"Flick" build thread

In memory of my beloved pappy, Donald Flickinger, (who went by Flick many times) it seems only natural that I should call his old Bronco the same.

Flick has been gathering more rust since I acquired it 10 years ago or so. The wait for building it has ended with the April 2018 purchase of a rusty 1976 Bronco. Flick doesn't have much to give, but I'm going to use what parts I can and the uncut original rear quarters will hopefully make a cool trailer someday.

So since April, the donor has been stripped and the body is almost finished with repairs. It really shouldn't have been saved. And if I wasn't using my grandpa's metal brake and creating panels from 4x10' sheets (yes, sheets, I'm on my 2nd one) of 16 gauge steel, it wouldn't have been financially feasible for me. Door pillars won't be fixed. I plan to run inserts.

Frame is solid, 302 runs strong and passed the compression test, auto trans, J shift needs repair (doesn't work in 2wd). I think it has a 2.5" lift, but I'm not sure.

I found out what a needle gun is and I don't know how I ever functioned in auto repair without it!

Enjoy. More updates to come as I work on it. Hopefully Flick will be at the shows by 2019.

So I know my patching isn't professional like a $50K Bronco, but this project is mine and I am not restoring it to sell. I am super excited to be rebuilding it on a dime just how my Pappy would, and creating the floor pans with my other Grandpa's metal brake just like he would have done. Third generation cheap ass mechanical engineer here.

This past week I found way more destructive rust on the bottom of the bed than was apparent from the top. That's what took me to the second sheet of steel.

My loving husband is tacking everything in for me after I cut and create it. If it isn't a stick welder, I'm not too good with it. And stick welders are just kind of a pain to spot weld compared to a mig.

Great story and Lookin good so far. Keep the pictures coming.

Great idea w/the name.. Miss my old man every day..

Good luck w/the build

Franken Flick? Fabbed Flick? So much repair on this guy, but it's coming together. I've had fun with the metal brake this past week and got my first body pieces in primer. Also started practicing with the mig and it really wasn't hard to get the hang of it.

Here's the inner front fender progression this week.

Those wheel wells turned out great, nice job.

8 weeks today since starting! And it was a busy week. Wheel wells mounted to the newly fabbed fender skirts and painted. Core support repaired and painted. Tailgate sanded, repaired and primered with all the hardware painted. Rear bumper got an ugly trailer mount hacked off and then primered. The removal was not pretty and now a plate was required for the center, so of course I had to spend time on this critically important piece ;D. It was my great husband's idea to put Flick's name on it.

Also think I have narrowed down the paint to Tropical Turquoise.

Things are coming together instead of being torn apart. Never thought I'd be at this stage this soon!

Oh, and that Jeep fender is me helping my husband fab some metal for his 1949 CJ-3A. Flick has such a cute little buddy being built at the same time.

Nice... It'll all be worth it at the end..

Keep on grinding

Week 9 - The grill cleaned up surprisingly well. I was dreading this piece. A little filler on each side and I had to rebuild a couple lines from the Bronco being in a very minor accident or four wheeling incident previously.

The body is soon ready to spray. That rear drivers section was swiss cheese and repaired badly. I took it down to metal, welded a patch panel and repaired it and a few other areas with filler. It's mostly primered. One more flip for a couple finishing touches on the underside, then hopefully spraying the raptor liner.

I'll be starting on the one fender I have and the hood this coming week. Also have been slowly cleaning up and working on Flick's frame.

Really nice work so far. Keep the pics coming


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That is a lot of work there, it will be nice when your done. Ken

Great work, had a chance to meet you all MEB round up.

Eric

hyghlndr said:

Great work, had a chance to meet you all MEB round up.

Eric

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Thanks Eric, it was great to meet you as well. I’ll be there next year with the finished product. Got a cabin already and the family is really looking forward to it!

Thanks everyone else for the compliments. A lot of sweat equity here.

Week 10 - I got WAY farther along this week because of a generous member working out a parts trade. There's some really good support on this site. I got the roadster inserts, fenders and windshield primed and ready. The hood was started. There's one ding in it, but I kept it there. My Pappy made that.

Also got the grill drilled for the chrome and some tarps to begin setting up a spray area. Raptor liner will be going on soon.

Enjoy the pics and keep tinkering everyone.

Week 11 & 12 - Between traveling and the recent deluge of rain causing some basement flooding issues to be addressed, there wasn't a whole lot of time to tinker. I'm still needling the crap out of this rusty thing, but the light at the end of the tunnel is showing. The frame was fixed and painted. The front axle was cleaned and painted out to the knuckles. It will get installed and then all the rusty brake stuff will be replaced with new. Front and rear.

Just as I suspected, the person who installed the lift didn't do the radius arms correctly. The bronco sat noticeably lower on the drivers side, and when the front axle came off, one radius arm was about an inch higher than the other.

And the radius arms were one of the worst things I have tackled yet. Not a single bolt came out in the front section. I had to cut off every head which was a royal PITA. Thankfully when that pressure was off, the remaining bolt studs twisted freely. So I cut off the rusted threads hanging out and finally removed them. Shocks had to be cut off too. And it looks like I have some metal sleeves that will need cut off from bushing areas.

Needless to say, I've put a hurting my 100 pack of cutting wheels throughout this project.

I've also found a bunch of great original paperwork and a few photos to go along with this thing. So neat to have my Pappy's original stuff from 1969!

front hood repair

How did you fix rust holes in front edge of hood? What are you spraying on inside fenders and hood? Looking good.

Rocko1012 said:

How did you fix rust holes in front edge of hood? What are you spraying on inside fenders and hood? Looking good.

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Probably not what you want to hear, but long hair fiberglass filler to close the holes and then a thin layer of bondo to smooth it. All the shiny black is a paint on gloss rustoluem. Inner fenders and underside will be sprayed with RaptorX.

Looks Good, I will use METAL on METAL Filler to do mine. Raptor Liner is nice coverage and applies easy. Just did bottom of bronco. But can be messy.

Rocko1012 said:

Looks Good, I will use METAL on METAL Filler to do mine. Raptor Liner is nice coverage and applies easy. Just did bottom of bronco. But can be messy.

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I just looked that up. I've never used the stuff but I'm curious on the strength. I've had really good success with the fiberglass bondo. It has strenth and flex. Might not last my lifetime, but if I'm ever doing this body again, it's gonna be buying an entirely new one, haha.

And I saw the tip on Rapter liner to cover absolutely everything up that you don't want it on. Any other tips on spraying it? I will be tackling that soon. Thanks and good luck with your build as well.

Weeks 13 thru 15 - A turning point was achieved here. Things are going back together. Major repairs are pretty much done and I'm not covering half the garage in rust, dust, grease and metal scraps.

Suspension was cleaned up and installed. Coil springs went from black to blue. Looks like a 3.5" add-a-leaf lift kit. Got the radius arms set and the bronco sits level and ready. Not too bad considering the heavy merge of a very rusted Flick and a slightly less rusted donor. The last rust is from the knuckles and drums out. I have all new brakes and brake components front and back ready to install.

The dash is cleaned up and so is the gauge cluster. Flicks speedometer was in pretty great shape. Random things come off that Bronco that are really nice to work with.

I got my bumper from Tom at The Bronco Ranch. He does great work. I cannot wait for installation! And it matches my back bumper like they were made to be together. Then, literally 2 minutes after picking it up in an area I have never been to before, I missed a four way stop sign and collided with another vehicle. Thank God we were both okay and my F-150 only appears to have minor damage. But after the shaking and rush, making sure the other man was absolutely ok, and thanking God none of my four little kids were along, is it wrong that my next two thoughts were "I would have been pissed if I totaled the new bumper two minutes after picking it up", and "the F-150 is replaceable, I pray I never have this experience in the Bronco!" First time accident for me and I hope to never have another.

Oh, and this was right after our commercial compressor took a crap and we went out and bought a new one. Yesterday was a very expensive day overall.

So last night I proceeded with Bronco wrenching therapy to feel better after my idiot driving experience. The drive train dropped right back in and things are one step closer. I think I will be ready to setup a spray area and tackle the Raptor liner soon. But it will probably wait until after my sister's wedding on the 25th. I don't think she will appreciate a bridesmaid covered in undercoating, haha.