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Nothing Special's '71 Bronco

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Nothing Special

Re: Nothing Special's '71 Bronco

This post was updated on .

A little more progress today. I pulled the bottom of the fender flare forward until it swung up to the bottom of the 4x4 and it looked fine that way. So I trimmed the fender opening a little larger to match up with the new flare position, cut the tube off to match the new fender line and drilled a few new holes to mount the flare in its new position. I also welded in another 3/8" thick piece in the top of the tube to attached the rear fender (same as what I did for the front yesterday, so no new pictures) and drilled and tapped the holes in both plates to attach both fenders to the tube.

Otherwise I played around with clamping the tube in position (and ran into the issue with the inner rocker pulling away that I mentioned above). Still, it looks like I can get everything where it needs to be for either welding or adhesive, so I'm not stuck yet.

It was really mostly little putzy stuff, but it did get to the point where I had the tube essentially as it's going to be and in the right position. So a good time for some pictures.

Here's the front end of the tube.

Here's the rear end with the fender flare attached.

And here's the whole thing

Bob
Sorry, no '80 - '86 Ford trucks
"Oswald": 1997 F-250HD crew cab short box, 460, E4OD, 4.10 gears
"Pluto": 1971 Bronco, 302, NV3550 5 speed, Atlas 4.3:1 transfer case, 33" tires
"the motorhome": 2015 E-450-based 28' class C motorhome, 6.8L V-10
"the Dodge": 2007 Dodge 2500, 6.7L Cummins

Gary Lewis

Re: Nothing Special's '71 Bronco

Administrator

I think it looks great.

And it'll sure be a whole lot more solid than what you had.

Gary, AKA "Gary fellow": Profile

Dad's: '81 F150 Ranger XLT 4x4: Down for restomod: Full-roller "stroked 351M" w/Trick Flow heads & intake, EEC-V SEFI/E4OD/3.50 gears w/Kevlar clutches
Blue: 2015 F150 Platinum 4x4 SuperCrew wearing Blue Jeans & sporting a 3.5L EB & Max Tow
Big Blue: 1985 F250HD 4x4: 460/ZF5/3.55's, D60 w/Ox locker & 10.25 Sterling/Trutrac, Blue Top & Borgeson, & EEC-V MAF/SEFI

ArdWrknTrk

Re: Nothing Special's '71 Bronco

Administrator

In reply to this post by Nothing Special

Yep, I think the lines look fine too!

And Gary can better see how the wheel arch crease in the front fender lines up.

Jim,
Lil'Red is a '87 F250 HD, 4.10's, 1356 4x4, Zf-5, 3G, PMGR, Saginaw PS, desmogged with a Holley 80508 and Performer intake.
Too much other stuff to mention.

Gary Lewis

Re: Nothing Special's '71 Bronco

Administrator

Yes, the front fender, fender flare, and 4x4 line up nicely.

Gary, AKA "Gary fellow": Profile

Nothing Special

Re: Nothing Special's '71 Bronco

In reply to this post by Gary Lewis

Gary Lewis wrote

.... The adhesive I used was SEM DUAL-MIX™ MULTI-PURPOSE PANEL ADHESIVE Part #39747. But SEM also makes DUAL-MIX™ STRUCTURAL IMPACT RESISTANT ADHESIVE
Part #39757 which might be a better fit. However, they both require use of a special gun, and you'll need to borrow one of those or buy it, and I think they may be expensive.

As I read up on adhesives I'm getting a little less excited about going that route.

First off, the difference between panel adhesives and structural adhesives. Gary touched on that in his post I quoted here, but after a little Googling I'm sure that I do not want to use panel adhesives. The strength seems to be lower than structural and they seem to be less able to handle impacts.

Structural adhesives seem very promising, but I'm seeing a split (if I'm seeing it right) between epoxies and MMAs (methyl methacrylates, not mixed martial arts, don't you just love TLAs (three-letter abbreviations)?). MMAs seem to be considered to be significantly superior to epoxies, and, in one video, 20% better than welding. I haven't seen a good comparison between epoxies and welding, but the two being separately compared to MMAs don't make epoxy seem like it's as good as welding.

So MMAs might seem like a good option, but one of their "advantages" is fast cure time (30 seconds to 30 minutes?) which makes it seem very unlikely that I'd have things positioned correctly and clamped well before I was stuck (literally).

Am I seeing something wrong or missing anything?

ArdWrknTrk

Re: Nothing Special's '71 Bronco

Administrator

My father was director of engineering at three companies that specialized in PolyMethylMethAcrylate.
Acrylic.... or commonly "Plexiglas"

Polycast
Everkleer
Cast Optics

Acrylics have very high bond strength, but are suceptable to brittle fracture.
That's why impact guards, face shields, etc, are made from Polycarbonate "Lexan"
Acrylic adhesive is used on foil tape and many other permanent installations.

It's surely the catalyst, or the amount of catalyst that's causing it to kick that fast.
While fine for a production environment you may well need to cool the 4x4 to get the working life you want.

But again, with that much surface area I wouldn't hesitate to use epoxy.

Jim,
Lil'Red is a '87 F250 HD, 4.10's, 1356 4x4, Zf-5, 3G, PMGR, Saginaw PS, desmogged with a Holley 80508 and Performer intake.
Too much other stuff to mention.

Nothing Special

Re: Nothing Special's '71 Bronco

This post was updated on .

Finally some more progress! I've been stuck waiting to get the 1" round tube bent for the rash bars. I finally was able to pick them up yesterday, so I could get back to work. I had asked for 3/16" wall tubing, but it ended up being .200" thick. Oh well, it's only 1/2 lb heavier.

Yesterday I drilled eight 1" holes through both sides of the 4x4 so I could mount the stand-offs to support the rash bar (pictures below will explain it better). I also fish-mouthed the stand-offs to fit against the rash bar. Here are the results of yesterday's machining:

And here are the stand-offs going through the 4x4:

And one with the rash bar clamped in place to the 4x4 held in place with a jack:

So tonight it was time to weld the rash bar to the 4x4. After getting everything cleaned up it was fun (not) trying to get everything clamped in place

Once that was set I fired up the welder again. I got beautiful welds on the inner end of the stand-offs! But these are the welds that need to be ground flat and will be where no one can ever see them, so that doesn't really matter.

The welds on the outside, the ones that I don't plan to grind down and which are visible, well, they'll hold.

Then I was able to weld the cap on the back end of the 4x4

So now I'm done making the rocker! Next will be to get everything prepped to attach them to the tub. After a lot of thought I'm planning on going back to plan A and plug-welding them on. I know that adhesive would be better at preventing corrosion, and it might hold better too. But I'm still not comfortable with the way the inner rockers would be pulling away. And I'm also not completely comfortable with the impact strength or the working time. So while I believe adhesive might be better than welding, I'm also afraid that it might be worse, and I'm pretty confident that welding will be good enough. Plus I have what I need to weld it already.

Gary Lewis

Re: Nothing Special's '71 Bronco

Administrator

They look great! Well done! The curves and the fish-mouths make it look professional. And, it is stout.

As for welding vs adhesive, I can easily see the debate, and I think welding will be great.

Gary, AKA "Gary fellow": Profile

ArdWrknTrk

Re: Nothing Special's '71 Bronco

Administrator

In reply to this post by Nothing Special

Great job, man!

They look really stout.

Jim,
Lil'Red is a '87 F250 HD, 4.10's, 1356 4x4, Zf-5, 3G, PMGR, Saginaw PS, desmogged with a Holley 80508 and Performer intake.
Too much other stuff to mention.

Nothing Special

Re: Nothing Special's '71 Bronco

In reply to this post by Gary Lewis

Gary Lewis wrote

.... And, it is stout....

ArdWrknTrk wrote

.... They look really stout....

What's the line? If that's a compliment I thank you!

Seriously, I got the "great job" and "well done" in the replies, and I definitely thank you. But I've also received comments that these will lower my cg significantly! It is a little heavy (about 50 lbs by my calculations), but no heavier than the aftermarket rocker guards I bought a while back but couldn't use (they were intended to screw to the stock rockers, and mine were already too rusted away for that).

And yes, it is stout!

Gary Lewis

Re: Nothing Special's '71 Bronco

Administrator

Yep, that was Dad's line. But he usually said it when he knew full well it wasn't intended as a compliment.

Anyway, I like stout, especially in something that's to protect the vehicle. And if you can get those bad boys solidly connected to the vehicle they'll certainly protect it.

Plus, you will have good jacking points.

Gary, AKA "Gary fellow": Profile

Nothing Special

Re: Nothing Special's '71 Bronco

Gary Lewis wrote

Yep, that was Dad's line. But he usually said it when he knew full well it wasn't intended as a compliment....

I've got that, and was jokingly taking the "stout" comments as if they weren't intended as compliments. But I didn't want the joking to cover the fact that in context there was nothing remotely derogatory in either your or Jim's post.

So all joking aside, thank you! And yes, I think it'll hold up well. (Now to get it attached and then do the other side

)

Nothing Special

Re: Nothing Special's '71 Bronco

It's attached! Today I drilled and plug-welded 69 holes. That went pretty well. The old sheetmetal burned through in a few places, but generally it worked really well to start the weld on the solid metal of the 4x4 in the center of the hole and play the puddle out to get the sheetmetal.

I also laid a bead along the edge of the door sill where it meets the new rocker. I don't expect a lot of strength out of that bead, but otherwise there was going to be a sharp sheet metal edge right where peoples legs bump it getting in and out.

I still need to grind the exposed welds smooth(er) and paint it. Hopefully that will get done tomorrow.

Gary Lewis

Re: Nothing Special's '71 Bronco

Administrator

Looks great! With all those welds it isn't going to go ANYWHERE! I think that's a winner.

Gary, AKA "Gary fellow": Profile

ArdWrknTrk

Re: Nothing Special's '71 Bronco

Administrator

In reply to this post by Nothing Special

Awesome!

That bead will blend right in with a 24 or 36 grit flap disc.
I love those things. It's like taking a torch to a stick of butter.

Jim,
Lil'Red is a '87 F250 HD, 4.10's, 1356 4x4, Zf-5, 3G, PMGR, Saginaw PS, desmogged with a Holley 80508 and Performer intake.
Too much other stuff to mention.

Nothing Special

Re: Nothing Special's '71 Bronco

Thanks!

Life is getting a little in the way right now. I did make time to grind out the welds last night, but not time for pictures or posting until now. And today I took a long lunch and hit it with some black spray paint. The plan this evening is to put it all back together and go to Dairy Queen! (trips to Dairy Queen are the main reason in my family for having a soft-top toy car)

1986F150Six

Re: Nothing Special's '71 Bronco

Administrator

And, all should agree, family comes first!

Gary Lewis

Re: Nothing Special's '71 Bronco

Administrator

1986F150Six wrote

And, all should agree, family comes first!

Is it family or ice cream that come first?

Seriously though, Bob, I gotta see it in the daylight! Show us some pics, maybe with ice cream?

Gary, AKA "Gary fellow": Profile

Nothing Special

Re: Nothing Special's '71 Bronco

I gotta see it in the daylight too!

It's clouding up right now, so we'll have to see how good a picture I can get. But I definitely plan to get it out of the garage this evening

Nothing Special

Re: Nothing Special's '71 Bronco

So plans changed a bit. I thought it'd take me longer to get it on the road, so I figured we'd have eaten before it was ready, so we'd go to Dairy Queen for a later dessert. But it was ready before dinner, so instead we went to Zantigo for some Minnesota-Mex.

Nothing too obvious in that shot, which was a part of what I was going for. But here are some closer looks.

I think it turned out pretty well! Lesley even likes how it looks and, at least so far, isn't too annoyed with getting in and out over it (you do tend to bump the rash rail a bit getting in especially, but it doesn't really stick out far enough to be useful as a step).

This was also the maiden voyage for the hydroboost and rear drum brakes. The pedal is very high, which I don't think is a problem, but it does start to slow down noticeably (annoyingly so) as soon as your foot touches the brake. It doesn't seem to be dragging when your foot is off the pedal, but it'll at least take some getting used to.

Other than that the brakes have great feel. They are very firm, but it still takes a fair amount of pressure to stop hard. Not too much, but enough that there's no danger of kissing the windshield when you're only looking to slow down.

It was also the maiden voyage for my Father's Day gift: the Pluto hanging from the mirror (the magnet on the ash tray has been there a couple years already)

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