SuperMotors SuperMotors SUPERMOTORS Search: try “orange Bronco on 35s”
Join
Home/ Registry/ Ford/ Bronco/ 1992-1996/ 1992 Bronco/ B-Pillar / Dril Rail / Bed Rust Repair supermotors.net/registry/28006/88856

Album section

B-Pillar / Dril Rail / Bed Rust Repair

From 1992 Ford Bronco, documented by fodder.

122 photos
← Back to this vehicle
1992 Ford Bronco - Prepping the drip rail and b-pillar for repair. Because Bronco. 1992 Ford Bronco - Prepping the drip rail and b-pillar for repair. Because Bronco. 1992 Ford Bronco - Prepping the drip rail and b-pillar for repair. Because Bronco. 1992 Ford Bronco - Prepping the drip rail and b-pillar for repair. Because Bronco. 1992 Ford Bronco - Prepping the drip rail and b-pillar for repair. Because Bronco. 1992 Ford Bronco - Prepping the drip rail and b-pillar for repair. Because Bronco. 1992 Ford Bronco - Prepping the drip rail and b-pillar for repair. Because Bronco. 1992 Ford Bronco - Addressing rust under the rubber mats (padded backing holds water like a sponge) in conjunction with the b-pillar repair. 1992 Ford Bronco - Bed rust cleaned up a bit for a better look at the status. 1992 Ford Bronco - Bed rust cleaned up a bit for a better look at the status. 1992 Ford Bronco - Bed rust cleaned up a bit for a better look at the status. 1992 Ford Bronco - B-pillar access hole cut on the passenger side. Lots of rust hiding in there! 1992 Ford Bronco - B-pillar access hole cut on the passenger side. Lots of rust hiding in there! 1992 Ford Bronco - B-pillar access hole cut on the passenger side. Lots of rust hiding in there! 1992 Ford Bronco - B-pillar access hole cut on the passenger side. Lots of rust hiding in there! 1992 Ford Bronco - Rust wasn't too bad under the front carpet. It traps lots of moisture, but the seat pan sits up high and doesn't allow the water to linger… 1992 Ford Bronco - Front seat pan. 1992 Ford Bronco - Front seat pan. 1992 Ford Bronco - Almost all of the sound insulation under the front seats just lifted away -- a big chunk even came up with the mat -- and was quite moist u… 1992 Ford Bronco - I had previously patched the green/yellow wire that rotted out in the 6-pin connector that Ford decided should be unsealed and submerged at… 1992 Ford Bronco - Old 6-pin connector on the left, with no hint of water insulation. New Delphi Weatherpack connector on the right, scavenged from various GM… 1992 Ford Bronco - Sloppy seam sealer caked on all around the driver's b-pillar base. 1992 Ford Bronco - Sloppy seam sealer caked on all around the passenger b-pillar base. 1992 Ford Bronco - Passenger b-pillar base. Under all those globs of seam sealer is some gnarly panel gap. It's almost like they designed that to be a drain .… 1992 Ford Bronco - Another view of the gnarly panel gap. 1992 Ford Bronco - Passenger rear seat bracket / bed rail panel gap. It's a little tough to tell, but that's gravel down below, viewed through the gap between… 1992 Ford Bronco - No such gap on the driver's side. 1992 Ford Bronco - The project was interrupted by heavy rain several times, and I noticed the awning on the canopy lines up perfect with my F-Bomb sticker, wh… 1992 Ford Bronco - Quite a bit of rust under the driver's door weatherstrip. 1992 Ford Bronco - Base of the driver's b-pillar. Stress cracks like this are evident everywhere in the seam sealer when you start chipping away at it. Quite… 1992 Ford Bronco - Another thing to watch for is the surface rust often found under the seam sealer, which was applied before paint. 1992 Ford Bronco - Pretty big panel gap at the end of the rear footwell on the driver's side. The passenger side has rusty stress cracks forming there, with i… 1992 Ford Bronco - Project keeps on creepin'... Acquired a donor pickup bed for either reinforcing my bed or replacing it altogether (with proper full-span cr… 1992 Ford Bronco - Three hours later ... all the flavor, none of the calories. 1992 Ford Bronco - There were a few dents at the tailgate end of the donor bed that weren't obvious in the photos. But, it has extra length, so if doing a ful… 1992 Ford Bronco - Crawling underneath, I noticed rusty cracks forming below the dents. You wouldn't guess at that condition from the view up top ... all the… 1992 Ford Bronco - Passenger rear footwell seams mostly completed. (The horizontal seam at bed level has proven challenging, with how much gap and inaccessibl… 1992 Ford Bronco - My side didn't turn out quite as well, but in my defense, it was my first time trying the technique he taught me of puddle control via puls… 1992 Ford Bronco - Filling out the door seams. Most of those welds were done by my neighbor. I think I finished up the bottom third of the vertical portion af… 1992 Ford Bronco - I take full credit, and blame, for this side! Other than major struggles keeping the bead tucked up under the drip rail (that'll be fun to… 1992 Ford Bronco - Getting into some of the tough spots ... this seemed like a pretty important seam to reinforce. 1992 Ford Bronco - Solid drip rails weren't the initial plan, but once you start filling out the long seam, there's not much left to leave open. I did this si… 1992 Ford Bronco - My neighbor did most of this side ... then proceeded to thump the roof to show how solid it was, and put a big dent in it. So, I tried out… 1992 Ford Bronco - Passenger sail panel welded. My neighbor did this side, but even he had some significant burn through issues. 1992 Ford Bronco - I struggled a bit more than anticipated with burn through on the driver's side sail panel. The bead was actually pretty nice before I start… 1992 Ford Bronco - More from the driver's door seam. I was very pleased with my vertical bead, but again, stuffing the horizontal part up into place left a li… 1992 Ford Bronco - I pulled the right rear speaker wire and seat belt buzzer wires, filled their screw holes across the floor for less to rust over time, and… 1992 Ford Bronco - Floor and bed cleaned up; most of the seam sealer removed, miscellaneous holes and rusty corroded low spots filled. 1992 Ford Bronco - Rusty section (right where the weatherstrip splits, not surprisingly) cut out of the driver and passenger sills, and patched with pieces cu… 1992 Ford Bronco - I managed to burn in the seam sealer enough to finally get this section filled in on both sides. Not pretty, but solid. 1992 Ford Bronco - By far the toughest item, a) squeezing the MIG nozzle into that space, and b) filling all the sheet metal fractures without burning up the… 1992 Ford Bronco - Ditto on the passenger side. 1992 Ford Bronco - With all the floor pan welding done, I hopped on Rust Bullet prep so I can get that done with this brief window of non-rainy, moderate humi… 1992 Ford Bronco - I filled the ~1" hole at the back of the floor pan, that I'm told is for electronic transfer case wiring. Much less flexy there now. But, b… 1992 Ford Bronco - Passenger door seams. Better success on the overhead, recessed beads after a bit of practice. 1992 Ford Bronco - Floor pan nearly done with prep. Got the last few stubborn bits of paint out of their nooks and crannies, wiped down twice with damp sponge… 1992 Ford Bronco - Second coat of Rust Bullet drying. That stuff goes on nice and thick! (Pro tip: Toss the brush between coats. I tried cleaning it and ended… 1992 Ford Bronco - The interior floor pan of a vehicle shows signs of rust repair and structural modifications. 1992 Ford Bronco - The interior floor pan of a vehicle, showing primer application and structural details. 1992 Ford Bronco - I'll add the mat back in after the Rust Bullet has had more time to air out, but for the time being, I really like how the tranny tunnel co… 1992 Ford Bronco - Driver's side access hole. Finally enough material on both sides to crank the heat up a bit and fill the welds in for more substantial rein… 1992 Ford Bronco - Passenger side access hole. I re-sprayed Rust Reformer everywhere inside after this, so I wouldn't forget to before closing them back up... 1992 Ford Bronco - Had a little dry weather left to do some basic shaping of the new weld work (more heat, filling in the old welds and any porosity I could g… 1992 Ford Bronco - Driver's side rear drip rail, post-final pass welding, pre-smoothing. 1992 Ford Bronco - Quick 'n dirty smoothing on the driver's side. The clouds and wind were getting ominous. 1992 Ford Bronco - Even with the weld built up that much, there's still a little clearance for the hardtop. 1992 Ford Bronco - Passenger side has a better smoothing of the weld and more appropriate looking hardtop clearance. 1992 Ford Bronco - Rust Reformer sprayed on the b-pillar inner welds; looks a lot more complete welding-wise now that it's uniform in appearance. 1992 Ford Bronco - Driver's drip rail channel carved. I got most of the porosity out with the final welding passes, but eliminating all the little start/stop… 1992 Ford Bronco - Top slid back (and bolted down one slot back, safety first!) for painting. The tarped up canopy was barely up to the rain/wind task. Not th… 1992 Ford Bronco - Paint and feathering look good from 15+ feet, decent from 10', and rather lousy any closer. 1992 Ford Bronco - I painted the old roof light patched and seam sealed holes while I was at it, but of course, matching that off-white spray paint is a losin… 1992 Ford Bronco - Vertical seams alongside the tailgate will get the same treatment as the b-pillar verticals. Not surprisingly, there's a bit of rust under… 1992 Ford Bronco - Vertical seams alongside the tailgate will get the same treatment as the b-pillar verticals. Not surprisingly, there's a bit of rust under… 1992 Ford Bronco - Removal of the recently learned of plate that blocks what would otherwise be a great drain at the base of the b-pillars. The thin plate is… 1992 Ford Bronco - Once enough of it is pried up, the rest can be twisted free with pliers. 1992 Ford Bronco - The big hole has a huge chunk of expanding foam pushing down below, while the smaller hole is one of the push pin spots. 1992 Ford Bronco - Better angle of the back of the pocket. The expanding foam continues out of reach and looks like it may extend up between body panels, so I… 1992 Ford Bronco - Front of the pocket, and the other push pin hole. The area out of view just to the left and in front of the push pin hole is the important… 1992 Ford Bronco - The water can now escape from the door sill through that gap behind the seat belt anchor bolt hole. I got some of the expanding foam out wi… 1992 Ford Bronco - Pulled the tail lights before welding behind them, and was surprised to see significant dirt accumulation below them. The driver's side was… 1992 Ford Bronco - Dirt mostly cleared out below the tail light. You know it's a lot when that size hole isn't big enough to let it fall through. 1992 Ford Bronco - Dirt pile from below passenger tail light, alongside 15" rim and 33" tire for perspective. Makes me think the 500-1000 lb discrepancies in… 1992 Ford Bronco - I'm not sure what these screw holes were for -- there was some sort of plastic or paper, mostly disintegrated, screwed down on both sides w… 1992 Ford Bronco - Only two of the mystery screw holes on the driver's side. 1992 Ford Bronco - Got the vertical seams alongside the tailgate fully welded. I did it as a series of spot welds and finally controlled the heat well enough… 1992 Ford Bronco - Pretty happy with the amount of penetration I got out of the spot weld method. Fairly consistent and controlled, despite the work space req… 1992 Ford Bronco - Passenger side rear corner screw holes filled. I clipped a copper backer plate to the underside with magnets, and was able to fill them tha… 1992 Ford Bronco - Driver's side rear corner screw holes filled. The fuel filler neck passes between them, pretty close to one of them, so I was a little nerv… 1992 Ford Bronco - I also fully welded the seams where the outer tub meets the tailgate crossmember, using the same spot weld method as the rear verticals, bu… 1992 Ford Bronco - That pretty much does it for interior welding to-do's; just need to finish up paint removal and get the area prepped for Rust Bullet, then… 1992 Ford Bronco - Cargo area done with sanding. 1992 Ford Bronco - Cargo area done with sanding. 1992 Ford Bronco - Rust Bullet applied to bed sides. I poured out a little too much, and with how fast it dries, didn't want to ruin the rest of the stuff in… 1992 Ford Bronco - Rust Bullet applied to bed sides. New speakers reinstalled and hardtop wiring clipped back into place. 1992 Ford Bronco - Cargo area Rust Bulleted. 1992 Ford Bronco - Interior going back together... 1992 Ford Bronco - I need to shave the welds down a bit flatter for the tailgate weatherstrip to screw down flush. I also forgot to put in the thin metal stri… 1992 Ford Bronco - Halfway back to a full interior! 1992 Ford Bronco - This wasn't my best idea... I started the b-pillar access holes on the passenger side, doing a full cutout. Then I did the driver's side an… 1992 Ford Bronco - I can probably smooth the upper welds and blend it in enough once painted to not be noticeable, but I hoped the inside would clean up bette… 1992 Ford Bronco - The front of the door sill on the passenger side didn't look like a pressing need to pull up the old seam sealer, but the driver's side was… 1992 Ford Bronco - No more seam sealer to rot away at the front of the driver's door sill. Of course, as soon as I reached this stage of the project, I starte… 1992 Ford Bronco - A bit off-topic... Now that the workload has settled down from the rush to seal things up before Fall/Winter made a mess of it all, I finis… 1992 Ford Bronco - All loaded up, to the tune of nearly 400 lbs. It's a beast to move around, but I remembered to grease the bearings in the casters this time… 1992 Ford Bronco - With the gas tank removed, raising the dent in the floor was pretty easy, albeit imperfect, with the hydraulic ram. It should be level enou… 1992 Ford Bronco - The view from below, sans undergarments (aka gas tank), because the Bronco world needs more photos of such indecency. All that crud on the… 1992 Ford Bronco - Fuel tank area cleaned up. I scraped all the rubbery gooey coating off that I could reach, then pressure washed ... with a long wand, mind… 1992 Ford Bronco - Opposite view of the fuel tank area after cleaning. Definitely some surface rust there, but nothing disturbing that I can spot. I emptied n… 1992 Ford Bronco - C-channel brace for below the bed, boxing the fuel pump access panel. The visible side will face down and either have nuts welded on, or be… 1992 Ford Bronco - Bed brace test fit up top, to make sure I got the short braces squared up well and properly aligned with the lower portion of the ribs. The… 1992 Ford Bronco - I noticed with the tank out of the way, one of my rear axle breathers is MIA. I had meant to do some relocation of the one, but didn't real… 1992 Ford Bronco - Bed/access panel brace bolted in place but not yet welded. I decided the brace needed gussets to be complete. But boy did they make it diff… 1992 Ford Bronco - Spot weld holes drilled for the bed/access panel brace. The four corner bolts will secure the access panel. I've got some SS button head bo… 1992 Ford Bronco - I painted the fuel tank skid plate. Very minimal surface rust on the inside, but the outside was a bit scraped up and had some flash rust.… 1992 Ford Bronco - Bed brace spot welded from above, and fully welded at the ends below. I drilled the bed holes for the spot welds fairly small, figuring I'd… 1992 Ford Bronco - Bed brace and surrounding areas painted, now that welding is done. 1992 Ford Bronco - Tank emptied, cleaned, and reinstalled. I had to shave down the four spot welds surrounding the cutout, so that the access panel would sit… 1992 Ford Bronco - Minimal tank-brace clearance ... don't trust other people's estimates of the space between the tank and bed. 1992 Ford Bronco - Minimal tank-brace clearance ... don't trust other people's estimates of the space between the tank and bed. 1992 Ford Bronco - Minimal tank-brace clearance ... don't trust other people's estimates of the space between the tank and bed. The reported 1.75" to 3" minim… 1992 Ford Bronco - Parked in a different spot for brake work, sloped down a bit to the passenger side, and had another water leak somewhere around the driver'…