Ricks Bronco: 1and 1/2

[Brian_B]

Thanks for catching me up. I missed a while and got so far behind. that shows you are making good progress.


From that hot rod site, touch ups are supposed to be a breeze. I would think for something going into the woods a lot this is perfect. Not a high $$$$ paint job that you have to be picky about, but something that with some touch up will look good for years. The black is not flat black, its more of a semi-flat which is a cool look. It has a nice sheen to it. I think you hit it perfect with the black and red combination.

I agree that the dash pad is a bit bright though.

 

[rookieshooter]

Thanks Brian,

One door painted one to go.

Repainted that gwady glossy red dash to a more IMO eye friendly color. Matches the dash, seats, and door panals.

Also I got one more Auto meter gauge in the dash. And that is an oil temp. gauge. That gives me, water temp, oil press., oil temp, volt, fuel gauge, vacum, trans temp and tach. Just need a speedo now.

 

[RangerX]

MUCH better color for the dash.

 

[Brian_B]

I totally agree. Much better dash color. Looking good for sure.

 

[410Fortune]

same dash pad has been painted 3 times now? Do you prep it each time or just re-spray?
I can see somebody putting their feet up and making technicolor scratches Sweet!


Looks great, I love the gage array...

 

[rookieshooter]

Only body parts left is tailgate and hood to paint.

This will be all shot over with a profesional spray gun. Now that I really like the looks of this color and can see where I have to touch up a few places I'll have it shot including a hardner. This will really give it some toughness. that rear bumper will be red like the front.

 

[410Fortune]

looks like the dash is grey again

 

[rookieshooter]

Yep it's gray again. I had to run out and check LOL to see if it's still gray, and gray it STAYS There really is a method to my madness. If I keep painting it those cracks will eventually fill up. HA HA You had to wear sunglasses because of that whorehouse red

 

[rookieshooter]

Decided on having the snorkel come out of the cowl area. Going to make it so i can remove the whole thing if I want. I do not want it coming out of side fender because of the way I can quickly remover fender. Plus this way there would be less chance of having it knocked off then if it was on fender like you see some SUVs

Here it is temporaly in hole in cowl area. That snorkel is no where near done in apperance. Plus I have to make somekind of end piece.

This piping I got from Lowes in the plumbing dept. It's not that heavy wall piping but the thin wall. I don't want it to look like a plumbing pipe coming out. So I radiused the edges of the ells and all those casting marks that has all that plumbing classification. Next I mixed up some epoxy and smoothed out the connections with fiberglass matting and smeard the epoxy on. Then I'll sand and paint. You can see right thru the epoxy/matting and still see the glue that holds the piping together. I placed an ell that still has all the markings and heavy bands at ends.

I'll have more done tomorrow and will post pics.

 

[Con Seann3ry]

Hey, for your snorkle top how about the ARB Safari snorkle top.

Dead Link Removed

That's a picture of DasFrems snorkle. I used it as well for mine but didn't have any great pictures of it. It's also only 40 bucks. I thought I'd just throw out the option, but there's really hundreds of caps that would look good.

 

[rookieshooter]

Hey thanks for that idea. I did not know you can get just the tip. I'll start looking into that.

 

[mynameisaric]

they arent cheap, but they look good and they channel rain out for you. i think i got mine for 55 or 65 shipped. and i did some searching and that was as low as i could find it.

 

[rookieshooter]

thanks for the info also. Do all of them face forward. I was wondering about the rain. So it does have a way for rain to get out? I may just put a 30 degree ell on for now and face it toward the rear. Those things are a bit pricy. Being I bought all the stuff under $15

 

[mynameisaric]

you should leave it forward, unless it is raining. you'd get much better airflow that way. dont glue the elbow down, just press it on hard, and if it starts raining, you can flip it around.

 

[rookieshooter]

Getting the snorkel allmost done. It will be fastened down to the cowl and to side of window. That way you won't see all that air space between body. Since there is hardly any room to turn an ell up thru that cowl. I'll probably build a plenum chamber to tap that white ell into. Once engine is in I'll know more how to finish it up. May not use it all the time. Have to see how much vacum the engine pulls when using the snorkel. But no dought will be connected when doing water crossings.

This way there is less chance of knocking the tube off on trail runs then if it was coming out side of fender.

 

[rookieshooter]

Got the holding brackets on and the end piece painted. I have it lower to cowl then the first pics and held it off of the body going up.

Right below the top ell I welded a small bracket to that piece of body that's between door and windshield and ran a bolt thru that and side of pipe.

Looks a little different with the snorkel not coming off the side like most other trucks. I had to kinda get used to it. Then again I had to kinda get used to the whole truck LOL

Hey, what do you think of this. I grew up in the "Old school hot rod days" I'm really giving it some thought of grabbing the old pinstriping brush or even pin stripping tape and do a large white spider webb, like from the lower right wheel well across doors and then continue to rear. And have it continue on other side of door window.

 

[FROADER]

I like it coming from the cowel. Another nice creation sir.

 

[rookieshooter]

I like it coming from the cowel. Another nice creation sir.

thanks FROADER. Just wait untill mid summer when I can get my hands on my funds. This project is going to rock. Thank God West Virgina has an inspection for modified trucks. I think once you go over 2 tire sizes or somthing like that you need a modified inspection sticker which even looks different then the other stickers. And that lets you do all kind of things. Basicaly it's just to make sure all the mods are safe for the road. Someone else from WV on this site may know more about it.

 

[mynameisaric]

wow.. that looks awesome since you took the time to glass it up. doesnt look like a redneck hack job.. i mean, no offense to anyone that did it that way, cuz mine will probly look like a redneck hack job too, but that looks really good since it is one seamless piece.

 

[rookieshooter]

Thanks Aric.

Well it's been like a year since I started working and posting my first pic on this truck. I thought a before and now pic might be in order. If this had been taken to a fab shop and a lot of the major builds on this truck had been bought off-shelf sort of to speak, it would have been built by now. But money prohibited that and besides even if I did have the funds I would not have done it anyway LOL. I truly wanted something unique and a great amount of time has been spent on that. The most expensive mod to date. Has been believe it or not, the Autometer gauges. But that's going to change in a few months. Where I have put built means work done by guess who LOL

Before. This was my first pic.

Just some of the mods.

Chopped top................................................................built
Old axels taken out and upgraded to 1st gen X...................built
Rear axel truss............................................................. built
custom rear spring pack..................................................built
Diff guard.....................................................................built
Outborad shocks mounts thru bed to cage..........................built
four inboard shock mounts if I select to run that many.........built
Removable rear window/ Lexan.........................................built
Fold down rear bulkhead.................................................built
Relocated bat. to below bed............................................built
Installation of round gas door/skined old door......................built
98 ranger tail gate and installation....................................built
Over spring traction bar..................................................built
Roll cage bending..................Anderson Race Cars
Roll cage installation and design........................................built
Remoable tube doors.......................................................built
Coil overs bent by .....................................ARC
Design of coil overs and installation...................................built
Extended radius arms......................................................built
Sliders..........................................................................built
Custom aluminum dash.....................................................built
Light weight removabel doors............................................built
Canvas vynle windows on doors..................Price upholstry
light weight hood and hood scoop .....................................built
Bucket seats....................................................Honda Integra
Custom air induction cowl................................................built
Custom snorkel thru cowl.................................................built
All body work..................................................................built
Roof cage and installation.................................................built
Roof cage lights Hella 1000 front and Hella work light rear
Quick release stock fenders..............................................built
Tubed front bumper with receiver hitch...............................built
Modified rear tubed bumper...............................................built
Upgraded Dana TTB lock washers.......................................built
Quick release sway bar with heim ends................................built

There's more done but that's the major unless I'm forgeting somthings.
And thanks for all the ideas guys. Plenty more comeing