"Gunny Highway" Build **IT DRIVES!!!!**

[Smokeater11]

Yeah raptor, I'm sure were not the only ones with grenade shifters. But I'm in FL and your soon to be in Hawaii so I'm guessing the chances of us ever being in the same place at the same time are slim and none. But it is a cool shifter ain't it....

 

[Pa PITT]

Nice jobs so far ..I too liked that shift knob...Sure hope it don't come off and roll around in the floor...
...Your front end looks a little different Me or the picture..Is the punkin moved to the left somewhat....

 

[Smokeater11]

I think it's just the angle of the picture. It's a stock D44 housing.

 

[PaulT]

Thanks for sharing, I'm inspired now!!!!

 

[BRONC-OH]

Nice looking build. Keep it up

 

[Smokeater11]

Just a little progress report. Just got the headers(thanks 76MaBronco), body bushing and the paint in this past week and I'm taking the heads to the machine shop Monday morning. Also taking the headers and the valve covers to the sand blasters to be cleaned and prepped for paint. Going to call the exhaust guy in the morning a get an estimate on the exhaust pricing. As soon as the heads are done I'm gonna put the top end back together and then it goes to the exhaust shop. While the chassis is at the exhaust shop I'll be spraying the underside of the body with bedliner. Then the body will go back on!! All this should be done by the first week of April if all goes well. Just got about $500-600 dollars to go toward my Bronco. Gonna see how far I can make it go. Hope all you guys are doing well...

 

[kbldawg]

Your rig is looking awesome man, great job!

 

[Smokeater11]

Picked up the headers and the valve covers from the sandblaster this morning and my heads will be done tommorow(oh wait) this morning. Got the headers painted and ready to bake and got the base coat on the valve covers sprayed. Also got all the fluids in the front and rear end, tranny and t-case. All that's left is to put the top end of the motor back together and to apply the bedliner to the underside of the body and THEN..... THE BODY WILL BE GOING BACK ON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (I'm a little excited about that part in case you couldn't tell) Here's hoping that by the end of next week my rig will be back in one piece (so to speak)

 

[DRBRONCO69]

Mark,
great build thread. Keep up with the progress. I wish I had the space to take mine completely down like yours. Keep taking pics too. When you are finished, you will be able to look back and see how far it has come. Keep truckin' Bro!
Mike

 

[Smokeater11]

Last night my dad and I put the top end of the motor back together and finished painting everything. It looks sweet!!! Bax gave me this sweet set of old school ribbed valve covers and I did a little custom painting on them and they came out really nice. In the process of bolting up the headers I learned what many others have learned about shorty Mustang headers....they won't work with a manual tranny without significant modification. So that will now become next on the list since that will be a lot easier to do with the body off. All in all we had a good night and as usual a little time searching around on here answered my questions about the header issue. Here are a couple if pics of tonights efforts.

 

[kbldawg]

Very cool man!! I love the paint.

 

[Smokeater11]

Just an update, got the bedliner sprayed on the underside of the body tonight and the body will get set on the frame tommorow night!! Pics tommorow night I promise....

 

[Smokeater11]

The Body Is On!!!

Guys the body is back on the frame for the first time in almost 3 years!! My dad and I sat it on this afternoon and it went almost flawlessly. Took us about 2 hours at get it unbolted from the rotisserre and get it aligned and bolted down to the frame. It looks great and it is almost absolutely level across the body, sits just a little nose up right now but none of the stuff on the front is attached yet. I just couldn't help myself so tonight I bolted on the 35s just to see what it was going to look like with the proper sized tires on it. I am so happy with how everything went today I decided to shut it down early tonight and have a few beverages!! So what do you think???

 

[Devin]

Great feeling, isn't it? I think it looks good! Nice work!

 

[66ALRIDE]

Looking good, and I bet you're starting to feel good about it too.;D

 

[bax]

Schwing. i got a boner!!!

 

[Smokeater11]

Schwing. i got a boner!!!

Bax, you just ain't right man, but I like that about you. Devin your absolutely right, it's is a great feeling!! Just seeing it in one piece (so to speak) is so weird. It has been so long since I took it apart and so many times that I thought it might not ever get back together, that it is truly cool to see it now. I've been back down to the shop 3 times just to turn the lights on and look at it for a few minutes. Didn't do anything but walk a few laps around it just taking it all in. It's just killing me that I have to go to work for the next 3 days and I won't be able to work on it. But I'm gonna use that time to plan out my next few steps. I honestly don't know that I'll be able to sleep much tonight, my brain is on overload....

 

[Smokeater11]

Guys, I can't make up my mind on which way to go now so I'm gonna ask for your advice. I only have limited amounts of money that I get every couple of weeks from my part time job and I can't make my mind up on whether to focus on the prep for the paint or work towards the rest of the mechanical issues. It needs a wiring harness, dizzy, plug wires, alternator and brackets, the carb needs to be rebuilt and all the guages and switches need to be put in place. All that takes more money than I'm gonna have at any one time. My thought is I should just work on the body work and get it ready to paint(which I already have) while I save up and buy some of the other parts. Sound logical to you guys? Also, we have a baby due here in less than 4 weeks so I'm trying to get as much accomplished as possible before the little guy gets here, as progress is sure to slow considerably once he arrives.

 

[Hors'nround]

I've been following your build and I like the theme. Keep it going as long as you're able.

My thoughts on moving forward are, purchase what parts you absolutely need to have (make your own harness instead of purchasing a complete one, etc.), rebuild and refurbish as much as you can without having to pay someone else to do it (pick and pull for brackets, etc). Leave the paint and body work until last.

When the baby comes, work on the truck and hour here and an hour there when you can, some progress is better than no progress.

Good luck

 

[Devin]

I am kind of in a similar situation as you. Got a baby coming in a couple of weeks, and my truck still needs a lot of stuff. My plan is to go ahead with the body work and get it primed and ready for paint. Then, I will start tackling the wiring/EFI/brakes, etc. I am going to get the wiring harness from WCB. It sounds like it will be more work than some of the other "plug-n-plays", but it is also about $600 less. I would say to just go ahead with what you are planning - do the body work and get it done. Then, as horsn said, scavenge ebay, pick-n-pulls, etc for parts.