Hey guys, from Ms.

[Hank]

Hey,

Found this forum while looking for info on restoring a 71 Bronco. Great place.

Basically, I have been driving Bronco's off and on since high school and always wanted an EB. Last 8 years I've been driving F250s, but found the 71 Bronco a week ago and decided I needed it. It has a 302 w/ 3 on the column. Runs strong.

Overall it is in pretty good shape for a vehicle this old. Some rust on the bottom of the body, none really on the chasis though. I would say the external body is in pretty good shape. Small dings and surface rust, but not too bad. Most anything that is rubber is toast as is the drivers seat. The engine runs great but I don't know how. There are wires running all over the place from some shoddy work. Don't even know where to start on that. There are several seals leaking on the drive train too, I'll have to clean the bottom well to figure which ones. The windshield looks like it was shot w/ a 22. Right in the middle. I have found the glass and rubber, is it hard to replace?

My goal is to get it driving good, stabilize what little rust there is and slowly work it back into good shape. I'll post some pics in the next day or two.

So far, I took the top off and all the seats out. Media blasted the bed and cab area then fiberglassed the weak areas. I know lots of folks don't like f/g, but my goal is to just stabilize the rust and look at doing major renovations later. The only areas that were weak were at the front seams on the tubs and a few places around the wheelwells. After I glassed the areas and ground it smooth, I cut and shaped some thin aluminum plate and riveted it in place in the front of the tubs for extra strength. Then I primed and rhino lined the whole bottom. One day next week I am going to put it on a lift and clean/coat what I can get to on the underside

My boys and I have also,

R/R the master cylinder, steering box, seat belts and some assorted odds and ends.

The truck is basically drivable now but I do want to replace the windshield, hopefully it isn't too hard. It does shimmey a bit in the front end at times, I think there is some looseness in the left front that I'll have to figure out. That coupled with all the rotted rubber makes it sound like a tin can full of rocks when it goes down the road.

Thanks and look forward to picking you guys brains.

Hank

 

[muladesigns1]

congrats on the new toy!

I wish I would have seen this post before you started the repairs, fiberglass! aluminum!, and pop rivets! I havent seen anyone do that type of repair work since the late 70's early 80's!Thats a shame man. The fiberglass is eventually going to seperate from the metal, Then the holes drilled in the body are now going to attract new rust to form, and your whole repair area just came back, and worse then before.

As a restoration shop owner i understand that restoring an automobile is expensive and time consuming most shops are $55-$80 per hr. But please dont hack up such a great classic truck. If money is an issue heres a cheap way for you to repair the rust on your rig and not have it come back. cut out the rusted area, buy a piece of flat stock from a metal salvage yard. cut and shape the metal to fill the hole you just cut 1/16 smaller then the area. Bring the truck to a reputable shop to weld the metal on. thats all you want them to do. It will only take them a couple hours to do the welding. then you take it home and finish it off with a little body filler. Youll have the repairs done for only a couple hundred bucks and its done to last!

Also if you want the best web site for the classic broncos 66-77 go to www.classicbroncos.com they dont have any late model crap on there just the original bronco's. youll love the site!