Another 73 Stroppe

[mjschneidy]

The goofy buckets and shifter that had to go, and the Exxon Valdez transfer case before and after. The seals in this thing were harder than....well you fill in the blank. ;D It was pumping trans fluid into the t-case and then hemorrhaging ATF.

 

[mjschneidy]

I have more photos I'll have to dig up of some of the cobbled things we fixed.

The bigger question is how far to go. In an effort to put the stock hood on it was quite apparent that I needed the correct grill as the fiberglass grill had no hood latch system. Also the the engine compartment had been sprayed with some kind of texture which I didn't like. The core support was rust free but had taken a beating over the years.

I also wanted to get the cam swapped and the engine painted the correct color and back to looking somewhat original.

And then the big one that will probably make the purist gasp...I wanted a modern manual trans. I hate 3 spd autos.

So off with the front clip and out with the motor / trans. This has been, the majority of the winter work.

 

[Bajabrewer]

Looks like great progress Mike! I share your vision for a driver Stroppe that's never going to be a trailer queen. I also want a 5 speed stick but I think I'll do that in my other Bronco & keep the C4 in the Baja.

 

[mjschneidy]

With the motor out and front clip off we stripped the firewall and cowl removing all the paint and old seam sealer. Everything is really solid, the worst spot I found was under the air box and it really only needed cleaned up with the wire wheel. Looks worse than it was in this photo. The cowl top seam under the windshield was in very good shape. Only needed the seam sealer dug out and cleaned up with the wire wheel. I did thin out some POR15 and let it seep into the seam before a new bead of urethane seam sealer.

Fire wall, cowl top, sides, and back side of door posts are now stripped to bare metal, cleaned, epoxy primed and ready for paint.

 

[andyp]

A lot of work, looking good

 

[mjschneidy]

More questions...??

Through doing this work some interesting discoveries that raise more questions about the history of this bronco.

I found that the firewall had been "massaged" a bit on the drivers side. We also discovered that the trans tunnel had been cut for a manual trans floor shifter. And the inner fender wells appear to have been cut for fender well headers. Did this thing have a big block in at one time? Things that make you go hmmm....

 

[mjschneidy]

Question for the Baja experts...

Where under the windshield does the paint line between white and orange go? Above, on, or below the seam? I've seen them above the seam and also all the way down in the bend where the cowl top goes from horizontal to vertical.

 

[toddz69]

Coming along nicely! You’re really giving this thing the love it deserves.

In re-reading this thread and seeing the fender pics again, I now remember that this truck was owned by a former Arizona Classic Bronco club member named Tom Cheney. Not THE Thom Cheney, but another one . I’ll see if I can find an old club roster with his contact info on it if you’d like to know more history on the truck. The place where I found it was a landscaper’s lot in central Phoenix. The owner was storing it there for his brother/brother-in-law? Who eventually wanted to restore it but I think lacked the resources to tackle a project this big. That’s when my brokering career took off .

Todd Z.

 

[mjschneidy]

I’ll see if I can find an old club roster with his contact info on it if you’d like to know more history on the truck.

Absolutely, yes please! I've learned a lot about it from you, KRman, and Andrew but seems as if there is more back story lurking.

One of the other interesting finds was the blue overspray on the radiator overflow tank. Like someone tried to paint the fender tops blue like the old race trucks but didn't mask the hood opening.

Thanks guys appreciate the feedback, more progress info coming....

 

[Bajabrewer]

Where under the windshield does the paint line between white and orange go? Above, on, or below the seam? I've seen them above the seam and also all the way down in the bend where the cowl top goes from horizontal to vertical.

Here's my 73's paint lines at the windshield.

 

[mjschneidy]

Thanks David. Do you know if that is original paint? I'm guessing based on the masking difference left to right there wasn't much rhyme or reason and no two were probably the same.

 

[mjschneidy]

The motor...

The motor was new installed by the previous owner with only a couple thousand miles if that before I got it. It was a 347 BluePrint crate motor. Iron head flat tappet cam with a no name alum dual plain intake. Cam was really set up for a street/drag application and not appropriate for low RPM Bronco type usage. Advertised at 330 hp / 380 ft-lbs.

The plan since the motor was out was to replace the cam, install the correct oil pan, and paint the motor blue. Well you know how these things go...;D

Since the block was a newer roller block I put a hydraulic roller cam in it. Stole specs from another member here who was building a similar 347. Tight duration to build cylinder pressure at low RPM. Torque !

I also found a set of new take off GT40x heads and roller rockers.

Another interesting find while surf'n Ebay for a correct pan was a vintage Dooley Enterprises Bronco racing pan. It was in really good shape and same price as stock pans. They had it listed as a boat pan since Dooley's very outdated website would make you think they only sell pans for boats. I recognized the shape and grabbed it. It was very well made, extra capacity, cranks scraper, and oil control baffles/trap doors.

Since my goal was to disguise the 347 as a mild modified period correct 302 I also found an old Ford Parts aluminum high rise in near new condition. It's a C90X-9424-B which was really an Edelbrock F4B copy. And yes I did really paint those pretty new alum heads blue to make them look like the original cast iron heads at first glance. I was also able to get the roller rockers tucked under the OE stamped steel valve covers by using the shortest poly locks I could find.

 

[Bajabrewer]

Thanks David. Do you know if that is original paint? I'm guessing based on the masking difference left to right there wasn't much rhyme or reason and no two were probably the same.

Yeah I'm pretty sure that it was original paint & I'm sure no 2 were done exactly the same. I remember when I was looking at the Bronco in 1988 I thought someone had done a quick half ass paint job but I liked the truck enough I bought it anyway. This was before I knew who Bill Stroppe was & what a Baja Bronco was all about.

 

[mjschneidy]

The trans....

The NV3550 ready to go in. I put all the C4 related parts on a pallet so some day it could be converted back if desired. Including column, lines, vac tubes, linkage, etc...

 

[mjschneidy]

So that's pretty much where it stands right now. Motor and trans are ready to go back in. I'm working on a core support I found that was in decent shape but needs one spot replaced. Once that's done I'll start re-assembling the front structure.

 

[sprdv1]

Things that make you go hmmm....

Amen to that... lol

 

[mjschneidy]

Firewall and Cowl

Firewall and cowl stripped and in red oxide urethane primer ready for front clip and paint. I do plan to replace metal in the area where the inner fenders attach to the cowl side panels. Small pin hole on both sides.

 

[77Bronco636]

The motor was new installed by the previous owner with only a couple thousand miles if that before I got it. It was a 347 BluePrint crate motor. Iron head flat tappet cam with a no name alum dual plain intake. Cam was really set up for a street/drag application and not appropriate for low RPM Bronco type usage. Advertised at 330 hp / 380 ft-lbs.

The plan since the motor was out was to replace the cam, install the correct oil pan, and paint the motor blue. Well you know how these things go...;D

Since the block was a newer roller block I put a hydraulic roller cam in it. Stole specs from another member here who was building a similar 347. Tight duration to build cylinder pressure at low RPM. Torque !

I also found a set of new take off GT40x heads and roller rockers.





Another interesting find while surf'n Ebay for a correct pan was a vintage Dooley Enterprises Bronco racing pan. It was in really good shape and same price as stock pans. They had it listed as a boat pan since Dooley's very outdated website would make you think they only sell pans for boats. I recognized the shape and grabbed it. It was very well made, extra capacity, cranks scraper, and oil control baffles/trap doors.

Since my goal was to disguise the 347 as a mild modified period correct 302 I also found an old Ford Parts aluminum high rise in near new condition. It's a C90X-9424-B which was really an Edelbrock F4B copy. And yes I did really paint those pretty new alum heads blue to make them look like the original cast iron heads at first glance. I was also able to get the roller rockers tucked under the OE stamped steel valve covers by using the shortest poly locks I could find.

A "sleeper".....I like it!!!

 

[mjschneidy]

Time for my 12 month update (a few weeks early)

Looking forward to switching the ratchets to ON position and get this thing back on the road. So here's a run down of many months of work in between other life events.

Rebuilding the front clip is all complete just waiting for nice weather for paint. I do all my own paint work but for large pieces I typically paint outside.

Found a decent core support but had to replace a few areas. Really wish the aftermarket would do the replacements correctly. Last photo is all finished out ready to be spot welded to the sides.

 

[mjschneidy]

Front Clip

Front clip coming together. Many many measurements from the old clip and trial fitting. I wanted as close to factory appearance as I could get which meant spot welding where I could. If I couldn't get the spot welder in a certain location I placed spot welds on parts before they went in for appearance and then plug welded them together as needed finishes off the plug welds so they cant be seen after paint. Lots of planning went into how I was going to assemble all this.

Also I went through two sets of inner fenders panels and fender wells before I found parts that best matched the factory appearance. Many don't have the rolled flange on the inner fender panels.

Thanks to BajaBrewer for getting me measurements for the jack studs off his 73 Baja, he's been a great resource for info and local to me. Thanks David.