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1977 SC Bronco Build

Casey835

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Mar 8, 2008
Messages
759
Pretty sure that's the way it's supposed to be, or we have Siamese frames.
 
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Crawdad

Crawdad

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Feb 16, 2011
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Don't know what your plans are , maybe beef up that track bar bracket!

Good idea! I was thinking of adding another cross member in the middle, just pass where the TC and drive shaft meet. I've got some 3/8" thick 2"x3" tubing. Might be a little much to hold a muffler or two.
 

SC74

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May 24, 2004
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3,411
Good work on that steering brace. I just welded some 3/8" plate to the inside of the frame for the same purpose, but that gusset plus plate is super strong.

Yep, body mount is supposed to be like that.
 
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Crawdad

Crawdad

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I didn't add a brace to the track arm bracket, but did weld two lines on top of the factory welds and two on the inside. I felt a brace would have looked awkward. I decided against the third cross member in the middle, just isn't necessary for what I'm wanting to build.

Got the frame on the trailer. Got to fill the threaded holes with Loctite premium construction adhesive. Will also smear on both VIN stamps. Dropping it off Friday morning and will get back on Tuesday.
 
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Crawdad

Crawdad

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Finally finished the mods I needed in order to drop this thing off this morning. I was told to use a specific Loctite constr adhesive to fill all threads being used. Lots of holes on this frame, may not use 75% of them so I didn't caulk them. You can see where i covered the frames VIN as best i could, we will see. I did have to drill more holes than I wanted to. Two things can ruin a great galv job and that's air pockets and puddling. They told me they would leave it in the acid bath longer than norm due to the rust hidden inside the frame.
 

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Crawdad

Crawdad

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Vin

VIN covered, hopefully it will stay through the dipping process.
 

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Crawdad

Crawdad

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Threads covered with the construction adhesive.
 

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Crawdad

Crawdad

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Before

Frame is ready to go to the galvanizers, looking forward to next week!
 

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Crawdad

Crawdad

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Frame is galvanized, one more step is left

The QA mgr called me today and spoke with me about the frame and the galvanizing process. Said they stuck it in the acid bath for 24hr to get rid of grease, grime and paint. He explained what it doesn't remove is heavy grime, thick paint, slag and obviously constr adhesive. Apparently the only way to remove this eye soar is to have the frame sand blasted prior to galvanizing. He followed up by saying the inside looks great. Will be picking the frame up tomorrow morning.
 

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Casey835

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Mar 8, 2008
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Are those eye "SOARs" there on the bottom of driver side, body mount, and engine mount or just a bad pic? That is gonna pop with the right color body paint.
 
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Crawdad

Crawdad

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It doesn't look pretty. The coating doesn't stick to old paint, slag or other coating that may have been on the frame prior to coating. It's a learning lesson, but to pass on to there make sure you remove everything. I thought the acid dip would remove everything but it didn't. In the end it's worth it. Lots of rust was removed, especially in the inside, and it only cost me $100. I plan to paint it down the road, but will have those spots sandblasted prior to painting. I'm picking it up tomorrow morning after 8am so hopefully I won't have a heart attack! At the end of the day I'm still happy I got it done, I'd do it again.
 
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Crawdad

Crawdad

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Bit of a setback, the coating just looked like shit to me pardon my cursing. They said they needed the frame to be sandblasted without the grime and paint for the coat to stick and not flake up like you see in the pics. So now i need to get a sandblaster to fix and clean all the seams and welds thatis contaminating the galvanizing process. Of yeah they want an additional $75 to strip and regalvanize the frame.
But with every negative there is a positive. Spoke to my powder coating guy to see how much he would charge to sandblast the frame only. He typically charges $90 per hour and said it normally takes 2-2.5 hours for this type of frame. Now its starting to snowball my wallet! Now months ago Chris (owner of Stuyck Co) said he would powder coat my frame for $250, today he said he would still do the frame for that price. So....... today's plan is to pick up frame, power wash it, scrap remainder junk and take to PC guy to spot sandblast all bad spots, lightly sandblast frame and then lastly powder coat. When I looked inside frame it looked marvelous! So really that was worth the $100 to have the frame acid dipped and inside frame perfectly galvanized. In the end I will have a galvanized frame inside and out with a semigloss black PC finish coat.
 

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Crawdad

Crawdad

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Another pic at engine mount, notice the weld seams.
 

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Crawdad

Crawdad

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And the rear shock mounts, pretty nasty.
 

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Casey835

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Mar 8, 2008
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759
I am assuming they did not tell you how clean it had to be nor did they tell you it wasn't clean enough before they did the process, that there is crappy on their part in my opinion. That would have looked good, had it turned out right. I would cut those rear shock mounts anyways, I don't think you are gonna want to use them.
 
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