Project Pretty in Pink - It Made it to SOB!!! See Pg 17!

[Amac70]

As for sheetmetal. my local ace sells 16x 24 sheets of 16g. If i need bigger then that i go to a local machine shop they usually have drops or are willing to cut me what ever i want they are not cheap by any means though. think i paid 40 dollars for a 2' x 4' piece of 12 gauge.

 

[Tito]

Who needs welded floor pans?

Hey my son thought I did a good job with cutting out the floors, and with a test fit, hey, who need to weld them in? J/K My son manned the ship as I cleaned the garage of shrapnel from the grinder/air chisel/cutter.

 

[Flash69]

Hey my son thought I did a good job with cutting out the floors, and with a test fit, hey, who need to weld them in? J/K My son manned the ship as I cleaned the garage of shrapnel from the grinder/air chisel/cutter.

Thats some neat pics of your son. Make sure you save them and not get them lost in your computer. My baby will be 25 in a month. They grow fast and you will be missing them moments. My son has his own EB now so we mess with them together. Looks like youre doing a good job.

 

[Tom Dummer]

Never heard of a Wa. Scappoose. Its on the Or. side right along the Columbia where it turns North.
I dig the kid pictures, mine's 8. I have video of him at age 5 running an impact wrench on the lug nuts. Nascar he is not.
Yellow boots are cool. Start him on wrenches as soon as possible -American fractions on endwrenches takes learning-, Matthew loves "wrenching on the Bronco" with me, for a few minutes anyway. Busy kids they are.

 

[Tito]

PDX Helpers

Well thanks to Arsenio (Amac70) and Galen (G-money) I now have new floors in. I used the replacement panels from Tom's. They fit pretty good, a little trimming but otherwise weren't too bad to put in. About a million spot welds later the floors are sold! A good evening even though it was about 20 outside. I really appreciate the help they provided. I hope that I can repay the effort some day. I got some welding pointers and with a little practice hopefully can get the welding rolling myself. It is a lot of help having the chance to watch it done though. Next step is grinding down the floors and then working on the few other things I am going to weld up like stress cracks in the hood and fender as well as seal up the aux tank hole and replace a rocker.

 

[bronco977]

Keep up the good work! Funny- I'm here in Bakersfield, watching the rain fall on my Bronco project and just got off the phone with my inlaws in Clackamas, where it is dry. (For the moment.....)

 

[Tito]

Update

Well got the new floors in but have come back to my senses on the tub situation. Why am I doing this work on a tub that really isn't that solid? I had some strange connection with the tub that I had and waffled a couple times and decided to use it...meanwhile I have a great tub with perfect seams, posts, strikers, new floors, etc is sitting next to the tub I am working on. All this one needs is new rear wheel tubs and it is good to go. Well I made up my mind (as my wife just shakes her head saying "isn't that what I had told you before...why did you get the new tub if you aren't going to use it?"

So back to reality and a stronger start...but as many on the board have experienced, the farther you dig the more work you creat for yourself...ITS NEVER ENDING!!! But thats the love.

Okay so old tub off, new tub going onto the rotisserie is next. Removed the old wiring harness today, labelled most of the wiring only to rationalize to myself "why would I put a 30 year old wiring harness into a ground up restoration?" Yeah I know I better, its just another $400...better sell my truck soon. After filing my tax return last night I felt a little more comfortable about it but realize I am never going to meet my insane timeline, but then again I'm gonna do it right the first time. No regrets! I am excited about doing it, just got a second one waiting on the curb calling my name also. Maybe I need to drag it up to the grandparents shed so its out of sight out of mind. G-Money and Amac70 were a great help the other night and I really appreciate it, the work they helped me do was great but I think the smart thing to do is to move onto the new tub. They were pretty baffled that I could have 3 Broncos at my place, working all hours of the night in a new development and not get harrassed by my neighbors, heh, I am at the end of the block, forest behind me and beside me, a farm house used as a school accross the street and the one neighbor I have lives in New York, doesnt speak english anyways. A pleasurable setup for me!

Anyways, the baby's up, back to work!

 

[Tito]

And on that note... Anyone looking for a tub? new front floor pans, solid especially if used as a trail rig, viable candidate for someone who likes to weld ;D Need some space to work. heh

 

[68 Broncoholic]

By the sounds of all your projects and needs your gunna need to buy a welder and learn how to use it. That what I did and now its no problem.
Its not easy to do thin sheet metal for beginners (blows holes easy) but with a good wire feed you can lower the temp and be fine. Start welding up a bumper or rock skis (anything thick) and by the time you are done you can weld anyting.
Sure, you will have lots of goobers to grind at first but will be less as you go along. Plus its cheaper to do yourself and you don't have to wait for someone to do it.
Keep up the posting, we all like to see your progress!

 

[Tito]

Welder

Yeah I know what you mean, I gotta get me a setup. I have read through a lot of posts on what welders people have and now have had a chance to see some of it firsthand. I do have a lot of welding that is going to have to happen and gonna need to get rolling doing it myself. Front clip, tubs, cowl, blah blah blah blah blah. Lots to do still even with a good tub. Anybody got a used setup for sale in the area??? ;D Back to work...

 

[Tito]

Well I made me a purchase today, got me a nice little setup to get rolling on the body work. Got a Miller 135, tank, autodarkening shield and some other goodies. Spent a couple hours learning (this was my first attempt). Had a lot of fun with it, welded up a stress crack in passenger fender and practiced filling some holes on the rear quarter where three sets of flares had been mounted and filled some more plug welds on the floor pans that we put in the other night. Figured I may as well do some practicing while I can on the old tub. This was a lot of fun, plan on making a cart for the welder and tank as my first project. Plan on swapping tubs probably Mon or Tues, should be fun. I've just been checking all over on the tub to make sure everything is disconnected before the big undertaking. I plan to cut the front clip off since I will reuse at least the core support. Heres to progress! ;D

 

[raleigh_bronco]

keep it rolling

 

[Tito]

A Few Q's Looking for some A's

Alright, had a few minutes this evening when the wife got home from work and detached the ebrake and rear harness then took to the fron end and clipped the clip!!! The top was rusted through where the front inner fenders attach so there wasnt too much metal to cut through. The front clip is one light sucker, took it off and put it on the side yard by myself, only with the tub was going to be that easy.

Plan is Monday night to do my tub swaporama. 76 Tub on 73 frame, 73 body on rotisserie. I have 3 guys so far, should have a couple others by Mon night, my 8 month pregnant wife and 21 month old child might be the spotters for us ;D . Shouldnt be too bad, will finish clearing the way and prepping on Monday morning but all should be set to go!!! I am pretty excited for this step, will really feel like progress and I can roll with the rest of my body prep and repair plus its just gonna be cool to have the tub on the rotisserie!!!

Got a few questions for those out there...

1. I have read the tech article on the bolt on front clip but am wondering about the radiator. Is there a way to make it so that it is no longer mounted to the core support so that it can stay while the rest of the clip is detached?

2. When mounting the fenders/grill to the front clip do I need to bolt up more that the bolts along the top and the door edge? I dont want to put in the rest of the bolts up toward the front of the inner fender, is there an easier way to attach the fenders here or would it be stable enough without these bolts?

3. What is the best way to spec out the front clip for attachment, The previous clip was barely hanging on and I will be using a different tub anyways...what is the best way to mock this up before welding/bolting up?

4. How necessary is it to mount the front wells to the firewall? Would a single bolt setup on each side suffice for stability?

Thanks for the help.

Josh


2.

 

[Tito]

Well I have had some progress since my last update, still waiting for the wife to go into labor, haven't gotten much done the past few weeks but I do have progress and a new name for the project...
69 Pretty in Pink...
yeah a little gay but hey, I'll drive it, its gonna be sweet and its mainly for my wife.

Here's what's happened...

Got a 69 tub and frame and vin (gonna use my 76 gear) PO had just put in new front floor, had perfect posts and seams all the way around but needed work on the rear and passenger cowl.
Got a rotisserie to go along with it, also got my tub-swap-o-rama done.

more to come...

 

[Tito]

Learned to weld (spot weld) on the front floors (needed to fiinish PO work). I did all this with the tub on the rotisserie, its a lot of fun to flip your Bronco over to work on it!!!

 

[Tito]

I got the front done and decided to replace the rear section...new wells, bed, and extentions panels. Decided to take the body off the rotiserrie before doing so...didnt want to see my nice new tub fold up on me...after cutting out the rear section, I am very glad with my choice...very wobbly back there without the bed and wells!!!! ;D

Got everything cut out, those filler necks are hard to find the spot welds for...especially on the top...I ended up just grinding them down till they were gone. Also those corners were tough too...ended up cutting off as much as I could with the grinder/cutoff wheel then using the hammer to get things nice and loose. I cleaned most everything up, still have a bit to finish cleaning before the new install. I figure I will tack most of the stuff down pretty solid then back on the rotisserie to finish up from underneath.

All of the seams had some rust in them but not too bad, a little wire wheel cleaned them up pretty good. Boy they must not have sealed very well at the factory or this bed was filled with water for extended time.

This puts us pretty up to date...

 

[Tito]

Alright, I have the frame stripped down and am getting it ready to por15. I also just ordered my Cage 3.5 lift from J&M Offroad in WA, gave me a great deal on the kit along with their dual hoop shock mount. I am going to be picking it up in the next few days, can't wait to post picks. J & M seems to have pretty incredible prices compared to other 4x4 shops, if you want their contact info send me a pm and I can get you in touch with them.

 

[Raskew]

That's the same setup I want to get. Do J&M have a website? How much did it set you back?

Don't forget to post pics when it's done.

 

[Tito]

Frame is blasted and got the Cage shock mounts welded on this morning, I am going to POR15 the frame when my sons go down for a nap, should look great!!! If the rain lets up this evening hopefully I can get the axles finished blasted and paint them as well. Looking forward to seeing a rolling chassis once again. Hopefully can button it up by monday when my new shackle bushings show up. I am also going to drop off my t-case and c4 to get rebuilt on Monday. Its nice to have some progress. Body hasn't seen any work (rear bed section) for a week or so as we've been real busy with our new son.

 

[2badrotties]

Man, you need to slow down before you have a heart attack ! I know guys that don't get that much done in 6 months LOL