Well done!! Making solid progress and the must-do's are doable in your timeframe!
Thanks. I'm getting more confident on it driving to Super Cel!
Looks sweet. Same color as mine before i ruined it. That buffed out nice i thought it was orange/brown color.
Thank you, I'm very pleasantly surprised by how it turned out. I remember seeing how deep red the interior was when I first bought it and realizing what color it really was.
My bronco came out of the western slope of Colorado and is painted the exact same color but it's a ranger model. Mine had very similar patina pattern as yours.
UV is hell at high altitude! But not much rust and some of the original stuff that had survived is shocking (muffler, heater control valve, paint inspection stamps, some hoses and battery wires were even still Motorcraft).
I've been working more than taking pictures and posting.
Brake system is complete, and gravity bled. All miscellaneous drips and leaks dealt with.
Radiator and heater hoses replaced. I won't be surprised if I'm replacing water pumps, t-stats, or radiator, but I'm going to give it a go without replacing them until needed.
New plugs, wires, and Pertronix ignition installed.
Battery and starter cables replaced. The ground wire and starter wires were Motorcraft and probably original. I pulled the body ground strap off the original and crimped it to my new cable, just for fun.
Motor was pre-oiled, then bumped and turned over without spark plugs. Finllay I reinstalled the spark plugs and started it for the first time since I bought it in 2016. Super happy, runs nice and smooth. I haven't touched the carb settings since rebuilding it. I didn't bring it to full temp, but got it warm. No apparent problems with the cooling system. Brake pedal feels good. Still need to adjust the clutch, I didn't try to put it into any gears.
I haven't driven it yet. Hopefully I'll pull it out of the garage this week and test drive this weekend. I have an appointment Friday at the DMV to get it registered.
More crazy original stuff. Heater control valve with 4/72 stamp, still working, didn't leak when I started it.
I have moved on to some cleaning and other pre-Super Cel prep.
I few minutes with some Mothers Mag Polish made a huge difference. They could be sanded and really polished and come out about perfect.
Interior is vacuumed and wiped down and seats reinstalled. Remaining rear half of the headliner is removed. T-case shifter indicator needs a little TLC and will be reinstalled.
Lighting mostly works, I've replaced a few bulbs (interior and exterior) and otherwise no real problems. The floor headlight dimmer is clearly problematic, and the head light switch rheostat/interior lighting dimmer doesn't work well. Horn doesn't work, but that doesn't surprise me, I'll dive into that later. I'm not going very far into wiring now, just getting it mostly functional with minimal work. It will get a new Centech harness soon enough.
