Copper Top

[broncosbybart]

Ok, so I am color blind. I think the truck is actually orange, but it looks copper color to me.

The truck is a 77 which I bought a year or more ago from PA. It was supposed to be a TX truck with no rust. It really doesn't have much rust, but I csn tell the floors were replaced along with some other metal. My plans are to fix some of the screw ups with the work already done and the more I looked at it, the more I figured that it 'needed' to come off the frame...

The truck was originally sitting on 39.5" IROK's. They are long gone. Right now it is sitting on 315 (35") BFG KM2's. It had a 3" body lift and a 3.5" CAGE suspension lift with long arms. The body lift will be cut down to 1" with new hardware. The suspension will all be refreshed and reused.

This is how it sat when I got it:

[broncosbybart]

My plans are to fuel inject the 302, check the trans and transfer case, inspect everything well and replace anything questionable, pound the dents out of the body and replace things that are really bad (crinkled) along with any sub-par work and get it in shape to be a daily driver.

With my seeming ADD fully kicking, I've been jumping around like a rabbit on things to do. The start was remvoing the body lift and taking it down to a 1" body lift. To do that, I just cut the body spacers down with the band saw and bought new grade 8 hardware for the body mounts. Easy enough. To do that though, I had to cut off the exhaust system as it was run between the frame and the body itself (and made a ton of noise as it rubbed the bottom of the tub while driving). The rock skis and the rollcage mounts had to also be cut off of the frame to enable the body to sink down. Not so simple now... Then, I had to modify the shifter linkage and the fan shroud, as the fan hit it now and the shifter linkage was too long and needed to be shortened by the 2" that the body went down. The gas tank needed to be re-adjusted as well. Finally...

[BucknEB]

I would say it looked copper also hen I saw it last year at the turn n burn. I was wondering how long it would take for you to start wrenching on that truck. Sounds like a good plan and a good start to the project.

[broncosbybart]

Thanks man. Yeah, it is past time to work on one of my own.

I jumped over to doing some body work. Basically every body panel was dented. The hood and tailgate are pretty straight but even they have dents and some other imperfections.

The front fenders and grille were trash. I traded some stuff off to Crawdad for some front fenders. Might have been a mistake on my part as I had a set of new fenders here. As I got into these, they need a good bit of work, but are still way straighter than what came off.

To start, the fenders were cleaned up and the fiberglass flares removed. The fenders were cut out more for the flexible WH warflares. My preferred method of doing this is an angle grinder with cutting disc. Masking tape makes for a nice guide to cut against. It is easier for me to see than using a marked line.

[broncosbybart]

I might be way ambitious here, but I'd like to have this thing done by the Meet and Greet. Anyone wanna help me out??

The fenders I got from Crawdad were in worse shape than I thought. Both needed a fair bit of reworking and had 10 (or more) coats of paint on them and a fair bit of bondo. One fender had a crease in it that was pulled out some and filled with close to a half inch of filler!! I hope I can get them straighter than they are. Finally I am to bare metal with them.

[broncosbybart]

Well, the more I thought about it, the worse my ADD got. Time for a frame off!!!

I HATE MYSELF SOMETIMES...

[broncosbybart]

Oh, and why does it have to be so cold? Guess I'm getting less tolerant in my old(er) age. Give me a few years and I might have to join Matt and Chuzie in FL. What a terrible thought! Not that they are there of course, but that swampy wasteland is now seeming to somehow attract me to it. I feel kind of like a fly being attracted to that warm and glowing light hanging next to the porch door.

[Bronco Biff]

Good roll man. Ditto on the cold!

[broncosbybart]

Thanks Biff.

Well, got some more done.

The windshield frame wasn't in very good shape so it was removed. I cut the upper part right off the windshield frame hinge using a cutting disc on the angle grinder.

The early year models had bolted windshield frame hinges. Later years (like thie 77 here) were spot welded to the tub. I like to remove panels or pieces that are spot welded by grinding them off, if I am replacing them. I use a 4.5" angle grinder to do it. As the grinder near end of the piece of metal, the metal will discolor like in the picture below. From there, grind slowly so that the metal piece below isn't damaged. I like to get it really close and use a pry bar to try and 'pop' the 2 pieces apart from there. Repeat about 80 more times and the windshield frame hinge is off...

After that I will take a flap disc on the angle grinder and smooth everything out. Don't go crazy with it, but get the left over metal and high spots. My plans are to bolt the new windshield hinge, so I plan on cleaning this area really good to eliminate the surface rust and prevent it from coming back.

SORRY- bear with me. Pics aren't uploading at the moment.

[SC74]

I want to make my windshield frame removable too. I know chuck made FBG removable by using the two stock bolts on the bottom through the dash and two more attachments on the cage up top. I'd like to use some counter-sunk 1/4-20 bolts or something to replace the spot welds. I've drilled spot welds out on windshield frames before and it's no fun, but when it's hot and pretty outside, why have a windshield? My windshield also sticks outside of the cage and creates an easy place to snag in tight places.

Glad to see you working on this Bronco again. You plan on keeping it or selling it?