Restoring my 86 4x4 Eddie Bauer Edition (Photo intensive)

Here is my Bronco as she is today. This will be my first time restoring any vehicle and I'm not really sure where to start. The truck last ran a year ago. The transmission hasn't been put into gear in probably 4 years. The fluids were never drained. There's minimal rust - see attached photos. And I already have the original shop manuals, so I think I'm all ready to go. I just have to do a ton of research to find out what to start with! Thanks for looking everyone!

I would change the oil+filter change the fuel filter check to see that there are no ratnest inside of the carb/air filter. Check to be sure there is water in radiator and trans fluid in the trans. On the fuel pump remove the hose that connects the fuel pump to the metal line from the fuel tank. Replace said hose with a length on fuel line long enough to reach down into a 5 gallon gas can sitting either under the front of the truck or beside the front left tire. With a fresh battery installed spin the engine and see if she will fire up and run. Check for leaks of any kind repair as necessary. Drain (pump out) the fuel tank remove tank and inspect for rust inside if rusted replace it. Expect to have to replace EVERY rubber hose under the hood and do a major tuneup. With this you are just getting started with a lot of checking draining flushing replacing. I would not have it anyother way. I love my truck

when I started restoring my 73 plymouth I started on the bottom and am working my way up and out, I would start on the frame, then move to suspension , then brakes , then engine and trans, then electrical, then body then interior.

like elmo said be expecting to have to replace some of the the rubber that will break down over time, and you don't have to replace everything just check everything over really well. you'll have to figure out how far you want to go into it. do some engine tests and figure out if the motor is good enough to stay put then you can work around it.

I live in the rust belt of ontario so when I got into my 73 I knew I would have some issues with my frame which I dealt with first, then I got elbows deeps in wire brushing/ sanding and cleaning up every square inch for engine bay and subframe to get covered up with paint or undercoating.

you can check out my current progress on my 73 in the no-bronco pictures part of the forum.

I just thought its funny how when I first got on the forum in the 80 to 96 it was all about fixing up the daily driver broncs and now more and more broncs are getting some serious love and attention.

You have a major problem with that roof and because of the seriousness of it, I would have professional body man take a look at it. It is not an easy area to fix and I don't think you can find new body parts for it. Water leaking in there will get down inside the A and B posts and will be working from the inside out. The only long term fix for that is to replace all the bad metal, that means above the blister line, Bondo will not fix that, just hide it for a year or so. Remove the rear splash guards and check between the skin and B post at the bottom. That is an inherent bad area for Bronco's due to the design of the splash guards. They have a gap built into them that allows mud and dirt to be thrown in that area which collects moisture which, of course, rusts out the B post and skin from the inside out. Check your floorboards, especially on the driver side. I had to do some major surgery on my truck and if you are interested take a look the the pictures at the link at the bottom of this post. Pull the floor rugs and check the condition of the floor from the tub to the fire wall.

It's is all doable, but the roof is a problem because of the curves and making new pieces for that area takes a lot of skill, (alternative would be to chop the top of the cab off, chop one from another Bronco in a junk yard and weld it onto yours. Other than that area, from what I can see from the pictures, it looks pretty good.

Re-size your pictures before posting to at least 1024 x 768, even smaller would be better. It makes looking at them easier and for some members on dial up connections large pictures become a problem.

Good luck,

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