BroncoBub Build

BroncoBub · Jan 12, 2019

Finally purchased a Bronco. It's a 1975 Bronco Ranger in Midnight Blue Metallic Paint. Will build it back to as much as original as I can make it. Not a whole lot of rust to repair. Typical floor boards and some minor rust in the rear cargo drivers side and some minor spots on the rockers. The door post are solid front and rear. Will be replacing quarters and fenders to get it back to its original look. Should be fun. Stay tuned...Here's some photos where I found it and then some with the interior removed. Most of the outer (patina look) is light surface rust and paint faded to primer. The roof is going to need some work or might have to replace it.
Will need a C4 Transmission and Dana 20 transfer case and adapter plus the trans cross member. Overall I think is a solid project that hopefully won't take long to get it on the rode again.
Bub

BroncoBub · Jan 12, 2019

1975 Ranger Build

The (foot) foot pedal might have to stay......Probably not. Battery tray will need replacing.

sprdv1 · Jan 14, 2019

Cool project... Take your time and good luck

kylakekevin · Jan 14, 2019

Nice blue ranger to start on.

1strodeo · Jan 14, 2019

Great find! Where was it located? Glad to see another one saved.

BroncoBub · Jan 14, 2019

1strodeo said:
Great find! Where was it located? Glad to see another one saved.

Hey thanks for all the nice comments. I picked it up in Laurel, Ms about two hours from my house. The first thing I'm going to do is figure out the wiring mess and then go from there.

Thanks, Bub

Howard2x4x4 · Jan 15, 2019

Nice find, with air horns! Is the tranny missing? I would suggest you get it cleaned up and running and drivable and then follow Sprdv1's wise counsel. Take your time and use and enjoy it as you trudge the road to Bronco Nirvana. Congratulations! Howard in beautiful west Michigan

BroncoBub · Jan 15, 2019

Howard2x4x4 said:
Nice find, with air horns! Is the tranny missing? I would suggest you get it cleaned up and running and drivable and then follow Sprdv1's wise counsel. Take your time and use and enjoy it as you trudge the road to Bronco Nirvana. Congratulations! Howard in beautiful west Michigan

Nope, Thanks

Thanks

BroncoBub · Apr 1, 2019

Restoration begins.......

Started the sheet metal repair on the Bronco. Before and after pictures provided. Was going to just patch the rear wheel well area and be done with it. But after seeing what the patch was looking like I decided it was easier to just cut the spot welds and replace the whole piece. I did decide to just patch the filler neck cover.

BroncoBub · Apr 1, 2019

Passenger rocker panel needed some attention and my plan was to just replace the lower portion of the rocker but, I decided again that it was just as easy to replace the whole thing then just do a patch. Glad I did cause once I dug into it the inner panel needed replacing. So here it is before and after. Still need to tidy up the welds and some other minor cleaning up. I had to also replace the lower tailgate braces. Once I get everything cleaned up and smoothed out on to the drivers pan. Stay tuned....

Bub

bronkenn · Apr 2, 2019

Nice work there Bub. Be done before you know it.

svastano · Apr 2, 2019

Looking good!

sprdv1 · Apr 2, 2019

making some good progress...

BroncoBub · Apr 2, 2019

Thanks guys, it's been fun so far. Now the question is do I want to go back to stock looking or leave it with cut fenders and fender flares? I would have to replace the lower quarter and replace the front fenders. Being a Ranger I would love to put back on the Ranger striping package. What ya'll think?

Bub

Scoop · Apr 2, 2019

I'm all for preserving original metal whenever possible. So I vote for leaving the cut fenders and not replacing the quarters/ front fenders with repop ones. That said, the flares front and rear will cover up a lot of the original style Ranger decals and you lose the whole look. You can try to replicate the Ranger stripes on the flares but that never looks right to me. If you decide to go back to uncut, then definitely add the Ranger stripes. The blue you have is one of my favorite colors on a Ranger. Good Luck - looks like a fun project!

BroncoBub · Apr 2, 2019

Scoop said:
I'm all for preserving original metal whenever possible. So I vote for leaving the cut fenders and not replacing the quarters/ front fenders with repop ones. That said, the flares front and rear will cover up a lot of the original style Ranger decals and you lose the whole look. You can try to replicate the Ranger stripes on the flares but that never looks right to me. If you decide to go back to uncut, then definitely add the Ranger stripes. The blue you have is one of my favorite colors on a Ranger. Good Luck - looks like a fun project!

I bought it for the ranger style decals and the more plush interior per say. I'll evaluate it once I get done with the rest of the metal repair.

Thanks

BroncoBub · Apr 4, 2019

While the weather has been rainy for the past couple of days I couldn't wheel the Bronco out the garage and work on it outside. So I started cutting out the bad battery brackets and preparing for new ones. Still have to clean up the area and weld it in place.

Bub

BroncoBub · Apr 17, 2019

Decided to go old school.......

I hadn't welded the rocker panel to the quarter panel because I wanted to be sure I wanted the cut flare look with larger tires. But I've been wanting the uncut look for a long time and since It was a ranger I wanted to put the striping back on. I couldn't do it with the cut flare version. So, I did it, I cut the rest of the quarter off and test fitted the new quarter panel on.

Bub

BroncoBub · Aug 26, 2019

Radio dash repair

Well I couldn't stand it any longer. Every time I looked at the chewed dash (radio area) I had to do something about it. Well today was the day. I took a break from the rest of the restoration and tackled replacing the metal where the radio mounts. Took about 2-3 hours to start to finish with still a little tweaking to do. Now I can install a factory radio with the new holes. (just need to find one).
(

svastano · Aug 27, 2019

BroncoBub said:
The (foot) foot pedal might have to stay......Probably not. Battery tray will need replacing.

If you decide to get rid of the foot pedal I want it!

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