Sick Pony: 74' Sport Resto Mod for Trail and Street

[Crawdad]

right now its semi uncut... i trimmed the inner lip and about 1 inch of the molded flare out to test fit the panels while the tires were still on. i originally planned to do a full cut with warflares. to fit my suspension and usage plan (3.5"SL 2"BL 35" tire, and 60% offroad use) it needs to be cut, but it does look good the way it is... its gonna get cut though... jigsaw is at the ready mokin:

yes, i masked, then i masked, then i masked again... thank gooodness thats done...

I sorta like it "semi-uncut". I'd wait till you have all the lifts and tires on before cutting. You could start a new thread on Classic and call it: Any Semi-Lubrs Out There?!!!":beer:

[broncosbybart]

if you decide to cut more, here is a little hint- get a 4-1/2 inch angle grinder if you don't have one already and buy some really thin (0.045') metal cutting wheels for it. that would work a lot better than a jigsaw. i put masking tape over the wheel opening and draw the outline of the fender flare on it with a marker. then i make another mark about 1 to 1.5" inside of that line and that is what I cut. That way you have a pretty tight fit without a lot of metal protruding from behind the fender flare when you are done. You just need enough for the rivets.

[broncosbybart]

i agree w/crawdad as well. wait till the body is on the chassis. you can cut it at any time now.

[scbronco]

i agree w/crawdad as well. wait till the body is on the chassis. you can cut it at any time now.

thats the plan more or less... i want the flares on hand to use as a template like you suggested, and funds dictate that that will have to wait...

[scbronco]

did some work today and bent up the side hoops for an in cab roll cage. i used bend-tech to design the whole cage, and the side hoops came out near perfect. i'm using 1 1/2" .120 wall tube, which i know is a little on the small side, but it fits in all the nooks and crannies of the bronco tub nearly perfectly. i think i may even get away without cutting into the face of the dash. im going to make up for the smaller diameter tubing by triangulating and webbing wherever i can. here are some pics. BTW the angle iron and tubes in the door opening are just a jig to stabilize the body while its off the frame. all of that is coming out once the cage gets bolted in...

[broncosbybart]

looks great! you have your work cut out for you. 1.5" will be fine. no worries there. are you going to build some brackets to attach it to the frame?

[Crawdad]

Looking like a good start! I have a lot of sanding on mine to do. Might get someone else to do it and the inside of my bronco.

[SC74]

i used bend-tech to design the whole cage, and the side hoops came out near perfect.

keeping the bends in the same plane is harder than getting the angles right sometimes.. Looks like you've got it figured out.

[scbronco]

keeping the bends in the same plane is harder than getting the angles right sometimes.. Looks like you've got it figured out.

i think the plane of bend of the machine can make that easier or more difficult. my bender is the got trikes version which is a vertical plane bender. i just make sure that the tube is always perpendicular to the floor to stay on plane. if your using a horizontal bender, its more difficult. however, you can fab up a little tool that will help. take a 4 in C-clamp and weld a peice of angle iron on the clamping pad of the c so that it "cups" the length of the tube. cut a reference mark in one end of the angle iron at point of the angle. next weld a peice of flat stock across the backbone of the C-clamp, making sure its parrelel to the screw of the clamp.

then you just have to draw a straight line down the length of the tube prior to bending, keep the pointer on the angle iron on that line as you bend, and use a magnetic degree finder on the flat stock to gauge movement...

maybe i should take some picks and post up later...

[broncomania]

wow ! nice build up.