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Pebbles: 1 Family Mostly Stock 68 Build

chuckyb

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Oct 25, 2016
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Hi All, I am going to start my build thread as I am finally getting some momentum on my project. I have owned this 1968 Bronco since my Grandfather passed away in 1999. It was one of about 15 vehicles that he could not part with and all were headed to the scrap yard. Here are some pictures of how she looked when I was making my decision whether to rescue this vehicle or not. That is a DeSoto next to her and I think a Chevy station wagon.
 

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chuckyb

chuckyb

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My decision process:

The Good:
Family Memories of seeing it around and riding in it a few times
It's a Ford and a Bronco
289 and dual tanks
Pretty much intact
All maintenance record since new

The Bad:
Very rusty
190,000 miles
Very rusty

Well, the good seemed to outweigh the bad so my Dad and I did enough work for me to be able to drive her home 100 miles. The main issue that got her parked was broken shift linkage. We fixed the linkage and sent the carburetor to Pony Carburetors. Once the carb was back, we installed a new rear fuel tank and a new set of tires. From there I drove home and started to work on the brakes and some other items. Things got kind of busy with three kids, two moves, and a divorce. Here I am 17 years later planning a frame-off restoration.
 

Justafordguy

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Sep 26, 2009
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Looks good from the pictures. Hopefully it won't be a bad project. To much family history with it to let it go, you've got to save it.
 

AFLtCol

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Love the old black & white photos of your grandfather & the eb! Good luck with the build!
 
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chuckyb

chuckyb

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This is how things have been looking for a while in my small and messy garage. The Bronco had basically become a storage bin. To ease myself back into things, I straightened up and cleared out clutter as best as I could. I started off slowly with labeling wires, placing parts in bags and bins and taking lots of pictures. As others have said, pictures, sharpies and bins and bags are your friend.
 

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chuckyb

chuckyb

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I removed a lot of the remaining engine accesories like the alternator, smog stuff, etc. After 190k miles, this 289 still ran but was worn out. I removed some low-budget add-ons such as the angle iron horn brackets :). Check out Grandpa's NRA sticker on the vent window. I am trying hard not to break this window so that it can go back on when the vehicle is restored. I am not sure why some photos are getting posted sideways. They are right side up when I post them.
 

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chuckyb

chuckyb

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I stopped short of pulling the engine and moved to the interior. I removed all the knobs and cables. Having the correct bezel tools to remove some of these is the only way to go. I wanted to remove the bench seat and really see what was underneath but I also wanted to have it to sit on when I was working on the dash. My son is becoming somewhat interested in the project and helps me sometimes. He helped me pull out the bench seat. Now four generations of my family have worked on the truck!
 

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chuckyb

chuckyb

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Here's what I am dealing with from a rust perspective. In summary, it's thoroughly rusty right up the middle. Cowl, inner fenders, all floors, inner quarters, all door posts totally shot. The tailgate was already replaced and is solid. I think that the doors, hood, one fender, front wheel wells, outer quarters, firewall and roof may be salvageable. The plan is to have Nick at Nick's Trix, who I met through this site and lives close by, have it all dipped and provide his verdict. The original windshield has a hole in it and took me a lot of PB blaster and several weeks of time to get the knobs off in one piece. I had picked up a 73 windshield thinking I would convert to electric wipers. Now I am not sure if I want to convert or stick with vacuums. Seems like the vacuums provide a better look with the roof off. I know the vac wipers aren't very good but I don't plan on driving it much in the rain. I like the hood latch feature and the idea of folding the windshield down, even if it is just for cruise-in situations. In any event, I have the original windshield and the 73 windshield and plenty of time to decide what to do with wipers. All opinions welcome!!
 

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chuckyb

chuckyb

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Some pictures of loosening up the roof and taking down the windshield for the first time. As others have stated, time and PB blaster are your friend with getting the windshield knobs out without breaking them. For the driver's side, I eventually needed to drill a small hole on the outside lower part of the windshield and squirt the PB blaster into the hole in order for it to drop onto the threads inside to loosen the knob up. I turned the knobs back and forth bit by bit to get them unstuck over a period of a couple weeks. It was cool to see the factory markings on the cowl for the first time underneath the windshield. It says "1831", same as the marking on the radiator support by the passenger headlight area.
 

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rydog1130

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Jun 19, 2014
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Looks a lot like mine! You've seen my build thread so just make sure you brace everything. Take measurements and photos as you go along. I think you'll be able to save the majority of your firewall, and transmission hump, you might have to re fab your bed seeing how a lot of its rusty. I found most the parts I got from jeff's fit pretty well but I did have to knotch or trim a few things to get them to fit right. If your worried about cost or skills, LAL customs, Jeffs, and TBP all sell pre fabbed tubs for about 8-10k or you can get the kit for $4500 if you feel ambitious, lol Overall, since this is your first build I suggest keep doing what your doing, you'll learn a lot!

Save everything you remove until you're done, you may think you wont need it down the road but trust me you'll be glad you did! I removed a few things like my old transfer case and sold it with the 3 spd only to realize earlier this spring I needed the yokes from that case to reconnect my drive shaft to the C4. I also sold my bench seat as I wanted buckets in it but I wish I would have kept it as I want to get one and make a cool shop/house couch out of one.

You have any questions youre in the right place! Good Luck!
 
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chuckyb

chuckyb

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Thanks, Ryan! I hear you loud and clear...I had considered getting rid of the bench seat in the For Sale section here, but am holding off. I went so far as put my vac wipers on eBay, but thought better of it and took them off. I am planning on getting the one-piece preassembled floor pan for the front section. Being in the Charlotte area, I am fortunate I can pick it up from NPD w/o shipping. I am playing catch up on this thread, so my bracing efforts will follow at some point. It isn't pretty but hopefully it will serve the purpose.
 
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chuckyb

chuckyb

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After getting the interior items, wiring, exhaust, tailgate and fenders removed, I took her out for a pressure wash. I have two Gravely tractors, one works great for pulling out of the garage and the other has a car pusher attachment which works nicely to get it back in the garage. In preparation for pulling the motor, I used some Gunk grease remover on the engine and engine compartment. I also used it on the frame rails and undercarriage to get off as much of the oil and nastiness as possible. It appears that the 289 had a bad manifold gasket, so there was plenty of oil and crud up on the firewall and and into the transmission tunnel. I put some cardboard underneath to catch some of the crud and keep it off the driveway. I kept the spark plugs and oil filter on and plugged up everything else on the motor to keep moisture out. I'm not sure if our dog understands the Bronco is not ready to ride. She sees an open TG and she's in every time!
 

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rydog1130

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The One piece pan was great in my opinion, its pricey but a huge time saver!
 
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chuckyb

chuckyb

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Also should mention around this time of the tear down is where I had DMV come out for a title inspection. I now live in NC. It had the original old NJ title in my Grandfathers name, signed by Mom, undated and not notarized. I was able to get it inspected. The lady from DMV looked for the VIN on the frame and not just the glovebox. I was able to get an inoperable vehicle title which just requires a second inspection to show it is roadworthy in order to convert to a regular title. I think if I were further down the line with the tear down and it looked much less complete, there would be some risk in getting a rebuild / salvage type title as some other Bronco brothers in NC have received. It seems like a lot of these DMV deals are judgment calls with the person you are working with so good to be safe IMO. Always great when some new parts arrive!
 

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chuckyb

chuckyb

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Removed the door internals and door frames then removed the doors themselves. Strikers were difficult and required some heat. Getting ready to remove the windshield. Picked up a spot weld remover for the job which worked great. I removed the glass prior to tackling the welds. Look at what is left off the cowl, not much!
 

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chuckyb

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Engine removal day. I had help from both my Dad and my son while the ladies fixed us lunch. What a great feeling to work on it with them!! I am a lucky guy and will always remember the day. I did want to remove the exhaust manifolds first, but determined I needed a little more elbow room due to the stuck bolts. The 289 is now on Grandpa's engine stand. I think he was proud on this day too. I threw in one of his vacation pictures which some may have seem before in the vintage pics thread. If interested you can check my gallery for more vacation photos with the Bronco.
 

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chuckyb

chuckyb

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Here's where I definitely could have handled things better. However, since I was planning on an extreme professional to perform the body work anyway, hopefully things will turn out OK. I got a new Sawzall and went a bit crazy with it. I determined that there was no reusable sheet metal in the middle of the Bronco and that it would therefore make sense to get it off the frame in two pieces. With this in mind, I began cutting it out from the middle starting with the front floor pan and seat riser area. I should not have cut into crossmember #3 like I did because it will hurt the stability for the rear of the tub when removed from the frame. I am working on some bracing to help with this.
 

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chuckyb

chuckyb

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I also used the sawzall to cut off the front door posts and the cowl. Now my Bronco's tub is basically cut in half. The front half consists of the radiator support, wheel wells, firewall and what is left of the inner fenders. The back half consists of the quarter panels, the roof, the back door posts and the bed floor. The only nice thing about this is that it gave me an additional option for transmission and transfer case removal. I used my engine hoist to do this as I had enough room to clear what was left of the transmission tunnel. I have a RAN, which I took out for another round of Gunk removal and pressure washing.
 

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rydog1130

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Jun 19, 2014
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When you cut the middle out like that there really isn't any good way to brace it. I ended up using pieces of 2x4's in between the bed and frame to keep it supported in that area, other wise the bed is pretty flimsy there. The new complete pan will have all the channel supports. These diagrams will help get you back to where you need to be. Remember ford had 1/4" tolerances when putting these things together!

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