Salt-Man's " BEAR METAL "

[Salt-Man]

Well I guess I am the first, this is my 78 Bronco that I saved from the crusher about 3 yrs ago, O:-)
it was in pretty ruff shape and had a blown motor, but once I saw it I knew I had to have it. :love:
it has been a blast to build ever since, I put a mildly built 351W with homemade fenderwell headers in it and rebuilt a c-6, I cut up a Chevy Corsica and made all my patch panels from its sheet metal, and robbed the front clip off my 76 F250 4x4, it has about a 6" lift and 35's and a soft top that I made for it,
I have done every bit of the work on this truck myself, I have a few mods in mind for the future like bigger axles, lockers, and a doubler with triple sticks. thank you for giving me a place to show him off :Yahoo!:
Enjoy...Rick--Salt-Man

http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/aa208/rsalter66/bronco219.jpg
http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/aa208/rsalter66/bronco221.jpg
http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/aa208/rsalter66/bronco213.jpg
http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/aa208/rsalter66/bronco180.jpg

[Salt-Man]

What I started with

http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/aa208/rsalter66/bronco051.jpg
http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/aa208/rsalter66/bronco050.jpg
http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/aa208/rsalter66/bronco049.jpg
http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/aa208/rsalter66/bronco048.jpg

:Rose: VOTE FOR BEAR METAL FOR TOTM :Bravo:

[jr78f150]

nice job salt-man! great looking bronco. what is the emblem between the grill sections? dont think ive seen that before. amazeing how much rust you find on these 30 year old trucks isnt it?:eek:

[Salt-Man]

it is a XLT, the whole front clip is off of my 76 4x4 F250 xlt hi-boy, it also had intermediate wipers that are going in the bronx, I am swapping everything of use from the 76 to the 78, so I guess you cold say I have a 78 XLT Hi-Boy?? :D Thanks for the compliments, it didn't look all that baa when I brought it home, but once I started tearing into it, oh my fuggin god, I found bondo on the rear quarter panel that was a 1/2" thick? it is far from perfect now, but if it was perfect I wouldn't want to use it like I plan too. Thanks again..Rick

[jr78f150]

yea,thats pretty much the same situation i got into.a freind had mine for years and i kept pushing him to fix it up before it got too bad but he wouldnt listen.he just drove it till the wheels were ready to fall off then bought another truck. he ran it so long with the front axle joints bad that the sides of the axles by the caps were worn flat,never seen that before then. i knew the bed was in bad shape but once i removed the bedliner i got the shock of a lifetime.couldnt have hauled a truckload of cats in it. then the more work i did the more rust i found.at one point i almost gave up and turned it into something to run in the local mudbogs.i found bondo,old riveted in patch panels and crap like that in places i thought were very solid. well worth the effort though once the previous owner seen it with new paint :D

[Johnny]

Damn Rick, that turned out to be pretty sharp truck..

[Salt-Man]

Thanks Johnny, not bad for being on as much of a budget as possible, I do everything myself and build as many accessary's that I can myself, that's why I am always shooting for TOTM
this Rig is 100% me ;)