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LORE Bronco restore

halogrinder

Jr. Member
Joined
Jul 15, 2017
Messages
131
Loc.
Houston
So, back story.

My pops bought this 1968 Bronco from Bob Lewis of Lewis Off Road enterprises back in 1972.
He drove it for a while, and blew the engine in '78. It's been in a garage ever since.

Yes, this truck has not been running longer than I've been alive lol
So, finally I convinced my dad to let me put the dang thing back together again so he can enjoy it.

I'm doing a restomod on this guy.

Should be a fun time :)

Here's a few pics of the race truck back in the day.
this truck was the chase/pit truck for the race trucks.
Truck will be painted original Chrome Yellow.
Undecided if we'll be doing a metallic blue hood or yellow.
This was the first truck sponsored by KC HiLites- that's pretty cool!
I've contacted a few other sponsors for stickers and/or vectors for us to reproduce the livery


Galpin Ford has one of Bob's trucks as well

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halogrinder

halogrinder

Jr. Member
Joined
Jul 15, 2017
Messages
131
Loc.
Houston
img_20170803_170448286-jpg.2665641

Pulled the dash
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Replaced the floor pans because the driver seat holes were hurt, the passenger seat holes were ripped out, and a big patch was under the seat from something that got pushed thru from underneath

the passenger side seat holes didn't want to line up correctly- so I had to cut/mod the floor pan to make it all line up (better)

the center delta part actually fit better flipped over once cut off lol
I had to extend this forward about 3/8" of an inch. What a pain.
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Undercoated, primed and sealed the rails under the pan
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Pain cutting these out and shifting them
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Rebuilt the Tcase- Really just resealed it- everything looked 100%
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Installed the NV3550 trans to replace the 3 speed.
20191223_154906-jpg.2977756
 
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halogrinder

halogrinder

Jr. Member
Joined
Jul 15, 2017
Messages
131
Loc.
Houston
Started on the front end-

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Front core support was smashed up- so I replaced it

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pops nailed a palm tree and mushed up this body mount- I got it back to useable shape and height once the body was off.
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halogrinder

halogrinder

Jr. Member
Joined
Jul 15, 2017
Messages
131
Loc.
Houston
Cleco'ed in for welding

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then, started on the quarter panels.
Left side ended up looking like the flare had been ripped off 2 times, and had bondo in it. Right side looked good- so I ended up getting a spare set of Stroppe flares, welded the holes up and redrilled.
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Bed of the truck is nearly flawless.
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Original suspension set up
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Had an antenna hole in the back, so took some time to clean this up and patch it
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Cut the quarter out to get rid of the wasted/bondo/wavy sheetmetal
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ended up using the shrinker to increase the body line radius to match the door shells better.

Yes, the pictures are uploading stupid, I know.
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Rear quarter needed some more radius too
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Got some steel for the rotisserie
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halogrinder

halogrinder

Jr. Member
Joined
Jul 15, 2017
Messages
131
Loc.
Houston
Made some supports for the body, and a frame for the body to sit on

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then I felt like complicating things and wanted a hydraulic clutch

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A creamer is the right size hole :D
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got some linkage stuff from the 'carr, and amazon
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Using another brake pedal eccentric for the pedal stop and return stroke adjustment.

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Yanked the windshield frame
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Pop's INSISTED on a stainless hinge. Ok. no problem.
Stainless acorn nuts too

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Made some windshield holder thingies

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Rewelded the cage.
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Made some B pillar tie ins
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I need help with these- I don't know what the hardware looks like to mount the Jerry can to this Dick Cepek baja gas can holder...... I'm assuming a j hook of some sort?

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found a skid plate buried in the parts.
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Loaded the body up, and it's currently getting blasted then epoxy primered to seal the body. this was after hours of walking over the body inch by inch cleaning up welds, holes, flap disc/sanding them down

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Made some frames for the frame to roll around in the shop
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DirtDonk

Contributor
Bronco Guru
Joined
Nov 3, 2003
Messages
47,343
Great story! And a great project to put together. Thanks for taking all the pics and making the time to share them.
I'm glad you can still do it for your pops. Lots of us have started doing the same thing, only to have the project take too long and dad not being able to enjoy it.
Looks like you're making good time so far. What kind of timeframe were these pictures taken during?

When you said "original Chrome Yellow" did you mean just that it was an original Ford color, of that your Bronco was Chrome Yellow? Sure does not look like it to me. From the underside dash pics and elsewhere, it looks to be more of a Reef Aqua or Caribbean Turquoise, or even Peacock Blue rig. Lot of Peacock's in '68 I think. Mine is too.
What's the color code on it the Warranty Plate? Or is that stuff still in existence?

Have fun. Keep the good progress and keep updating us as you can!

Paul
 

DirtDonk

Contributor
Bronco Guru
Joined
Nov 3, 2003
Messages
47,343
By the way, any identification on those shocks? I wonder if they too are vintage from the beginning? Could very well be.
They remind me of Burbank shocks (the bare shaft ones) and Gabriels (with the rock shield over the shaft) and it would be cool to get some info if any is left.
Part numbers would probably equate to Monroe or Gabriel, but if there are any decals left intact that would give the info.

Paul
 

ared77

Contributor
Bronco Guru
Joined
Apr 21, 2013
Messages
2,791
Impressive documentation of your work, and impressive shop! Keep up the good work.
 
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halogrinder

halogrinder

Jr. Member
Joined
Jul 15, 2017
Messages
131
Loc.
Houston
Great story! And a great project to put together. Thanks for taking all the pics and making the time to share them.
I'm glad you can still do it for your pops. Lots of us have started doing the same thing, only to have the project take too long and dad not being able to enjoy it.
Looks like you're making good time so far. What kind of timeframe were these pictures taken during?

When you said "original Chrome Yellow" did you mean just that it was an original Ford color, of that your Bronco was Chrome Yellow? Sure does not look like it to me. From the underside dash pics and elsewhere, it looks to be more of a Reef Aqua or Caribbean Turquoise, or even Peacock Blue rig. Lot of Peacock's in '68 I think. Mine is too.
What's the color code on it the Warranty Plate? Or is that stuff still in existence?

Have fun. Keep the good progress and keep updating us as you can!

Paul

Thanks!
Yes, this has been a long process- and it's taken too long, so now I'm motivated to get it done.
I've played on this bronco in the garage since I was little- took about 36 years to pry it out of my dad's hands to let me put it back together.
Initially it was going to be a "just like it was" project like it had just sat there from the 70's and you stuck the key back in.
Then it turned into "lets put some disc brakes and power steering on it, clean it up a bit"
Then it turned into "gears would be nice, 5 speed would be nice, a big fun engine would be nice"
Then that turned into "if we're going to do it, we're going to do it right"
And it's continuing to snowball......so now I'm tumbling bolts and hardware to replate them in yellow zinc lol

Initially it came down- and a few weeks after it showed up, my wife goes "Im pregnant"......ok no biggie lemme knock this out in 9 months or less.
I didn't realize preggo time is pretty much game time for when baby shows up.
Then baby showed up.....
3 months later wife goes "I'm pregnant....again"
so, we had to fix that issue, AND I had baby 2 come along.
Now that both are up and running, I'm back to being able to spend time on it nearly daily......
So it sat for nearly a year and a half with almost nothing getting done before I could continue working on it.
I'm a Master BMW tech for 20 years now..... bodywork isn't my thing and it really hampered my progress. now that the body is out of my way I can get back to doing what I do best. Turning wrenches- which is moving much faster than I anticipated (I still got it :cool:)


To clarify on the color- Yes looks like a Turquoise and cream color was original factory colors.
Bob painted it Chrome yellow.
My pop painted it black.
We're turning it Chrome yellow again.
Yes, still have the VIN plate on the glovebox.

By the way, any identification on those shocks? I wonder if they too are vintage from the beginning? Could very well be.
They remind me of Burbank shocks (the bare shaft ones) and Gabriels (with the rock shield over the shaft) and it would be cool to get some info if any is left.
Part numbers would probably equate to Monroe or Gabriel, but if there are any decals left intact that would give the info.

Paul

Yes, Paul- this is a literal time machine from the early 70's nothing has been touched since then. Heck, it's never seen daylight since 1978, until it came down here. I searched the part numbers and was only able to find this so far on one of the shocks.
I've kept one of each front and rear, but since I'm putting a 2.5" soft ride progressive spring set up in front, and a 9 pack long travel spring in the rear I know I'll be replacing them with different length shocks.
I'm unsure if I'm going with an emulsion King, Fox, or Bilstein. I may put reservoir shocks on, but that would only be for looks. Heck, I've considered using Gen1 or Gen2 Raptor rear shocks all the way around since they are internally bypassed and bump stopped.

I need to read off the numbers of the Gabriels my pics aren't good enough to do that.
Front Monroe's with the balljoint shaft ends were SSF 12387
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screenshot_20200728-194305_chrome-jpg.3108781


Impressive documentation of your work, and impressive shop! Keep up the good work.

thank you :D
 

tasker

Contributor
all knowing of nothing
Joined
Jun 2, 2006
Messages
20,729
Loc.
NH
awesome post!! that truck and story is amazing on so many levels!! thanks for taking us along!
 

toddz69

Sponsor/Vendor
Bronco Guru
Joined
Nov 28, 2001
Messages
10,079
Wow! I had forgotten or not known that Uncle Bob had two race Broncos! I always assumed the one in those pics are the truck that Galpin now has. Your machine certainly is a time machine and you've done good work on it! (Love the E36 M3/4/5 in the background too!).

Gabriel shocks and Air Lift bags - those are certainly state of the art from when that truck ran.

I had one of those Dick Cepek jerry can carriers laying on my garage floor until a few weeks ago too. It didn't have any hardware with it either. I should go back in my old Cepek catalogs and see if I can find any illustrations that might help with figuring that out.

Looking forward to more in this thread.

Todd Z.
 
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halogrinder

halogrinder

Jr. Member
Joined
Jul 15, 2017
Messages
131
Loc.
Houston
To be clear from Uncle Bob directly- "My race Bronco and the one that used KC lites for the first time in a race sits in the Galpin Ford Museum in Sepulveda, Ca. The only other Chrome Yellow Bronco I owned was a ’68 that was used for pre running for a short time. It was not a race car when I had it."

This is the '68 prerunner he's talking about

Yes, please if you have even pictures of the mounting that'd be great. I could reproduce them if i have to. My assumption is a J hook and a wing nut or something.
 

toddz69

Sponsor/Vendor
Bronco Guru
Joined
Nov 28, 2001
Messages
10,079
To be clear from Uncle Bob directly- "My race Bronco and the one that used KC lites for the first time in a race sits in the Galpin Ford Museum in Sepulveda, Ca. The only other Chrome Yellow Bronco I owned was a ’68 that was used for pre running for a short time. It was not a race car when I had it."

This is the '68 prerunner he's talking about

Yes, please if you have even pictures of the mounting that'd be great. I could reproduce them if i have to. My assumption is a J hook and a wing nut or something.

OK - thanks for the clarification. From reading your first post, it seemed to me that you were saying the truck in those photos (race truck) is the truck you have.

Todd Z.
 

JeffG

Contributor
Sr. Member
Joined
May 7, 2004
Messages
510
Loc.
San Antonio, TX
Nevermind the above. I had written this and forgot to submit. During that time, the question about the race truck was answered.

Either way, very cool.
 
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halogrinder

halogrinder

Jr. Member
Joined
Jul 15, 2017
Messages
131
Loc.
Houston
Getting blasted and Epoxy primered
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Not done to the level I wanted, so maybe Friday I'll go get the body. I picked up the other stuff today.

Guys, please do research on who you use to blast.
Please maintain expectations on both sides of the check you write.
I clearly didn't communicate the level I wanted the body cleaned and seam sealer removed.
Burned 3 hours of my life today going down there with a trailer, and will do it again on friday... sheesh.
 
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