As mentioned in my other thread, I've recently completed some work on a friend's 1966 Ford Bronco. These have really skyrocketed in value lately, and this one in particular is pretty special. It's a first year model with a very early build date (April of 1965) and it's the most rare of the three available body styles, as a "roadster" - originally sold with no top and fiberglass inserts to cover the door sills. When he brought it to me, the brief was a "frame down" refresh; replacing all the bushings, bearings, and other wear items on the suspension and drivetrain. It has the small (170ci) six and a column-shifted 3 speed manual, and the shifter bushings were worn out and sloppy so I went through the column as well. He actually drove it for almost 4 hours from his house at the time to mine, and then moved shortly after so for his purposes, I was just tinkering as I stored it for him. There was no hurry.
Not many pictures taken along the way, as I said this work was done over the past decade or so, and it basically consisted of remove parts, clean & paint, replace wear items, and reinstall. But I did take a few shots along the way to indicate I was making progress, starting with the front suspension...
I mentioned the column rebuild, that was intended to be really simple but parts suppliers being what they are, there were complications...original on the right (as you might have guessed)
But we got past it, I ended up reusing the original and the shifter works like butter now. Along the way he sent a few parts to me and wanted to see how they looked, so I mocked up these replacement door inserts:
He wasn't too happy, as you might imagine. He got better ones he'll end up using.
When I got to the back, I discovered rust in the frame rails, so that got cut out and replaced:
The light is terrible on these pictures of the repairs, but if you squint you can see it
And you've all seen parts go from ugly to clean to painted, but it's rewarding to document the process. These are the rear leaf spring hangers:
The rear axle bearings and seals got replaced, which meant the axle shafts had to come out and go back in:
And as with anything else, if it comes out it gets cleaned and painted before going back in
The wheels got some love too:
When he and I mutually decided it was time for it to go home - he finally had room at his house for it, and I needed space to bring home something else - I put a battery in it, cleaned the carburetor and replaced the fuel pump and it was running and driving again.
Sure seems short to have taken as long as it did, but there you have it. I really enjoyed playing with it, and it was a blast to drive around at the end. Probably the only way I'll get to play with one given current values on them...
Not many pictures taken along the way, as I said this work was done over the past decade or so, and it basically consisted of remove parts, clean & paint, replace wear items, and reinstall. But I did take a few shots along the way to indicate I was making progress, starting with the front suspension...
I mentioned the column rebuild, that was intended to be really simple but parts suppliers being what they are, there were complications...original on the right (as you might have guessed)
But we got past it, I ended up reusing the original and the shifter works like butter now. Along the way he sent a few parts to me and wanted to see how they looked, so I mocked up these replacement door inserts:
He wasn't too happy, as you might imagine. He got better ones he'll end up using.
When I got to the back, I discovered rust in the frame rails, so that got cut out and replaced:
The light is terrible on these pictures of the repairs, but if you squint you can see it
And you've all seen parts go from ugly to clean to painted, but it's rewarding to document the process. These are the rear leaf spring hangers:
The rear axle bearings and seals got replaced, which meant the axle shafts had to come out and go back in:
And as with anything else, if it comes out it gets cleaned and painted before going back in
The wheels got some love too:
When he and I mutually decided it was time for it to go home - he finally had room at his house for it, and I needed space to bring home something else - I put a battery in it, cleaned the carburetor and replaced the fuel pump and it was running and driving again.
Sure seems short to have taken as long as it did, but there you have it. I really enjoyed playing with it, and it was a blast to drive around at the end. Probably the only way I'll get to play with one given current values on them...
