84 Ford Bronco

by bohica on July 8th 2011, 8:40 am

Just wanted to check in and let everyone know that I have been following this website for a long time and have started the first of many projects. I have an 84 Ford Bronco that I bought (for $1) from a coworker a few years back. The truck has only surface rust with the exception of the tailgate. It has lived a very difficult life but i have decided to rescue it and make updates. I am using this truck as a test for more projects to come. It is basically stock with the exception of a 2in lift and 31 in tires. To prepare myself for this, i have bought sand paper, sanding blocks, filler, paint, rollers and a long block sander (manual). I then got a black piece of metal from my work and painted it with 2 parts red and 1 part mineral spirits. I left this metal in the sun for 8 months straight. The weather consisted of snowy and 20 degrees to sunny and upper 90's. The paint maintained gloss very well. With this success, I moved onto the bronco. It had hit a deer and messed up the hood, grill, and fender. I have replaced those and tried spraying. This did not work out well. The finish was very coarse. That is when I decided to test the rolling on the fender. I was blown away. I am now in the process of working on the hood and other fender. My goal is to have the front clip completed before moving to the rest. The rest will need more work with plenty of prep. I am working on getting the photos uploaded and should have the progress outlined by the end of the day. thanks for checking in and this great website.

by rmdhokie on July 8th 2011, 12:03 pm

Welcome >>> $1 for a Ford Bronco? Your already way...way ahead. Looking forward to pics of your progress.

by Tommy Hillbilly on July 9th 2011, 11:46 am

That's a pretty nice rig.

by bohica on July 9th 2011, 8:44 pm

Ok, I have put together some pics of where the bronco started and where it is now. I got it a few years ago and it had to be towed to my house. I put a switch in the steering column that was keeping it from turning over. I then fixed some bad alternator wiring and that did the trick. My co-worker had a stepson who did his best to kill the bronco but fortunately, its on its way back to life again. Here is the first pic after getting it running:

So what's the first thing you do when you get a $1 bronco running? Beat on it.

and then clean it and then start working on it.

Heres a pic of the new hood and fender

After installing and painting the fender and hood. I had tried to spray with an HVLP gun but it looked terrible. So after installing the new parts. its time to get dirty again

So I have been looking at this website for a long time and decided the bronco would be a good candidate for the roll job. It only has surface rust (except the tailgate) so i have used the fender as my test. I wanted to do my best to complete it as it would be for the finished product. I bought chrome trim ($5) from the u-pull-it junkyard (where i get everything) and this is after 8 coats of white, 8 coats of red, and polishing the chrome. I wet sanded to 1000 grit and then went after it with a high-speed buffer and turtle wax rubbing compound. I have not done any finish polishing or wax. I am extremely pleased with the results. I tried spraying rustoleum clear. That was a bad mistake. It buffed well but if you rub wax remover or any petroleum based cleaner then the clear would roll up. I have since wet sanded the clear off. Also, i taped and painted the orange stripe with rustoleum safety orange. The red is sunrise red and then generic white rustoleum. I used 8 to 1 rustoleum to penetrol.

I was pleased with the fender so i have started the hood and other fender. This is after 4 coats. I noticed as the gloss built up that there were several dings that i missed on the hood.

After doing some filling of the hood, I laid down 2 more coats on the hood today.

Tomorrow, 2 more coats and then we will wait 2 days and wet sand with 800 grit. Then 2 more coats and onto the red, hopefully. Thanks for checking it out.

by Tommy Hillbilly on July 9th 2011, 10:37 pm

bohica wrote: ...onto the red, hopefully. Thanks for checking it out.

Not doing an OJ tribute?

by 63Falconconvert on July 10th 2011, 6:13 am

thank Tommy...I just blew coffee through my nose Laughing

Truck looks great, looks like you making progress.

by cac1967 on July 10th 2011, 2:07 pm

truck look's great, keep up the great work, love the old full sized bronco's!!!

by bohica on July 11th 2011, 7:13 am

Got the 8th coat of rustoleum white on it yesterday. We will have a 100 degree day today so i will probably wet sand tonight. After wet sanding, it will get 2 more coats of white and more wet sanding. After that, it will be ready for sunrise red on the fender. I will be taking a break to accumulate some parts that will be necessary for the rest of the bronco. Does anybody have a good product to use to take off the factory stripes on the rest of the truck. See previous pics for the stripes that i am talking about. Up till now, i sand them off with a sander then i have to put a light coat of filler and block sand to even the metal out. While getting the rest of the parts together for this bronco, I will be prepping replacement doors and fenders for my 78 caprice. I will post what the car looks like here but will start a new topic later. Here it is prior to being hit by a young driver...

[color=darkred] Actually, I am missing the after pics from the wreck. Basically, a kid dragged his front bumpter down the fender and two doors. I have found the donor parts and have started prepping them. I replace the wheel vintiques rallye wheel and tire. It also bent the spindle and that was replaced also. My goal for the summer is to have the car repainted Brightside Ocean Blue. I will also have the wheels re-powder coated to a slightly darker gray and will leave off the trim rings. The stock 305 runs good but i am going to rebuild it. I have put 50k miles on this car after my dad died. Currently, its got poly bushings throughout, stock 350 turbo tranny, and the motor has been de-smogged with an aluminum intake and an edelbrock 500 cfm carb. I replaced the distributor with a billet accel hei and new gas tank with braided lines and fuel regulator. I overhauled the AC to 134 with all new components. The wreck blew the seals in the gear box, so i replaced all the seals and it works well also. The car runs great and is exceptionally smooth to drive in. I am 6'4" and 300lbs so its one of the few cars that fits me and my family well. I am shooting for a 40-50 hp gain on the rebuild of the 305, I know most people think of them as boat anchors but if you get them to breath (BTW, it has 1 5/8 long tube headers and 2 1/2 inch true duals with resonators so its very quiet but deep sounding) and free them of the mandates of our 1970's congress then they do well. I will also being replacing the 2.60 to 1 rear gear with a more responsive 3.08 rear gear.

by Tommy Hillbilly on July 11th 2011, 10:33 pm

bohica wrote:Does anybody have a good product to use to take off the factory stripes on the rest of the truck.

Eraser wheel.

It makes quick work of it too, but you need a corded drill - my 14.4 DeWalt took several charges to get rid of the stripe in the molding that goes all the way around the car, on my Mustang GT.

by bohica on July 12th 2011, 6:55 am

Thanks Tommy. I will definitely pick one of those up. Where is the best place to find this at?

by Tommy Hillbilly on July 12th 2011, 3:33 pm

Vatozone or O'Reilley's might have them, but if you can find a body shop supply place, they should have them for sure.

by retired plumber on July 12th 2011, 7:35 pm

By stripes do you mean the chrome and rubber trim? I'm not sure what year they changed but you might check and make sure they are not held on by metal pins insted of glue/sticky tape first. From the pictures it looks to me like there are holes for the trim pins. Of course my eyes may be giving out from my advanced age. Laughing

Mike

by bohica on July 13th 2011, 7:21 am

On the original, non-repainted sections there is factory pinstripes. They were originally red on the outsides with a charcoal, metallic gray center line. The stripe is about 3/4 inch wide and separates the top part of red from the white. Anyway, its sticking well and up until now, I have used a sander to sand the stripe off but at the same time, it will sand to bare metal. So i was looking for something that will take the stripe off without digging through too much paint.

by bohica on July 13th 2011, 7:23 am

BTW, I have rolled the 9th coat after wetsanding. There has not been any drama or surprises so far. I will be laying the 10th coat tonight and then wetsand on the weekend. I have 1/4in tape that i will be using to mask off the red sections on the fender, How long do you all recommend waiting before taping and and starting on the red?

by bohica on July 13th 2011, 10:47 am

by retired plumber on July 13th 2011, 12:57 pm

O.K. To take off vinyl trin/tape take a heat gun and heat it up a bit and carefully peel it off. If you have a REAL UNDERSTANDING wife she might let you use her hair drier. Of course that might cost you a fancy dinner and a rose or two. On second thought, the eraser would probably be a LOT cheaper. Laughing

.
Mike

by bohica on July 13th 2011, 2:34 pm

sounds like excellent advice. I am pretty sure my wife would want me to use the hair dryer so that she can get a meal out of the deal.

84 Ford Bronco

84 Ford Bronco

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Re: 84 Ford Bronco

updated with pics...

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wet sand today...

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Re: 84 Ford Bronco

quick question/update...

9th coat pics...

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Re: 84 Ford Bronco