Project: 76, Orange Special Decor

[ford man]

Yes love the color and special decor stripe it really pops always been one of my favorite broncos on CB looks great!

 

[gnsteam]

Thanks everyone. Yes very excited to have it home. You all are welcome to come over and help me finish it. Plenty to do, to keep me busy over the winter.

 

[svastano]

Looks Great! I bet you can't wait to drive it around town!

 

[gnsteam]

Well my Bronco has been home from the restoration shop for over a month. And I finally found some time to work on it. So I started pre-fitting the welting to the flairs. I used a leather punch (1/8 punch) through the mounting hole in the flair to locate and punch through the welting. Then pull the welting back and open up the 1/8" hole with the largest 11/64" punch. It worked out really well. It took about 45 minutes per flair. Next up, mounting the flairs to the body.

 

[gnsteam]

Here is a little follow up to the flair prep. I installed the driver side flairs tonight. The passenger side my get installed tomorrow night. Enjoy the pictures.

 

[hunter1]

Looks great!

 

[gnsteam]

Yesterday, while working on the driver door lower weather striping. I happen to notice that the windshield frames, internal nuts for the dash bolts were missing. I did find one of the nuts loose in frame near the driver side. But the other one is missing. Good thing I noticed the issue before I was farther along. Otherwise loosening the hard top to lower the windshield would have been more of a hassle. Upon further investigation. The passenger side nut position does not have an internal feature to hold a nut in place, like the driver side does. The nut that I do have. Fits in the retainer on the driver side. And I can make a similar not for the passenger side. Any suggestions as to how to hold it in place? Here are a few pics.

 

[904Bronco]

I was going to suggest that the Nut pad (can't remember if you can get into the windshield frame to install) could be made longer.

Longer than the contact marking shown... You could secure the pad in place with a nut / washer and then use a drill, to outside then contact area, drill through the frame and nut pad and then run a self tapping screw/bolt to hold it position. The self tapping screw would need to have a flat head to not conflict with the seal or windshield frame.

Random thought, clear as Mud?

 

[gnsteam]

Yep, that thought crossed my mind. But I'm having a tough time bring myself to drilling into the new paint. I know I will have to at some point. So I guess that time is now. Thanks for the suggestion.

 

[Bruners4]

I think that the 'nut' needs to move to align with the windshield knobs to thread in properly. So, it needs to be able to move around in its slot to achieve this. To keep the floating nut from falling out or moving out of its designed area, it just needs something to stop it. This could be a dab of something in the channel to a rivet at each end of its travel. Could also be as simple as a dent in the channel to stop it from moving too far.

 

[gnsteam]

I think that the 'nut' needs to move to align with the windshield knobs to thread in properly. So, it needs to be able to move around in its slot to achieve this. To keep the floating nut from falling out or moving out of its designed area, it just needs something to stop it. This could be a dab of something in the channel to a rivet at each end of its travel. Could also be as simple as a dent in the channel to stop it from moving too far.

I agree, I think the nut needs to be able to shift around a little. Anyone know what was originally inside the windshield frame. On the passenger end to hold the nut in place? Was the nut a different style than the one picture above?
Another issue with the situation. Is the ability to insert a nut much different than the one pictured. The only entry point into the windshield frame. Is to far left (driver) end of the windshield frame. And its just big enough to accept that nut. Then the nut must be pushed thru the frame to the passenger side. A piece of 1/4" clear tubing with a small magnetic pressed into the end of the tubing, worked well. Next problem. How to get the nut to stay against the inside inner surface of the frame channel. Maybe a night to sleep on it will help.

 

[gnsteam]

On another subject. I got the liftgate assembled over the weekend.

 

[gnsteam]

My Bronco received some early Christmas gifts.

 

[gnsteam]

I agree, I think the nut needs to be able to shift around a little. Anyone know what was originally inside the windshield frame. On the passenger end to hold the nut in place? Was the nut a different style than the one picture above?
Another issue with the situation. Is the ability to insert a nut much different than the one pictured. The only entry point into the windshield frame. Is to far left (driver) end of the windshield frame. And its just big enough to accept that nut. Then the nut must be pushed thru the frame to the passenger side. A piece of 1/4" clear tubing with a small magnetic pressed into the end of the tubing, worked well. Next problem. How to get the nut to stay against the inside inner surface of the frame channel. Maybe a night to sleep on it will help.

If anyone is interested. Here is the solution that I came up with to fix the missing nut and nut retainer. Inside the passenger side, of the lower windshield frame. I made a sprung nut assembly and slid it into position inside the windshield frame. Sorry, I got in hurry when inserting the nut assembly. And forgot to take some pictures to better explain the process. However, I attached a drawing of the sprung nut assembly with directions for how to insert it, into the windshield frame. If anyone would like detailed dimensional prints and part numbers for the components I can provide them as well.

 

[gnsteam]

I haven't posted in awhile. But I have been making some progress. With the help of fellow Bronco owner and CB member Bruners4. David has been coming over on Thursday evenings to help with my project. So far we have installed the rear liftgate, with a gas struts kit.

The chrome grill trim.

The James Duff hood struts.

Then we started mocking up the mounting of the windshield washer/radiator fluid tank. Using the bracket designed br JSmall.

We also set the upper intake phenom in position to check hood clearance. Which looked really good. And David was kind enough to bring one of JSmall's explorer throttle cable brackets. I'm reverse engineering it to create one of my own. Tonight, I spent some time measuring key point on the throttle body.

 

[gnsteam]

A few more things installed and looked at last week. Installed the head lights, and laid out the H4 harness. I'm going to change the harness a bit. To improve install.

Also installed the ECU and box into the firewall. Then laid out the Explorer wiring harness. Looks like some changes to the harness will enhance the install.

That's all for now. I hope all of you have a very merry Christmas!

 

[gnsteam]

I had a pretty productive New Years Eve day in the garage. I finished up the mounting of the washer / radiator overflow tank. You will notice that the mounting bracket is below the fender lip, instead of on top. I had to mount it this way. Because I have the Duff's, hood struts. The upper mount of the struts, hang down below the fender lip and will hit the top of the tank. To mount the bracket. I used longer fender bolts and an addition nut under the tank mount. I also made a pair of stand offs that clear the fender clip nuts. The stand offs are .75" thick x 1" x 1.5

Over the last two weeks. I reverse engineered the JSmall's explorer throttle cable bracket. Not having the equipment to bend and weld sheetmetal. I machined a bracket out of aluminum. The bracket consists of three parts out 1/4" and one part out of a 2" square chunk that I had. The parts are held together with #6 & #8 flat head cap screws. I forget to pull the original explorer throttle cable. When I pulled the engine. So I purchased the BC Broncos EFI throttle cable kit. It come with a bracket but I chose not to us them because I am using the 4r70w transmission. Here are a few pictures of the bracket and it mounted up to the throttle body.

Have a happy new year!

 

[stout22]

You are building a beautiful Bronco. Nice work on the bracket.

 

[gnsteam]

Over the weekend and Tuesday evening. I cleaned up the Explorer throttle body. Applied a coat of paint and new sensors.

Then I started fabrication of an under the fender, bracket. To mount some electrical items. The bracket mounts to three of the fender bolts that extend under the lip of the passenger side fender. Between the battery area and the hood struts mounting bracket. So far, I made a mount for the Explorer, relay, fuse box. Other items to be mounted to the bracket. Includes relays for the H4 headlights, an additional fuse box provided by the EFIGuy and possibly the starter selinoid. More to come on this project.

 

[SeaVee]

Wow! Looking good!