Bronco Project...July 2 - on the road again!

[taxx]

Got the wiring done today except for the lights. and it all works.... Except for my starter. Cranked over a few times and then click click click.... its done this before so I knew it was going downhill. Solenoid is good and I can jump the solenoid and nothing. Hit it a few times with a hammer which worked in the past. May be time for a new starter, if its not one this its another, but I would rather do it now and get it out of the way versus waiting and have it do this crap again when I am not at home....

The centech is a great kit but I have made some slight modifications to it under the hood. They made it as best they can to compensate for numerous ignition systems, but I like my wires clean and right so I re-routed some wires in the wireloom and made it look pretty with everything still wired up. Just gotta hood up my lights now, but not in a hurry since they are all off or coming off for paint anyway....

 

[taxx]

went to the pick and pull today and got a couple ford relay boxes. The small one is off a late 80s f-150 and the larger is off a first generation explorer. One goes on the pass side and one on drivers. The goal for these is to put my high and low beams and fog lights on relays for better power even with the new centech kit so I can upgrade to better bulbs one day. The one off the sploder's top portion is for fuses, so I can put these and anything else later on all on fuses!

oh and they only cost me $10!

 

[taxx]

Figured it was time for an update here since its been a while.

Still working hard on it. Just been the little stuff and a WHOLE lot of sanding. Surprised my arms have not fallen off yet, but its soooo close. Hope to have it in primer this weekend!

Dash is COMPLETE. Wiring is done (well except for putting the lights back in), sanding is 75% done, undercoating is done and the seats are back in. Now we gotta finish the sanding and shoot it, maybe just maybe it will be ready in a week and a half to shoot, but there is a lot left to sand and prep. Here are some pics. Truck will be all yellow, grill and flares will be painted to match the soft top.

 

[BoltBuster]

Taxx did you ever finish this? What was the best tool for cutting out your floor that you used?

 

[taxx]

not finished. just no updates. been really busy on other stuff and all that has happened is some sanding and priming so nothing exciting to take pics of.

Depends what you are getting rid of. Since I cut out the xmembers too, the sawzall really tears through it, but not as accurate as the cutoff tool. Cutoff tool and grinder were nice for knocking down more accurate stuff. I never tried a spot weld cutter since I had so many layers of patches it was not possible to find the spot welds through the crap. was easier to use the cutoff tool and grinder to knock it down till you could seperate the panels with a chisel or screw driver.

I'll get some updated pics this weekend, its back together just sanding....

 

[Chief Master Sergeant]

About midway through this post I noticed a sheet you were refering to that appeare to have measurements of these rigs. Where did you find this?

 

[taxx]

in a post somewhere around here. Not sure where. But here it is:

 

[texaswildcat98]

Very Jealous, My plan was to have mine rolling by the end of May and running by mid summer... Good work though you are motivating me!

Hope to see the final result soon.

 

[Bronco Wild]

Lookin good, keep the pics comin!!!

 

[Flash69]

We need some update Pics..

 

[taxx]

We need some update Pics..

Ya I'll get some. Unfortunately in the last month there has been little to no progress made. I got tied up in some other projects and research, then took a week vacation with the wife. Finally got back to it this weekend. Bassically now the whole thing is sanded, working on cleaning up some imperfections and getting it ready for primer. so my goal is paint by the end of this month. Gonna try and work on it every night this week. Once she is in paint and sits a couple days I will put lights back on it and I can drive it as I finalize a few other things.

But I'll get some pics of where we are now.

 

[Flash69]

Ya I'll get some. Unfortunately in the last month there has been little to no progress made. I got tied up in some other projects and research, then took a week vacation with the wife. Finally got back to it this weekend. Bassically now the whole thing is sanded, working on cleaning up some imperfections and getting it ready for primer. so my goal is paint by the end of this month. Gonna try and work on it every night this week. Once she is in paint and sits a couple days I will put lights back on it and I can drive it as I finalize a few other things.

But I'll get some pics of where we are now.

Hey now...Your Bronco is down You dont have time to mess around with projects and wifey stuff you have to work on the eb. Just kidding. I had to take a couple weeks vacation while i was working on mine. If i hadnt i would have ended up selling it for parts. The vacations helps a lot. We still want pics though.

 

[hawkgt]

Door Hinges

Taxx,
You never said how you made the hinges. Pass along the good word!

Jason

 

[taxx]

Aight. Time for an update. Been a busy week and hard to get motivated to finish her after a nice vacation. Needed this week to get used to not copping a buzz at lunch and taking an afternoon ciesta on the beech.

But I am back at it today. THe wifey is gone this weekend to see a friend and the only other thing I have to do is finish hanging a couple gutters when the sun comes out. But Other than that my goal is to have this thing in primer by Sunday night. I don't see any reason why not. Can't get any pics till then as the wife has the camera. But I'll sick a couple in here from were it was before today.

Right now I am waiting on a small amount of bondo to dry and get back at it. My buddy is brining me his block sander tonight to finish it up.

 

[taxx]

Hinges

Aight its so easy I didn't take pics. Here is how a lot of people do it:
http://classicbroncos.com/doorhinges.shtml

My oppinion of that is it looks sloppy and weak, though its still putting all the weight in the same place there is increased leverage on the bottom tab.

My method:

Cut the body side of the hinge down to this:

(good time to replace pins, new ones from Jeffs are a bit stronger and the old ones sometimes are hard to get out without bending but are great for use in mocking it up)

Once I got it looking like that, I took the piece I cut off and slid it down the pin and welded it ontop of the bottom tab.

Then I took the door side and cut its tab off. Then welded it at the same angle at the top of the door side of the hinge. Thats all there is to it. I used uncut ones for jigs as I made 3 of them then the last one I had to sort of wing it and it worked fine.

 

[taxx]

here is the "official" picture gallery for this project:

http://www.haughs.net/gallery/view_album.php?set_albumName=bodyW&page=1

 

[taxx]

She is FINALLY one color! Still some minor work to be done that is easier to see not that it is in primer. But I should have it in paint by the end of the long weekend if I can stay away from the booze long enough....

 

[2badrotties]

Looking good. Before you start sanding , buy a can of trim black or any black for that matter and just dust a coat over the entire truck. It will really help you see what you are sanding. It is really hard to see when it is all one color like that. When you dust the black on there and start sanding you will really notice a big difference. The little black dusting will stay anyplace you need a little more sanding. It will stay in a scratch, a low spot, etc. Get yourself a nice flat paint stick and cut it down to about 6 inches long. Wrap some 400 wetsand paper around it and go to town. Most auto body supply stores sell nice soft sanding blocks made of foam. 3M makes them , grey on one side and black on the other. They work great.

Have fun. We can hardly wait to see you finish it and start driving again.

 

[BroncoJAK]

That's really looking good taxx. It's gotta be tough trying to paint in that small area. Take your time blocking with a good guide coat. Take your time, a paintjob will only look as good a what's under it. Take as long a pass as you can when painting. I will normally walk the length of a car when doing an allover. Pay close attemtion to the edges and underneath. Nothing worse than doing a good spray job just to find you have no paint on an inside edge or the bottom of a rocker. Plan out the steps, know where your overlaps are going to be. Good luck.

 

[taxx]

Thanks guys, some good ideas there. I definately plan to do a guid coat.

The quarter pannel we replaced has been the biggest PITA ever. It was about perfect when we put it on, then we cut it and it buckled and got wavy, thats been 99% of the holdup.

Its amaizing the difference you see once its all one color though. A few things jump out at you like "Hey idiot, you forgot about me" but it will get there. Gotta do more work to that quarter.

One question though: What would cause primer to crack? I have a feeling its either tha paint under it reacting to it or it wasn't prepped right in one way shpae or form. I got this on the inside of one of my doors and I could swear it was a clean surface but I could be worng.