I thought I'd share some pictures of my '75. It belonged to my grandpa and I'm working on my plan to restore it. It has a 302, Auto trans, & about 65,000 original miles. It spent a lot of time sitting on his farm, then sitting in storage after he retired. It has quite a bit of west Texas topsoil covering most of the interior and engine bay. At some point, the drivers side of the grill had a run-in with a piece of farm equipment. It's the only damage on the body (any thoughts on being able to straighten that out or is the grill going to become wall art?). Drivers seat has a tear in the cushion. A few years ago, I replaced all of the belts and hoses, changed fluids, and reworked the drum brakes.

The plan is to start with the Painless wiring harness that I have on order, then move to drivetrain, brakes, suspension kit, then paint (I hate the stripes), carpet, etc. I want to get it up and running reliably, then tackle projects during the winter when I have time.

I'm going to be reaching out for a lot of advice and help. I'm looking forward to being more involved in the group.

Rox, you are still welcome to the gun rack in the back window.

Wow, that thing looks to be very clean and straight.

Excellent starting point Regardless which direction you decide to go with it.

Thanks very much on the gun racks and for your help on project viperwolf.

Nice ride for sure! I'd be tempted to leave it exactly as it is, sent and all.

I think that is the same gun rack my 66 has in it.

Your grill is very fixable. With it off the truck a little bumping with a hammer & dolly & some filler will make it ready for paint. The new grills on the market are notorious for their poor fit, you'll be miles ahead fixing that one.

I agree with Justin, fix it up & drive it. I kind of like the paint. But its your truck, build it however you want it.

Thanks for the pics.

Paint will probably be the last thing I tackle. My grandpa bought it used around the time I was born, every truck he ever bought new was bright red. He was the mayor of the small town he lived in and I don't know that many people knew his real name, everyone just called him 'Buddy.' So ultimately I want it to be red.

The worst rust spot I found on it is on the firewall around the steering column. I haven't pulled the vinyl floor out though. That's happening in a couple of weeks.

Welcome and thanks for sharing your adventure! There are lots of us who have gone down this very road so you'll find lots of advice on how to tackle this from beginning to end.

The Bronco was delivered yesterday morning. I took some time to empty all of the junk that has accumulated inside over the past several years. Today I started removing parts to pull motor. I found a lot of caked on dirt that made me wish i had a pressure washer. Overall though, rust is almost nonexistent so that's nice. I knew that I had the original jack strap on the fender, but what I didn't realize is that the handle to raise and lower the jack is still there in the original mount as well. I took the speakers out of the door and found the butcher job. Taking parts off, remarkably there was only 1 bolt I found that gave me any issues, ruined a transmission cooler line. There are some pictures below. Can anyone tell me what the brackets mounted on the top of the tailgate are for?

Those are part of the inside-the-tailgate spare holder. You are missing the threaded rod and bracket.

HUGE thanks to charlesw for loaning tools and some time to pull the 302/c4/d20 on Saturday after the breakfast. The transmission had about 1.5" of dirt caked on the top when came out. Probably should've pressure washed it first, right Chuck?...

The 302 came apart relatively easily, thanks to Viperwolf for answering some newbie questions that definitely seemed silly once I got the answers. Tomorrow it's off to the machine shop and possibly Bronco Hut for some parts shopping.

As I was crawling under the Bronco, I noticed that my leaf springs have virtually no bend to them whatsoever. They are almost a straight line between the mounting points. I'm concerned about the tires rubbing when it gets back up and running. I hadn't planned on installing a lift right now. Is it worth trying to find a set of stock springs that aren't quite as worn out?

if you change the rear springs your going to want to change the front to level it out. I would get it running and see where you are then start on suspension "upgrades" and other stuff.. other wise you will find your self underway with a 3 year restoration :)

Agree with landshark. That said, I have my old original leaf springs that you are welcome to if you need them.

I don't see any harm with swapping springs if you can get them on the cheap or free. Just make sure you set the bronco down before you tighten the bolts down.

Wow, talk about jumping into the deep end

That's getting after it !

If you are going to get stock springs, go with new...

45 year old springs are still 45 year old springs! Gravity is real!

Pulled the dash out to start the new harness. The inside of this thing needs a bath so bad.

I will let you know. I'm up to my eyeballs in wiring right now.

Quick update:

1. Cleaned up the explorer timing cover, oil pan, and lower intake. I think they turned out pretty good to be 41 years old.
2. Got a better than new Viper Built C4 and D20 back. Thanks Phil!
3. Finished installing and looming the wiring harness in the dash.

You must've found the original Explorer concept vehicle as your donor!! I didn't know they'd been making them for 41 years!

I love all the clean shiny parts.

Great to see the old parts look new again!
Keep it up!

Love it!!!

Is that where your dipstick really goes? Only curious as I believe I have some same port on my oil pan, but my dipstick appears to go thru the block and the port on the pan is a source of some leakage!

If you are in the same boat, perhaps you might look into patching that pan??

Funny Eck. The timing cover is from a '98. It did see twice as many miles as my bronco though. Oil pan and lower intake are 41 yrs old.

That is where the dipstick screws in. I had to dig through an unbelievable amount of farm dirt to pull it.

Looking good! Whats the little black box? Dakota Digital gauges?

Just bustin ball$ Tim. Thinks are looking good. Looking forward to seeing it on the road.

Garry, yes that is the control module for the Dakota Digital cluster. It will be mounted in the dead space between the gauge cluster and the fresh air box. I also added all the wires for a Gentex mirror with temp/compass out of a suburban.

Oh man. All those clean parts... What a beautiful sight.

Today I got a couple of things accomplished:
1st - I got the control module for the Dakota Digital Cluster mounted.
2nd - The dash is inside the Bronco! Not installed, but I did pull the looms through the firewall, which is a great feeling.
3rd - Pulled the old fuel lines out and cleaned up the frame where the transmission cross member bolts on. Speaking of that, one of the bolts apparently broke off inside the frame. Any ideas on how to get that out?

Looks great!