My 1987 Bronco II Build. NO 56K

[Chevelle Kid]

Well she's not done, not by a long shot. But she has come a long way since I first bought her. Here's a summary of what I've done up until today.

I had a 1971 Pinto that I was going to drive daily but I had to drive it in the snow once. I decided right then and there that I needed a 4x4. My dad had a Bronco II that I absolutely loved, so the choice was simple; find a Bronco II.

My dad is a mailman in a rich area, and he had always noticed one of the handy mans that worked for people on he route had always had Bronco IIs. Now he was driving a Toyota Carolla wagon, so my dad asked what happened to the B2. He was driving it one day and the fuel pump had taken a dump. He replaced the in tank one and it didn't fire so he gave up and parked it in his backyard because he didn't feel like dealing with it anymore.

My dad mentioned that I was looking for one and he offered us the truck for $100. We said we'd look at it (it had some history like a fire, a few accidents and so on)

Now that you have the background story heres the pictures!!

The day we went to look at her.

The day she came home:

 

[Chevelle Kid]

All I needed to do was replace the fuel pump, pump relay and give her a shot of starting fluid and she's never let me down since!!

I bought her in late November of '07 and she was filthy from sitting under that tree for 3 years prior, so I washed her and had some fun moving her around with no brakes now that she ran.

It went from this:

To this:

Stock Bronco Flex...as much as I could do on my little 1/6543 acre property

 

[Chevelle Kid]

Next I addressed the brake issue in the form of new calipers, wheel cylinders and replacing ALL of the lines. I NEVER want to do brake lines in FEBRUARY again!!!!

Oh and I ditched the ugly tire carrier too.

The one fender that was primed made me start to do bodywork to the truck. I cannot stand dents or rot at all so I began!! I also ditched the stock rims and went with some Explorer rims that I got for free, the tires were like new too!!

Here's some misc shots of it

Fender is off for Bondo work

 

[Chevelle Kid]

I discovered that my carpet was soaked one day, so I pulled it up to see why.

That explains it....

I ran out of wire before I was able to finish it that day.

Here's some good yard pose shots with the body re-assembled.

I also did some interior stuff too. I painted the dashboard black and added a little accents to the door panels.

My neighbor had a B2 in the mid 1990s and liked mine, so he gave me this visor that he had laying around in his garage. Brand new in the box Lund Sunvisor.

The lights are just mocked up, I need new ones. My friend trashed these when he rear ended an F-150....freaking Jeeper can't drive on the road...not to mention off it...lol

And that brings us up to about 3 months ago where I brought my truck to Boces to do the bodywork and paint it!

Ben

 

[Chevelle Kid]

Here she is at Boces, my second school (it's like a 3 1/2 hr shop class)

Lots of small spots on this 1/4...it's getting there...lol

All ready for paint on this side!!!

Shavin the side markers. This side is done, it warped pretty bad so it needed some bondo.

Patch made out of a piece of an Explorer door skin, brazed in.

Warped again but not as much as the last one.

And lastly how she looks as of TODAY!!

Got my radio installed and will have my bazooka tube installed once I paint the shell.

Dash piece isn't installed fully yet.

More progress as it's made!!

Ben

 

[Mechanickid]

I wish i had enough time to do some things to my 88.

 

[97BlackBetty]

Very nice. Are you going to be staying fairly stock or are their other plans once the body and interior are all clean and purty. Oh, those wheels came stock on Jeep Cherokees.

 

[DannyG]

Dude that looks so cool, I always wanted to do that to my 87, unfort I never had the time or the tools... I miss that truck.

Please keep us updated.

 

[Chevelle Kid]

Very nice. Are you going to be staying fairly stock or are their other plans once the body and interior are all clean and purty. Oh, those wheels came stock on Jeep Cherokees.

I'm going to keep the drivetran mostly stock for now, I still have to pass emissions and such. The body is getting the side markers shaved, pearl black paint job with ghost flames, new headlights (the Xenon kit from LMC), and whatever other little things come to mind while I build it. The interior out of force will be custom (my interior is shot) with X seats up front, re covering the rear bench or putting the front buckets back there, and making new door panels and headliner (interior will be black and grey). The suspension and drivetran will be modified a little as time goes on, I'm hoping to do a 3-4" lift, D35 and 8.8 swap with 4:10s and then run 33s.

I was going to build the truck to wheel but I'm putting so much time into the body on it I'd rather make her a mainly street daily driver and just pick up a cheap B2, X, or Ranger to wheel.

And the wheels are from a 1992 X, I pulled em myself...lol

Thanks!
Ben

 

[Chevelle Kid]

Dude that looks so cool, I always wanted to do that to my 87, unfort I never had the time or the tools... I miss that truck.

Please keep us updated.

This is my second '87 that I'm planning to mod. My dad had an '87 a few years back and we had some big plans for that truck. I really miss that one because it was a bone stock no option stripper. I like basic over fully loaded when it comes to 1980s SUVs...most of the time with the 80's vehicles none of the power options work like my power locks...

 

[ZMan]

People still braze? lol. Looks like its comin along good.

 

[Chevelle Kid]

People still braze? lol. Looks like its comin along good.

Brass is a lot easier to clean up than HSS (mig wire) And it's easy as hell to do and if you can control the tanks you can do it with minimal warpage.

Hopefully next week it should be fully covered in primer.

Ben

 

[Chevelle Kid]

Hasn't been much progress because of a vacation from school, but I will be throwing some paint on her soon!

And I'm looking for a 4.0 from an explorer to throw in, I want some more oomph...lol

 

[Chevelle Kid]

Well somebody stole my camera but I'm bringing in my dad's tomorrow and I'll take progress pictures. I have the jambs all painted and ready for clear, and the windows need to be masked then I can paint the body!

I'll try to get pictures tomorrow....


Ben

 

[Chevelle Kid]

Here's some recent pictures of the Bronco. 3 Coats of Brilliant Black basecoat.

And some clear coat (sorry, cell phone picture)

I'm using Mustang Electric Green, which is going to be laid over silver hilights to make a unique ghosted flame job. Here's the color in it's natural form, this is going to be laid over a black basecoat.

Thanks for lookin!!
Ben