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1976 BOSS 302, Restomod build..

Crush

Contributor
Bronco Guru
Joined
May 30, 2007
Messages
3,463
Loc.
Greenbottom, WV
Man ive been wanting to do a 609 since i have had mine. Cant afford to buy one though. Ill have to make one
 
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luckieschmuck

luckieschmuck

Full Member
Joined
Mar 18, 2011
Messages
200
Loc.
West Hollywood, CA
Man ive been wanting to do a 609 since i have had mine. Cant afford to buy one though. Ill have to make one


I couldn't afford to buy one right out.. The thought of spending anywhere from 4500-7500 did not compute. I was able to get the currie housing (just tubes and 3rd member housing) for $200 off of craigslist. But I had to drive 1.5hrs to get to it, no where in la can you find a front kingpin axle for less than 1300.. So I wasn't going to go the other route and find and cut it.. Even then something funny/embarrassing happened to me when I got to his condo. My trucks tire blew at his door and I needed a tow truck to take me to the nearest tire place. I bought this truck with out a spare.. Stupid of me not to have found one and placed it under the truck at that time... Live and learn..

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luckieschmuck

luckieschmuck

Full Member
Joined
Mar 18, 2011
Messages
200
Loc.
West Hollywood, CA
Made some brackets for the tail gate to sit on yesterday, also worked on getting the lines of the body to match up correctly. That took a lot of working and reworking, but slowly coming together. Only a couple of more brackets to be made (to connect the glass to metal with 3m) then it's time to see if the tailgate will fit and work... Fingers crossed..

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Not the prettiest weld, but it'll do.
 
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luckieschmuck

luckieschmuck

Full Member
Joined
Mar 18, 2011
Messages
200
Loc.
West Hollywood, CA
June 25th:

Yesterday was a day that couldn't of ended better...I was a little down because of some earlier news, but after installing the tailgate, that all went away... I'm so happy with how well the tailgate turned out.. It took about a whole 10 mins to put the tailgate on but, hours upon hours of measuring and fabricating. Huge thanks to Jorge for helping me see things that I missed and in general, giving me a helping hand. 🏼🏻

All that's left to do is; bolt down the tailgate framing through the body and chassis, epoxy the little brackets to secure the bottom of the panels to the posts..

Here are some pics:

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Thats Jorge with a big smile on his face

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David is checking out the work, 🏼

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luckieschmuck

luckieschmuck

Full Member
Joined
Mar 18, 2011
Messages
200
Loc.
West Hollywood, CA
I haven't posted in a few weeks, but here's some updates.

I finished welding up the tailgate frame:
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Here are the custom brackets I made from old fenders for the fiberglass to tie into the tailgate frame. I used 3M 08115 Panel Adhesive to connect the fiberglass to metal. And finally made some holes in the brackets to tighten the tailgate frame to the tub.

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Ended up spray painting undercoat on there to protect against Mother Nature:

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Since the fiberglass tub wasn't really designed well back in 96' I had to brace up the tub for the roll cage to actually work and save my life . I ended up using 1.5" cold rolled steel, which I would also use as a 1.5" lift too. It was like killing 2 birds with one stone. I would have the body bolted through the roll cage, through the body, through the metal pipe and into the chassis mount. And it would be a straight mount for the tub to chassis too. I still have more work to do, oh I also used a 1/4" flat mild steel piece to make the tunnel brace.

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Here is the tunnel/floor brace welded up and ready for instal:


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Next up is the roll cage, the guy I bought it from didn't intent on using a hard top.. Lots of work ahead for me.. It doesn't fit at all in there. For now I've cut it in half and chopped it down an 1" and in the middle 1". More to come..

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JSmall

Bronco Guru
Joined
Feb 18, 2004
Messages
3,223
Great progress!! Looks like the roll cage will be a lot of work.
 
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luckieschmuck

luckieschmuck

Full Member
Joined
Mar 18, 2011
Messages
200
Loc.
West Hollywood, CA
I was going to work on the roll cage, but more importantly we needed to make sure the engine had the right clearance. We needed space for the alt and compressor. With that in mind, I got to work on notching the frame. I still have to notch the starter motor side and then we're good. Here's some pics:

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So with the 1 1/2" body bushings and the buckaroo hood we dropped the boss in and had a look for clearance. Everything worked out great, I forgot to take some pics of the alt and comp. but I will later.

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Out with the old! In with the new!!

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luckieschmuck

luckieschmuck

Full Member
Joined
Mar 18, 2011
Messages
200
Loc.
West Hollywood, CA
Got some more work done:

I had to notch the frame in order to fit the starter motor and also for accessibility on removal of it too.
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Here I decided to add more clearance to the front, as the compressor and alt were sitting too close for my comfort. I removed the braces and I will be adding some gussets soon.
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Here is the start of cutting off the stock shock mounts and towers to make room for the nice artec shock towers.
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The towers were a little to deep and ran into a problem with steering rod clearance. I had to improvise on the mock up. I think I have to notch the towers for better clearance. This is still a work in progress..
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Ori's looking pretty in there new home

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The removed the older Dana 44 to make room for the 609 axle. Im about to start mocking up the 4 link in the front. I'm waiting on my rear full float currie 9" to come in too... I'm so f'en excited about this.. This is gonna be so bad ass.. 🏻🏻

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luckieschmuck

luckieschmuck

Full Member
Joined
Mar 18, 2011
Messages
200
Loc.
West Hollywood, CA
Got started on welding the Artec industries brackets up. I had to make a couple of my own for the front upper frame links. I didn't take a pic of the finished piece yet, since I still have to weld them up.

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Started on the Artec 9" front universal truss. There was a lot more cutting and grinding than expected. But, I can't wait to tack it up and mock up the 4 link.

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