17 replies to this topic

[bluesman17]

broncograveyard.com

[Justshootme84]

83Bronco, first off welcome to BroncoZone.com!!! The bestest and proper way to fix rust is to replace the infected area with new metal, either by replacing the entire panel or welding in a patch. If that is beyond your skills, you can cover the floor holes with sheetmetal pieces cut to fit and attach them with screws and/or fiberglass to the good metal. It won't be pretty and the rust will continue to spread, but Bondo or other body fillers will only hide rust and not cure it. Contrary to popular belief, Bondo will not hold to air! If you try to cover a hole, it will crack and fall out and the hole is still there. You can use the expanding foam that comes in a can to fill a hole, then cover with the Bondo. That will last up to a year. Just don't use a sign off of the side of the road. The metal is the right thickness for floor repairs. The vent windows are very difficult to remove, as is the HEAVY tailgate. You can find used body panels at a salvage yard for much less than new ones. I hope you can save the Bronco, mine wasn't pretty when I started!!!

[Justshootme84]

High school auto mechanics class is a great place to learn how to do the work on the Bronco, plus you have lots of help!!! And you are not poor if you drive a Ford Bronco!!!

Whenever you go to a salvage yard looking for parts, don't let them see you coming. In other words, don't let them take advantage of your lack of knowledge about different parts, prices, etc. If they ask for $100 for the tailgate, pull $60 out of your pocket and say that is all you brought. Learn to bargain and "horsetrade", and find a yard person that will work with you. I have one that I visit often near Austin, and we talk about hog hunting, fishing, whatever, before actually looking for a part. He knows me and my dad, and will give me a part for free or very little cost. I also refer my friends to him for more business. I ran into a local wrecker driver one day when my battery died and the dude was jumpstarting a car nearby. I got him to help me, talked about Broncos, and found the 88 at his yard for dirt cheap. He was glad to get rid of it, and I got a great deal.

[Justshootme84]

83Bronco, have you seen the commercial for WyoTech, where the girl comes up to two dudes playing basketball, and shows them a picture of an old Ford truck (1950?) with a flamed paint job and such and says, "I worked on it"???

Anyway, that is some serious rust on the floorpan. You can buy new panels to weld in place of the rusted ones, but you will prolly spend at least a few hundred bucks doing that. You can find another Bronco or Ford truck and cut the good sections out of it and use those, or you can find some bare sheetmetal and cut that to fit over the holes. Even an old piece of tin, like you see on an old barn or chicken shed can be made to fit. Some tin shears, a hammer to flatten it out, and if you want to get fancy you can pop rivet the panels in place. Or just drill holes in the good metal and secure the patch panel with screws. I did this to an old Chevy Blazer, and my neighbor did that in some spots on his 85 Bronco. Only problem you may have is if any of the frame supports or crossmembers are rusted also. I would venture to guess that those are. Again you can buy new ones for the floor and cab supports, or get some out of a used truck.

If you are serious about fixxing this thing up in auto mech class, and your teacher is willing to let y'all learn on it, I can send you a few parts from my 88 Bronco if you absolutely cannot find them closer or they cost too much. I can cut a piece or two from the floor and a frame support here and there. Any donations to cover shipping will be acceptable, but not a must. I can't help you on the rear seat since it's not in that great a shape, but the floor area is rust-free.

It would be awesome to do a tech write-up on this as work is performed!!!

[Justshootme84]

As I mentioned before, get the"mechanical's" working first, then you can tackle the rust/body work. Your teacher sounds cool if he likes the Bronco!!! Don't let the dudes in class get to you, or I'll have to come up there. And I will bring Stone Cold Steve Austin with me (he lives close by in Victoria, TX) to stomp a mudhole in'em and walk it dry!!!

How much time do you have left in the semester, 6-8 weeks? That is not enough time for one person, but 20-30 working all at once can easily fixx up the Bronco. Best place to start is to write down or sketch all of the areas that are rusted, even if it's the whole body. If you can find a diagram on the web of the frame or chassis, it may show you the cross members and floor supports. They are braces mounted to the frame to hold things on, like the body, motor, transfer case and such. Those should be cut out and new ones welded in, but some can be bolted.

The pros at a body shop will often remove the entire body from e the frame to gain better access to repairs. THat's what is refered to as a"frame-off restoration". That may or may not be feasible in your case, as it normally takes alot longer than 2-3 months. For now, you can patch a few holes and get some help finding parts.