BlueBronco budget build

[LoneRanger]

can you actually fit 2 sets of those screws in opposing sides and still close that hinge? thats pretty dang cool right there~

L.R.

[66sprint6]

The answer, I found out last night is...NOPE LOL. More on that further down the post.

Got the doors on last night! Kinda. The drivers door has one hinge thats bein a punk but Ill work it out. The pics suck but its the best my old phone could manage.





I didnt have enough room for the scale hardware to clear on both the inner door and the body so I had to file the door mounts flat. It helped enough to make it work.





Drilling the body tube wasnt an option due to the angle so I heated a nail with a candle and pushed it through the styrene melting a hole big enough to allow the screws to tap themselves in. Worked like a charm and outside of the clearance issue its lookin legit! One of the hinges on the drivers door is bein a butthead but Ill get it fixed. Im gonna try to figure out a way to keep the hinge pins from fallin out while on the trail but make em easy to remove to take the doors off if I want. First I gotta fix the drivers door, then trim some material off the back of the doors to allow the proper clearance and paint em up!

Matt

[cbp27]

Doors and hinges look great!

[66sprint6]

Thanks! They arent purdy but they look legit and with a coat of paint and some trail damage they will look just fine!

Matt

[66sprint6]

I got the doors together and hinges adjusted the best I could.





I trimmed some material at the back of the door to create the needed panel gap but forgot to take pics. Now I need to figure out a latching setup to hold them shut. Might use magnets, might just make somethin quick and easy to hold em shut. I roughed up some areas lightly with a lighter and a rock to help make some of the panel gaps look less obvious and more like rock rash lol. Its coming together nicely actually, winshield and top line up decent and look good with a little tweaking. Now to finish off the doors and move on!

Matt

[66sprint6]

Not much of an update but I got the doors painted, hanging on their own (will finish the hinge pins soon) and am figuring out a way to keep em shut.



I used a magnet in the door and a small piece of steel on the door-post of the tub. They rub together slightly to help hold shut.



A NASTY roll will probably open them up but until I get a chance to do a shake down run Ill call it good enough!

Matt

[LoneRanger]

you should take a lighter and put some carbon on your shiny exhaust tips. every time I see this Bronco I think, why would a guy put brand new stainless exhaust on a trail truck?

L.R.

[66sprint6]

Oh dont worry, I just havnt gotten around to weathering the exhaust!!! That bein said, I had an UGLY POS 77 F100 and the exhaust rotted off so we slapped together a nice shiney new straight pipe setup and had it come out the side. Sucker looked kinda good but quickly uglied up to match the truck lol. You cant really see it but Ive already blackened the inside of the tips and will be adding some small "rusty weld" areas shortly as well as making it a bit less shiny. After a couple runs in the mud itll fit in JUST fine! Im also planning on blacking out the suspension bits and helping them hide a little more as well. LONG way to go but its gettin there.

Oh, and thats kinda the look Im after in the end. Someone took a tired old Bronco off the street and desided to toss some supsension and power mods at it to get it up to snuff while leavin the outside tired looking. Its what I would like to do one day in real life.

Matt

[66sprint6]

Got the Bronco out for a shake down run at Moss Rock AL to test out the new front suspension, the new transfer case setup and to generally get a feel for how things were goin with the build. I tossed together what I could with the little time Ive had between work and work and more work lol. Put some velcro in the inner fender, strapped on a battery and taped the wires down to keep em together and off she went!!!



I took it easy initially, not wanting to roll it due to the window posts in the doors being without any sort of protection.



Couple rollovers later, I got a little more aggressive with it lol.



She took every lick and kept on ticking. First failure of the day for the Bronco was the lighting setup. Not sure yet what went but Ill do some diggin and see later. After a particularly nasty roll one of the doors came apart from the body. Fearing the worst I went in to inspect the damage but it just lost a temp hinge pin so no biggie! Took the doors off and then moved the battery into the interior. Figure it wouldnt hurt to lose any paint under the drivers seat and it would also move the weight closer to where it will be in the end. The result...was amazing. Ive never seen the Bronco crawl as well. We started callin it the BroncGoat cause it would hook anywhere, everywhere and do anything you asked it to.





I started out like I usually do when I make a major change to closer mimic a 1:1 and figured "this is finally the setup that will make it crawl like crap". WRONG again. The overdrive effect thanks to the transfer case is killer on climbs and the turn radius is tighter than any rig Ive ever seen (some 4ws included). She doesnt flex well at all which ended up helping me in alot of cases where I could float a tire over a ledge or hole. The balance is amazing and the stability/predictability is better than ever. Im super motivated to continue this build and now have an idea on what I want out of it in the end. More on that later, but for now, shes rockin and rollin. I shattered another RC4WD CVD thanks to a loose knuckle screw so thats a bummer but Ill have it back together shortly and ready for more!

Matt

[Grizzly4x4]

This rig just gets better and better on it's legendary journey. I love the added scaleness.
The only problem is that a T-18 or NP435 tranny shifter comes out of the floor under the dash and right at the firewall, not behind the dash...
Love the detail and thought you are putting into this Matt.

I couldn't find it, how are you sticking the styrene to the lexan? Shoe-Goo?

[66sprint6]

Your not only correct, but have spotted one of many issues Ive run into tryin to get things as spot on as possible. Thanks to the position of the trans and namely having the clear the spur gear I had to fudge the trans tunnel a bit at the dash. In doing thing, I lost the shifter location and had to improvise. LUCKILY for me, I stubled across an Early Bronco owner swapping an NV3550 into his along with a twin stick and thought BINGO!!! My problem is solved.





I even added the needed "sheetmetal" on the side of the trans tunnel to make the twin stick swap look as legit as possible LOL. After some small detail work Ill add some primer around the new panel to make it look like an add on and also clean up the shifter area some. Good eye Griz, and Im glad you pointed that out I forgot to add the pics of the swap I modeled it after. I know for sure I wont get everything 100% but Im tryin to make it look like its a possible mod done to a real truck. The light switch, fuel filler necks and other small tweaks are an attempt to cover up areas I couldnt quite make look scale so I made em look modded.

Matt

[Grizzly4x4]

Wow!
I thought I was being a clever smartass and here you have info I never even thought of. I'm too old school to have thought of the NV3550.

Like I said, the thought and details you are putting into this are just awesome and your shifter pictures prove it. I love it!

[66sprint6]

Thanks man...I'm being a nerd really but truely want this thing to reflect something someone could and would really build...so far its coming along well enough to make me happy! Hope to have some time soon to get back on it here soon!

Matt

[LoneRanger]

For what it's worth I have the 3550 and twin shi is on my trail truck-

L.R.

[66sprint6]

NICE! Need to grab some tubing today to do the rollbar. I usually use solid but was thinkin bout using braketube this time around to try and keep the weight down low. She crawled so danged well that Ide love to try and keep it that way LOL. Might end up just going solid since itll be a super simple setup and Ide like to bash it pretty hard...decisions decisions.

Matt

[66sprint6]

Ok, after breaking my 3rd set of axles, 1 stock dogbone and two XVDs I started lookin around for somethin different to try out. Both XVDs busted where the pivot pin goes thru the collar due to the collar being too thin. Being that the XVDs are the beefiest offering at this moment in time for the TF2 Yota axles, I did some searching and came up on a thread on RCC about using Yota II axles instead. I ordered some up and got them last night.

Broken XVD, this time Ill blame it on a knuckle screw coming loose cause I was goin pretty easy on it when it snapped.



The replacements



The axle itself is the same width but the cup holding the pivot is MUCH beefier...and they were cheaper to buy too lol.



This is the only place we need to make an adjustment, where the cup rides in the mouth of the axletube. I started with a dremel but eventually said hell with it and grabbed a drill bit slightly larger than the axle cup and drilled it out.





And there you have it.



The stupid C clip that keeps the old axles in place is eliminated using this setup as well which now allows me to be able to take the axles out without completely tearing the housing apart. I had to put a small washer under each knuckle screw to allow clearance for the axle cup but all is well as of right now! Look forward to seeing how long these suckers last!

Matt

[LoneRanger]

my only concern is the knuckle screw. There sure doesn't look like too much meat for that screw to "bite" into.


L.R.

[66sprint6]

Yeah man, thats my ONLY concern but there is quite a bit of meat left in the end. Literally, the tiny washer is all it took to make them fit right so my HOPE is that it wont be an issue. Doesnt mean anything tho, I tear up everything in stock form much less modded but if it goes, Ill figure somethin out to make it work again. I want one of those danged K44s for the front but in the spirit of a budget build...and just not havin the $150 to spend on ONE axle I just cant swing it. One day tho, Ill snatch up a tired wore out used one lol

Matt

[66sprint6]

Little more work done. Pulled the old cloudy windshield "glass" out and replaced it, added some new windshield trim and tossed on some wipers. Couldnt get any of the fancy chrome trim but the black winshield trim is better than the busted up old stuff lol



I glued it on rather than hinging it like 1:1 mainly for strength and durability.



Might end up adding a front roll bar but rather than following the 1:1 front bolt in bars Ill prolly run it thru the dash to the floor if I do. For now tho its in there and untill it breaks off itll do.

I also got the door panels in and am workin on the door straps altho Im not 100% sure I even wanna fool with them cause Ill prolly run doors off alot. Ill snag some pics later.

Matt

[66sprint6]

Oh and the lexan windshield is clear as can be, pics just suck for some reason. I stole the windshield out of a Proline Bronco I had layin around in pieces so it doesnt quite like up at the top corners but otherwise was nearly a spot on match. Cut the old glass out of the frame and glued the new piece in.

Matt