Pedals and toolbox lid

Swiss cheese.  That's what the driver's side firewall is.  By my count, at least thirteen holes.  So I put the Bronco pedal assembly up where I want it to be (tight fit, but will work well), and then I painted some self-etching primer around it to help me find what it hits (like the bracket on the far left that the window frame mounts to) and what holes it lines up with, if any.

I want to be able to sandwich the firewall between a engine-side backing plate and the pedal assembly itself.  Using the CJ2A tub "tailgate" panel, which is about 1/8" thick, I started with a basic template and cut out the plate.

I put it up against the engine-side firewall where I think it'll go, and then sprayed again with the primer to show me the holes.  So many.  The really large one is supposed to be for the master cylinder.  I'm thinking mine will mount hiring, but we'll see.

All cleaned up.

Now I had to take the pedal assembly apart, so I took a few shots of what it looks like for reassembly.

Pedals removed.  New little bushings on the way.

First round of scrubbing done.

VHT engine paint.

The Fairlane accelerator pedal bracket.

The hinges were next.  First I had to remove what was left of the original hinges.  The rod and the tube it rides in are all but fused.  Looks like a solid piece of metal, doesn't it?

A cutoff wheel made removal quick.

The lid isn't any better.

Here's the best I could find at Home Depot (yes, I could have gone to a specialty metal shop, but I wasn't in the mood).  The tube is obviously much larger than the rod.  But I have a plan.

Finally get to really use my vice.

Holding it in plan with the vice, I cut out about 35-40% of the tube.

Here's a better shot with it ready for the squeeze.  I placed the rod inside it and then crushed what was left of the tube around it until the rod was almost too tight to slide back and forth.

Of course I made two.

I had to cut off the lid pieces, as well.

Just sitting in place, they look really good.  My welding will take care of that.

I didn't think this part through, so I over-welded.

But then I cut through it to create the two-part hinge.  I was able to booger weld it better once it was off the tub.

A blurry shot, but that hides my mediocrity.

Primed, looking a little less ugly.

But they work and are properly aligned.

Another angle.  Not so bad, all things considered.

More grill work

The radiator flange work I did yesterday was educational but also a waste of time. The radiator was going to be too close the mechanical fan (not necessarily so they'd contact each other, but perhaps might in off-road conditions where the frame may flex).  So I cut them off to start over today.

I kept a bit of the original flanges and then spent a little time welding them on more securely.

The next step was to get a new flange that the radiator mounting flanges can bolt to.

Here are the pair.

Some quick adjustment work to get them a little more flush and out of the headlight bucket area.

Here's a shot of the flange, but also the cruddy surface rust on the bottom of the grill.  I've scrubbed the left side, which you can contrast to the ugliness on the right.

Cleaned up.  The other side looks basically the same.  I'm pleased overall, but I'll have to keep an eye on the grill, the radiator, and the flanges to see if there are any stress cracks forming once the radiator is full, vertical, and jostled around by the rig being on the road.

I also wanted to get to scrubbing the yellow off.  I was tempted, at first, to keep it, but once I had to go to town on the center bottom section of the grill where there as a hole, I committed myself to stripping it down to mostly bare metal and readying it for the epoxy primer to come.

Halfway done, but time to go play with the kids.

Grill and tailgate work

These four holes in the tailgate are likely for a spare mounting bracket.  I'm not going to do that (I'll probably mount mine on the full roll cage that I'll have built later).  Unfortunately, two of the holes are on the W and the S stamped into the tailgate, which bother me.  I wanted to do my best to make those blemishes nonexistent.

I started with the back, which I'm less concerned with.

The holes were large enough to warrant small patches.

The initial welds were, as usual, ugly.

Once the weather turned nice, I went outside to work on the grill and radiator mount.  Here's what I started with.

The stock replacement for a Ford V8 radiator doesn't fit the opening and will be too close to the fan itself.  But I'm going to use this radiator because it has the capacity to cool the 260.

To start the modification, I blew apart the spot welds.

My initial plan was to use the flanges, folding them away from the radiator to allow the radiator to bolt to it.

I made the amateur mistake of filling in my welds before knowing if it was going to work.

This was a hole that needed to be filled.  I just used my cooper "spoon" and welded up against it.

In the end, most of this work was a waste of time.  Live and learn.