95 Rust Belt Bronco Rehabilitation

Found this on Facebook this morning. Had to drive a couple hours to get it but I'm feeling blessed to have found it.

Now, I need to find one for the passenger side.

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Spent today working mainly on the post behind the passenger door, and also managed to fix the rest of the floor.

Still need to weld nuts on the new pocket metal for the air bag sensor. I also discovered a hole at the end of the rocker. The metal looked ok but it broke off when trying to scrape some of old seam sealer off of it.

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Finished the rear support today. Used a mix of 10g and 12g steel. It was major overkill but I had it and would have had to buy something smaller. It should last longer than the rest of the bronco.

As you can see the next major hurdle is going to be the tailgait support piece. I have another one out of the 94 I scrapped that I plan to use. It has the complete shape intact with the only rust being the part that welds to the cross sill. Should be easy to fix, just stressed about getting it properly aligned.

Next on the list is painting everything I recently repaired and evaluating/patching the passenger quarter.

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Not too bad of an area to re-do, as long as your hinge bolts holes are there, you can trim using your quarters as a good guide. Ran into the same thing on mine, but it wasn't bad.

Thank you. I'm starting to get anxious about getting it back on the road.

I just realized I didnt include pictures.

I also replaced the door bushings. @Ironside recommended pex in his Facebook group. I couldn't believe how well it worked. Replaced the bushings on this one and the ones on the 96. All 4 doors close like a dream now.

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As much as I'd like to also put a new quater panel on right side, it's just not in the budget. I have looked and looked for one that I could pickup.

That being said I spent some time today patching my spare quarter. I'll do the wheel well tomorrow. Fortunately, there is a new patch panel on my junked one.

The new helmet made patching much easier. I'm still not what I would consider good at it but I'm happy with the outcome. I do still need to grind down the welds on one of them.

I have decided not to put the tire rack back on the back. It just puts too much stress on the body with such a large tire. I will also have to patch a the old holes on the top.

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Thank you. So far I'm pleased. I'd like to get to the point where I dont need filler but that's gonna take alot more practice.

I did get the patch panel put in. I ran into a little but of trouble striving for the smallest gap possible and a couple places still had the tiniest amount of overlap. I should have tried to trim them out a little more but it looks like they are still gonna smooth out.

I cut the old panel out with an oscillating saw. It's slow but I think its alot easier to control than a cuttoff wheel. I used a jigsaw on the floor but that metal was thicker so I could deal with the wider gap. One of these days I'll get an air saw and try it.

I also got the inside of the panel painted. I'm gonna let it dry a couple days and it's ready to go on. I think its gonna be easier to finish smoothing out the welds when its immobile.

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I wasnt expecting the new panel to come with the rear bracket or the gas tank, but I did expect it to have the holes for the rear bracket punched out. I did get them cut.

I am a little apprehensive about getting it in the right place, so I will wait and weld that in when it's in place. The bolts will hold it for now, and i can weld it in from the outside.

All I need to do now is prime and paint the inner side of the panel and it will be ready to hang.

I also got the other panel hung. It's ready to weld, but I'm almost out of gas. I figure I'll get the rest of the little stuff done to use up the rest of my shielding gas before I swap tanks.



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I had initially planned to park mine at a body shop but I didn't realize what had happend to their rates. But that's ok. I have learned a huge amount.

Got the right quarter mostly welded in and I got the driver quarter hung today. Now I'm just hoping the top goes back on.... If I had help o would have put back on to make sure everything lined up but I'm not tough enough to do that by myself.

I will say the lmc quarter did not overlap the cab like it should.

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Finished welding in both quarters today. Still have alot of work to do but I'm hopeful that the worst is behind me. Ill work on sanding down the welds next. Then paint and put it back together. I have new weatherstripping for the top on the way. It should be here any day.

Any paint recommendations for a bronco on a budget? If I can find a paint close enough, I dont want to paint lithe whole bronco. I'm just looking for something that looks good from a distance and protects the metal. I'm not trying to make a show truck. I may be forced into it, but I really dont want to go the rustoleum route.

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