"The Nightmare" - '73 Explorer Father & Son Build Thread!

[JGbronc]

What about a hood from bronco design or Dennis Carpenter? Dennis is within driving distance I think.

I think we are going with JBG, as they can get it here much more reasonable. Around 35% of what shipping would cost with Tom's. For the record, I'm a much bigger fan of Tom's, but with that much difference the money matters.

 

[JGbronc]

Ordered a hood today from JBG, as well as a door hinge rebuild kit. Also we found a driver's side door locally. We have most of the body parts under control now!

 

[jmhend]

10 days now.... update please.. lol looking great

 

[JGbronc]

We decided to go ahead and do both inner fenders, since there was some damage to the passenger side as well. Somehow they both got bent upward and caused the alignment to be off. We temporarily set it on a different frame to be sure they were aligned right, and then Dad put them both on. The '76-'77 style wheel tub is in too. So the front clip will basically be new except the core support and grille.

The hood is supposed to be delivered Tuesday, from JBG.

 

[JGbronc]

Tonight, we went out in the shop for a bit and showed the '73 some attention. We put the bulkhead in so we can get it mocked up to be bolted in (holes drilled, etc.)

I got the grille that we were planning to use down and started the Alice turn signal mod, and noticed it was in worse shape than either of us remembered. We will be looking for a nicer one.

The plans are to finish some work on the tub, have the bulkhead blasted and send it off to paint....SOON! We are more than ready for this thing to be done!

 

[fordfan]

They get to be more fun; when you're farther along in the restoration process. Just keep pluggin' away!

 

[JGbronc]

I know it seems like we doing nothing, but we are trying to get the paint and body situation squared away. We will be trying to work on it some this week, and I'll be posting on here about it.

Dad scored a bunch of new parts cheap and we will be using some of them on this one. I'm going to sort through them all and determine what we will be using on this, and what will go on his '76 uncut project.

 

[JGbronc]

Progress was made on some metal work tonight. Sorry, but no pics as we were both busy.

There should be a lot of updates coming soon!

 

[JGbronc]

Dad spent some time on the tub tonight while I tried to clean and organize our parts bay, which has turned into a nightmare! :-[

I started getting all the new parts together we have for the '73 as well, and I'm glad because we had forgotten we had some of it! I guess that's what happens when you don't stay going at a constant rate.

We are going to get a lot of metal work that is needed done before it goes to the body shop. We will be doing a little body work as well, to save some time. As a lot of you know, at a body shop, time is money. BIG money!

 

[JGbronc]

Last night and today, further progress was made on the tub. Dad is the fabricator, so he has done all the welding. Since this will be a half cab, the rear section of the tub needs to be slick. So for that to happen, a lot of repairs and replacement needed to happen. Sure we could have just used a filler on most of it, but we would rather it be solid and not come back to haunt us.

The new tailgate had spot welds that looked terrible, so while I wasn't helping Dad I worked on that some. I hope to finish it off next week.

Sorry for the lack of pics. I'll try to get some next week.

 

[BroncoBoom]

Great Job ! Looks like you guys are taking Frame off to a whole new level !
Nothing like working on Vintage Metal !

 

[Mill KNOB]

Good to hear that you and your dad are making some progress on your project.

 

[JGbronc]

Thanks guys. I hope to bring it to Townsend one day. This year obviously won't happen but maybe next year.

We went further than we had planned on going with it. Originally this was just going to be a nice driver. Now its looking like it will be a trailer queen to take to shows. Don't get me wrong, it will be driven, just not long distances and rough roads. We will probably take it to a lot of local shows too.

He has a '76 Sport now that can be a driver. What's wrong with having more than one for different purposes, right?

 

[JGbronc]

We worked on the tub again tonight. Slowly but surely it is getting better and better. I failed again to get pics, but I WILL get some this week and let everyone know what we have done lately. We are actually making progress, I promise!

Hopefully, we can be done with all the metal work and have it at a body shop by the time Super Celebration gets here. It's highly possible at the rate we are going.

 

[JGbronc]

So the big news today is that we have decided on a body and paint shop. I won't publicize it until it is there for sure, but it is local, and I have seen some of their work at car shows. Also, this shop painted a local store owner's '68 Camaro, which I have seen several times and it looks excellent. Shop owner said he can probably fit in in about 3 weeks from now, so we plan to have all the metal work done by then.

I started making lists of parts to order to reassemble the undercarriage tonight as well. The plan is to paint the underside of the tub first, set it on the frame (bolted down), then paint the rest of the Bronco.

So a pretty exciting day for the '73!

 

[JGbronc]

Tonight's update:

We are still doing metal work. We are in the process of replacing the floor panels that go in front of the wheel tubs due to some rust pitting, etc. Passenger side is done for now. There was some minor rust holes in the very bottom of the inner quarter, that is repaired on the passenger side and will be on the driver side. We are also replacing the striker post supports due to some rust in the bottoms, plus we have a trick up our sleeves for mounting the bulkhead.

The taillight section supports were slightly bent, so instead of trying to fix them, we are replacing those as well.

Turns out the inner rockers had some rust, so those have been fixed. We are putting new #1 braces on too, since the old ones had to be removed to repair properly (one side already on).

Today, The 2.5" Suspension lift was ordered from TBP as well as a steering stabilizer to match the shocks, and a set of ceramic coated long tube headers was ordered from Duff's. Tomorrow, a large order will be placed with JBG!

A few pics of the Bronco, plus a box full of new goodies!

 

[JGbronc]

Got the driver's side panel in today. Turned out pretty good. Also the new headers came in from Duff's yesterday. I couldn't be happier with the quality, and they were here after only 1 day!

Dad ordered a LOT of new stuff from JBG yesterday. Too much to list, but will post pics during install.

One big change up in the build. After some figuring, we have ditched the EFI. Sad, I know, but a carb is easier, and faster to do. Plus it will end up being much cheaper than the way we were going to do it. We do plan to buy the Edelbrock Endurashine carb and intake.

 

[JGbronc]

Striker post supports are welded in. The tub just needs a little more work and it will be ready for body & paint. The new 2.5" lift kit is in from Tom's.

New parts from JBG include:

New plastic main tank with sending unit, stainless brake lines, new fuel line, new rear bump stops, new T-case mounts, gaskets, and hardware, new steering box bolts, New u-bolts.

There will be much more to come later on too. I went to Fastenal and bought a bunch of new stainless bolts to use for appearance as well.

 

[Deano]

Are those dick cepek tires in some of them pics

 

[JGbronc]

Are those dick cepek tires in some of them pics

Yes they are. 33x12.50s. We wont be using them on this one. Gonna get 35s.