1968 Ford Bronco

The owner of this clean 1968 Bronco wanted to upgrade it to meet his preferences. It left the factory with a straight six connected. The owner spec'd a a crate performance 302 V-8  painted a stock ford blue, and a tremech 5 speed manual floor shifted transmission. He requested air lockers for both the front and rear differentials, dual shocks, lift kit, roll bar, under body rust protection, Rhino liner coated interior floor panels.  He liked his current wheels, chrome steelies, but want a painted grill instead of the chrome one.  The removable half cab was to be painted the same as the grill, cream white. The body was to have any and all rust damaged panels cut out and replaced with new steel parts. The body tub and new roll bar were then to be top coated in the darkest green metallic paint I could find. The bench seat was  to be replaced with new bucket seats.  Class III receiver hitches were to be add to the front and rear so a hitch mounted electric winch could be moved to either position.

The first order of business was to check the fit of the custom fit roll bar. Satisfied it fit properly the next stage was disassembly including lifting the body off the frame. Once the frame was modified for the new drive train and suspension it would be mated to the body again  for fitment on the rotisserie.

The body was now mounted back on the frame with six inch spacers to allow access between the two. The next step was to cut out a couple of floor panels and the cowl and windshield assembly because of rust damage. The entire under body and frame were then coated with a base coat Rust Bullet for lifetime rust protection. Hinged body parts were removed for prep and paint.

The customer requested the darkest green metallic I could get for the body and a cream white for the hard top and grill. The underbody and engine bay are to be black and the interior floors, front and back are to be coated with Rhino-Liner. I sent him a sample of a PPG Jade green metallic and cream white. He approved them so the work began. With all the rust cut out and replaced with new metal it was time to work on the paint. The aqua green was sanded off and a coat of epoxy primer sealer applied. The hinged panels were removed and painted loose. The grill, dash, hard top and "FORD" emblem on the tailgate were treated to cream white. Once the color coats were layed out everything was coated with 3 coats of PPG clear. 

The freshly painted body was loaded up and delivered to Twisted Metal in Griffin GA to have Rhino Liner truck bed coating applied to the entire interior floor front and back.

The original six cylinder was replaced with a high performance crate 302. The owner want it to look as factory as possible with no aftermarket shiny parts.He requested the whole thing to be painted Ford engine blue. The chrome valve covers were replaced with a factory pair. A power steering pump and factory pullies were also sourced. Class 3 receiver hitches were added to the front and rear for a hitch mounted winch set up.

Once again, no fancy hydraulic lift to aid in this process.We were experiencing a wetter than usual spring so a temporary awning was set up to keep the work going. Once the body was reunited with the chassis the remaining engine pullies and fan were installed. New bucket seats completed the repainted interior. Time for testing and final tweaking.