Raga's rust belt BroncoII

This is Humble Pie my Fabulous Bronco II - warts and all. I named him Humble Pie because I have never been in this much of a pinch in my life as I am now and often people point and laugh but I refuse to let him go... As a matter of fact I rely on Humble to get to work and if it wasn't for Humble I might not have wanted to stay around. This project was/is a life saver. So please... have a slice of Humble Pie!

I finally decided to register my BroncoII here are some pics of my rust belt experience (not for those who get woozy at the sight of rust)...

When it was sitting in a driveway with weeds growing up around it I pounced on the opportunity, went up knocked on the door and got it for $650 - wasn't running and turned out to be a fuel pump harness..

the red one was my first B2 which I gave to my nephew after I fixed it up:
New tires, Rims, brakes, lines hoses, rotors, wbearing, tierods, shocks, leafs, shackles, hangers, and a kitchen sink
Dylan's Bronco In Progress:

Here is what I went through after the tire fell off my truck on morning....The night before my bud Shane was helping me finish up new valve cover gaskets and intake porting (gasket matching) and he sprung a leak in his tire so I told him to grab the spare off the back of mine - well he started loosening the one ON THE GROUND - not of the SPARE HOLDER and left em loose. Drinking and fixing is baaaad... Anyways tire fell off next morning - my retarded dog was perioding so she had diapers and a space collar thingy on and I was only wearing flip flops and a hoodie and it was minus 2 degrees F outside. When I heard the clunk and BAM! The back tire rolled out in front of the truck!!! I opened the door and the dog JETTED! So I was running down Willow Road in flip flops chasing a dog in Diapers and a Space Collar while my truck was in the middle of the busy street on 3's In retrospect I can laugh about it but it was HELL then. Here's the carnage I discovered when I got the tire back on and back home...
Broken Leaf Hanger and shackle:

Broken Shock Hanger too

Space Diaper Puppy:

Fixing Shock Hanger

This is how my truck sat for almost 6 Mos
Discovered once the shackles were off there was sever rust damage to the frame too.. So it had to be reinforced:

After putting on Explorer Leafs and new Shackels and Hangers

There was a period of time when I was given mandatory Furlough Days at work - So I had no $ and was really bored so I experimented on painting here is how that went...
Sanded with Dual Action Sander

Also did a test spot on the RAD support

Here is the final product - Yes it is rattle canned - I just did a coat waited 12 hours sanded with 2K grit and repeated 3 times. and finished up with a rubbing compound and sealer -

More problems that got so bad it rendered my truck undriveable. Up here in WI and in IL all the B2's, Fullsize Broncs, K5 Blazers, and Ram Chargers go to the junk yard, not because they "Die" or "clunk out" it's because The beds het so rotted that they sag and it literally RIPS the truck body apart... Mine got so bad 2x4's were holding the back up...

See how on the corners of the hatch it is sunk down - look at the weather stripping:

Let the fixing begin
Some new steal stock

The ugly way to get the steel in the truck:

here is how she sits now with the reinforcements in place:

Replaced Alternator, Radiator, Battery, belts n hoses recently too for winter
coming:

New U&L Balljoints, tierods both sides 2 weeks ago

I used the red tierod boots
New red Radius Arm bushings on as of yesterday (Pictured - not installed all the way yet)

My truck is currently outta commission - when I let the jack down it ripped the hydraulic clutch line off... That is next weekends project -

 

[MrQ]

I think Nice59 will have to hit the high points there. My Explorer is still young...relatively speaking.

I do have a Plymouth van with 225k on it. Dunno if that's worth going into though.

 

[ragajungle]

New Fuel Pump is in...

Again Thanks everyone for the continued support and great info. So Humble is up and running, but parked currently so I can get the rear main seal replaced. The new Fuel Pump came in from a "Global Automotive" out of Miami for $29 SHIPPED! It was kind of a PITA to get the old sender split open to replace the pump but well worth the experience when the normal cost of the pump and sender is $299.00.

The only draw back to this fuel pump "repair kit" is that once you remove the old pump from the sender the seals that the pump plugs into tend get brittle - and the outcome is that when you let the truck sit for more than 3 hours it looses prime and requires extended cranking to start.


I will re-open up the sender this summer to repair the iffy seals when I swap the tank with a new plastic seamless replacement, but for now I am extra relieved Humble is up and running.

Still debating doing the 4.0L swap instead of just replacing the rear main seal. but like everyone $$$ are tight and only getting tighter.

 

[ragajungle]

Update

Well long time since I have had a chance to get on here - miss you all to pieces Anyways

So far Humble's progress has been slow. After nearly 9 months of racking up 1200+ miles a week he is just chillin in the driveway.

I did get all of the replacement body panels welded in place - am just waiting for a break in the weather to start sealing and patching.

I am picking up a 4.0L next week! Whooo Whooo!!!

Picks to come....

 

[lynchy wa]

Hey Brother!!! That's great mate. Looking forward to the Pic's!!!

 

[MrQ]

 

[ragajungle]

Enter Mercury Tracer

Mord Tracscort
Fercury Eraser?
Ford-cury Trace-cort

Also forgot to mention that the Explorer is gone, it just wasn't meant to be.... Instead of a laundry list of needed repairs I threw the towel in and bought a Ford Escort(Merc). The only thing I like about the car is that it get 35-37 mpg. It was like I was Mel from Mel's diner when I first got in it... My bro described me entrance scene as follows


"he got up to the car and looked down at the pitiful Burgundy thing with a doubtful, irritated look on his face, like a child staring at a plate of canned peas. Then he knelt down as if doing the mambo and awkwardly wedged himself into it."

Later that night I pulled out the driver seat and spot welded it about 4 inches back on the seat track :roll:

 

[lynchy wa]

Hahahahahaha, classic man.

 

[ragajungle]

update with PICS!

here is where I am at right now... currently stripping it down to finish the body work. GIGGITY GIGGITY goin to the paint booth!

Sorry so small...

 

[ragajungle]

more pics..

me completely faded being goofy as usual

Will NOT miss this passed winter


Heres my Ford-cury Trace-cort

my buddy Jacks Ranger

 

[lynchy wa]

Some cool photo's there mate. Are you going to change the colour on you're bonk?

 

[ragajungle]

^^ Yep, It'll be "Fire Apple" red. It's sort of the color of my Merc, but it's metalic. I am still debating on whether or not to do the silver trim around the bottom and around the wheels - sorta like the old school Eddie Bauers.

 

[lynchy wa]

Sound's cool as mate, the silver would be great with chromie rims. Wicked name for a paint 'fire apple'.

 

[ragajungle]

update with PICS!

Here are some updates. (Fixed. no longer sideways lol)

currently working on blending in the new body panels and sheet metal. Body work has proved to be tedious and time consuming:

Okay well PHOTOBUCKET is WACK! I have tried 3 times to resize and rotate - even cleared the browser cache... uhg. deal with the sidewaysness of it all!

 

[lynchy wa]

Fully sick mate, beautiful work!

 

[MrQ]

Got a crick in my neck, but it looks good!

 

[ragajungle]

update! pics that are not sideways this time!

I have been commuting from Racine to Chicago for work for a year now. half od that time I had to drive humble the 60 mile commute and it was punishing. anyways I am in transition once again. i'll be moving back to chicago so humble has been on the back burner...until this week.

pulled humble out of the garage in pieces

I was hoping to finish the body work and go from the garage straight to the paint booth...

my $9 paint job

 

[lynchy wa]

Midnight fire apple flat black? Came out sweet.

 

[sport97]

Its amazing what 9 dollars can do for a car. It looks much less like a mismatched project now. Makes me want to go buy a b2.