IDI Bronco Project

[pastorjeep]

Beast mode!

 

[Can30Diesel]

Couple more updates..

Gutted the whole back of the bronco to see where rust starts and stops. The white bag has mouse infested insulation. It also covers a massive hole on that side.

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Front seats removed and the vinyl flooring out as well.. same rust discovery in progress. Good thing I have a tub to carve up as needed!!

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Put both front seats in the back for now.. limited dry storage so I have to improvise.

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In other news.. I have some lift springs I want to put in the front. Looks like the hanger needs to move forward a little..

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the project plods on. I am enjoying every part of it!!

 

[Can30Diesel]

Well I decided it was time to line the body up with the frame and bolt it together. That way when I start working on the front spring setup I don't have to worry about the body deciding to fall off the wagon.

So I figured I would take a couple more pics.

I used one of the 4x4's as a slide and pivot point so I could move the body around. worked pretty good actually.

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Here is the general idea of the body lift. The bronco originally came with one so I figured I may as well use it. To be honest, I was trying to remember the right sandwich combination of washer/bushing/body mount for a while. This seems to look right to me. The nut is just a few threads in at this point, I tightened them all later on.

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It just keeps getting taller! I also wanted to show off my sky-lit air conditioned shop. It has its own weather system even!

Yeah.. I need a shop..

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Now that I have the body secured.. time to get the front suspension all sorted.

In the meantime, a buddy of mine has offered to haul my donor tub away and introduce it to his plasma cutter while I go camping. its nice to have good friends!

 

[riotwarrior]

We all hqve different shops...I use sky light shop frequently.....sucks when rains

Looks great man...looks really good.

 

[Can30Diesel]

Well this weekend was deemed "bronco weekend" as we need to clear room in the yard for the annual birthday bash we put together for my daughter and I. We have birthdays within a week of each other so since she was born, the tradition has been one big party for both. Now if my son had his act together and was born around the same time, it would be for all three, but he just had to be different!

Anyhow. The work started friday after work when I hauled the donor tub over to my buddy's place for it's date with Mr Plasma cutter..

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I have never used one of these things and am very much used to the jarring spark filled life of a grinder with a cutoff disc. So he let me have a whirl at it. All I can say is whoever invented this probably got tired of the grinder life and figured "there HAS to be a better way" It was like drawing with a pen, damn I need to get one of these when I have a shop!

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This is what was left of the tub at the end of Friday night. More to come on that one.

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The back chunk got cut out and now resides in the back of my truck as a rough piece to use for needed patching in that area in the bronco. It will eventually live in the bronco as storage until needed.

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In the mean time, I needed to fire up the black truck just one last time to hear that engine, and take some videos. I pulled the glow plugs as well just for show. This is 4 years of use with my "custom" push button glow plug switch.

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[Can30Diesel]

I pulled the batteries out after that. These big Group 31's have lots of grunt left in them. They will do quite nicely in the Bronco.

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So after much thought I decided to just use the factory spring mounting setup from the black truck on the bronco. So I pulled off the front shackles and brackets.

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Whoever decided on the rivets for this system was, they were thinking forever. 6 rivets per side and three per side share the holes with the rad support mounts. So.. since they were shot and never seeing use again, they had to go.

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My cousin came over to help. We installed the front lift springs in mockup as well.

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Looks like once more weight is on the leafs, and I have the front shackles installed, it should be pretty close to right.

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Will probably settle the front down a little too.

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So for now I have the shackles hanging off the front of the springs waiting for brackets to appear. I'll need to make a 3/4" spacer to make up for the lack of a dimple in the frame, but thats not a problem. The rear hangars are bolted in (2 bolts per side for now the rest to come) and hopefully by tomorrow I will have the whole front suspension bolted in.

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More to come!

 

[Can30Diesel]

More stuff done..

Cleaned and painted the brackets..

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Bronco tub saw more plasma cutter and cut off discs.

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Hauled back in my truck and the trailer.

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We also pulled the box off the black truck so it can be the place where all scrap goes.

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Its only a matter of time before that ol beast goes away.

Started working on hammering out the rivets on the bronco to get the brackets installed. Ran out of ambition after nearly 30 hours of work, took an extended beer break with my buddy. He says I should call in sick with Broncohitis all this week. It keeps getting taller - I mean worse!

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Will keep plugging away this week. Its been a very productive weekend. Thanks for looking!

 

[riotwarrior]

Not BIG enough

 

[Grendel]

Cool, keep up the work. I've day dreamed about stuffing a 7.3L into a Bronco myself.

 

[Can30Diesel]

Not BIG enough

It keeps getting bigger!

It still will be getting larger tires before it is done making it even biggerer! Ah well it is a toy after all!

 

[Can30Diesel]

Cool, keep up the work. I've day dreamed about stuffing a 7.3L into a Bronco myself.

Thanks Grendel! Will do!

 

[Can30Diesel]

Got some more done last night.

Cut up the rest of the bronco tub remains and crammed it into the box from the black truck.

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Started on installing the brackets for the shackles. Made up a template out of a beer box.

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I was kind of working back and forth on the two sides so some stuff is done on one side thats not done yet on the other, but the bolt lines up!! Lock washers/nuts and locktite to be applied before it hits the road of course!

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Will be right back at it after work today, so ... more to come!

 

[riotwarrior]

Chip away...gettin closer to a runner

 

[cheap bronco]

Done everything you are doing. Search for my signature. You will see pics of my IDI cheap bronco

 

[Can30Diesel]

Done everything you are doing. Search for my signature. You will see pics of my IDI cheap bronco

I see some various posts under you but nothing that says "bronco project" I am probably just blind. Do you have a link to your thread? I'd be interested in how you did your bronco.

Thanks!