I have a 1980 Bronco Custom with 89.000 original miles. It is in excellent mechanical condition, but, like all Broncos, is suffering from terminal body rust. The rust is concentrated in the usual areas—above and around the wheel wells. The rust has eaten away the outer skin and, in the case of the rear wheel wells, has eaten into the inner fender.

Now, I know all the conventional options, and I would like to get your studied opinions. This truck is only used for camping, hunting and fishing trips into the wilds of southern Illinois; I am not interested in restoring this truck to showroom condition, but simply want to keep it from rusting away before my eyes. Here goes:

1. I know the extent of the rust damage calls for new metal, and I have read good things about using panel adheshive instead of welding. Can I cut away the rusted areas, sand to bare metal, paint with a rust convertor and then use the panel adhesive? Or do I have to do bare metal to bare metal? Then how do I protect the new/old metal from rusting again from inside the fender?

2. Where is a goo dsource of new metal? JC Whitney? *** truck? Other sources? (I about choked at the flat $100 freight charge from *** truck for shipping a front fender.)

3. What about cutting away the rusted areas and installing those wide, fender flares/skirt I see advertised for wide tires? (It seems I have read about someone doing this) How far up the fender can I cut away? And how, after I cut away the rusted areas, do I protect the cut areas? I am assuming I would be cutting away both the outer and inner fender due to the rust damage?

My apologies if this has been covered before of if I have posted in the wrong forum. I wanted Bronco specific information.

 

I believe that JC Whitney replacement panels are cheap, thin, and easily dented, although I have not tried one. In my opinion, new metal is the ONLY way to fix rust. However, since your truck is only used for camping, hunting, etc; the fender flare idea sounds good, if you can get rid of the rust and still have the cut away area be covered by the flares. Once you cut the rust out, there is a product that you can spray on the exposed areas to keep rust from coming back (actually, you can even spray the stuff right on rust, and it neutralizes the rust, it turns it black and stops it from spreading). I forget the name of the stuff though.

But since your truck is only used for your recreational trips, why even bother with the rust at all?

 

yo,
I believe J was ref. to:
POR-15 ® Rust Preventive Paint - a VG product; http://www.por15.com/

Other than buying new patch panels (a few body part sources are listed in my new web page):

try what Matt did and make your own patch panels:
http://www.thebronco.com/projects/pr0201.html

lastly, how about picking up some alum sheeting and just pop rivet the heck out of it; along the horizontal seam?

 

Cutting away the rusted area and installing cut-out fender flares may be the best option, if you don't have to remove too much metal. You will have to bend, hammer, re-fit the inner panel so that there's not a gap where mud can get inbetween the inner and outer panels. I'm not a big fan of those small repair/patch panels, since the rust if often further up in the body than what you see. If that's the case, then a new/salvage-yard fender or rear quarter is the only way that I would do it.

 

those flares cost $ as compared to what he seems to want

 

I like the Bushwacker fender flare option. I don't mind the cost, since I could easily get a similaar amount tied up with patch panels, new fenders etc. And I would then have to get it painted.

I went to the Bushwacker web site, but it gave little info on their products.They want $4 for a catalog, which I am not willing to pay.

I need to know how much metal I can cut off for the flares that require cutting out the wheel wells.

Is there a site someone can point me to about fender flares that gives detials about installation and requirements?

I checked out the site where the guy made his own fiberglass patch panels. I was impressd; unfortunately, I don't know anyone with a Bronco from whom I could cast a mold for the wheel arches.

 

Chris did it on his 87;
http://www.abysmal.com/bronco/suspen...uspension.html

You can see from his outstanding pics just how much was cut-out.
On our 78, I could not find a flare that would come close to covering the cut-out sections; so we ordered panels from a defunct mom and pop shop in MS near the base. The cost was much less for the panels than any flare (about $24.00 foe each side). The panels went up as far as the trim indentation (horizontal); which is above the gas cap area, for reference. We did not need to replace the entire rear fenders.