The 79...

[904Bronco]

I decided to start a Thread, been watching this Site slowly settle back into the Soil like so many Bronco pictures that have been posted before. So, hopefully, this brings some life back into the Site. Not a fan of the NorCal FB page or FB in general, but it serves a purpose... Guessing I am a Dinosaur.
Starting you off with a post that was on Betty's Thread, I still have not given this one a Name, but as noted, many folks have made suggestions.
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Checking Picture Fix... My 79... No name yet, but Old Yeller, Yellow beast, and Ramon (who was the former Owner) have been used.

I have been Sooo spoiled by WH's over the years, getting stuff in a day or two in the mail.

Now I wait at least a week, pay a bunch for shipping, and find many things Out of Stock... LMC, Graveyard, Dennis Carpenter.

I have been repairing wiring, cleaning the insides from the 15 years it sat, and waiting for parts. Gas tank from one of them, 9 gallons of varnish in it. It is Wasted as demonstrated by the sending unit!
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[904Bronco]

I found this Bronco on a 78-79 Bronco Facebook page. It had been parked for 15 years... with no back window in place and the occasional blue tarp replacement. And as you can guess, it was kind of open to the weather and the critters. So far 4 mouse nests have been removed. Much cleaning and disinfecting has been done. PO was Ex military, 2nd Owner. I reached out on Messenger and we started talking... we came to an agreement after a road trip south to see it in person. DSO says it was purchased from a San Jose Dealership and it has spent it's whole lifetime in the Kings City area of CA. First owner was a Rancher's Wife in the Paso Robles area. It still has one CA Blue plate... Even though it is just a Custom, it is well equipped 351M, 4 speed, 4:11's, (It had a Detroit in the back), 33 gal tank, Supercooling, AC, standard interior, factory CB (but missing components). Bright yellow body and Sand hardtop. Pretty much everything is there, which is what drew me to it. Finding parts for this G2 has been challenging to some degree, (back ordered) shipping is a killer, except from Dennis Carpenter. The second pain is how long it takes to ship stuff, and the last what will be the quality of the part. (Vast majority of the parts has been Off shore) My local Napa has been good with getting parts, but it is usually a days wait. BGY has been pretty good to deal with on line, no one answers a phone though. Shipping from them and LMC is painful... When possible, I deal with WH's, but they don't really do a lot with the G2 rigs.

Original fuel tank had 9 gallons of fuel in it for 15 years... You all all know what it looked like. So it now has a new 33 gal fuel tank, sending unit, top vent, blown out fuel lines, hoses replaced, new fuel pump, carb rebuilt by Ace Fuel. I have gone through the many vacuum hoses, and confirmed TVS are working. New smog pump, new water pump, Rad Rand R, fresh hoses, rebuilt Distributor, new Dura-spark box, rewired the Dura-spark harness and related wires to the engine sensors. (Brittle and critter damage) She runs!

Home built bumpers have been removed and scrapped. As you can see in the little pictures that transferred over, I had to rehab the rear harness. The rear window and motor assembly was out of the tailgate. Fortunately, most everything was there. This, by far, took the longest to do as parts were back ordered, took a long while to get everything I needed. I have done some surface rust treatment inside as needed, fortunately only two small holes to patch in the passenger floor. I will continue the story as time permits...

[71BRONCO71]

Glad to see you're on another project.

[904Bronco]

Thanks Ryan...

Last picture on post #2 is the factory white spoke rims that someone on Classic pointed me to... Guy had stored them since he took them off his new 79 back in the day. They are like bran new, looking to run 33's on them. So there has been much cleaning as noted. I started with electrical... Mainly to make it weather tight, by getting the back window installed. Parts took forever to get, small learning curve, but finally bought re-popped Ford service manuals from Summit. Pictures help a lot, U-Tube videos, well some... So I had to redo the rear harness as stated, and then there had been a engine fire of some sort, PO was rather vague about that... The factory connector bodies are just not available, pins... yes. So I upgraded to Weather pack. Once the rear harness was rehabbed and reinstalled, I started going through all of the electricals, trying to get everything to work. As you can imagine, I pulled the dash apart, found/removed two mouse nests, replaced the majority of the switches, did circuit tests, changed bulbs, removed the 80's cassette player, remote graphic equalizer and 6x9 speakers. So now almost everything works, except the HVAC fan... I believe I will have to remove the engine compartment HVAC assembly to get to it... I sent the instrument cluster out to be rehabbed, as the speedo was stuck at 20 mph. Speedo was toast, but was able to find a (nos) unit. I started in on the rear window, but ended up waiting on parts, so I started in on the engine. Replaced the ignition system parts, (Found out the Ignition switch was bad later, had a dead spot in it) rebuilt the engine harness, pulled plugs, put some marvel mystery oil in the cylinders, drained and replace the oil/filter, hand rotated the engine over, pulled the distributor and spun up the oil pimp for a couple of minutes, tried the starter and blew out the left over oil. Spark plugs and new wires and it fired up! And it blew out the biggest mouse nest I have seen out the exhaust and it all had a very special smell...

[70 Steed]

Very nice project Doug. I can relate. I have a “78 F150 that I bought new. Every two years it is a challenge to get it to pass smog. Back then the manufacturers were just cobbling together vacuum lines and switches to meet emission requirements.

[904Bronco]

Hey Skip, you know my pain...

So I have cleaned a lot of stuff as stated before. Made and continue to make various repairs as I go through the Bronco. The AC system is missing the York compressor and some hoses, I hope to get the missing AC parts from Patrick at the May WH's event to make the system whole again. It has been open to the elements for a while, so I am hoping that this will not become an expensive project in itself.

Last month I thought I would service the rear end, (got tired of cleaning inside) I had high hopes it would just be seals and brakes. No such luck I am afraid. Another Bronco with a broken vent hose, exposing things to the elements. I knew I had to do rear brakes as the left wheel cylinder blew out as we loaded it on the trailer for the ride home. Left side was full of Goo, dirt and brake fluid, Right side was packed with dirt/dried mud. Drums were oversized already... I pulled axles, with a slide hammer on the right side, and what looked like 30w oil started pouring out the Left side (because how the bronco sat lower on that side on the lift) WTF? I pulled the 3rd member next, the PO told me they had previously installed a Detroit locker in the rear. Mud, water, and oil was the mixture that came out. Rust on the gears and in the Detroit was the result. Did I mention the rear drive shaft yet, well the rear U-joint was toast, as was the spline slip joint on the shaft. Add to that after teardown on the 3rd member that the yoke ears were opened up and it was junk. I am guessing some form of neutral drops, pulling out someone who was stuck with a snap strap given the bowed homemade rear pumper? That, and a lack of maintenance.

So the fix was new everything, did not replace the Detroit, but went with a Tru-Trac instead. New gears, bearings, seals, new drums, rebuild the brakes, etc. The drive shaft was rebuilt, as the CV joint was still good.

And since I am this deep in the rear end, lets clean and paint the housing/parts as well...

Thanks to Jim Creel who made the replacement custom length front and rear drop brake hoses. The rear with the rear lift block (PO installed) was now too tall for another Factory replacement hose. And the hose for the 4" lift that is sold everywhere, is too long. (Similar situation up front as well)

My local Bronco buddies have surmised that there is a Rough County leveling suspension kit currently on the Bronco now. I really don't want to put a 4" lift on it (Smallest one that seems to be available) so I am going to run what is currently there and see if a change is needed later... The next topic, rear suspension...

[904Bronco]

I decided to keep the Factory rear springs with the lift block for now, seems all that is available is a 4" lift or larger. Yes, it was a bastard removing the factory bushings. I used flame to get the rubber out, then used a small chisel to get the outer casing to come out. One of the shackles on the rear leaf had a little twist to it, so WH's to the rescue.

Tried to get rear sway bar bushings locally, but no luck there. Bought a whole kit from Energy suspension, which ended up being short some bushings? Found a place on eBay, with help from Justin at WH's, that was in Modesto and they provided the bushings in two days.

Borrowed a buddies blast cabinet for the smalls, had to clean up the sway bar by hand, same for the diff housing. One of the sway bar end links had an elongated hole in the frame, welded a grade #8 thick washer to the frame and did fill in on the outside.

Replaced the rear wheel well inner frame skirts on both sides, then replaced the missing/broken inner wheel well guards. One new one snapped, as I installed it. so cleaned up the best of the factory ones for now. (LMC is not as responsive as WH's)

Found that the rear shocks were not long enough, they limited travel. Gave measurements to WH's and were able to get slightly longer versions of their basic shocks. I am glad I can give WH's the business, not all that impressed with the other Vendors...

[904Bronco]

Rear window... Well the rear glass is scratched some, but for now it will work. Window felts were toast, which caused the scratching, but Dennis Carpenter had them. As stated, this job took the longest as I had to order parts from multiple sources, a few were back ordered.
Most of the pieces were in the box I got from the PO. This was completely new for me, put something back together that you didn't take apart, and had not done before. I took the main assembly and de-greased everything. Then wire wheeled the rust, and finally dropped a little paint on it. Bought some factory manuals, which had pictures. The bushings in the sliders were frozen, but there were replacements available.
The motor was toast, but rebuildable. No You-tube videos to speak of, but a Mustang buddy assured me that it is the same motor that Ford uses in many vehicles and he walked me through it. (Dennis Carpenter sells a Ford kit, with grease, to rebuild the clutch in the motor) I had to make a couple of washers from Fender washers, but so far everything is working well. Minor adjustments made, and the receiving seal was rock hard and had to be chipped out of its channel. Replaced the lower rear seal for the tailgate, treated the rust spots on the tailgate and the access panel. Applied some primer paint, a little filler, more paint, and then Body paint or Eastwood Chassis black. And then, the window switch in the dash with the power relay was replaced too. The relay is obsolete, but Napa was able to match the plug configuration up to a Dodge horn relay. I believe I had 3 months in getting this project done.

[M_luther]

Thanks for posting this project Doug. I learn so much by following your builds. This is another great one.

[904Bronco]

Thanks for posting this project Doug. I learn so much by following your builds. This is another great one.

Thanks Mike. I guess I am a gluten for punishment... Sometimes you learn as you go.

I just started pulling down the front end... even though the rig is on the lift, I have to do work on the ground. You know on cardboard, crawling around, things we had no problem doing on our Parent's driveway in our twenties, but now feel it afterwards and the next day at 60.

[14Justice]

As always Doug, very meticulous and great work! Keep us informed on the progress!

[904Bronco]

The Bronco had a rubber mat floor, which the PO removed the front portion before I purchased it. The Jute insulation caused surface rust in various areas and I will have to make some small patches on the passenger floor. Fortunately, they are flat pieces.

After finishing the rear end / suspension area, I decided to get the back of the bronco squared away. Part of this reasoning was that I had the back seat and various other components taking up space on the shop floor > Needed space when the front end is taken apart. I ordered a ACC carpet kit through WH's, was told that it would be delivered in 4-6 weeks, it came in two. It didn't come with any matting/Jute in the back section so I purchased some locally.

The rear fiberboard quarter panel sections were toast. Found a another mouse nest in the insulation on the Driver side and the other one was good to use as a template. There was much cleaning - shell, panels, floor, windows, trim pieces. Surface rust on the floor to treat, prime, and paint match. Same in the foot well area for the back seat. Nothing real serious, but I did not want to come back and do this later.

So I bought some 1/4" MDF and made new panels. Added speakers in the back, added 12v power for USB plug and Cig lighter type plug. Also added LED lighting tied into the interior courtesy lights. I put 1/2" Dynamat foam type insulation on the quarter panel wall, and added some carpet jute behind the speakers that was left over.

Back seat had a mouse nest under it. Fortunately, it was on the fiberboard underside cover and not in the seat/foam. Did I mention I have cleaned everything and done some disinfecting too. The replacement cover is available from LMC for $109 plus oversized shipping. I decided to make my own out of .090 aluminum, painted it with Trim black paint. (as were the rear quarter panels).

Some of the trim pieces were cracked and they were glued up to strengthen them. They are slightly discolored, but they are a close match to the carpet color, so they stay until I can find replacements. More to the story with pictures...

The fiberboard leveling mat under the rubber floor covering was toast, so the 66-77 rubber mat is close enough to use instead, once you make some modifications... It is not wide enough, so a couple pieces (strips) of plastic from Tap Plastics makes everything good.

I started taking apart the front end today, hoping that this is the last big project and I can drive it around some soon...

[904Bronco]

More Pictures...

The carpet kit could have been a tad wider in the back so that it would have been held down by the side panels. It has nice edge finishing on it that goes right up to the panel. Some of the jute I glued to the back center panel had to be removed for a better finish. I'll do better next time...

[GloNDark2]

Man this thing is cool. I love Big Broncos. They started my passion for Broncos. I had an 84 then a 90 and then a 92. Loved them all. This is turning out awesome Doug!

[904Bronco]

Man this thing is cool. I love Big Broncos. They started my passion for Broncos. I had an 84 then a 90 and then a 92. Loved them all. This is turning out awesome Doug!

Thanks GnD... My previous 79, 30+ years ago, started my Bronco sickness... Wishing I still had it, many great memories and Road trips in it.