What panels should I replace?

[MyBronco15]

I picked up my first early bronco (1971) a couple years ago. I bought it not intending to do any body work on it because i thought it wouldn't be worth it and would be better to go fiberglass tub or some other route if I wanted a "shiny" bronco. Now that I've torn into a few things i know there's still quite a bit of good and guess I'm just looking for some advice from those of you that have completed some of this work. Should I work on replacing panels, what should I repair, or should I stick with my original thought and not waste much time on it.

As of right now if I were to repair I know I would need:

Driver Toe Board
Driver Kick Panel
Driver Inner Outer rockers
All Four Interior Bed corners (small pieces around inner quarter)
I think Both Striker Post
Passenger inner and outer rockers

I don't know about repairing the driver door post, driver quarter, tailgate.

Let me know what you think.....

Thanks,

Brandon

 

[bronkenn]

It looks like that will need attention in every corner. It is a LOT of work but can be done. It is very rewarding when you do finish it. Good luck, Ken

 

[chuckyb]

I agree with Ken. You won’t really know the extent until you get it apart. My experience was the deeper I got, the more rust there was.

 

[cldonley]

Looks to me like a lot of that is repairable, but some needs replaced. If you want it to be a restoration, you'll need to replace all that stuff. If you are only interested in sealing it up and preventing further rust, you can patch. Just remember that sometimes it's easier to replace parts than to repair. As Chuckyb said, you won't really know til you get it all apart, clean up those rusted areas with a wire wheel, and see just how bad it really is. I did a good bit of replacing, and a good bit of patching on mine. Good luck!

 

[rydog1130]

Rust is like an iceberg ...you only see 20% of it....looks like your inner fender aprons are toast, that door Post looks sketchy with all that rust, your belt line on your quarters is questionable. Is it an automatic ? If not do you plan on converting it to auto with column? If so you’ll have to replace that driver side wheel well. You reall won’t know until you strip off the paint but it’s looking like a can of worms!!! Good luck!!!

 

[MyBronco15]

Starting driver side

Thanks for the input chuck, ken, and cldonley

This is not going to be a factory restoration but I do want things to be fairly neat, clean, and most importantly strong without creating more future problems.

Here are some pics with front clip and drivers door removed after a little bit of wire brushing. I picked up a cowel support/kick plate today and im planing on a full replacement of that piece as well as the toe board. Leaning towards repairing the door post especially given all the alignment issues.

I believe i can cut down between the door post and kick panel to separate those two and potentially slide the new plate in from the cab side. I'm not terribly worried about the reinforcing and repairing of the post except for the "bubble" where the lowest fender screw attaches. Metal was too thin and nut tore out completely. Anyone see problems with doing it this way? And if I do go this way, how much bracing should I add? Seems like it will stay strong in multiple directions as long as door post stays tight at top and bottom. Possibly brace under hood from firewall to inner fender? Dash? Everywhere!?

Thoughts, concerns, advice....??

 

[rydog1130]

Get your self 2 harbor freight spot weld cutters and and an air chisel and go to town....but!!!!! Brace everything and take measurements of EVERYTHING .....and write them down!!!!!!

 

[rjrobin2002]

I had one that bad and had the tub sand blasted and primed. Then did new floor pans and 3x3 custom square tubing rockers and made a bunch of patch panels on the rest.
Then just threw a set of door inserts on it and rocked on.
.
I was to lazy to do kick panels, inner fenders, rocker and the plate behind rockers, door post and door striker and all on.

I actually loved having a Bronco with no doors and just a bikini top.

 

[Rocko1012]

buy a good set of spot welder drills (Blair roto broach) a lot better than harbor Freight IMO. Brace dash area so it does not sag when removing drivers kick panel and door post.