Knifty 2 Build Thread

[Mar1ne]

Back from blast and primer. The painter didn't want the exterior surfaces done, so I need to get some primer on them.

Uncovered some more rust. I knew the rear panel needed to be replaced, but I didn't know exactly what was happening under the 1/4" of body filler. Apparently someone got excited with cutting for flares and hacked off too much.

A small spot on the rocker can be fixed. I'm not sure what can be done with the dent in the tail light panel?

 

[DanB]

Get a PDR tech on the tail light panel. Older sheet metal is a pain to work with but doable. Any competent tech should be able to get that pushed out.

 

[Rustytruck]

Don't worry about that tailight dent. That area is accessable, its stiff and and when pushed back will stay there. Get yourself a couple of pieces of 1x2 wood. Make it long enough to reach out to where you can hammer on it comfortably. Grind off the end like a wedge with a good radius on the end. Use it to tap from the end of the dent by the tailgate and work your way accross the dent into the corner. On your wood use it verticle and tap accross in 1/4 " steps. Dont try to beat it out it large hammer blows. Work your way accross then come back and do it again. Your trying to bump it back in place and not shove it out too far. When you get the flat back out in place then work in the corner with a 3/4" round dowel ground to a ball end. Tap, tap, tap. Take your time and you will work it out.

 

[Mar1ne]

Awesome. Thank you both. I showed my painter yesterday and he said we could take it out no problem.

On another note I'll be ordering my quarter panel, door post, and kick panel today. I'm going to get WH Warflares, too.

Time to get it back onto the frame.

 

[xfalcon]

Awsome Build
Wish I could find a daily driver like knifty for myself
one day..

 

[Mar1ne]

Awsome Build
Wish I could find a daily driver like knifty for myself
one day..

I worked out of the country for years, 10-11 months a year, and looked at Broncos online constantly. I couldn't buy one without looking at it in person and passed up many in my area due to my absence. As soon as I quit and got home I checked craigslist multiple times a day until Knifty popped up. The owner passed away, his last name was Knifton and the plate was "knifty", his nickname. I bought it from the brother and send them periodic updates of the Bronco. I hope you find what you're looking for. Knifty has treated me well.

 

[Mar1ne]

Removed the door post and kick panel today. I'll get some clecos and sheet metal screws in tomorrow when I'm satisfied with measurements. It's a bummer to work on the kick panel after taking my time and welding the original into the new floor and inner fender only to find it rusted out behind the door post. Oh well.

I need to replace the quarter panel and rocker after these two are in. I'm debating just replacing the bottom half of the rocker. Is this a no-no? It seems it would be easier to get the correct position with the top section remaining behind. The rust is only in the bottom piece.

 

[Mar1ne]

Today I got the door post and kick panel into place. I decided I like using the sheet metal screws more than the clecos. They hold the panels a lot tighter and are small enough that they rarely get in the way while putting the fenders/ doors on and off during test fitting.

I decided I will work on the quarter panel first, leaving the rocker in place to get the panel lined up. After that I will replace the outer rocker.

 

[boonz28]

You're making awesome progress man, keep it up!

 

[Mar1ne]

You're making awesome progress man, keep it up!

Thank you. It's a big undertaking. I had no idea I would be doing all of this to it!

 

[Mar1ne]

I removed the passenger panel, cleaned up all of the seams, and started working the new panel into place.

I cut the majority away with a cutoff wheel. I lightly pried the edge down with a screwdriver to make some room on the face. Then on the back edge that has a lip I bent down with a pair of channel locks. This left just the area that was welded together connected. I used the bottom of the top panel as a guide for the cutoff wheel and slowly worked down the line. I cutoff the tail every few inches as I cut out the spot welds.

Since I will be replacing the rocker I will use the spot weld drill to cut out holes where the panel/ striker post/ rocker all meet.

I started getting the panel lined up and put a couple screws through the inside top into the bottom of the top panel as well as worked my way down the striker post. I left the lower brace in place and the new panel lined up with it perfectly. This is the nicest fitting panel of everything I have done so far.

I am beginning to rethink my project in terms of cut/ uncut. I just picked up WH Warflares and have quite a bit of money in those wheels and tires that wont work uncut. I may have some items for sale soon...

 

[Mar1ne]

As you can see I cut through the striker post intentionally. I needed to get the section of quarter panel that was between the post and rocker out with an air chisel. I didn't want to bend the edge of the striker post above the rocker so I put a little cut through it and will weld it back together.

 

[Mar1ne]

Worked on the driver side quarter panel today. This one doesn't fit as nice as the other side, but it will work. There is a bit of a gap between it and the tail light panel. I'm not sure what to do here. I will have the painter check it out before I do any welding.

Passenger rocker panel next and some minor stuff. I will hopefully be putting down seam sealer next week.

 

[Mar1ne]

Worked on the PS rocker the last couple days. Luckily the inner rocker was still good. This piece fit ok. It needed some trimming along the front edges where it was too long. The swoop up was coming in contact with my bottom door hinge. It is close now and may even need some more taken off. I put my plug welds a little down from the top to allow for some trimming when I get the doors perfectly lined up.

I have this hole in the transmission tunnel area. I've been apprehensive about it as it involves correctly bending a sheet and cutting it to the correct size. I may leave this to my body guy. I have stared at it for too long already.

I still need to weld in my quarter panels, but the rear seams are worrying me. I'm not sure if I need to replace the tail light panels or not...

 

[Rustytruck]

Don't replace the tail light panels the originals are best.

As for your transmission tunnel hole get some heavy construction paper and bend it into place and mark your outside cut lines. once you get it made from one piece of paper you know where to make your bends. Mark it up in sheet metal and clamp the piece between 2 pieces of heavy plywood and down to a table and hammer bend it. What you have to loose?

Then place your panel into place and trim the floor to it. If your not over lapping and spot welding then your flush seam welding. run short welds maybe 1/4 inch in length. Move to another section of the panel and weld another 1/4" section. Once you have it held every 4 inches or so come back and clean your welds and straighten any warpege and then start another series of welds.

Aim your mig into the the previous weld bead. Make a bead then move over and make a bead into the previous bead then move over and do another. Just a string of connecting pearls about 1/8" in diameter. This way your melting into both edges of the panels and welding into the previous bead.

Run it like Morse code not a 1/4 inch zip. Easy to practice with a couple of scrap pieces clamped next to each other. Scrap pieces you can get the mig setting right and see both sides sides of your weld. aiming next to the previous bead you have less risk of burning through.

 

[Mar1ne]

Followed your suggestion and got it to work out well enough. I was able to make the bottom bend with my vice and made a 1" strip backer for the top. It looks kind of ugly from the engine bay, but seam welding was just melting through the old sheet metal no matter how low I put the voltage.

The toughest part was accepting that it wasn't going to be perfect. The passenger side has an ugly dish at the bottom. Oh well. I may be able to work it a little bit and I will be doing some sort of liner on the interior and bottom. I don't necessarily want to "hide" what's underneath the liner, but I plan on keeping this Bronco and will have pictures of the entire tub prior to it.

As always, thank you for the help.

 

[Mar1ne]

Not too happy with the PS rear quarter panel. It was tough to get back flush with the light housing. I think it's where it needs to be and I might be able to move the light housing out a little bit from the inside. It was welded to the quarter panel underneath the 1/4" of body filler, so I'm not sure what happened back there in its previous life.

I did the front aprons and wells with the original fenders. Then decided to get some new ones and the passenger side isn't agreeing that well. After reading some other threads I guess this is the norm. I will need to shave off some of the edge where it goes in by the rocker. The entire grill needs to come down as high as the fender is off the apron. When I push it down the fender wants to bow out. Not quite sure what's causing this ultimately.

Where the DS fender meets the grill is nice along the top 3/4. The bottom takes an interior dive. I tried prying it out, but it doesn't want to budge.

I'll have the painter take a look at these issues before I go hacking anything more.

Hunting season is upon us in Northern California. Progress is going to slow down. I need to start picking seam sealer out and get some new stuff in. The painter is a friend and he was suggesting I have a fabricator make a pair of adjustable legs, each shaped like an "H" that would attach to the middle 2 body mounts and have a vertical range from like 3' to 6'. This way it would be enough to paint the bottom from underneath at the top adjustment and the exterior while it's at it's lowest setting. The nice thing about that set up is it would fit in my garage for future projects. A rotisserie is too long. Anyone have anything like this? More like a height adjustable cart than a rotisserie.

 

[Mar1ne]

My first semester of nursing school ends next week. I have separated myself from the project as it consumes me and I needed to focus on class and clinicals. As we roll into summer I will begin finishing up the minor issues this has before sending it to the painter. I'm in no rush like I was before. It's going to be a longer project and that's ok. I'll hope to have it done by next summer.

I will be working on my blue bronco's sheet metal, though. Next week I will make a trip to WH and pick up: quarter panels, striker posts, outer/ inner rockers, kick panels and door posts, and inner fender aprons. I feel confident after doing most of this on the '74, minus the strikers. I will need to decide whether I will be leaving my '66 uncut. Not wanting to spend money on new wheels and maybe tires shouldn't be my excuse.

Question: Do the different brake setups reduce/increase the width of the overall rear end? I have a small bearing rear end with 10x2.5" wide drums. Is this wider than my 11x1.75" drum setup on my '74? If so, do you need to take this into account when purchasing wheels for a certain backspace?

I currently have pro comp 15x8 w/ 3.75 backspacing and 33x10.50 KO2. I'm assuming with even rolling the fender lip it still will not work. I do have ruff stuff spring posts I can put on the rear end and move it back 1" while I'm at it.

 

[Mar1ne]

Resurrecting a year after my last post.

The '74 is off to the body shop. I attended the WH show and spoke with the guys from Kolorwerks and after a conversation with Pat and his son and looking at the two broncos they had on display I knew they would do a great job with my '74.

While they work on that I'm prepping my '66 to sell. It has a few metal issues I didn't have time for last spring. Driver floor and passenger rear floor and two small patches in the rear (hopefully small).

The interior is messy between the old undercoat and glue from a long ago carpet kit. I'm going to strip it all down and as long as everything is rust free I will Raptor line it. I know it can be a buyer beware, but I'll take plenty of pictures prior so nothing can be doubted. I think it should be done before the sale. Who's looking for a bronco?

 

[Mar1ne]

No surprises, luckily. What a pain getting multiple layers of undercoat and what appears to be factory glue off. I'm going to weld up all the extra holes that have accumulated over the years too.

Did '66 have the option for carpet? Mine is a special order if that matters.