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Some scrap 2½" box tube:  Laying it out:  ...and here we go!   fully welded and ground on the face, plus fully welded on the back side as well.  I started welding and grinding the seam as well, but theres still a lot more left to do!    Both corners are done now:
As you can see, i still have a sh*tload of welding/grinding to do!  Im hoping to get out there today for an hour or two, i want to start working on the receiver hitch. So hopefully more updates this week! Stupid weather delayed me a bit, but ive still managed to get some progress made on the rear bumper. Tapered the corners:   Added another 3" on the bottom, doesnt look like it but the corners taper to 2"    Mock-up on bronco   2x2 box tube, to protect quarter panel:  Mocking up the whole corner:     Hopefully tomorrow i can make that small piece for the corner, and then start duplicating everything for the other side. Ok, update time. Started on the doors:
Door #2
This is where my inexperience with sheetmetal repair shows. I took my time, but both doors sunk when i welded them. Cant have any filler since the mirror bolts up here, it would just crack. Its gotta be fixed, but im not sure how. Thus far ive only made it worse, which is disappointing.  In my frustration, i decided to abandon the doors for now and start designing a rear bumper. Gutted the original tailgate, so i could easily install it.  Back in place, with the green bronco's bumper still installed. I wanted the 'gate there for mockup of the rear bumper, and its nice & easy to move empty.  Once i got some free time, i went over to the scrap steel yard and found some goodies: 3½x6 angle iron (oddball size but IMO perfect for a bumper). Also got some 2½x1/4" flat stock, and some cool lookin panels with speed holes in them:
...and some 3/8" plate:  I expect to use the angle & plate, i doubt i have a use for that stuff with the holes in it, but they had a ton of em and they looked cool so i bought two. I spent ~ $75 for all of it, so i figure im into the bumper for about $50 as of right now. With the corners cut, the angle will fit up roughly here:  Bumper brackets built out of the 3/8" plate:  ...and installed. My shackle hangars are forward on the frame to correct shackle angle, which gives me 5 existing holes in the frame to bolt to.  ...and the angle iron slotted to fit over the brackets   The tabs sticking thru will get reinforced at a later date and become shackle mounts. This way theyll pull directly on the frame as opposed to just the face of the bumper. Thats all i got; i have a rough idea for what i want the rear bumper to look like, but nothing is set in stone yet so im kind of designing it as i go. I know i want a centered lisc plate, a 2" receiver in the middle (either behind or below plate), i want to taper the corners, and i want to wrap around under the rear quarters to protect them. So ive got a bit of design work to do yet. Rust cut out of rear driver corner, it was a bit worse than it looked!  New steel tacked in:  ...and done! Good enough for the interior, its gonna get covered in bedliner anyway.  I also fixed the small hole on the passenger side. From there i moved on to the rear corners. This is a bumper i bought for a future project for the 96 bronco, i mocked it up on this one to see how it would fit and then never took it off. Considered using it on this one instead, but i have some ideas that would require modifying the bumper so ill probably just start from scratch. We'll see what happens when we get there.  I had started cutting the corners when i opened up the wheel wells, but never finished. Well, that time has come!  The typical cut everyone does  ...both done, looks much better now!  So i think that unofficially finishes rust repair on the tub! Im sure ill find more to fix when i start sanding & prepping for paint, but for now im moving on! So i was talking to my brother, and i guess im going to try to fix my doors. Theyre both pretty clean, except for a patch right in the middle of each, where the mirrors attach. This is going to be a challenge for me, as all my repairs thus far have been in corners or at body lines which made them easy to hide. Its going to be tough for me to get these right, so you cant tell. Driver door:  Passenger door:  Ill start on those next week. Once theyre done (or wrecked lol), im going to switch gears and start building bumpers!  With the diesel and the green bronco 'done', its time to get back to this! Fixed a hole in the rocker:  Thought i had a before pic. Just pretend it was rusty there. Moved inside. See the speckles on the roof?   its bedliner (doh!) Apparently when i sprayed the underside, i didnt mask off the trans tunnel well enough, and i got overspray all over the roof and B-pillar. So i now have the majority of that removed from the paint. I then moved to the rear wheel wells. Since i cut them open, the inner wall was only partially there. I elected to remove the rest of it, since it holds dirt and therefore moisture    Both fenders done, no rust repair required, just need some more wire wheeling and some primer. They will get HNR/bed liner in the spring. To then i moved back inside. i have two more spots to deal with and i think im done with rust repair:   Hopefully ill get out there tomorrow to start on those. I still need to finish cutting the rear corners and thatll pretty much finish up the body work to the tub, but ill still need to sand/bondo everything. I also need to do something about my doors. They are in decent shape, except they both have one rust spot, right in the middle where the mirror bolts on:   I am not confident in my ability to fix that, w/o it being super obvious. My bondo game is not strong! So im currently debating what to do. One door needs a new rivnut, and both need to be repaired there. Im gonna try to clean them up and see if i can fix the doors, as id rather not buy new ones. I already need a new tailgate as mine is rotted badly. So, im rapidly approaching the part of this build where i need to start spending money! So im guessing this will go slow for a bit. Things to do:
And now, the finished product:        So this pretty much finishes off this round of mods. Couple little things id still like to do, but for now im calling it done! (Again, lol) So the flares interfere with the rubber arches for the running boards. I dont want to hack them up (id rather keep them unmolested), so that means i need to build something else to replace them. This is a set of steps i built for a buddy years ago, for his quad cab. He no longer has a use for them, so i got them back. They wont work for a short bronco, but the material is salvageable.  Cutting them up:  Ok, now the correct length, and notches cut/boxed to clear the front fender bolt:  The rough idea, same as what everyone else does. You can see i was working on these while fixing the fender  The difference is im going to add a step on the side, to make it easier to get the little guy in/out of his car seat. Mock-up with some scrap to get ideas:   Building legs:   capped the ends  Fleshing out the step:   Legs done!   Building the steps   Rock sliders!  Mocking up the step:  Drilling holes. The steps will be removable, "just in case" it ends up at Rausch Creek  Sleeving the holes with tube, so i dont have to worry about getting water inside the rail  All done and ground flush  Steps done! Using carriage bolts, so it only takes one wrench to install/remove.
 I was holding off on this update until i got everything done, because it all kind of ties together. That said..... After finishing the interior, i decided i might as well deal with the rust on the exterior. Fortunately, there really isnt much, except for this:  Fixing it required doing something that probably everyone was waiting for.....  The running boards are off!  Anyways...      At the same time, i added a set of Bushwacker's Street Flares, which are the smallest of the 3 they offer.     couple extra pics of the finished product:  I masked off & sprayed the rocker where it always gets beat up from climbing in/out:  ...and i got my RedHead installed:  Took it out for a test drive earlier. As youd expect, the RedHead box is awesome, steering is great now. The steering wheel is crooked tho, so ill have to adjust that tomorrow. As for the interior.....its pretty nice! The combo of Heat & Noise Reducer/BedLiner works great; if its any louder than it was with the full interior installed, i cant really tell. Really impressed with this stuff, especially the HNR. My 88 bronco had rhino-liner sprayed in the interior, and i remember thinking it was louder than with the full interior, but this really does seem to me to be damn near the same noise level as the full stock interior, at least in the front. |
