How Bad is too Bad for Rust

[nmcbride89]

I recently bought my first Bronco, and I am trying to determine whether or not the body is a lost cause. The frame, engine, and drivetrain are in relatively good shape, so I may be looking into buying a donor body.

It has bad rust in the normal trouble areas plus some. The front floor is almost completely rusted out, along with the upper cowl and kick panels. The rockers will need to be replaced, as will the front inner fender aprons.

The core support appears to be in bad shape, but I haven't torn into it enough to take a good look.

I am going to try and work with the existing door posts and strikers, but I am not too hopeful.

Many of the rear body panels (quarter panels, rear floor, etc.) may be salvageable. Again, I have not had a chance to get a thorough look.

I know I can get a new fiberglass body for ~$4600, or I could replace the bad body panels with new steel for a similar cost. I am just wondering if I would be better off getting a donor truck. Does anyone know what a decent donor body would cost?

 

[wepuckett]

I am fairly new at this as well but I am guessing any bronco you find that has a decent enough body you would want to use you might just wanna build that one up instead as what you would most likely pay for it. Rust repair is just part of our world even on the best body you will find some rust unless it is a high dollar restoration. I got almost 3 complete tubs in my package and all of them have something wrong rust wise some better then others.

 

[cldonley]

Well, my 69 was pretty bad, but I've been able to do a lot of patching and replacement. The replacement panels I've bought have fit pretty well, and the floor panels are going in ok. One thing I'd recommend is checking out the cross members. I repaired one, but the others were in pretty good shape. But that doesn't really answer your question. The real answer is how hard do you want to work at it? If I had bit the bullet and bought a fiberglass tub I'd be driving my rig now instead of looking at it in pieces all over the garage. I'm repairing flat metal parts and replacing the formed parts like fenders, pans and bed. I've replaced both inner and outer rockers, one door post and one striker. You can save a little money by repairing and replacing. It comes down to what your schedule, your budget and your will power/skill level will allow. Post up some pics so we can scope out the damage!

 

[BradtheWelder]

Be realilistic to how much you're willing to work on it and have the skills and tools. I can't tell you how many people have all these projects lying around and they hardly/don't work on them. Sometimes because they're lazy or don't have the time or just plain ole overwhelmed.

 

[Madgyver]

This is Hawaii rust........ Kinda gets bad...

 

[Explorer]

Be realilistic to how much you're willing to work on it and have the skills and tools. I can't tell you how many people have all these projects lying around and they hardly/don't work on them. Sometimes because they're lazy or don't have the time or just plain ole overwhelmed.

True words. If the cowl is rusted bad enough that the pedal mounts are loose, I pass on it. It takes skill to replace the cowl and get everything right. So many things depend on this to be right. I evaluate by listing what I don't have to replace. Lower rear quarters aren't bad, but once the seam is rusted through to the inside of uppers it gets tricky. Good used tubs are hard to find close enough to be economically feasible.
I started with this, but cowl and upper quarters were sound. Only reason I bought it.

 

[C Saporito]

The real question is what are you aiming for?

If you are going to invest in an expensive paint job you would be wasting your money if you didn't blast it and rust buckets aren't usually worth blasting. Any rust left in seams or inside areas like door posts will ruin your body work and paint at some point.

If you are building a trail rig or just a beater, patching and replacing rotted panels would probably work fine.

I decided to switch to fiberglass after wasting way too much time trying to peel back to where the rust started.

 

[DuctTape]

The real question is what are you aiming for?

If you are going to invest in an expensive paint job you would be wasting your money if you didn't blast it and rust buckets aren't usually worth blasting. Any rust left in seams or inside areas like door posts will ruin your body work and paint at some point.

If you are building a trail rig or just a beater, patching and replacing rotted panels would probably work fine.

I decided to switch to fiberglass after wasting way too much time trying to peel back to where the rust started.

This. If you do want to repair it all and have a solid body, I would say look at a new tub. I had almost exactly the same problems. I did a bunch of the work myself but had to farm out the door pillars and front clip as I'm not a good enough body man to deal with the tougher alignment issues. I made the mistake of just attacking it vs sitting down and doing some math.

I had to replace hood, tailgate, fenders, inner fenders, core support, rockers, front floor pans, front door pillars, and core support. As I said I did a bunch of the work myself but I still spent over 10k to get the body ready for a 6-8' paint job, and probably 100-200 hrs of my own time.

You're on the right track - think thru it before going to work. If I had to do it again I'd go glass. I prefer all metal but it would have saved me a boatload of time and money.

 

[JB Fab]

Be realilistic to how much you're willing to work on it and have the skills and tools. I can't tell you how many people have all these projects lying around and they hardly/don't work on them. Sometimes because they're lazy or don't have the time or just plain ole overwhelmed.

What he said!

 

[nmcbride89]

This. If you do want to repair it all and have a solid body, I would say look at a new tub. I had almost exactly the same problems. I did a bunch of the work myself but had to farm out the door pillars and front clip as I'm not a good enough body man to deal with the tougher alignment issues. I made the mistake of just attacking it vs sitting down and doing some math.

I had to replace hood, tailgate, fenders, inner fenders, core support, rockers, front floor pans, front door pillars, and core support. As I said I did a bunch of the work myself but I still spent over 10k to get the body ready for a 6-8' paint job, and probably 100-200 hrs of my own time.

You're on the right track - think thru it before going to work. If I had to do it again I'd go glass. I prefer all metal but it would have saved me a boatload of time and money.

Thanks for the advise. I think I am leaning toward waiting a year or so to save up for a fiberglass body. I can see all of the body work spinning out of control on me and my limited experience with metalwork. I'd hate to get deep into it and realize I'm in over my head AFTER spending a couple thousand on body panels.

 

[zonian]

Aloha.....Hang in there...fiberglass sounds like the best bet..it will be worth it when your chugging around the island!

 

[KyleQ]

Ack, just realized I could have gotten a fiberglass tub for what I spent on tires and wheels, lol.

 

[Ohio Bronco 21]

Im working on a rotted out body right now. A new fiberglass Tub sounds really really good about now.

 

[rhino2104]

I've never done body repair before so most cancerous rust is too much for me. Simple stuff like floors I'm okay with but more complicated stuff I passed on because I don't have the skills to fix it myself or a large enough bank account to pay someone to fix it.

 

[cldonley]

Thanks for the advise. I think I am leaning toward waiting a year or so to save up for a fiberglass body. I can see all of the body work spinning out of control on me and my limited experience with metalwork. I'd hate to get deep into it and realize I'm in over my head AFTER spending a couple thousand on body panels.

I wish I had done that. Or just fixed the drive train and had a beater. I think you're making a good choice based on my experience!

 

[nmcbride89]

Here are a few pictures of the worst rust areas.

http://s103.photobucket.com/user/nathankmcbride/slideshow/1970 Bronco

Had to create a Photobucket album and post the link because I cannot post pictures here for some reason...

I really would like to go back with steel. I just don't have all that much confidence in my body work abilities.

I do not have welding experience currently, but I am going to buy a welder in the next few months whether I go with a glass body or not, so I am tempted to take a shot at replacing a few panels before committing to saving up for the FG body.

I was hoping to get the opinion from some of those with much more experience than me on whether or not this body is worth me struggling with.

I am confident I will be able to tackle the floor pans and upper cowl panels. I am mainly concerned with the main supporting parts of the cowl, kick panels, and door posts that will require some skill to get aligned. I feel like I could really screw up the project if I do not get them right. I'd rather know that now before sinking money into the panels when I could be saving for the fiberglass...