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My build with Kentrol glass tub and fenders---UPDATE-Summer 2014

Tedster100

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Aug 25, 2010
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1,762
Looking good, glad to see you got it out for a drive! Hoping to do the same with mine this weekend.
 

mattyq17

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Jul 11, 2007
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1,597
Some pics of it before i put it away for the winter. Got a porta-garage from harbor freight and its fits in there great!

How much was the porta-garage? I am thinking about something like that for mine.
 
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bknbronco

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Jan 17, 2011
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North Metro, MN
How much was the porta-garage? I am thinking about something like that for mine.

I got it at harbor freight for 199.00 and got another 20% of of that with there coupon. Its made by shelter logic but may be a bit different that a true shelter logic garage.
 

HotWheels

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Joined
Jul 8, 2003
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9,179
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Twilight Zone
Very nice. Getting me excited about building my glass bronco. It's bound for Hawaii and the beach; almost ready, replacing roof after hurricane set me back some. %)
 
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bknbronco

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Jan 17, 2011
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North Metro, MN
Well first post on here since last winter. Had the bronco out a few times since the snow has melted. Put the battery back in, 3 pumps on the gas, and fired right up! Gota love a 40 year old truck that fires right up after sitting for a few months.

Couple things on the list to get done asap.....

1st- got to get the tailgate mounted. Because of the glass body i needed my buddy to machine me some 7/8" spacers out of aluminum to space out the tailgate latch brackets. These turned out sweet and worked ausome! Then i wanted to use some tailgate cables instead of the factory rattle straps. Picked out some cables from a dodge pickup for $8.99ea, and they worked nice. Had to space out the end on the body a bit and decided to just use the factory rattlestap bracket, which i just ground off the original straps. Tailgate works flawlessly....love it when a plan comes together! Now just have to wait for the weather to warm up a bit more so i can shoot some paint on it. (I didnt have my camera with, but will post pics when i get back up to my parents)

2nd- getting that viewfinder windshield frame mounted and some glass in it. Should be as simple as drilling rivit holes and riviting in place:-X WELL SEE!!!!! Im gona mount the windshield glass the "NEW WAY".

3rd- and most important get some plates, tabs, and insurance!

4th- order and mount the 8 MV12 shocks from doetsch

5th- do the chebby TRE-TRO modification, as well as a trac bar riser on the axle

There are of course tons of other things to do such as lowering brackets on the brake lines, paint the hood and grill, hook up a hand throttle (shes a cold blooded bitch and if i rush her and the choke opens then its a bitch to keep her running without my foot on the gas a little), needs a new alternator (old one squeeks), etc, etc, etc. The above 5 things are most important, and are needed to get this truck out on the road and start enjoying it!!!
 
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dave67fd

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Bronco Guru
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Sep 24, 2010
Messages
2,863
Question for you going back abit on assy. of your front clip. When you welded the front core support to the inner fenders, tubs, supports etc.. How did you match and line up all the pieces before welding and knowing all the proper dimensions. I'm a newbie and will be doing this on a metal tub not fiberglass. Do all the front clip pieces have locators for all the pieces or did you pull the dimensions from your old set-up, another Bronco etc.. Not concerned about how you attached to the FG tub but just assy of the clip itself.
Thanks
Dave
 
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bknbronco

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Question for you going back abit on assy. of your front clip. When you welded the front core support to the inner fenders, tubs, supports etc.. How did you match and line up all the pieces before welding and knowing all the proper dimensions.

The pieces can only go in one place pretty much. The inner wheel wells match up to the inner fender aprons pretty basic. Then the core support matches up to the aprons. For the radiator supports i had the front clip in place and then put the radiator and shroud centered on the fan and screwed the supports in place. I screwed all the pieces together and fitted everything before welding too place.
Once you have all the sheet metal on hand it becomes clear where everything goes. It can only go together one way, and most of the edges line up. Its hard to explain, but if you have all the piesces on hand it will put itself together. Start with inner wheel wells and screw to inner aprond, the screw them two sub assemblys to the core support, and then screw the radiator supports to that, so the radiator shroud is centered on the fan. The front body mounts (core support brackets) i screwed to the core support to wheel tub brackets and then screwed them assemblys to the front clip.

I didnt have any measurements to go off of just serched for days and days for pics to give me some base lines. In the end it all worked out great. GOOD LUCK....

I bought 6 cheep small vise grips from walmart for like a buck each to hold everything together then screwed with sheet metal screws. Screw it all together then put it on your bronco in case you need adjustments. after all fenders, grill, hood and radiator are in place and you like where there at then disasemble and weld.

NOTE: the new steel parts are close but some trimming and rebending is always necessary! Its all a pain in the ass but you will figure it out. If you need more pics or measurements just ask. I pretty much had the front clip assembled in my living room as you can see.
 

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Glass Pony

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I bought 6 cheep small vise grips from walmart for like a buck each to hold everything together then screwed with sheet metal screws. Screw it all together then put it on your bronco in case you need adjustments. after all fenders, grill, hood and radiator are in place and you like where there at then disasemble and weld.

Very good advice.
When you put the hood on that's the real tell tale.
 

dave67fd

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Sep 24, 2010
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Thanks man, sounds relatively straightforward once you explained it. I'm also sure i could have figured it out but you just gave me that comfort factor. Thanks again, and your rigs looks assume, nice job so far and keep up the good work.

Subscribed.
Dave
 
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bknbronco

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Jan 17, 2011
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North Metro, MN
Pics of how i mounted a steel gate to the glass tub along with new cables instead of the rattle straps.

NOTE: These cables will NOT fit stock location. They are a few inches shorter than needed to reuse stock holes.
 

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jmhend

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Joined
Dec 25, 2007
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2,733
Pics of how i mounted a steel gate to the glass tub along with new cables instead of the rattle straps.

NOTE: These cables will NOT fit stock location. They are a few inches shorter than needed to reuse stock holes.

Great job on the tailgate. I have the same issue with mine needing the spacer too. I used a piece of round tube and welded a washer on each end. I may take them out and use your concept.
 
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bknbronco

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Jan 17, 2011
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North Metro, MN
Great job on the tailgate. I have the same issue with mine needing the spacer too. I used a piece of round tube and welded a washer on each end. I may take them out and use your concept.

I thought of using tubing but a buddy of mine works in a machine shop and made these out of solid aluminum. probably took him 20 min to make (if id have paid someone to make them id expect to pay 40 bucks for the pair). I also thought of making some out of plate steel and bending them so in the end they looked stock, but too many what ifs going that route. The alum blocks i can have shaved down mm by mm until the tailgate is perfectly flush with the body.

I just wish the tubing there bolted to was thicker. hopefully my threads dont give out for a verry long time.

The glass stuff is ausome, but everything has to be custom made!
 
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Tedster100

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Aug 25, 2010
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I thought of using tubing but a buddy of mine works in a machine shop and made these out of aluminum. probably took him 20 min to make (if id have paid someone to make them id expect to pay 40 bucks for the pair). I also thought of making some out of plate steel and bending them so in the end they looked stock, but too many what ifs going that route. The alum blocks i can have shaved down mm by mm until the tailgate is perfectly flush with the body.

I just wish the tubing there bolted to was thicker. hopefully my threads dont give out for a verry long time.

The glass stuff is ausome, but everything has to be custom made!

Yup, had the same issue, made the same type of spacers. There is a ton of fab and fit and finish work with the glass but it's worth not dealing with the rust when it's done.
 
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bknbronco

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Jan 17, 2011
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So yesterday i picked up a new alternator for 45 bucks and i also got all for TRE for my chevy TRE-TRO swap, also got new exhaust manifold gaskets.

Started with the alternator swap. Easy! Then next went to find the electrical gremlin than had crawled under the dash. Come to find out the outer ring on my horn was grounding out when horn got pressed and also the wires under the wheel had worn through and would ground out once in a while also. Isolated the horn ring from the bolts with a plastic washer.

Next was the brake line brackets. With my 5.5" lift even the extended brakelines were not long enough to reach the stock mounting positions. I got some thin steel and drilled holes and used it to drop the mounting location down around 4 or 5 inches. I hope they will pass a tec inspection at a offroad event? Ill get pics once there painted and mounted.

I also got my hand throttle fabbed up and it works nice. i have some adjustments on the brake lever and also used another adjustment barrel found on bikes. Cost me around 20 bucks for the cable, sleve, and other parts. the brake lever was pirated off one of the girls bikes we had.

I wanted to take care of two noises under the hood...one was the alternator bearing squeeking, which a new alt took care of, and the second more annoying was a exhaust manifold gasket tick. When i pulled the manifold off i found that the rearmost ear on the pass side had completly broken off. Pulled the manifold cleaned off old gasket and welded the ear back on. Bolted the manifold back up and torqued to 20ftlbs. Will retorque it again when it hot. My old gasket must have blown out a chunk when it was backfiring all the time, and when i kept torquing it tighter and tighter the ear just snapped off. I remember torquing them to around 45 ftlbs. not good! Oh well easy fix...hope it holds for a long time! Now after a quick spin around the block everything is nice and quiet! LOVE IT! Now just need to find out how to get rid of the airplane noise the stuped fan makes!

Last thing on the list was to bolt up dads rims and tires and see how 37's would look and more importantly how the gearing in the axle would react to the big tires. The 4:10 gears made take off a bit slower than with the 33's, but not too bad. I did notice more pressure needed during brakeing. I have a 3 speed RAT trannie i believe and the axles are 4:10 or 4:11. I think 37's are max for that combo. The 33's are great with that combo and actually i can use first gear (with stock tires first was way to low to ever use)

The last pic is with the 33's 15" wheels. The 37's are on a 17"wheel. I really like the look of them 17's and 37's. fits the truck well! DAD MIGHT NOT GET THESE BACK!
 

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NYLES

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Joined
Aug 13, 2004
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9,846
Just so you know BCB 1/8" sliders fit Kentrol bodies great!
 

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NYLES

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Aug 13, 2004
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9,846
Hee hee I like ya tailgate but you just solved a issue with my custom one Im bout to build.....gonna blow ya mind!

The ends need to be SS angle and not SS box tubin! thanks!
 
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bknbronco

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Jan 17, 2011
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Hee hee I like ya tailgate but you just solved a issue with my custom one Im bout to build.....gonna blow ya mind
The ends need to be SS angle and not SS box tubin! thanks!

You making new latch brackets instead of spacing the stock ones out?

Oh so now its a competition? Your like 2 years ahead of me on your build! Lets see some pics of all that stuff you been working on! This is the only pic i have! Looks like you put in a new seat since this pic was taken?
 

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