1971 Stroppe Bronco rebuild

[C_Man69EB]

Underbody Prep

After the chassis was pretty much done, I spent the last few MONTHS prepping the under body and detailing. The body had never been off the frame (factory body mounts and bolts) so it had 50 years of grime, dust and funk. Fortunately very little rust. I did fine some after I dug hard enough... which being a Seattle truck I shouldn't be surprised, but fortunately I never had to replace any full sheet metal panels, only spot repair and weld up a few pinholes.

Also, somebody in the trucks past applied some undercoating, and THAT sucked. I had great luck using a "needle scaler" to get most of the brittle undercoating off.... and the larger chunks of road funk. But ultimately after dozens of hard ours, she came clean.

Here are some photos of the underbody progress from about August to December.

 

[C_Man69EB]

Holy Baja Tub Batman!?

Around mid December I was finally done stripping the bottom of the tub and could focus on some minor repair in the bottom of the trucks belly. I had 2 or 3 places of isolated rust in the floor and one inner rocker, I repaired those first.

 

[C_Man69EB]

After fixing the rust, I focused on some holes that were drilled at some point of the trucks life.

A previous owner I presume mounted some speakers or a toolbox or something in a few places. I was able to weld up those holes easily after a thorough coordination check on the purpose behind all the holes in the belly pan. Roll bar, trim screws, body mounts, seats, seat belts for front and rear etc...and some expert advice and those extra holes went away.

 

[C_Man69EB]

Finally I was ready to finish the underbody... so I selected a red oxide rust encapsulator from Eastwood, to get close to the original OEM underbelly finish. So I masked off the body and wheel wells, and shot it in a couple hours.

Later I masked off the oxide and primered and shot the wheel wells in poppy. The P.O. did o poor job on the wheel wells so I had to redo them. I primered up to the firewall in this photo but later painted the lower firewall in poppy including the angled part of the floor pans and transmission tunnel.

 

[House]

Looks great!

according to records L22491 was a non-power steering truck from Stroppe. I presume the system was installed by a previous owner. With the truck being so early, and pre-consignment (individually ordered) and it was like the second one built, I even wonder if Stroppe installed it before it left the shop, but who knows.

If it had Stroppe installed power steering, you would know it, trust me.
They chopped the frame rail in half and cut the body mount off, then welded
in new plates and tubes to stiffen it up so a big orange box could be
bolted in there...

 

[C_Man69EB]

Looks great!



If it had Stroppe installed power steering, you would know it, trust me.
They chopped the frame rail in half and cut the body mount off, then welded
in new plates and tubes to stiffen it up so a big orange box could be
bolted in there...

HAHA, fair enough House, lets just call it what it is... a user installed power steering system... and Im leaving it on there for awhile...

 

[C_Man69EB]

Body Touchdown to the frame!!

If you're following closely, I've been updating like mad to the group my progress since July of this year... 2019...but its all been leading up to this moment and this is my last post for today, and catches up to the "present".

Today I installed the body on the frame, and I'm thrilled. Here are a few photos of the moments before and then after touchdown.

Im really excited to have this earlier season of the build behind me, and a new season coming.

With the body on the frame, I feel like I can go like mad now installing my trim, lenses, electrical harness, linkage, exhaust, tidy up the brakes, glass, interior and so on.

Obviously a long way to go, but a big milestone behind me.

 

[andyp]

Looks great and congrats on getting that body on.

 

[broncojack]

Looks Great !
I remember being at that stage in my resto, didn't think I would ever get it done.
Now the fun begins bolting on all the shinny trim on.

I'll see you at the Stroppe reunion in 2021.

 

[toddz69]

Looking good!

Todd Z.

 

[C_Man69EB]

Looks Great !
I remember being at that stage in my resto, didn't think I would ever get it done.
Now the fun begins bolting on all the shinny trim on.

I'll see you at the Stroppe reunion in 2021.

Thanks Jack!

Speaking of trim.... and reunions...

1. I have the original trim.. but it shows its age. I'm just OCD enough to restore it... smooth out the dings and have it re-anodized... or I could buy repops. I guess that's what most people would do. Thoughts?

2. Reunion... are you thinking the Carlisle Ford Nats in Pennsylvania? Or is there is something else being discussed? I'd love to see a Stroppe theme at Knotts or something out west..

 

[904Bronco]

Nice work, I appreciate the attention to detail!

 

[House]

I'd love to see a Stroppe theme at Knotts or something out west..

Amen ;D

 

[BajaBronco]

Amen ;D

Yeah that’ll be hard for me to get to. I think there will be a car carrier and bajas from every year coming from the same guys garage. I may fly out and say hi. But I can’t bring 3 stroppe rigs.

Well let’s look at a gathering out west for us that can’t go cross country with our collections? Let’s start talking about it with the SoCal and western states folk. Maybe some can attend both?

Regarding trim- the debbis carpenter repro stuff is awesome.

 

[C_Man69EB]

Let’s start talking about it with the SoCal and western states folk. Maybe some can attend both?

Regarding trim- the debbis carpenter repro stuff is awesome.

Thanks Andrew...yes I have family in orange county so that's a much better deal for me too. But at the same time I don't want to mess wherever the party is.

Thanks for the tip on Dennis Carpenter. Noted. That's one thing I haven't figured out yet after two Broncos, is which vendor excels at which products, especially OEM parts.

Cullen

 

[andyp]

Yeah that’ll be hard for me to get to. I think there will be a car carrier and bajas from every year coming from the same guys garage. I may fly out and say hi. But I can’t bring 3 stroppe rigs.

Well let’s look at a gathering out west for us that can’t go cross country with our collections? Let’s start talking about it with the SoCal and western states folk. Maybe some can attend both?

Regarding trim- the debbis carpenter repro stuff is awesome.

I'm in for an out West reunion ;D

 

[BajaBronco]

Thanks Andrew...yes I have family in orange county so that's a much better deal for me too. But at the same time I don't want to mess wherever the party is.

Thanks for the tip on Dennis Carpenter. Noted. That's one thing I haven't figured out yet after two Broncos, is which vendor excels at which products, especially OEM parts.

Cullen

Well, you'll see that some vendors dont always carry the same part that they did the last time you bought it - meaning, in order to fill stock they sometimes get a part from a different supplier just to keep up with orders....so in any given build you may want to ask for the part by the manufacturer not simply call _________________.

and yes, if there's a western states gathering, of course it will be at a different time/day than the Carlisle Ford Nationals as I'm sure some will be able to make it out to both.

 

[broncojack]

Thanks Jack!

Speaking of trim.... and reunions...

1. I have the original trim.. but it shows its age. I'm just OCD enough to restore it... smooth out the dings and have it re-anodized... or I could buy repops. I guess that's what most people would do. Thoughts?

2. Reunion... are you thinking the Carlisle Ford Nats in Pennsylvania? Or is there is something else being discussed? I'd love to see a Stroppe theme at Knotts or something out west..

I am hoping to bring my Baja out to Pa. in 2021.

When I did my resto there wasn't a lot of repo stuff out there so I had my trim polished. No anodizing, I just have to polish it every once and a while.
The Carpenter stuff looks real good, probably less money too.

 

[mjschneidy]

Looks good ! I’d support a Carlisle Stroppe event. Would also love to ship mine west for an extended bronco trail trip of some kind.

 

[C_Man69EB]

Looks good ! I’d support a Carlisle Stroppe event. Would also love to ship mine west for an extended bronco trail trip of some kind.

Hey Mike, I was just reading through your build thread and I stumbled across something that's a good reminder for me. You had noted the paint code for the parchment Color dash. Can you share that info on my thread here? I just realized I had my Dash painted along with the other Wimbledon white components of the truck. I fell into the classic false presumption that the dash was Wimbledon white instead of parchment. I really wanted to be correct. I think I'm going to have to get it repainted.