Sam P. 71 Bronco Tub rebuild.

[sp71eb]

Lots of welders.....Prospot I4 resistance spot welder, Miller 200, Lincoln 135, Miller syncrowave 200 tig. Pays to work at a body shop with all of the goodies. A good 110v mig welder will do all of the body panel replacment you will need everything else just makes it easier.

 

[sp71eb]

fit fit fit then weld.

Well had some free time at work today and got the left side tacked in place. Still need to fit the rocker better and finalize the lower qt. alignment. The taillight pocket had been hit before and I had to bust out the slide hammer to get the inner back into shape. All of the tailgate post welds were broken loose on both sides, I threw about 6 spot welds on each side to keep it from happening again. The left side took some serious head scratching to get everything to fit....and I do this stuff for a living. I'm sure most of what I was fighting was the quality of the aftermarket parts. Hopefully tomorrow I will have some time to get everything welded up so I can move on to the front clip. I also want to say the Vise Grip 18DR seems to be designed to hold the eb rocker panel in place for fitment.

 

[sp71eb]

Left side welded

Welded up the left side of the tub today. Used the resistance spot welder on as much as I could but still had to mig most of the lower qt and outside edge of the floor. I also modified my #1 cross-member to accommodate my np435. I know lots of people just cut it out, but my thought is that ford put it there for a reason.

 

[sp71eb]

Today at work I fit a few more parts and did some more welding here and there. I fit the dash, Pedal assembly, gas pedal, and steering column. I will say the aftermarket door seals are super tight and are taking some adjusting to make the doors close without slamming. The lower column seal is from BC Broncos and it fits the Summit Racing steering column great. The upper column mount is from James Duff and it also fit great. This weekend I hope to head down to Broncoparts4u to get a smooth dynacorn hood some other parts I need to finish welding up the front clip.

 

[Dark Knight]

I love following builds like this the attention to detail is Amazing. Did you order your Dynacorn parts directly from them or did you get them from one of the Bronco vendors?

 

[msommer001]

Looks like you did floor pans first, then rockers.

My outter rockers are in good shape, by the inners need to replaced. The plan is to be the new floor pan in, then the inner rocker, with complete removal of the outter rocker. I know i will have to be a bit creative.

Thoughts?

 

[rockg]

Want to work on mine next??

 

[Teal68]

Impressive work!!!

 

[sp71eb]

Looks like you did floor pans first, then rockers.

My outter rockers are in good shape, by the inners need to replaced. The plan is to be the new floor pan in, then the inner rocker, with complete removal of the outter rocker. I know i will have to be a bit creative.

Thoughts?

I would say once you get the inner rockers out you will find that your outters will need replaced. I would brace the door frame and take the floor out and then remove your rocker and inner rocker. Then replace the floor pan, then inner rocker and finally outer rocker. Just keep fitting and make sure everything fits before welding.

 

[sp71eb]

Windshield frame revamp and hinge replacement

Worked today on getting the windshield frame squared away. I wanted to replace the hinge with a stainless one so I don't have to paint the hinge and have paint chipping off of it all of the time. This worked out well because someone had replaced the windshield frame in the past and really hacked it on. I also found that they replaced it with a vacuum wiper frame. I dismantled the one on the bronco and took the top off another frame that was rusted out at the bottom that I had and grafted them together. I brazed the top on the frame just like they did from the factory. I replaced the hinge and put fusor panel bond on both sides of the hinge to seal it up and also make it stronger. I also got the firewall cleaned up and after I get a few more holes welded up it will be ready for primer. Today was one of those days that you work hard all day and it seems like you didn't get much accomplished.

 

[sp71eb]

It was actually fun doing some brazing I haven't done it for about 10 years. If someone wanted electric wipers I don't see why this couldn't be done without removing the window frame and leaving it on the truck. You just have to cut on the unused side of each frame and grind the braze back until you get shiny steel. Also I included a picture of a tailgating rig our painters did at work. Its going to be our tailgating rig. Its a 1986 F350 ambulance, thing only has 65,000 miles on it. I will note that I am NOT a hawkeye fan.

 

[sp71eb]

Inside of tub primed!

Well decided to really hit it hard this weekend and work both days. I went ahead and got all of the unneeded holes in the floor welded up and stripped the rest of the paint off the floor(check out my St. Patty's day Redwings). Sanded the new panels with 180grit on a DA, masked the body up and threw some epoxy primer on the inside of the tub. I'm planning on putting a Extreme Liner spray in bed liner on the inside of the tub and the bottom of the truck will be sprayed with tinted raptor. Getting the inside of the tub in primer made for a good feeling of accomplishment.

 

[bkd]

nice work!

 

[HELLFIRE]

Man this is some good work. Do you need another one to practice on? HAHA

I really want to attempt this body work myself. But I have no body work experience. And my welding is not super great. But I think I am mechanically inclined enough to figure it out. And I have a few buddies that can weld really good and have a little body work experience. So maybe together we can get it done.

Having done this, would you say it is something to try at home? Mine needs all floors, rockers, door posts, kick panels, inner fenders and few other pieces.

 

[sp71eb]

Man this is some good work. Do you need another one to practice on? HAHA

I really want to attempt this body work myself. But I have no body work experience. And my welding is not super great. But I think I am mechanically inclined enough to figure it out. And I have a few buddies that can weld really good and have a little body work experience. So maybe together we can get it done.

Having done this, would you say it is something to try at home? Mine needs all floors, rockers, door posts, kick panels, inner fenders and few other pieces.

I'm not going to sugar coat it. This type of body panel replacement requires a good deal of experience. It may be something you could try to tackle but I would worry about you getting overwhelmed quickly. I have been doing collision and body work for over 12 years and I still had some trouble fitting some of the aftermarket panels. I would recommend taking a auto body course at a local community collage. It won't give you all of the knowledge to do a project like this but will get you in the right direction. If you decide to start replacing panels on your rig, remember to fit as many of the panels as you can before welding and and don't be afraid to ask questions.

 

[HELLFIRE]

I'm not going to sugar coat it. This type of body panel replacement requires a good deal of experience. It may be something you could try to tackle but I would worry about you getting overwhelmed quickly. I have been doing collision and body work for over 12 years and I still had some trouble fitting some of the aftermarket panels. I would recommend taking a auto body course at a local community collage. It won't give you all of the knowledge to do a project like this but will get you in the right direction. If you decide to start replacing panels on your rig, remember to fit as many of the panels as you can before welding and and don't be afraid to ask questions.

Yeah that's kind of what I thought. I may be getting a little ahead of myself on thinking I can do it. And you are right, I will probably be fed up with it in a short time. Then be bringing it to someone who will pretty much re-do everything I did, costing me just as much money or more.

I really wish Dynacorn would hurry and release that whole body. Mine is so bad I will probably be cheaper to go that route. But I talked to them the other day and they are saying begining of next year. Which is what they said all of last year I believe.

 

[sp71eb]

Tub in Primer!

Spent about 4 hours knocking out the body work on the tub. I used Evercoat quantum filler, and knocked it down with 3m hookit 120grit and finished over it with 320grit. Then I covered the bare metal with ppg etch primer and primed it with Omni mp282 primer surfacer. Next on the list of things to do is put the tub back on the frame and start running wires and get the front clip installed.

 

[Pat'sBronco]

Very very nice....

 

[sp71eb]

Fresh Tub meet Frame

Well the other day I built some door frame braces for lifting the tub onto the frame and bolted them to the door post and striker post. And today the tub got sat onto the frame. A pretty awesome day. Tomorrow I will hopefully get the front clip all welded up and maybe get some tinted raptor sprayed on the underside. I also had my paint delivered today LY9C Ibis white a super bright clean white Audi color. Hopefully paint will be flying by mid summer.

 

[Crawdad]

Maybe I missed it but where are the pics to the frame?!!!!!