Hi Everyone - taking my car off the road for a bit to finally tackle some odds & ends I've been putting off & to keep it away from NYC potholes, but wanted to have a fun replacement for bouncing around the area. Fortune smiled upon me & I picked up a (running) project 1981 Bronco for a song. She's definitely in need of a lot of work, which is fine by me; it's a self-taught learning seminar with wheels. Really looking forward to getting it sorted, which will likely take years, during which I'll be leaning heavily on everyone here, since this is all gonna be new for me & my technical skills are limited to the basics of car maintenance.

What's good?
The Frame! absolutely solid, some light surface corrosion, but no rust (Colorado + Florida truck)
The 5.0 Engine! (mostly) has some issues starting up from time to time, but thing is healthy & will be at the bottom of modifications list
Transmission is pretty decent, granny first (which has some odd-not-loud noises [1st only], might be normal?). Linkage feels way loose, but I'm assuming new bushings will help there? Also...it's a tractor.
PO installed a new transfer case to bypass the manual hubs, so it can be shifted inside the cab. Only needs springs put back into the front hubs to engage fronts again.
Tires are in great shape.
That's it. Everything else is Needs Work:

Key is stuck in ignition cylinder, which needs to be turned to ON position, then fired with a hidden push-button starter (works great!). That tangle, along with the manual trans is likely theft-deterrent enough, which is good because none of the door locks work, and the rear glass is stuck open about 3" from the top.

Brakes are mostly aspirational. E-brake non-functional (undiagnosed).

Steering is likewise mostly aspirational. Suspension bushings are totally shot / dry-rotted. Those are high up on the list, too - hoping that will fix most of the wandering.

Steering WHEEL wobbles a bit side to side (never seen that before!). Any ideas? Will probably need to do a tear-down of the entire column at some point, esp if I want to fix the ignition / locks.

Driver's side floor is going to need a replacement eventually - only a couple small rust holes right now, but no way I'm gonna let that stay as-is. A couple small spots of body rust, that'll get cleaned up eventually, but not a current hot-button item.

Exhaust terminates directly under the driver, which allows a lovely mix of unburnt gas & CO to waft into the cabin.

Passenger Window doesn't open (missing crank assembly).

Will likely need to run new fuel & brake lines soon, gas tank is new.

Rear seat seems to be stuck folded down. No idea about that one.

If anyone has any advice about, well...any of the above...it would be greatly appreciated. I'm already losing sleep thinking about this thing!
-Dan

 

Welcome to the FTE goosegraves

Congrats on a most excellent Bronco score

Here is a direct link to the Bronco thread;
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/forum44/

Thanks for taking the time to share a Great intro with pictures !