71 Frame Off Build/ Finished (Maybe?)

[Justafordguy]

Man that thing has come a long way. Very nice job.

 

[needabronco]

Wow! I'd be afraid to wheel it!!

I'm starting to feel that way, but I've already put a couple of scratches in it, so it won't hurt too bad when the brush adds some AZ pinstriping... I'll be careful though.

Thanks for the compliments. I've easily got 2000 hours into this thing at this point, but it's going to turn out pretty close to what I wanted. A NEW Bronco with some slight modifications, showable, wheelable, and streetable..

 

[needabronco]

Tonight I got the windsheild in and started on the wing windows. It's coming along quickly now....;D

 

[yjzonie]

Very nice, Your getting close now. Can't wait to see it again.

 

[Justafordguy]

It looks like you and I are at about the same point in our rebuilds. I am going to put my windows and tracks in tonight.
What color are your flares going to be? I just put mine on last night. I painted them black with bedliner spray and I think they turned out good.

 

[needabronco]

The flares are WH Warflares and I chose not to paint them after going back and forth on painting them white to match the top, but plain black ended up being a better choice as they match the fake bead lock on the wheels.

 

[needabronco]

The Drivers side is finally buffed and polished, and I must say it looks fantastic! Hopefully we'll get the passenger side finished up tonight.

I started on the full length track bar also, but I think I'll start another thread for that one, there's a lot of interest in this mod... Here's a few starter pic's of that.

12 More days till the Stampede, I'm going to be cutting this close!

 

[Mark]

Looks great!
Is the Stampede going to be your shakedown run? Or will you be able to wheel it a little b4?
Let's see pics of that column...

 

[blakerj10]

Thats awesome... Hope I can be at that stage next year.

 

[Kurt]

The flares are WH Warflares and I chose not to paint them after going back and forth on painting them white to match the top, but plain black ended up being a better choice as they match the fake bead lock on the wheels.

You may want to check with Wild Horses to see if the Warflares come with a protective UV coating. I doubt it, as most thermoformed flares do not. The downside is that they will fade over time much quicker than a painted flare.

The project is looking really good.

 

[sprdv1]

Looks Sweet..!

 

[needabronco]

I keep hammering on my list, and it looks like I 'might' have 99% of this build complete by the end of the weekend! There will still be a few detail items left to finish, but I need to get a few miles out of it before I drive it down to the Stampede next Thursday... I'm hoping to have a fresh new bumper on the front also.

I'll post up some more pix soon....

 

[Justafordguy]

I can't wait to see it with the black flares. I think it will really finish off the look. It made a huge difference on mine.

 

[needabronco]

It starts! It runs! It drives!;D



Still a ton of work but that's a major milestone!

 

[reynard101]

It starts! It runs! It drives!;D



Still a ton of work but that's a major milestone!

That's great! Hope you get it all done soon, this thread is a some serious inspiration.

I can't wait to see it in person. I've seen the full length track bar before, that seems to be the best set up out there. Any more info/pics on that axle side track bar mount?

I'll be at the Stampede Saturday (no Bronco this year and the 77 F150 4x4 shortbed decided to burn up a valve last week I'll be in the wife's Subaru WRX).

 

[needabronco]

Well, I've managed to stuff a full body off restoration/mod in a short 6 months!;D I did all of the fab work, body work, and paint myself which was a huge achievement for me...

There's still a few things to finish but I drove it about 70 miles today and the little efi bugs are working themselves out. I still need to work out the bumpers, but I'm picking up a new model from Mike at Protofab in the morning, and the back is about finished.

I have a white soft top to install, and a hard top to do later this summer, but all of the big stuff is done!

For those anxious to see it in person, you can climb all over it at the Stampede, for everyone else you'll have to wait till I post up pix after this weekend is over.

 

[needabronco]

The Bronco survived the Stampede with only a few minor Mesquite pinstripes. My AOD is shifting 'better' but I will probably look into a different valve body or other options. It still shifts 'hard' and won't typically go into overdrive until about 73 MPH, at 70 it's spinning at 3500 RPM's then drops to 2300 in OD, then 'slams' back into 3rd... I'm hoping it's a combination of a 'sticky' valve body and a tight TV cable, we'll see.

While at the Stampede I put it on the RTI ramp just to see how it flexed and I was fairly impressed, considering that I can run 75 MPH on the highway with minimal effort, and 70 on the big corners... On the trails it rode very smooth and flexed really well. The gearing was just about right (AOD, 4.88's, D20, and 34" tires) on the trail, maybe a tad low for medium duty trails.

I'm going to technically call this build 'finished' but we all know they are never 'done'. My future plans include, finishing the rear tire carrier, heavily modifying the STC style top to actually fit (we'll see how well that goes), and possibly adding a custom valve body to the trans.

Thanks for all of the compliments.

 

[needabronco]

Tops On!

A few weeks ago I broke down and ordered a White Rampage top. I've spoken plenty of trash about their lack of customer service, but plain and simple I wanted a white top, and they are the only ones who sell one. Soo, after spending the better part of 8 hours and usinga stack of body shims, bending and cutting brackets, fabbing my own bracket I made the top fit without drilling the massive 3/8"s hole behind the door post.

Today the weather is cold and windy (not the best day to stretch vinyl) so the top still needs to stretch and settle some. There are parts that are still pretty tight and I can't get the track's all the way in, or lock up the rear bow...

 

[cougarmandan]

Top looks good. You just need some matching white flares and bumpers. I've got a lot of experience with AOD's and they have super picky valve bodies. If its sat around a while, its probably sticking a little, and will loosen up the more its driven. I tiny speck of dust or a tiny burr is all it takes. However, I think its going to need a cable adjustment. There are a lot of good valve bodies out there (artcar, lentech, baumann, maybe tci, but my cars didn't like transgo kits) that will allow alot more adjustment, but I think I would loosen up the cable a little. You have to be careful on the adjustment, too loose and it starves the tranny for oil=short life. There's a port on the side of the tranny where you can put a gauge and set it using the line pressure, but just a note, it goes well over 100 psi and will destroy an normal oil gauge. I haven't done it in a few years, but I have the instructions somewhere.

 

[6daze]

Looks great Casey! Good job getting all that work done.
Couple of questions for ya...

Where did you order your top from?
Can you explain what you did to not drill that hole?
Is that a WH bikini top?
Where are the front 3 point belts from?


Thanks