Project: 76, Orange Special Decor

[stupidboy]

That chassis is really working me up! Nice work!

 

[gnsteam]

Thank you Pat. Glad to see your out enjoying your rig. Your build has been an inspiration to me.

This afternoon, I mocked up the Tom's Off Road, AOD crossmember. The first thing you need to do. Is remove some of the aluminum around the mounting point on the AA, 4R70W to Dana 20 adaptor. The surfaces are machined leaving a large radius around the mounts bolt hole. however the radius does not clear the large bushing washer. So you need to remove the material back to the housing. And remove a portion of the washer to get it to lien up with the mounts bolt hole. You also have to clearance one side of the large poly bushing to clear the AA housing. See pictures below. Once this is accomplished, it's a matter of attaching the AA housing onto the end of the transmission, and bolting the crossmember assembly to the frame. Add the bushing washers and bolts and it all fit together nicely.

 

[gnsteam]

After bolting the transmission crossmember in and bolting down everything tight. I set my digital level in a few places around on the engine and frame. I'm no expert but it looks like thing are pretty plumb considering. Opinions appreciated.

 

[Bruners4]

That is starting to look great! Looking forward in seeing it in person.

 

[gnsteam]

Hi Dave, yes we need to get together again, it's been awhile. Is your 68 nearing completion?

 

[gnsteam]

Yesterday's progress, was installing the transfer case. The install went very well with only one hiccup. I had to hook up the engine hoist one more time to remove the transmission support. So you can get to the lower two, tailshaft housing to transfer case bolts.

You will notice in the pictures, that there is little room to spare (adout a half inch) between the front output yoke and the cross member. Probably the last of the Bronco progress for a while. A laundry room remodel is next on the wife's list of upgrades around here. And it has to be done before we host Christmas.

 

[gnsteam]

There hasn't been much to report lately. Took the last three months away from the Bronco for family time and home projects. Yesterday was a big day. The body is finally going to a shop for restoration. I've been an a wait list at a local shop from 07/21, and still waiting with no movement in site. A couple weeks ago. I discovered another local shop I somehow overlooked. The owner and his lead metal guy stopped over Yesterday afternoon to see my project. Great news, they have an opening and they will schedule me in this month. They are very excited to have another Bronco project, so not there first. They will look at there notes and give me a pickup date next week. Just the motivation I needed to get me back in the shop, warmer weather also helps. More to come!

 

[Oldtimer]

Fred,

Make & Model?
Are you happy with it or would you buy different now that you have used it?

Thanks, Geoff

 

[gnsteam]

If you can afford it and have the space. I would purchase a stand alone lathe and milling machine. The mill is this machines very weak link. It does get the job done but you have to take very lite cuts. So it take a lot of time and patience to hit your dimensions and achieving an acceptable finish. The lathe portion works OK but lacks rigidity and horse power when turning larger diameters over 2", cutting steel. Reliability is another issue. I've owned it for 18-20 years and have replaced the control circuit board once and two motors. Getting parts and accessories isn't an issue and Smithy's customer service is good. I am a tooling and die design engineer with 35 years of tool and die experience. And I still have limited access to the equipment at work. So every time a home project comes along. I think about how can I get the job done in my off time at work. Bridgeport mills and Hardinge lathes , makes one very spoiled.
The model is a Smithy Granite 1324 from the late nineties.
Smithy.com

 

[gnsteam]

Finally a little update on my build. The body was transported to the restoration shop last Thursday. This is the new shop I found a few weeks ago. The shop is Bombers Garage in Lincoln NE. They are very confident that they could knock this out in a few months. So hopefully ready this fall. Sorry for the same old picture. I forgot to take pictures on transport day.

 

[76YETI]

Looks like a good shop. Hope it goes well!

 

[gnsteam]

Yep, I feel pretty comfortable leaving the body in their hands. I had been on a wait list at an other shop from July of 2021. And I was still third in line when I discovered this shop. Gave them a deposit in April and today it went into media blasting. They are not wasting any time. I hope to have it back later this summer.

 

[gnsteam]

The new shop is moving along. They have started by doing localized media blasting in the know rust trouble spots. So far very little rust to report. The usual engine bay inter fenders, a little at each end of the cowl area and a few very tiny pin holes at the bend of the driver floor pan. Remarkable how solid this tub is, I'm so lucky.

 

[gnsteam]

And a few more pictures just because.

 

[gnsteam]

More? Why not.

 

[gnsteam]

And some overall shots.

 

[gnsteam]

Today I made another stop at the body shop. They are moving right along. Raising thr cowl, patching up the rust in the engine compartment and filling in unwanted holes. They also asked me, if I could bring over the chassis next week. So they can get everything squared up. So far I'm very impressed with this shop. Here are some more progress pictures Also a picture of what $3900.00 in paint and prep supplies looks like.

 

[LUBr LuvR]

Nice to see a lot of progress after the other shop had stalled out on you for so long. Looking good, and yes - that body is better than most could hope for!

 

[JeffG]

They are moving right along! The pic of the passenger side rear corner; are you flipping the marker lights vertical like a '77? I didn't see a close up of the driver side, but I assume you are adding a fuel door. I just picked up a fuel door cut-out to add to my project. I'm building a '77 that came to me with an earlier tub. I decided to add the main fuel door only and I'm on the fence on moving the marker lights too or eliminating them.

 

[gnsteam]

Hi Jeff, I was going to have the shop install one of their take off fuel doors from various vehicles that they had stashed. When adding the fuel door, I was assuming the side marker light needed to be moved to the tail light housing for clearance reasons. Now I am going in another direction and the side marker light will remain in the original location. I purchased a motorcycle fuel tank, pop up fuel filler cap. I saw this application on JefeAz's, F8 Lubr Build. Doing this will save me a little cost at the shop. The following pictures are from JefeAZ's build. I hope he doesn't mind me posting them here. It's a great build.