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'85 Brat frame/wheel well rebuild progress photos (UPDATE 7/13)


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Wow,that's gonna be a heck of a project. Good luck with it,Mike. Please keep us posted and if there happens to be anything I have left to donate I sure will.

 

Nice score of the wheel arches. Are rockers stil available?

 

So are new Brat rear wheel wells still available? If so, where? How much?

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Looks like all of the structurally augmentation was wrapped up tonight. Not a lot to show for it though. One really heavy duty patch on the drivers front frame horn, rocker panel patches on both sides, and a lot of reattaching of removed parts. Got the rear end back up into place and we reinstalled the gas tank. Since I pulled it to do the structural work I had a local shop cook it out and check it for leaks. All good! Sprayed the top with rubberized undercoating, reinstalled the sending unit and back up she went. All new hoses and clamps too. We got rid of the short metal fuel return lines that come thru the rubber grommet in the passengers rear wheel area and went back in with new rubber lines. Alas, the magic spray from PennDOT's winter road pre-treatment got to the metal lines. Reinstalled the trailer hitch. Test fit the front brush guard but didn't install it until the rest of the body work is finished. Put the old set of shocks back on temporarily until the new Ranchos go on in conjunction with the lift kit. LOTS of tool clean-up, etc.

 

Well that just about does it for this portion of the work. Stay tuned for future work including lift kit install, finished body work, reinstallation of interior plushies, installation of the camper top and finally the paint job. All should start next week and run for another month or two.

 

As long as you're all reading this let me ask for opinions. Should I keep all the high thin and low thicker side body moldings on this thing or take them off and fill in the holes prior to painting? I'd need to pull them anyway to do some rust repair behind a few of the mounting locations so either way is no extra work. What would look best?

 

As for paint the boy and I were really liking the idea of a dull snow camo job. My brother-in-law says go back all white with the original red/black/white halo stripes. I am putting a high topper on it and was going to paint it to match the truck wheter its snow camo or something else. If it matters the interior on this one is blue, not grey and I'm going with a set of 15" Pugeot alloys with swampers. All opinions are welcome.

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As for paint the boy and I were really liking the idea of a dull snow camo job. My brother-in-law says go back all white with the original red/black/white halo stripes. I am putting a high topper on it and was going to paint it to match the truck wheter its snow camo or something else. If it matters the interior on this one is blue, not grey and I'm going with a set of 15" Pugeot alloys with swampers. All opinions are welcome.

I'm sure your B-I-L has become attached to the project and has his own vision for it, but you have to go with what the boy wants to make it his own. Besides, I'm partial to anything camo, even snow camo. :grin:

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  • 1 month later...

Been a while since I posted progress pics. Go here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/26905545@N07/sets/72157605926523746/detail/

 

Lots done since July. Complete ignition system tune-up, new coil, installed power steering, installed 100A Cadillac alternator, rebuilt oil pump, installed new water pump, installed 4" SJR lift, installed high top camper, installed factory driving light system, had a local shop cook out the radiator and test it. I'm sure I'm forgetting some stuff but what the hell.

 

Now its time for some fiberglass body work. Once that's done the bed gets Rhino lined and the jump seat go in. Then paint. Still undecided between soild white with the Brat halo stripes or a complete snow camo job over the whole thing including the camper top. Stay tuned for updates.

 

p.s. I can't seem to find the ADVANCED EDIT feature on the board anymore. I want to change the title of the thread to reflect an update date of 8/30. Moderators.............a lil' help please.

Edited by ettev
New photos added 9/14.
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  • 4 months later...

my brother and I have done all this before. we have done to three diffrent brats. one we just took off road, got 7 years out of the rebuild..had 280 000 miles and ran great but 7 winters in NH was all it could take. all pictures were very similar in size and location. working on another brat, but this one is mounted on 75 bronco frame. just had to cut front frame rails yesterday for header clearence. 302 powered brat with 37 " tires. oh this is big. i will start thread soon when i figure out how to

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ettev:

 

I'm really looking forward to seeing that Brat with the swampers on it. I have the same wheels and lift ready to go onto mine, but I haven't decided what tires I want. I really want the 29x8.50s but I'm afraid they will require too much body "modification".

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  • 3 years later...

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