Matt's 74 Bronco

[reaper71]

I came in Yesterday to finish up the back end of this thing and make it a solid truck!

Pic #1. The Passenger side cap all welded up

Pic #2. Showing spot welds and gap.

Pic #3. This was from the drivers side inner upright, and it was not welded like this from the factory (spot welds only) so I made sure it stays.

Pic #4. Drivers side rear box all welded in, will need to finish the gas filler boxes still.

Pic #5. And...Drivers side cap all welded in, I have some small things to wrap up still but it is a complete truck now!!

Matt added a few small projects to the list (roll cage and modify the roof) will tackle these in the next day or so.

Mark...

[flashed]

Amazing work you do ,better than Ford even did it way back when.

[reaper71]

Thank you much appreciated!

[reaper71]

Pic #1. The front fuel box and brace installed.

Pic #2. Rear fuel box installed (have some seam welding to finish)

Pic #3. On the passenger side, you have the main floor pan and then you have to install the 1/8" plate for the seat mounting (the black is rust encapsulator)

Pic #4. The new pan welded in place and seam welded.

At this point I have a few small things to finish up and it's ready to go home Matt brought the top over to see how it fits

Pic #5. Finally a complete truck!!


Mark...

[flashed]

Are you just doing the sheet metal repair or doing the rest , prep and paint ? Would love to see the finished product ,always liked these Bronco's .

[reaper71]

No just doing the metal work, He will be doing the body prep and another person will do the paint.
Will keep posting as he works on it and will have pics as it progresses.

Mark...

[Advanced Design]

That came together really well Mark. The top fits! Any idea on how many hours you put in on it?

[reaper71]

Thank's Doug!
As of last night 180 hrs went into the entire rebuild of the truck.

I had a few small things to take care of before this goes home, The gap in the doors needed some TLC as well as the over/under on the bodyline at the door gap.

Pic #1. Passenger side spot as mentioned above.

Pic #2. The after shot...I cut both door and the quarter and moved as needed 1/16" each then welded and metal finished. and also addressed the gap.

Pic #3. another angle.

Pic #4. Moving to the Drivers side (repeat of the passenger)

Pic #5. 2nd angle.


And that my friends is the end of the road!
The Bronco is done (at least my part ) and Matt will come take it home to start the body work, will keep posting as I get updates to share.
Hope you enjoyed.


Mark...

[Russell Ashley]

Thank you very much. I have enjoyed this thread from the first. I hope to see some pics of it painted.

[flashed]

Thankyou from me too ,I also look forward to the rest as you get pics from them.

[reaper71]

And thank you to the both of you checking out the build (I did get nervous posting on this one do to it being a F^%d and the lack of response) there were times I almost stopped the posting.
Then I noticed there were NO builds on these type of trucks so...here we are.

Again thanks for the support and will post up as it makes progress.

Mark...

[flashed]

I like all old stuff ,no matter the brand and love seeing them brought back from the grave .Keep posting them .

[Advanced Design]

Glad you shared...the metal repair concepts are pretty applicable on any older steel vehicle, so there was a lot to be learned here. Fixing the door alignment / gap fix is a good example of a process that will work on any other metal vehicle. Thanks again.

[reaper71]

Flashed and Doug Thank's again Guys!

You know it doesn't matter what your building the concepts are the same (as you stated above) I really learned some different ways of doing things on this build some good,some bad but I learned... I had a guy stop by yesterday and is interested in doing an FJ! so...might be a 2nd one in the coming months.

Mark...

[izzy_Britton]

Wow! I love this. I have been watching but sorry for the lack of response, and any lack of responses that may have kept you from updating us. This was really awesome, ford or not. Lol.

I will be working on my parents 74 bronco here pretty soon and it was a pleasure watching you do it first, I will use this as a guide when doing theirs. It is already done, but mom wants it red, so I Wil be stripping it down as far as I am willing to go to ensure there is no rusty panels that may bite me in the arse later. It looks solid but they just bought it from out of state couple months ago, so... Hope for the best expect the worst.

Thanks again, I loved following this. Please update us as you are able on the progression of the paint, body, and final build.

-Izzy

[reaper71]

Thank's Izzy!
I hope your project goes well for you, these are a bit of a pain to work on (for first timers anyway) so take your time and measure alot (if your cutting parts off) best of luck.

Mark...

[reaper71]

Update:

These were taken by the customer "Matt" at his house, he has been working on the motor doing a full rebuild of it.
Pic's 1-4 of the finished product.
Will update as I get the shots.

Mark..

[reaper71]

Update:
The Bronco came back for a small modify project. The repop front fender was shorter than the O.E. Fender and was throwing off the hood by 1/2" so...I had to modify the nose a bit (on these they are 1 piece for grill and surround)

Pic #1. This is the drivers side being fit (The top parts were cut out and hand made) Because they were not lining up the way I needed.

Pic #2. In this shot it shows the new upper cone piece all welded and metal finished.

Pic #3. Making the gap a bit better.

Pic #4. The passenger side after the mod was made and doing metal finish.

Pic #5. All done and ready for bodywork.

I apologize for not showing every step! I started off using another grill and cutting it 1/2" long then cut the grill I was using at the flange and this is how I gained 1/2" longer nose.

Mark

[reaper71]

I know it's been forever since the last update.
Matt was having a new house built and family things so the truck was stored for a bit.
It's being prepped for paint now

Mark

[mongocanfly]

Wow Mark..I must have missed this build back then.. .its unbelievable somebody even tried/wanted to save it with all those repairs/replacements needed...really good work on your part

[reaper71]

Thanks Greg!
Yes this was one of the biggest projects Ive done, These Bronco's bring big money nowadays!
The guy doing all the bodywork and paint does it on the weekends and free time so it's been a timely process.

Mark

[flashed]

Glad to see it back .

[reaper71]

Thanks for checking in!
I hope to start getting more pics from Matt so I can keep it updated.

Mark.

[v30crewcab]

nice, did you do the same build to the fj40 in the background?

[reaper71]

Yes I did. The link is reed 78fj rebuild. I have done 2 of those.