1970 Build - For the Next Gen

[stupidboy]

That was good sound deadner.

 

[Past_Miner]

I hadn't thought about it that way. It will probably pop like a beer can in the wind now and echo like crazy, but it will look a lot better.

 

[Past_Miner]

Some paint on the top today.

 

[stupidboy]

What kind of seam sealer did you use in the drip channel?

 

[Past_Miner]

Evercoat Maxim (FIB-824) self leveling seam sealer. It's a two-part epoxy seam sealer that has about 30 minutes open time. It flows pretty well and uses a standard calking gun. The tubes don't hold a lot though, it takes 2 1/2 tubes to go all the way around an empty drip rail. At least you know where you have been with it from the bright blue color.

 

[Past_Miner]

We assembled the top this weekend and got the glass installed. We were ready to install the weather stripping for the windshield frame and bed sides but the weather stripping doesn't come with the plastic clips to hold it in place so we will wait for next weekend when the clips arrive.

 

[75Denver]

Man. What a great build!! I stumbled upon this the other night and it kept me up for hours as I read through/viewed all the posts. As everyone else has said, your fab skills are on point! Every pic you posted had me wishing I had half the skills, tools and space you possess. Can't wait to see your next build.

I do have a couple questions:

What's up with the torsion bar or what is it? Have you tested this design in the past and how does it perform?

On your rear quarter panel install, I noticed that the rear lip of the uncut fender was lower or not in line with the tail light housing. It almost looked like that lip was about 1.5" lower than the corner meeting the tail light seam (pg 7/#100). Or was this just a camera angle illusion?

If I'm ever back in your neck of the woods, I'd love to stop by and shoot the shit.

 

[Past_Miner]

Man. What a great build!! I stumbled upon this the other night and it kept me up for hours as I read through/viewed all the posts. As everyone else has said, your fab skills are on point! Every pic you posted had me wishing I had half the skills, tools and space you possess. Can't wait to see your next build.

I do have a couple questions:

What's up with the torsion bar or what is it? Have you tested this design in the past and how does it perform?

On your rear quarter panel install, I noticed that the rear lip of the uncut fender was lower or not in line with the tail light housing. It almost looked like that lip was about 1.5" lower than the corner meeting the tail light seam (pg 7/#100). Or was this just a camera angle illusion?

If I'm ever back in your neck of the woods, I'd love to stop by and shoot the shit.

The torsion bar is a design that has been around for a long time and I run it on my rock crawler with good results. On my rig it keeps my doubler from bending the springs into an S and spitting out the rear driveline u-joint. I haven't ever suffered any problems from it. I think there are more elegant solutions and I will try something more like the WH center mounted bar on the next one.

I'm not sure why the rear quarters turned out that way. One of them was to older version and one was the "new improved tooling" version and they both ended up like that. It had something to do with pulling the rear seam into the same curve as the tail light housing. It seems like that didn't match well and it pulled the rest of the panel into an odd shape. Since I was cutting them anyway I didn't worry about it and just cut them off. I don't remember them being off by much and I think the camera angle has something to do with it but they didn't fit up very well.

 

[Past_Miner]

Man. What a great build!! I stumbled upon this the other night and it kept me up for hours as I read through/viewed all the posts. As everyone else has said, your fab skills are on point! Every pic you posted had me wishing I had half the skills, tools and space you possess. Can't wait to see your next build.

Thanks for the compliments. Just understand that the skills, tools and space are all a result of old age for me. I finally made it to a point in life where I had most of my other responsiilities taken care of and I could afford nice tools and a big shop. Obviously, being around for a long time gives you time to practice the skills too.

 

[Past_Miner]

Top Installed

I discovered that the replacement top we found for this project is the 66-68 version so none of the windshield holes matched. I spent most of the day today placing the top, marking holes and drilling new holes. The two outer most holes match up but the other seven have to be drilled in different locations. I ended up drilling 11 smaller holes for the plastic tabs that hold the windshield seal in place too.

It wasn't much fun but the top is on and the weatherstripping is installed on the doors.

 

[Past_Miner]

The Final Little Things

There were a few little items left to finish up and I wanted to get this delivered before Christmas. The driver side rear tie-into-frame point for the roll cage that we originally built wouldn't fit with the gas tank filler hose installed and the bumper we built didn't have a mounting point for the winch fairlead. I also found a nice ammo box to store the jack, tire iron, winch controls, air hose, etc.

One last weekend and it was all ready to go.

 

[Past_Miner]

Delivery

It's all done. It's a few years later than I planned but it turned out great. I delivered this to my son last night as an early Christmas present at his son's second birthday party.

My grandson loves to ride in this Bronco so it looks like this project wasn't just to keep the love for EB's in the next generation, it was to keep it in the next two.

Thanks to all who have commented and supported us over the years. This is our last post for this thread. It's time to move on to the next one for my daughter.

Starting soon....

 

[Lon L]

Awesome Build, and a very Special gift. I am sure you grandson will drive it one day

 

[Stutsmo]

Pretty cool handing it over to your son. I have enjoyed watching your build since it began.The Bronco turned out Awesome I hope he enjoys it!