A couple of tub questions.

[englewoodcowboy]

I am about to pull the tub off of the frame to get it blasted. I have a few areas of concern, the front brace in the footwell that is also the forward body mounts is bowed due to the rotten floor pan. I am going to do the typical tub brace, door jam to door post connectors, top of rear fender to cowl connector and a brace across the tailgate. Some of these will double as the lifting points as well. I know I will be replacing the inner kick panels, at least the pass side inner front fender and wheel tub, the rockers in and out, door posts, entire floor front and rear and probably rear wheel tubs unless I can patch a few areas. My rockers are in good shape as well as the driver inner rocker and the passenger side has a repairable section of rot, trying to separate these items with the cost of new replacements not being unrealistic, would I be better off to repair or just replace. I will probably do some damage to them just trying to remove them to re-use is my thought process. I have taken measurements at the door openings that was accomplished while the doors were hung and jacks placed to lift the sagging body back to give good door operations and gaps. The tub will be placed back on the frae and bolted using a 2x4 block as a spacer. I am looking to see what I should replace first, then second etc. If I have enough measurements or should get more. If I need more what else is recommended. Right now the only rear fender that needs attention is the pass but it may be repaired with a small patch panel and the inner rear fenders appear solid ad in great shape. You can see pics in my thread in the chat forums.

On to the windshield frame. Has anyone ever tried pulling the hinge pin to separate for bodywork etc. or would I be opening Pandora's box? I have 1 repair on the frame channel on the cowl side.

As you can see in the pic, it is thin just to the windshield bolt support and I was planning on just fabricating a patch and welding it in. The bolt plate that is inside the frame is loose. I was thinking of drilling holes on each side and welding it back in place to correct it.

The upper part of the door posts look to be in good shape but the lower side is rotten. I was thinking if I have to buy 2 new door posts to attempt to graft repair sections in, how much harder would it be to just replace them all together? I noticed there are two holes through the outer pinch weld on that I can make a locating jig that welds to the tub supports I put in, build all of the supports with locating features to the old posts then remove the posts and key up the replacements. Is this idea sound? I know I will use sheet metal screws and have to hang doors to test fit but if I get it close, it will make alignment much easier. Am I looking at things correctly?

 

[bknbronco]

Sounds to me you got a idea in your head about your plan of attack. That's good...but plans change as you get into it. Take it one step at a time. Every part of the body can be purchased and trimmed down to use as a patch panel.

Im not a fan of rust repair because to me there is always unseen rust hiding on a bronco tub and to find out a year or two down the road you missed a spot would send me to my grave. I scraped my body...which wasn't half as bad as yours...and went glass. Ill never see a spec of rust in my lifetime.

Good luck and have fun with it. These large bronco projects have kept me up at night for countless hours. just take it step by step. In the end youll be able to look back an admire your hard work. I cant offer any advise on your rust repair but I can offer some encouragement.

 

[englewoodcowboy]

I appreciate the kind words. I wish this was in better shape for a NC Bronco. Fortunately I love working with metal so for a challenge, I sure did do myself right in that department... it wasn't my initial goal by any means though. At the time I was looking to buy, everything that I was looking at (and within driving distance as well as budget) was either way worse in the cancer department or just modified in the wrong direction of what I want and being that I am very particular, I kind of wanted a clean slate (stock) so to speak. I am anxious to get it stripped and see what I have to really work with. With the rust in the pans, surprising enough all of the supports look to be in great shape. I can always use the words of encouragement, I just hope this turns out as I envision it too. Right now with the parts I know I need to replace, I am looking at about 1K in parts to get this thing back to a solid rust free tub. I guess the best part of these projects is the fact that my labor is free to me...LOL