measurements of the bars they sell and have been putting them on Broncos with no problem. When I went to install it, it seemed off. It didn't slide on smoothly or in parallel. I measured the mounts and the bar, then I measured the factory stock bar. All the aftermarket ones seem to be under-bent causing the ends to be parallel instead of a 1.75 inch offset. Sure, I can beat it on with a rubber hammer, but it seems like the after market ones are manufactured incorrect. My measurement from the center of the drop bracket to the center mounting point on the Dana 44 is offset by 1.75 inches, and so is my stock bar. When I compare stock to aftermarket, they are off by 1.75 inches. Anyone else have this problem? Am I doing something wrong here? Will the weight of the engine cause the gap to be less? But then why is the aftermarket off from the factory? Am I supposed to just fit it and let it mount at an angle on the Dana 44 with the bushing taking the brunt? Unless anyone else has a suggestion, I might have to just use a Heim joint on one end or both ends. Anyone?

hanks for the very detailed dolly info guys - you rock!

Bitch'n "pickup" AZ73 - love it.

Ok, sorry if I'm hogging this site, but I have the week off and am somewhat tied to the house so I thought I'd just get my build up to date while I have the time. I barely touched the Bronco all summer. Just too hot to work on it. Then came November and I got a couple of free days and some nice weather. If you plan and are organized, you can get a ton of work done in a short period of time.

I picked up Tom's Bronco brake line kit. Went in perfect except for the right front. The line was too long before the bend to get up over the Dana 44. So I carefully straightened it out, pushed the screw back, cut off 1/2 of an inch, flared it, pushed the nut screw back, and rebent it. This is SS and not real happy with bending so I'm expecting it to leak. If it does, I'll build a new one from scratch bending it correctly the first time.

I picked the NV3550. I know a lot of guys go for the NV4500, and I might have to switch in the future because of the engine's torque, but the install is less modification than the NV4500 and I like the idea of a car shifter feeling rather than a truck.

I won't go crazy on the NV3550. Thanks to everyone who did detailed write-ups on this as it made mine go much easier.

Press the bearing on the shaft, load the gears you pulled off your old tranny. Set to side.

I pre-oiled the gears in the D20 while it was still open on the input. I also pre-oiled the bearing on the rear output through the speedometer hole. Then used some thicker grease on the input shaft bearing space so when I loaded the bearings in they'd stick. This was a painfully frustrating job and I thought that the bearings wouldn't end up fitting. They just seem too big. Then I thought about geometry and realized you can't place them all in flush one at a time. The last one will never go in. You'll have to pull the 2 next to the last open spot out a little and slide the last one between them. Push them back and they all lock in place.

Add the gasket and the shaft/adapter to the D20 making sure the drill mark is facing the 12:00 position once it's on the tranny (see picture of trans and D20 facing you). I marked the drill spot position with a pencil on the outside edge of the adapter, then put the adapter on the D20 and rotated it until those bolt holes lined up estimating the drill marks position with the D20 installed. You can't be off because it rotates 60 degrees for each bolt hole. If its not lined up right, your mark will be WAY off. Bolt up the adapter to the D20, then look for your pencil mark and line it up with the top of the trans and you install it. There are 3 mounting bolts to allow you to adjust your D20. I had it rotated down as far as it would go. Bolt it up.

I put in the cross member, then lifted the Trans/D20 for a test fit. I actually mounted the bracket on the trans upside down (as seen in the pictures), but corrected it later.

So the front had to go. I didn't really catch it when I did the pre-buy inspection, but the Bronco had a hit on it's driver's front sometime in it's life, and the repair job was just horrible. It looks like it was speared with something, ripping through the core support and through the wheel well. It appeared they just tried and bend it back, then weld it. No cleaning of the metal, no paint, just half-assed, but probably OK for what they were doing. Not only that, but a battery had let go sometime in it's life and burned a hole through the passenger wheel well, not to mention the missing piece of metal where you bolt the body to the frame on the passenger side. Facelift time!

Rather than piecemeal it, I just decided to take the front end off all at once. MEASURE MEASURE MEASURE before you do this.

Drill out the spot welds at the kick panels (I used a cobalt metal drill bit and drilled all the way through since the metal behind it was going to be replaced) and the brackets to the firewall and it just falls off.

The rust on the kick panels where they were welded to the apron was mostly surface. I used a wire wheel to clean it off, then treated it with KBS Rustblast, followed by an additional coating of zinc.

AZ73 said:

I picked up Tom's Bronco brake line kit. Went in perfect except for the right front. The line was too long before the bend to get up over the Dana 44. So I carefully straightened it out, pushed the screw back, cut off 1/2 of an inch, flared it, pushed the nut screw back, and rebent it. This is SS and not real happy with bending so I'm expecting it to leak. If it does, I'll build a new one from scratch bending it correctly the first time.

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Post away, I do! My build is nothing like yours, but I love posting pics and info as I go along so I can help other who may go down the same path.

How did you like Tom's brake line kit as a whole? I'm going to be going through my other Bronco before I get it on the road and have that kit earmarked for purchase.

Worth $159?

FINALLY! The last post for a while. This is as far as I got before Thanksgiving and I haven't touched it since. Next week the body goes off to the media blaster so I can see what else I'll have to fix before I paint it.

I purchased the different parts I needed for this from Toms and WH. I think everyone sells the hand-crafted in the USA core support, aprons, core support brackets, and wheel wells. Toms driver's wheel well is a 76-77 design. It will work on earlier Broncos, but it looks different than the earlier ones. Also the hand crafted core support fits the aprons like a glove, but doesn't look like the stock stamped support. Thus I picked up the "stamped in the Philippines" core and support brackets, and the correct driver's wheel well. The passenger wheel well is the same for all years.

The stamped core and the aprons needed to be modified to work. They both come with the "ear" brackets to connect to each other but you only need them on one piece. After some test fits, the apron ear tabs were too big to fit on the stamped core, so I drilled out the spot welds and used the ear tabs on the stamped piece. Those were mounted at 90 degrees, which is not stock (ever notice how the core tilts back at the top?). So I drilled out the vertical spot welds, rotated the ear up about 15 degrees, then re-welded. Then I had to bend and modify the tabs to fit the aprons as they're a hair small compared to the bends in the apron. I got it to work, but what a pain. My advice is if you just want it to work and don't care about it looking EXACTLY like stock, go for the hand-crafted pieces. They're designed for each other, made in the USA, and work great. If you're wanted it to look "stamped", prepare for bad news and a lot of work. One other note, the stamped piece says the radiator brackets are pre-welded on. They are not. But that was the easiest thing I welded all day. It also doesn't come with the tab to hold down the bar that you use to hold your hood open. Take it off your old core, or fabricate a new one. Needless to say, it's done and welded back on to the truck, checking and re-checking my measurements. All areas that were going to be welded together were treated with zinc as a protective coating.

I also picked up new fenders and a grill. The old passenger side has thick, cracking bondo on the upper right corner of the grill and fender (maybe someone closed a garage door on it?) and the left side grill has a small dent from an encounter with the bumper. The left fender had some dents and bends by the brackets that mount it at the bottom. The cost to media blast was about 1/2 the cost to replace the fenders, and then I'd still have to repair them. I just can't live with bondo when I'm doing quality work on the rest of the rig so I sold the pieces and paid the difference for some new ones.

I loosely bolted the fenders and grill on, and it's starting to look good!