Frame off restoration task list?

[Mongonius]

Has anyone composed a detailed schematic of what should be done and in what order when doing frame off restoration? I am learning a lot by looking at the build threads...I was just wondering if someone put together a plan or wrote a book on this. Sorry if this is a dumb question.

 

[NGABronco]

Hey Mongo, they are all sooooo different in what needs to be done!! First, last and cheep or expensive!!!;D ;D ;D

Just dig in and get started!!!%) %) You'll soon see what I mean!!!

 

[mflint1513]

I don't think it's a dumb question. I'm actually looking for something like this myself. I just bought a 77 and had the body restored. I'm looking into the mechanics and such now. Kind of backwards but I really liked the one I saw and just jumped on it. Anyway, if anyone has input...bring it!

 

[needabronco]

The best advice I can give you is to stay organized. Plan out what you want to do, make a budget and add plenty of fudge room at each level. I ordered the brunt of my parts right off the bat, that way I couldn't change my mind as easily. There will always be parts that either brake or aren't up to snuff so you will still buy more parts.

If your going to do absolutely everything plan things in stages like;

1. Do any fab work first like shock mounts, floors, cut for flares...

2. Teardown, bag and tag everything (even if your going to replace it keep it) take lots of before and after pic's just in case you forget exactly how it was before.

3. Drive train and axles first then do the frame and suspension

4. Reassemble the complete chassis.

5. Body work and paint. Do your body work in smaller sections like drivers side tub, passenger side tub, floors, doors, fenders, hood, then top...

6. Wiring and body reassembly

7. Interior

8. Top off the fluids, final check on all systems, drive it around the block and smile.

That's pretty general but that's similar to what I'm doing with my build. I did do most of my drivetrain a couple of years ago, and have been massing suspension parts for about 2 years, so most of my build is body and paint work. Good luck.

 

[Smokeater11]

This might be helpful!! It's a little list I made up during my build process. Hope it helps you as much as it helped me.

http://classicbroncos.com/forums/showthread.php?t=135858

I started with the entire list in red and removed the red once I completed that part of the build. Just my way of determining what I wanted to work on next.

 

[Mongonius]

Lots of good advice. Thanks. NGA, I know you are right. I'll keep you posted as I ask more newb questions.

 

[DuctTape]

I'm on body work now, chassis done. If I do another one I'll do it like so (30,000 foot view):

1) pull tub & clip off, send to blasting/dipping
2) strip chassis completely, leaving a bare frame
3) build a simple rotisserie using the frame as the horizontal member
4) attach tub to frame
5) complete all bodywork
6) separate body/frame & send tub/clip/doors etc to body/paint (be sure to brace, bolt in braces better than weld in - you can paint and then rebrace with a little rubber cushion)
7) rebuild chassis while body is in paint
8) reunite body & chassis
9) finish assembly

Checklist is hard because of variability of what you keep and what you rebuild and what you replace.

If you don't really care about the body so much, you can skip a lot of work.

 

[trailpsycho]

Do all of your mods first. Drivetrain, suspension, sheet metal repair. Then take it apart...that way you know what you will need and how it will fit beforehand and you have less risk of damaging the new stuff (paint and body) later on trying to make all the mods fit together. Definitely make an investment in 2 and 1 gallon zip locks as well as quart and sandwich size bags. DOnt forget the sharpies. Label everything, use tape as well if you need to. You will be surprised what you may need to recover later on. After disassembly, finish any sheetmetal work, frame clean-up/repair--but do all the additions of the new stuff beforehand. Blast, paint, powdercoat, reassemble, lube and drive. There will ALWAYS be modifications after the fact...but try to minimize them by getting a good plan of what you want the Bronco to do, ride like and how you plan to use it.

Its not a cheap proposition, to undertake a frame off, but its a very cool process. Take your time. By doing alot of the mods ahead of time, you can drive it and make changes to your plan before you ever begin to tear it down...you can also defer the cost of many of your projects over time. Since your going to be spending alot of money, make sure--as much and you can--that what you'll end up with is what you really want. thats whats really important. Mods first, then tear down, build up.

 

[lonesouth]

I started an indented list of what to do, I may continue to work on it, we'll see. A complete list would detail what order to rebuild things, and the steps needed to rebuild each component. It started to get very long, very quickly. Though I can definitely see the benefit to such a list. Finishing a task before starting the next being the most important in my mind.