70 Sport resto/mod

[CityHick]

Its been a while since my last update... I made some decent progress today, and I plan to spend half a day or so tomorrow buttoning things up. I've been building my seat tie-ins, tying them to the cage and they're coming out nicely so far. I know...



I'll get some pictures up come Sunday or Monday with my progress. Its a unique and very custom design but I think its going to work out nicely. The goal here is a low-profile, structurally strong seat mount that allows for future flexibility in being able to change to different seats without drastically altering the mount (if I ever want to upgrade my seats).

I've also been working on my dash and generally trying to prep a bunch of parts for paint.

I told "Santa" that I want a brake booster for Christmas, and I've got a birthday shortly after so hopefully I'll get some good Bronco gear, and start getting serious about getting this rig back together. I'm closing in on finishing up lots of the little projects I've started. I've still got a long way to go but it keeps looking more like a vehicle again.

Like I said, I'll get some pictures posted up in a couple of days...
I hope everybody had a good Turkey Day...

-Tony

[CityHick]

Here's a teaser... My seat mount is coming together but I wasn't able to get as far on it this weekend as I'd have liked to. I've basically fabbed up most of the framework, less the actual mount points for the seats. I needed to mount my seats to something more substantial than the sheet metal yet not lift the seats up very much, as I'm 6'3" and EBs were apparently designed for shorter guys. I need more steel and the local yard isn't open weekends, otherwise it'd be done.
I also wanted to lift my crab cage up a bit, as it sits considerably lower than most other cages I've seen - another problem with being a tall guy. Anyway here's a picture.

Got a wiring harness recently too so that project should kick off shortly....

[earlybronco72]

Looking good. What did you make the cage risers out of? I have my seats mounted one inch from the floor on my cage. I built my cage extra tall for extra head room. I doubt a hardtop would fit on my bronco now.

[PhantomEB]

Hmm more ideas for when i redo my cage one day. Lookin good there!

[CityHick]

Looking good. What did you make the cage risers out of? I have my seats mounted one inch from the floor on my cage. I built my cage extra tall for extra head room. I doubt a hardtop would fit on my bronco now.

My cage is a good 2-3" shorter than a buddy's cage that the stock hard top fits over, so I'm not worried. I made the cage risers out of some thick wall 1" square tubing, and welded the 1" round tubing to it. It seems to be a very stiff framework so far and it's going to get a little beefier before I'm done. Been looking at ways to tie the cage to the frame and I have a couple of ideas but nothing is final yet.

[tim]

Nicely done tony. Now that you mention it, my crab cage seems a little short as well. Not a bad solution at all.

[CityHick]

To follow up on my clutch/flywheel rant of several months ago... It looks like it's going to work. I have the pedal hooked up - there's a little free play at the top of the pedal stroke, and it seems to totally disengage at the bottom. I'm one step closer since its too cold to paint... Thinking about bolting more of the "go pieces" on this weekend to see how far I can get. There may be a junkyard run in the next week or so for brackets, etc.

I'm looking for a good replacement battery tray that has bottom-mount clamps. I really dislike the clamp over the top of the battery that Ford used. I'm open to suggestions.

-Tony

[CityHick]

It's been about a month since my last post so I figured I'd update my thread a little. In the last month I've installed the carb, fabbed up a throttle linkage, picked up an air cleaner, hooked up the clutch, continued work on my cage and seat tie-ins, and done a whole lot of thinking about what to do next. It's a little too cold to shoot the paint I have so I'm holding off on that until spring. I've also started running the fuel line from the tank forward and installed a fuel pump. It's all been small stuff but every little bit counts. I'm creeping towards being ready to fire up the engine, and I'm starting to think seriously about installing the new wiring harness.

Santa brought me a pair of the NATO style jerry cans, one for water and one for fuel, a high-lift jack, and the WH under-hood storage bin that replaces the driver's side vent. I also got an early birthday present from the parents - a gift certificate to WH. Now the question is what to spend it on.

I'll try and get a few pictures up of my progress but none of this stuff has the "bling factor".

Until next time...
-Tony

[crawlin68]

Sounds like you're making some good progress Tony. All of those little things are things that don't look like much in pictures, but are time consuming and once done get you a lot closer to getting it on the road!

[CityHick]

...once done get you a lot closer to getting it on the road!

More importantly... on the trail!

[FFMDX]

[QUOTE and I'm starting to think seriously about installing the new wiring harness. [/QUOTE]

IF you're thinking about it, then I'd suggest you do it now when she's down, instead of getting her ready and running, then thinking "crap! I shoulda done the wiring!" It may be a PITA, but it's well worth the effort.


My $0.002

[CityHick]

[QUOTE and I'm starting to think seriously about installing the new wiring harness.

IF you're thinking about it, then I'd suggest you do it now when she's down, instead of getting her ready and running, then thinking "crap! I shoulda done the wiring!" It may be a PITA, but it's well worth the effort.


My $0.002[/quote]

I completely agree Sean... It's a project that will begin soon, I've just been postponing the inevitable. I have the harness and everything...

[crawlin68]

You will NEVER be sorry that you did it now that is for sure!

[CityHick]

I'm sure this goes without saying among this crowd, but welding upside-down SUCKS!
On the bright side I got my PS box brace welded in and the PS box bolted back in. I also got my rear bumper from 904Bronco, hand-delivered by FFMDX this morning. Looking at the bumper, I think the main mods I want to do to it are to lift the mounts to account for my body lift, come up with some kind of rack for the other side to carry a cooler and two gas cans, and possibly integrate a little rear-corner protection, possibly involving bobbing the rear fenders a little. Overall I'm pretty happy with this bumper as-is, but I can never leave well enough alone. I know this also goes without saying...

I still don't have many pictures that make any of this nickel and dime stuff look like anything, but I'm steadily chipping away at it.

-Tony

[TBS-POPS]

Looks good Tony, I've got the same bumper and have talked to Silly about fabbin a gas/cooler rack for mine.. He said about $250.. WH wants almost $500 to get just the ad-on rack from protofab, so I guess Phil's price isn't so bad... mabe mass buy!!!!What a deal!! I've got 2" body lift and I think that if you raise the bumper up the tire will be a rear sight problem...GMO... I like the way mine sits. Heres a pic for reference...thats a 35" tire... pops