CPA 75' Frame Off Restoration

Numberfool · Oct 9, 2012

10-8-12

Time to get started on the restoration of my 75 Bronco.

Bought it 6 weeks back and caught the bug bad. Thanks a bunch to those that replied to my thread seeking advice on pulling the body. It was well received.

Im all in at this point and pulling the thing apart. I will post lots of pictures and completely welcome advice. Calling it CPA Frame Off as, well, I am an accountant.... yeah, keep the mechanical jokes to a minimum.

Again, thanks for the help and camaraderie on this forum... fantastic. I am in Camarillo, CA... not sure if I have any fellow members out this way.

Took me a few weeks to gather the support, but in the weeks I have had her, my family fell in love with the Bronco. They constantly want to take it out. Trying to be realistic on what I will do, but my budget has moved up daily. Started out as a paint job. Restoration aims to make her a driver. I will take her hunting, never rock crawl, mostly take her to dinner and drive on sunny days. Its important to my girls that the inside look original... stock seats, dash, instruments.

Plans as of today:

- Frame off, media blast, full body work
- Repair any rust and substandard previous repairs
- Linex underside of body
- Blast, sand, paint frame and axles with POR-15
- Replace all rubber, gaskets and shocks. Has new WH 2.5" suspension system and new steering by PO
- Has new disk brake system by PO. Will leave alone
- Put in new engine, rebuild C4, have T Case serviced while I have a rolling chassis
- Put in complete new wiring system
- 2 Stage paint, single stage paint top for ability to give it some flex
- Has new seats already
- Add Family roll cage
- Bring interior back to its stock glory
- Somehow hide a kickin stereo while leaving a stock radio in the dash
- Replace all chrome trim, emblems (lots missing) and bring back to Ranger glory.
- ??????

I will try and post lots of pictures as I go.

Numberfool · Oct 9, 2012

Busy first day. Disassembly is moving along. Hoping to be a rolling chassis by end of day.

sprdv1 · Oct 9, 2012

Nice man, You got a great start there..

look forward to more pics as you progress...

Numberfool · Oct 9, 2012

Looks like the floorboard fix the PO did will need to be cutout. I can actually peel it up with my hands like it was simply glued in. Will need to buy the pan piece and weld in properly.
Very little rust underneath. Not exactly sure why it was laid down. SO far, rust is looking minimal... got to love a Southern California Bronco.

NYLES · Oct 9, 2012

Ok you aSKED FOR IT, How bout keeping up with what it costs ya?

tools, parts the works

Numberfool · Oct 9, 2012

An actual, honest running cost disclosed as I go? I have a real bad feeling ill regret it later and would rather live in ignorance... But it's a CPA Frame Off... So Ok. Your on.

Scoop · Oct 9, 2012

Numberfool said:
An actual, honest running cost disclosed as I go? I have a real bad feeling ill regret it later and would rather live in ignorance... But it's a CPA Frame Off... So Ok. Your on.

You really don't want to know!! lol

Numberfool said:
- Bring interior back to its stock glory

Interesting build - are you going to try to take it back to a stock Ranger interior?? Or just a stock Bronco interior? The Ranger parts are of course harder to find - and probably more expensive. But a nice Ranger houndstooth interior looks great! I have a 74 Ranger but fortunately it's got its original interior in very good condition. What was the original color of yours?

rdanford · Oct 9, 2012

Scoop said:
You really don't want to know!! lol

Interesting build - are you going to try to take it back to a stock Ranger interior?? Or just a stock Bronco interior? The Ranger parts are of course harder to find - and probably more expensive. But a nice Ranger houndstooth interior looks great! I have a 74 Ranger but fortunately it's got its original interior in very good condition. What was the original color of yours?

Call Melissa at Bronco Hut, she has the houndstooth interior pieces for sale.

NYLES · Oct 9, 2012

Numberfool said:
An actual, honest running cost disclosed as I go? I have a real bad feeling ill regret it later and would rather live in ignorance... But it's a CPA Frame Off... So Ok. Your on.

You aint right! Dont make yaself sick.

Numberfool · Oct 9, 2012

Interior and electrical just about disconnected. Good thing I had already decided to start over on the electrical. Pretty messy.

Numberfool · Oct 9, 2012

Frame is off and I have a rolling chassis.

Rust looks much better than I anticipated. Lots of bonus holes from PO's, but much better than I had hoped.

Body is being sent off to be media blasted and back to the body shop early next week.

Chassis back to my work where I can pull the engine and drivetrain for some work.

I think I just went from an 11K Bronco to a 1K Bronco.

Fireball05 · Oct 9, 2012

Very cool! Will anxiously follow along for this one. Can we make bets as to final cost?

NYLES · Oct 10, 2012

Numberfool said:
I think I just went from an 11K Bronco to a 1K Bronco.

Your a funny guy!!! You should figure at least 30k to get it right!

Numberfool · Oct 10, 2012

I was referring to its present value. I paid 11K for it 6 weeks ago. Probably worth 1k in several hundred pieces. If I am driving it next summer, I'll feel good. I would agree with your 30k number on doing a proper rebuild.

NYLES · Oct 10, 2012

It never ends.....

I was counting your 11 in that

sprdv1 · Oct 10, 2012

Numberfool said:
I was referring to its present value. I paid 11K for it 6 weeks ago. Probably worth 1k in several hundred pieces. If I am driving it next summer, I'll feel good. I would agree with your 30k number on doing a proper rebuild.

Hang in there, one step at a time man....

Numberfool · Oct 10, 2012

Got some time in on it today, not nearly as exciting of course as that first full day of disassembly.

Had one of my guys steam clean the chassis and try and cut the grease off to make the work a little cleaner.

Then got her into my shop before the rain hits tonight. Continue to discover small things. Left front shock... PO didnt have the top of it hooked up to the frame. It was just sitting there looking pretty.

Loaded the body onto a dolly and sent it off to be media blasted this morning. Hoping to have it back Friday.

I am hoping to get the engine and tranny out tomorrow and off to their respective rebuilders.

Did my part for the economy today and spent $1,200 at TBP in the blink of an eye.... emblems, clips, gaskets, fenders. Much more to come.

My girls continue to debate the easier decisions such as color and trim. Half my family wants the chrome trim on, my wife doesnt. I ordered the chrome trim package.

Will start hunting the forums for clean pics of Broncos with the white stripe along the bottom and the hood stripe. The last two pictures are Broncos I absolutely love the paint scheme on.

broncobsession · Oct 10, 2012

I love this color too!

http://broncograveyard.com/classifieds/r-17147-1976-ford-bronco.html

Numberfool · Oct 12, 2012

Got the engine and tranny out. Supposed to have had the tub back from the blaster today, didnt happen.

Pretty well done stripping the frame. Cut all wires, gas lines out, shocks out... pretty well down to rails.

Engine off to my rebuilders. Tranny and T-Case off to their shop. T-Case looked rebuilt sometime in its life. Tranny for sure as well. When I pulled the torgue converter out of the bell housing, visible seal looked newish. Nervous because the PO had a quart of ATF stuck in the engine compartment... never instills confidence. Figured I better have it done while the Bronco is apart.

Thanks for the advice/responses on the tech forum side on the suspension. This forum is fantastic for help. Gives you a bit of confidence having so much info you can go research.

Frame gets painted next week, then hopefully new engine back in next weekend.

Numberfool · Oct 15, 2012

Thought I would get some opinions: body comes back from being media blasted tomorrow. Was planning to shoot POR-15 on the underside, then Line-x the underside.

My question is the engine compartment. I think I want the underside of the hood to be painted the outside color, but being a rig, seems high risk to paint the engine compartment the outside color. This isn't a show rig and I know I'll drill, tap or attach stuff in the future in there. Should I just go black POR15 so I can touch up the paint or shoot it with liner? What have some of you guys who have done a restoration done and how would you do the engine compartment different?

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