Not My Bronco

I'm helping a friend finally get his 1968 Bronco back together and running. He bought it in the early 90s, drove it for about 6 months and then tore it apart to rebuild the engine and paint the body. Once he got the paint done and the engine bolted back in, he lost interest and it's been sitting in his garages (he's moved twice) for the last 30 years.

He's selling the current house and building a new one and he wants to ge the Bronco done an sold so he's asked me to finish the job.

Here it is coming out of his garage five hours away in Auburn, WA:


Getting ready to pull it on the trailer:


Arriving home in the Palouse. The Sequoia is a towing beast. I may or may not have hit 80 mph once or twice on the way home:


Unloading:


It took about three minutes for the cat to find it:


It's not really that much bigger than a Jeep:

 

The next step is taking inventory and starting to order stuff.

Taking inventory. My wife was writing stuff down while I was calling things out:


Some items of note.

The engine was rebuilt 30 years ago and re-installed but never started. It will need the full cam break-in procedure the first time it starts up. The missing air cleaner is in a crate:


Crates of parts inside. None of it was bagged and tagged. There is going to be a lot of research involved with this:


Sadly, the Dash has a DIN hole cut into it. Several knobs missing. State of wiring unkown as of yet:


The grill:


Doors are empty. Most of the parts and new felts seem present. Need to order new tracks though:


Trailing arm bushings need to be replaced:


Rear ones too. The rest of the steering/suspension seems good:


Dana 20 with maybe more oil outside than inside:


The secondary gas tank is out. The tank is in the cab. Not sure I saw the bolts for the straps in the bins:


The clutch linkage is dangling loose:


The roll pin is missing from the tree-on-the tree shifter:


Master cylinder, wheel cylinders, and brake hoses are in on the list:


That's just scratching the surface. This is going to keep me busy for a while.

 

Oooh I’m liking this thread already! Good luck Roy.

 

A cat powered Bronco. Good idea.
Hope you have better luck with this engine than the last.

 

....

 

And

 

Bronco's, like Mustangs, are incredibly popular, and you can find just about everything replacement wise.
What is the level he's looking at get it sold? He may be surprised at what it's worth in it's present condition given the amount of NOS parts.
Buyers would include specialty shops such as Tom's bronco parts (Medford Or), or Gateway Bronco which would take it as is.
Gateway needs titled bodies and frames for their custom builds in order to register it as a gen I Bronco.
Just some options.....................

 

I've spent the last week and a half going through all the stuff that came with the Bronco to figure out what I have and what I need.

Some pictures:
























I've figured out where all the random brackets and old seals/bumpers go.

After inventorying the stuff I have, I've made the big list of everything that needs to be ordered. $3300 for the basic reassembly (this includes new tires). Add another $1100 to make it nicer with new armrests, wiper cover, seatbelts, ...etc to make the interior perfect.

Now I've got to get the list to the owner so he can start ordering stuff.

 

I assume you know Dne007 just did a frame off resto on a genI bronco. She may be a good point of contact for any questions.

 

Yep!