Yeah it was made from a piece of 14 gauge sheet steel. For the floor pan it was regular 18, but since it's a pretty important spot, same with around the back seatbelts we decided to use the heavier stuff. ***** happens For the seam sealer I used the off white flexible and paintable stuff made by a company called Dynatron. It's really nice to work with to smooth out and once it dries you can sand it.

 

Cool, thanks.

 

your right Brad. but im burnt out working on it. I have had this truck for 13 yrs.

 

I know what you mean to get burnt out working on something. When I was building the Flareside up there were times I could spend hours in the shop and the truck still looked the same. It was hard to remember what it looked like in one piece some days.

 

More progress this weekend! Finished welding the patch in the passenger side quarter and dressed the welds.



Then put some paint to the floors now that they're finished to the seatbelts. We're leaving this part open for now, next weekend I'll have more pics as we're rebuilding the support braces underneath as they're getting pretty thin. I want to build this thing solid but safer than ever if I can.



This was sure a welcome sight. Fun with floorpans was wearing a bit thin on me..



Then after we got ALL of the rust off, primed and undercoated the inside of the driver's side quarter. It's the rubberized stuff so stones won't chip it and it seals excellent. This should keep the rust away for a long time and look good doing it.





The holes here are where the outer wheelhouse is spotwelded on. I'll use the same holes for the new one, soon to come.



And here for no reason is my cat, Buford. He doesn't care about Broncos..



HERE is the fun one from this weekend. Not kidding, it actually was. Making these patches is actually getting fun. I make it a challenge to make the next one look better than the last. This is at the back of the truck where the bottom of the quarter panel gets spotwelded on. I apologize for the bad picture, camera on my phone is all I have on me most times.





Took a few measurements, made a couple cuts and took my hammer and dolly to some 14 gauge. It's harder to shape, but nicer to weld and much stronger than factory. In this picture, I'm halfway through the patch and it's made from two pieces. The concave piece for the inside was made separate and the rounded outer edge was made around it. Welded together and ground down.



At this point it's three pieces together



And at this point it's 4 pieces together. Can't really tell where all of them are though



Tacked in place





I'll have pics next weekend of it all ground smooth. I forgot to take a pic before I left but it's pretty much seamless. Funny part is once the quarter skin is back on, I'll never see it. But I just like a challenge to see what I can do. But it'll help the quarter fit nice and I'll know it's there.

 

Looks great. Looks like your getting close to putting the body back on the frame.

 

Thanks! It's getting there. Couple more braces to build, two crossmember patches and a little bit of metal work the quarter will be back on and we should be in business.

 

Got some more odds and ends done. I'm thinking since the Bronco will be all white like my Flareside, I'd put a blacked out grille in it like that too. I like the look and it'd be cool to have two '85 twins. But I thought I might try something with the chrome grille I had and painted the argent satin black. I think it will look good.







Got some aluminum steps from a friend for 40 bucks new in the box too. Going to make some brackets for them so they're a little lower.



Went ahead and got a new driver's side fender. Never tried any reproduction body panels really so we'll see how it fits. One of the goofs in shipping was nice enough to leave a little dent in it. More hassle to send it back than to fix it, it's just irritating.



The last of the welding I have to do to put that quarter panel back on. I'll be glad to get that done finally.



Made a couple of cardboard templates and made up another patch.



Then cut out the old junk and burned in the new stuff. Stronger than factory I think.

 

Looks good. Thinking of buying similar steps for mine. Bummer on the fender.

 

Can't see it in the picture but it's in a spot that I can get at with the body hammer. Likely pop right out. I have time to send it back though, may just get another one instead.

 

Found a better picture of the back corner after I got some primer to it. A lot of time and new metal in there now.



Ordered new brakes front to back for it, with extended braided lines for the lift kit from Skyjacker. Got some drop brackets for the sway bar from them as well. Supposed to be some mild weather coming so I could have the frame all painted and back together sooner than I'd thought. More updates soon.

 

Dad's been working at the truck this week while I'm at school. Sent me some more progress pictures. This is the dogleg at the back of the rocker panel. The quarter panel covers this up but there's just enough room between it and the quarter skin to fill with dirt and moisture so it rotted out. Same old story, out with the old, in with the new. I envy you southern guys, fixing trucks in the rust belt is tedious.

 

That looks perfect. Better than my first body man did.

 

We're getting a lot of practice making tedious patches. We got rid of any 18 or 20 gauge steel we were using and everything now is mostly 14 gauge. It's all structural so we've been keeping safety as the priority as opposed to cosmetics, but we might as well make it seamless while we're there Chances are pretty good I'll likely do some pretty stupid stuff when it goes off road..

 

Awesome progress