You eat an elephant, one bite at a time! You will get there and it will be amazing!!!

[quote="Jesus_man"]You eat an elephant, one bite at a time!
But I think this horse has started to turn lol

I'm heading to Phx this week and needed to get dimensions for my upholstery guy on the rear hatch that I wanted made out of canvas, but after drawing it out I just don't think I'm digging the look. So back to the original idea of mounting the OEM hatch (Yea I'm a purist ).

I was able to weld 2 tabs on each of the side window frames and attach the rear hatch with some 1/4-20 bolts. So now to go just a Safari top you only need to remove a total of 8 bolts. I will also carry Lexan windows (on the roof rack) just in case I get caught in a rain/snow shower. I also re-worked the gas tank straps as the first version were too skinny and didn't look good when I mounted the tool bag rack.

Ahh, so you can pull the sides and hatch off leaving a hard safari top. That's cool!! How do the lexan windows attach?

My plan is to weld 6-small tabs with welded nuts on the back side of the glass channel so all the lexan glass will be secured using these S/S security bolts

Cool. You going to try some type of weather seal? And carry a small cordless impact to zip them on and off?

Since getting the motor started, I've been re-working a bunch of little items on the motor/build that just weren't right and now it looks like I'm finally moving forward. Have I mentioned that I'm sick and over this build and just want to ride !!

1) Steering pump leaked and could not get a small leak from this bolt to seal. Luckily napa took it back a year later after purchase
2) When going EFI and removing the EGR you need to tap and seal the port.
3) Mastercraft seat had seam tear, 18months after purchase Mastercraft stood by there product and sent me a replacement cover.
4) Rear Explorer disc brakes that I have will not work on a 76-F150 BB axle so I needed to buy a rear disc kit, then needed to shorten the rear truss so the disc brackets would fit.
5) Notice a theme here, I wont bore you with all the rest...……………………………………………………………...

Good news is that the Stereo sounds great and I should have the all the brakes completed in the next week and then on to setting up the suspension to check ride height and ordering driveshafts.

Not sure why the pics are sideways now, is it because of Window 10 ?

I'm curious what problems you had putting the Explorer brakes on the full width 9". I don't have plans to do rear disks, but hoped the Explorer rears could be used if I decided to make the upgrade. I knew it wouldn't 'bolt on' like the 74/75 EB 9" with Torino ends. I would have thought there would be work arounds for the bolt pattern and caliper position differences.

What kind of rear disks did you do? The Explorer parking brake is the big plus that was making me hope it was a possiblity.

Nice work on the 9"! Some time ago I added a plug to the side near the bottom. I'll tell you that I've had rocks get in there and bugger up the hex a little making it harder to remove. You may want to consider adding something around that hole to protect the plug a little. That somewhat eats into your newly acquire clearance tho. Or just replace the plug as necessary.

So...when is the first ride?

Git-R-Dun!

You are The Man Steve!!!
You’re so close!!!
Now stop whining and finish up dammit

The Bronco is now able to stand on her own !
All Brake line are finished/plumbed along with setting the preload/nitrogen charging the shocks. The ride height is about a 1" lower than planed with minimal preload 1.5"/charge 150# and I really like it so far. I still have a few "little" items before the "test drive" but D-Day is getting closer.

I still need to install the twinstick and tried using a transmission jack on the D20 and the angle was too much so I made a little bracket to bolt to the base and hold the case. Alignment of the bolts was the easiest fit I've ever had. This is by far the BEST thing I have ever made!

Love the jack modification! Can't wait to see it driving.

Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk

What an incredible transformation!!

Looking good for sure!

And that bracket is a great idea. Could have used that a time or two.

I hope everyone is doing well, I've been taking advantage of this social distancing and spending most days in the garage. The list is getting shorter for the most part just fine tuning the suspension, painting parts. Just waiting to get my front axle/9" carrier back from gearing, then its bleed the brakes and dare I say "test drive"

I am nearly as excited as you are to see this rig in action...even if it's just around the block!

Who supplied your driveshafts? Interesting way to pack them, but I like it!

I'll keep them in mind!

4 weeks later and I'm no closer to driving it, my buddy finally got to start on my axles a couple of weeks ago and found that the 9" 3rd member was cracked on the 76-F150 axle, its a 2.891 bearing and all the new ones are 3.062 and larger so needed to also buy another bearing kit. A week later got the new parts and now the yoke is worn ok order a new one. Today the new yoke arrives and I'll get my axles on Saturday so I thought in the meantime my buddy is working on the 44 and the new larger carrier for the 4:88 gears is machined wrong and the carrier bearing just flops in place. This last mile of the race is trying my patience I think this Princess likes being in the garage.

That might be the deepest grooves I’ve ever seen on a yoke, yikes.

While waiting for the new carrier to arrive I decided to paint the top and make some "half" doors, my first thought was to use the OEM striker and get a set of door latches at the JY but that proved to be more difficult than I though and buying a set for $150 just wasn't in the budget.
So I picked up a pair of "dare I say" Toyota hinges at UPP in hopes of making them work, this took way longer than I though was it worth it probable not but I don't think you'll see another set of door like this on a Bronco, I'll paint them orange/white to match

Great ideas!! I'd like to remake my soft doors to have a bit more strength.

While still waiting on drivetrain parts, got a few more parts painted

I have to clean up every time I look at your rig!

Looking forward to seeing this rig in person!

The question for all his craftsmanship is “will you have it on the trail at Super Celebration “ ?