"Rust Never Sleeps" World Build Thread

Alpacket · May 19, 2013

The purpose of this thread is to add to the ever-growing body of evidence that a guy with very little experience can build a truck in one bay of a garage, given enough time.

The subject is a 1976 California wagon sport with 33,000 miles on the odometer, true mileage unknown, procured in St. Joseph, Missouri, November 2012. The goal is a near original truck, with a few tweaks here and there, reliable enough to drive around town on the weekends. Here are some pictures of how the truck looked when purchased. One thing you can say - she was pretty complete. Even the radio worked.

Alpacket · May 19, 2013

Shops

Early on, this became a father/son project (me being the son). And in the interest of full disclosure, although I am restricted to one bay of my garage, my Dad has a pretty impressive shop and owns and operates a powder coating business in Wichita, Kansas, about three hours away. So I suppose that gives me a leg up. Below are some pictures of my bay and my Dad's shop, so you can get an idea of what I'm working with. The red tower in my Dad's shop is a blasting cabinet.

Alpacket · May 19, 2013

Bumpers

Since the truck is supposed to look almost stock, the first order was remove the aftermarket bumpers. Lost a good Craftsman 1/2" drive in the process. Don't remember why I wasn't using a breaker bar; probably no room. Sold the old bumpers to another member who needed 'em for his build and got the replacement chrome from TBP. The PO welded steel box into the rear frame to fix some bad rust and install that aftermarket bumper. So I had to cut access holes to install the original bumpers, but I think it came out pretty well. The black on the frame is Rustoleum flat black brushed on over Rustoleum rusty metal primer.

.94 OR · May 19, 2013

You didn't lose a Craftsman drive, you just won a trip to Sears for a rebuild kit or a replacement unit, FOR FREE. They have a no hassle replacement guarantee. If you have some Craftsman screwdrivers that are well used, throw them in as well, they will trade them out for you as well.

Alpacket · May 19, 2013

.94 OR said:
You didn't lose a Craftsman drive, you just won a trip to Sears for a rebuild kit or a replacement unit, FOR FREE. They have a no hassle replacement guarantee. If you have some Craftsman screwdrivers that are well used, throw them in as well, they will trade them out for you as well.

You're right. Exactly what I did.

TAC · May 19, 2013

Another Neil Young fan?

Wow, looks like a nice clean rig to start with. Cool father/son project! What better way to spend some time; aside from fishing. Good luck and have fun.

Alpacket · May 19, 2013

Brakes and Springs

This truck was apparently stored for a long time before I got it. The rear brakes were locked up, but when I knocked off the drums, a bunch of the parts looked brand new. So I assume they were just sitting for years. Rebuilt both sides including wheel cylinders for cheap. Found all the parts at Autozone.

The driver's side coil spring was broken and the retaining cups had about the consistency of an Oreo cookie, so I replaced both sides with stock springs from JBG. Not too bad of a job, particularly compared to the rear leaves. Took me a month to get those bad boys out and replacements in. And I barely got out with my shoulders still attached. Replaced with five leaf stock springs from TBP.

Alpacket · May 19, 2013

TAC said:
Another Neil Young fan?

Wow, looks like a nice clean rig to start with. Cool father/son project! What better way to spend some time; aside from fishing. Good luck and have fun.

Out of the blue and into the black
They give you this, but you pay for that
And once you're gone, you can never come back
When you're out of the blue and into the black.

How can that not be about Broncos? I think of it every time I'm ordering parts.

Thanks for the comment on the truck.

TwoDalesDad · May 19, 2013

Thats a sporty little red pony you guys have there.....Pretty dam cute.....On photo 6 it looks like your wheels are pretty straight.....lol

.94 OR · May 19, 2013

Alpacket said:
Out of the blue and into the black
They give you this, but you pay for that
And once you're gone, you can never come back
When you're out of the blue and into the black.

How can that not be about Broncos? I think of it every time I'm ordering parts.

Thanks for the comment on the truck.

I think for Bronco owners, the lyrics could be different...

When you're out of the black and into the red...
Keep saving as there are more pieces to find.

TAC · May 19, 2013

.94 OR said:
I think for Bronco owners, the lyrics could be different...

When you're out of the black and into the red...
Keep saving as there are more pieces to find.

Out of the black and into the red
They give you this piece, but you pay for that
Keep on saving, there more parts to add
Watch the tech thread and classic bronco chat

Hey hey, my my, old broncos never die

Alpacket · May 19, 2013

I like it. Keep those lyrics coming.

Alpacket · May 19, 2013

Exhaust

Truck came with a 302 and Motorcraft 2150 with all the emissions fixin's. Whatever I did, I couldn't time it to get rid of a backfire on deceleration. And the exhaust was trashed anyway. So I pulled off the exhaust manifolds and cleaned and repainted them with just some rattle can Rustoleum high temp silver, then reinstalled them with a gasket from Autozone. As you can see from the pictures, exhaust was blowing past the manifold on every port. There was no visible gasket when I removed them. Don't know if that was stock or not. Anyway, backfire is gone now.

Decided to replace the exhaust past the manifolds with BC Broncos' 2 into 1 system, but special ordered a longer Magniflow from them for what I thought would be better sound. I really like how it turned out. The joints at the muffler won't seal, but some exhaust paste should fix that.

g8rb8t · May 19, 2013

Looking good! Love to hear a video of your exhaust if you can. I'm considering a similar setup.

Alpacket · May 24, 2013

g8rb8t said:
Looking good! Love to hear a video of your exhaust if you can. I'm considering a similar setup.

Sure, I'll see what I can do. Alternator isn't spinning right now for some reason, so I'm not running the truck as much to save the battery. But I'll get you something in the next couple weeks.

Alpacket · May 24, 2013

Wheels

The truck came with some American Racing chrome wheels with not a small amount of rust on them. So I bought some original wheels off a member and sent them to Dad for blasting and coating. They were pretty rough, but I got one back and it looks pretty good. The color is just an off-white I picked out. Still trying to figure out what size tire I want to go with. I'm thinking a 30x9.5 would be good.

Rustytruck · May 24, 2013

If you decide to remove the floor mat be very careful with it, it cant be replaced. I would advise duck taping the whole back side if you remove it. it will crack and split anywhere it is bent. Any cracks you get superglue them back together before they spread.

Alpacket · May 24, 2013

Floor pans

When I removed the interior to install a WH 1" BL, I found the driver and passenger floor pans had been replaced with homemade that had just been screwed to the rest of the body. So I decided - while I was there - to get some aftermarket stuff installed. Got 'em from LMC because I could pick them up and save on shipping. Pretty good quality IMHO. I welded the driver's side with just a 110v flux core cracker box. The passenger side I did with a 160 amp MIG borrowed from the 'rents. Seam sealed both sides with some cheap stuff I got from Autozone. Then just coated with some cheap primer and paint. Came out better than I expected.

Alpacket · May 24, 2013

Rustytruck said:
If you decide to remove the floor mat be very careful with it, it cant be replaced. I would advise duck taping the whole back side if you remove it. it will crack and split anywhere it is bent. Any cracks you get superglue them back together before they spread.

You know, it was amazingly flexible after all these years. Although it was pretty beat up when I got it. It can't be that hard to make. If someone were to crank out 500 or so, what do you think he could sell them for?

Alpacket · May 26, 2013

1" Body Lift

I installed the WH 1" BL because I wanted just enough lift to make people wonder. It also does make a world of difference in access to lots of parts of the truck. I got well over 1.5" of lift, I think you can see from the before and after pictures. Of course, as a right of passage, I had to drop one of the supplied bushings into the middle of the frame. Used a garden hose with a couple magnets and electrical tape to get it back, per another member's advice. Worked like a charm. To anyone who's going to do this, I would recommend going ahead and disconnecting your C4 shift linkage (if you've got one), accelerator linkage, and rag joint. You might be able to get away with not doing it, but it's so easy and you don't want stress on any of that stuff, trust me. I know from experience.

"Rust Never Sleeps" World Build Thread

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