[Mach1460]

Hey guys, I finally got started on my 1992 bronco "resto" last night. Follow this thread Ill take you guys step by step on how to perfectly do bodywork and paint with zero errors. HA not! just kidding Im no newbie but im far from pro but I did a patch panel on a quarter panel last year then painted it all by my self and it turned out great!!! So I got the motivation/time/money finally to restore my beloved Bronco. Hopefully some of you can help me with a couple (or a couple hundred) ponters along the way. Heres the start I spent all day monday taking off everything that doenst need to be there for paint and tucked it away in my unfinished basement. My girlfriend didnt even complain! This project is being painted 100% with SPIs products. I was planning on using a PPG black but the day I called SPI to order my epoxy, 2k and clear they just started making there black base coat again. So I said what the hell lets go 95% SPI. I went with Dupont Chromabase for my tan lower half of the Bronco. Ill be shooting everything with my Devilbiss FL3 gun as I did all primer, base and clear on my last project and they all turned out great. No orange peel believe it or not! Hopefully my luck still stands!

Im starting on the rusty upper lips of the rear quarters, I have a partial aftermarket quarter panel for each side along with an inner wheel tub.
I started by taking the Bronco to a local decal shop and had them mimic the factory pinstripes before I removed them. Cost me 48.00 not too bad since I had zero results finding a factory stripe kit. I also took and noted some careful measurements of where they were located..

[Mach1460]

Here I ground down the area around the driver rear quarter panel to see what lied underneith. Really the rust hadnt spread too far mainly the upper 10 to 2 oclock area. I have plenty of good metal to work with. I traced my replacement panels outline over the original so that I had an idea on my maximum limits of what I can remove. Then I used a straight edge to make straight lines for what I will cut out. (inner lines obviously in the pics)

I then held my replacement panel back over the area to be removed and made a small mark at the bottom inner lip of the wheel well of the new panel where the marks on the original were. Hopefully that makes sence.

Now that I know where my inner panel will be cut I took my straight edge and made my template on the new panel. (silver marks) When I cut my patch on the new panel I will use it to scribe on the original panel where to cut this way my patch is exactly what i need with minimal (hopefully no) gap.

Im debating on how to cut my new panel. I might break down and buy an air shears because I want it cut straight with minimal distortion... thats as far as I got today!

[Mach1460]

Going to get back on the project tomorrow morning. The inner wheel wells and new fenders have a black coating on them, is it best to leave this coating on the majority of the panel and strip it off where i need to weld?? Or should I strip the whole thing and epoxy it? Will the epoxy last on its own against the elements?

[Mach1460]

here are some pics of my progress. I decided to buy the air nibbler/shear. I picked it up at menards for 55.00 el cheapo brand but it worked pretty good. I dont know about the longevity of it but for the hand full of times ill ever use it it was the right price.

I scribed my new patch panels (wheel arches) onto the old metal and took my time with a cutoff wheel. I left 15/16 of an inch on the top for the flange tool. Hopefully it shows up in the pics. The top will have the flange facing down so water cannot accumulate here and the sides of the patch will be buttwelded. I took my time and cleaned some surface rust above the inner fenderwells and hit it with some rust encapsulator.

Drilling out the spot welds on the inner fender was a PITA.

[deadbodyman]

Originally Posted by Mach1460

here are some pics of my progress. I decided to buy the air nibbler/shear. I picked it up at menards for 55.00 el cheapo brand but it worked pretty good. I dont know about the longevity of it but for the hand full of times ill ever use it it was the right price.


I scribed my new patch panels (wheel arches) onto the old metal and took my time with a cutoff wheel. I left 15/16 of an inch on the top for the flange tool. Hopefully it shows up in the pics. The top will have the flange facing down so water cannot accumulate here and the sides of the patch will be buttwelded. I took my time and cleaned some surface rust above the inner fenderwells and hit it with some rust encapsulator.

Drilling out the spot welds on the inner fender was a PITA.

yeah, those welds can be a pita but well worth the time it takes removing them ,as you'll find out later on...Looking good so far but this is still the fun part....

[Mach1460]

I know, if it wasn't wedding season I'd be a lot further along. Sunday and Monday i should get a lot done. Might pick up a small hvlp detail gun at tractor supply this weekend to shoot the inner Wells with epoxy before i weld them in

[Mach1460]

I got the patch panels welded in finally today, still need to grind down the welds on one side. It took me about 5 hours to weld the two patch panels in, taking my time to fight warping. The side that I have ground down i have a small "gully" where the weld is but its nothing a small layer of filler wont take care of. Wednesday and thursday Ill hopefully get the other sides welds ground down and at least a few panels stripped and the inside of the panels epoxy'd. Im leaving the top and doors on for now just to keep as much sanding dust out of the inside of the vehicle as I can. Once I get 90% stripped to bare metal ill pull the top and doors off.

I think I spent most of the day stripping the coating that came on the new panels. That was a PITA. I did pick up a small detail gun early this moring even though it only has a .08 tip (ill reduce my epoxy 25% ) hopefully it turns out...

Also found a perfect leather/Eddie Bauer rear seat on thurs from a lady on craigslist...for 10 bucks. Made my day

[Mach1460]

Wondering if anyone has a better way to do this, im using a flap disc and a roloc disks to sand down my weld. If you see the pic my weld is down in a gully if you will. Im concerned with my griding methods thinning the metal around the welds as im trying to just bring the weld down to the surface... any ideas/better ways?

[Chevymon]

You could try planishing your welds with hammer on dolly, to bring them back up. Apply strong pressure with the dolly as you strike with the hammer, also next time don't blow air on the weld, just let it cool naturally.

[Mach1460]

Ive done a total of 3 patch panels now , one on a different vehicle and two on this one. the first i used a damp rag to cool the weld and i had bad warpage/ sinking of the weld. I was hoping using shop air would be less
shocking to the weld and i did have less warpage but still more than i wanted. Next time i will take your advice and let the weld cool naturally.
This afternoon i will try the hammer and dolly to see what i can accomplish..

[Mach1460]

Finally got the whole truck stripped, and interior completely gutted. I also dropped the camera in the garage and broke it. (girlfriends camera, she doesnt know yet....) So Ive been taking pics with my phone. Most recently I decided to strip the floor and do a bed liner to help with sound deadening. I SPI epoxied the floor and Im using U-Pols raptor liner. I shot the eopxy last night and it turned out great, The Raptor liner will be here tomorrow, so I cant do much today.