The Odyssey - The long journey to a rebuild.

[HoosierDaddy]

Well , I've had the Bronco for about 15 years now. In that time I have added power steering , power brakes and explorer EFI and a used BC's 23 gal. tank.
In the warmer months , I drove it a fair amount , locally.
This past fall , Sept. 2012 , the motor lost one of the threaded coolant plugs on the drivers side , the one hidden by the motor mount. Besides leaking oil like a sieve , needing to lift the motor to re-install the plug was more work than I cared to invest in the ol'69 motor.
So I dropped the Exploder block off at the machine shop and had him build a 347 for me.
Then I started taking the Bronco apart:
My current goal:
To do the "frame" portion of a frame off. I am pulling the body and will refresh/restore everything below it.
It needs to be "road trip capable" , IE , long weekend trips , etc and safe as I can make it.

I have the 347 on a stand , a nv3550 on the bench and some other misc. parts I have been hording for awhile.

Here are a few links to the photobucket account where a lot of the pics are :

http://s198.beta.photobucket.com/user/hoosierdaddy_bronco/library/69 Bronco inventory pics - this is the bronco as I discovered the missing coolant plug. It got backed into the garage and has not moved since.

http://s198.beta.photobucket.com/us...ary/69 Bronco inventory pics/Bronco tear down - here is the bronco once I started tearing it down and exposed some of the rust thus far.

Basically , the before shot:

gratuitous 347 shots :

Some rust ... yay!

 

[frenchy]

Sweet lookin engine dude, your doing what I need to get my but in to gear to do to mine. but I'll need a whole new body! keep us posted on the build.

frenchy

 

[BluebroncoNC]

Welcome to the wonderful world of rebuilding...

 

[sprdv1]

I Like it man... oh yeah...

 

[Unknown]

That engine is nice motivation to tackle these other task! I'm here in Grand Rapids, where are you in IN. I might could offer a hand at some point if you need it.

 

[gnsteam]

Good luck with the restore. I'll be watching so keep us posted.

 

[HoosierDaddy]

Well, I took a two year hiatus .... I got back at again finally last weekend and today.
Last weekend saw the tub come off the frame finally.






Today I got the transfer , tranny and motor pulled. plus some of the incidentals that needed to come off the motor. PS pump, alt. , pulleys , etc.



Gratuitous dog pic ;D

 

[HoosierDaddy]

The way I pulled the tub = sketchy as hell, but with the top and roll cage in, the only flex was in the front clip , which is about to fall off from rust anyways.
No matter what , if your point of attachment is low(close to the floor, that tub wants to roll around on from its point of lift. I really should have had a buddy, but I got it. Two guys should be able to do this easily with the engine hoist as shown.
The pics may not show it , but I do have the front clip supported now. Low and behold, 5 gallon buckets seemed to be just the right height to put under the body mounts up there.
I have a parts list to build a wooden cart dolly, so I may knock that out here before long. Another good idea was a heavy wooden frame placed on top of a cheapo Harbor Freight trailer. I'm considering it also, either way , I need the wooden frame built.

 

[HoosierDaddy]

Here are the plans for the cart I intend to build.

Many many Thanks to Crawdad for posting these up!

 

[sprdv1]

One step at a time brother. Look forward to your progress.

 

[deltabronco]

Hang in there buddy. I'm on year 11 on my restoration. It's all worth it.