http://www.explorerforum.com/data/2/64dsc00550.jpg


I got the ex back this week from having the roof cut and the roll cage put in. The cage is tied to the frame in six places and has seat, harness, toolbox and tire mounts built into it. Now I just need for work to slow down so I can hit the trails and hopefully not test out the cage:roll:

Seat Mounts
http://www.explorerforum.com/data/2/64dsc00556.jpg

Tool Box Mount
http://www.explorerforum.com/data/2/64dsc00555.jpg

There are a few more pics from other angles in my gallery.

Your ex look tough:D I love it:D

:eek:











:thumbsup:

:D

Sweet!! Cage looks good.

Wow Michael thats really wild!:eek: :) The Red Bull has been decapitated. :D :cool:

HOLY CRAP!!!

that's awesome!!

That is pretty sweet...:thumbsup:

hmmmmm...something looks different from when I saw it at tellico..if I could only figure out what it was.... :eek:

Think you could post a pic of the tube running beside, infront of, around, thru the dash or whatever you did?

Thanks for the compliments guys. It is coming along according to plan rather nicely.

Bob: there is not a dash bar for the time being. It was determined that that area of the truck is plenty strong, and putting in a dash bar would make removal of the dash extremely difficult when it comes time for the next stage of the build. At that time, however, one will be put in for both strength and gauge holding.

so you just stopped right above the dash?

Bob, no it goes around the dash to the frame through the floor, I'll try to get a picture of it to explain better.

Damn dude! You've really gone nutz now ;)

I bet Randall is pissed cause this isn't something you can really do on a DD and still be comfy in Houston, so you one-upped him :D

holy crap thats sick! looks like i better get to work on my hunk of crap if im ever gonna follow you.... :D

Looks really good Michael. I cant wait to see it in Person. Please get some close-ups of the cuts. Like the roof cut and also the bed rail cuts. Thanks a bunch.

Holy CRAP!

That is SWEEEEEEET!!!!

How in the world are the rest of us suppossed to keep up with you guys? Between you and Brian you are making my progress look SLOW!! hahaha..

Damn that is nice tube work! Looking to do something similar with the BII, maybe only 94' of tube since there are no rear doors! hahaha..

Damn Michael that turned out SICK!!!!
Who did the work?

:D

I think I am ready to cut now :) Sure would make for a lighter tow. What did they use to cut the roof?

Look awesome! That's what I want to do but from the back glass only, keeping the back seats. What size tubes are you using?

Again, kicks as*!:chug:

Michael,

The lady that does my custom canvas can hook you up if you need anything done in canvas. She is really good.

Originally posted by Michael
Bob, no it goes around the dash to the frame through the floor, I'll try to get a picture of it to explain better.


That's what i was thinking of doing.Pics would be great!

Bob this is the way that the bar bends around the dash. The only issue that I could see with doing it this way for most people is that it would interfere with the door actually closing.

Brian, the cuts...first at the roof

and then at the bed rails. It looks like they used a body saw, kinda like a small sawzall, and a cut off wheel to do it. The cut has a really rough edge that I need to smooth out, it sliced open my brothers hand this afternoon. I think a plasma cutter would make a nice clean cut if you know someone with one.

410: the work was done by Texas Auto Gear here in Houston. They did all of the work for my solid axle swap as well as Randall's (Muddwhore). Check out their site www.texasautogear.com .

Sorry the pictures are so dark, it wouldn't start so I couldn't move it out of the garage into the light.

You could also get some metal or plastic bed rail caps. May have to cut them to fit, but it would work.

I'm working on two different ideas right now. One is to cut and weld sheet metal caps for the holes and the other is to fill the holes with expanding foam and then cap them with fiberglass. I still haven't decided which way to go yet.

Thanks for those pics....easier to mod the door than the dash!

Bipolar, it would be difficult at best to get a stock door back on Michaels truck judging from those pictures.
You would have to cut quite a bit out of it..............

I have seen some companies switch from a round tube to a flat piece right at the dash in order to stuff between the door and the dash........

On the Ex (or my truck) this is going to be difficult...

I plan to cut the dash on my truck so the tube will not be a knee knocker nor a issue with the door......

NICE work Michael....wish I could grow the balls to do that........but I will be doing my truck myself :) with some help from friends.......... hahaha

Looks great. They did a really nice job.

What kind of bike did you get? I saw it in your album, but there were no details.

looks like a TL1000s (Suzuki) but i could be wrong.

EDIT- i was wrong. its an SV650.

EDIT- i was wrong. its an SV650

Yep, SV650S in the new for 03 metalic copper color. I am still very much a beginning rider and this is a good starter bike that I won't outgrow to fast. It is very strange that I am super aggressive in all of my vehicles, but put me on a bike and I'm an instant candyass.

410 I would love to ba able to say that I did it myself, but time, skills and tools are in shorter supply than cash right now, so it made sense to have it done.

It looks sick! They did a bang up job for sure!

I like the tool box too still make function of the rear dorr wells.....very nice!!!

That thing is crazy...I see you put some other switch in place of the rear wiper switch;)

well shiat, i was in Houston from the 26-29, i woulda loved to come by and see it! but you should go down 1960, the other day some bigass greenish color explorer was HUGE, i mean it looked like 10"+ of lift with 35+ tires i would have to say, i didnt get a chance to check it out, but it still had the D35 TTB :rolleyes:

That's bad Micheal!! You know how much weight was taken off of the X before the tubing was added?

You said something about the next stages...what would that be?

I guess you don't have to worry about breaking windows at tellico anymore, lol!

I guess you don't have to worry about breaking windows at tellico anymore, lol!

Josh that is one of the reasons that I did this, 3 windows in the last 6 months:rolleyes: . I have no idea about the weight, Texas Auto Gear did the cutting of the roof as well as the cage so I don't know what it weighed. If I had to guess, I would say that the 5 doors, glass, and roof weigh in the 400-500 pound range, the whole truck is still far too heavy. The next stages?? 302, c4, atlas, 37" Krawlers or 38.5" tsl sx's, dana 60 rear, tubed out front end, etc.

Tarheel, I would have been happy to show it off. The dana 35 gets a bit of a bad rap, I ran 36's on mine before the dana 44 and it lived.

thats a sweet setup dude...i wanna do a complete exo...but after seeing that...i got second thoughs...wicked...

Originally posted by Michael
Josh that is one of the reasons that I did this, 3 windows in the last 6 months :eek:

wow, just think of the money you could have put towards this if you would have done it earlier! lol

Next stages sound awesome, can't wait till the building starts!

Originally posted by Alec
Damn dude! You've really gone nutz now ;)

I bet Randall is pissed cause this isn't something you can really do on a DD and still be comfy in Houston, so you one-upped him :D

How could I be pissed? I fully support all of Micheal's lunacies. :cool: Besides, why wouldn't you be able to do this in Houston? I need airflow and my ac has gone out for the last time.

Originally posted by 410Fortune
Bipolar, it would be difficult at best to get a stock door back on Michaels truck judging from those pictures.
You would have to cut quite a bit out of it..............

Actually I think the door would still function properly if you were willing to do without the door panel. That door panel is plenty thick, especially up around the dash area. :cool:

I just looked at the pics again, I can still remember up at Tellico when Randall cut off the metal from behind the rear tire and parts of the rear bumper...wow it has changed. I will say it once again, it looks awesome man, cant wait to see it in action again.

I just looked at the pics again, I can still remember up at Tellico when Randall cut off the metal from behind the rear tire and parts of the rear bumper

That crooked cut is still there:D . I just can't bear to straighten it out. It drives my fabricator nuts though, he is dying to fix it.

mich, your truck is, i am out of words. what size tires you running. and what springs are in the back.sick truck what you going to do bout the edges

Those are 36-12.50-15 TSL's. The rear springs are stock from a '96 explorer. Still working on the edges, I'm toying with an expanding foam and fiberglass idea.

sounds good, you should make the old dores into half dores that would look sick, and a tail gate. just an idea the truck is awsome the way it is i love it. who made the front bumper?

Hey Michael you gotta be careful with that foam :)
We used it to repair a tear in the hull of a friends boat. We cut the wooden plywood floor open and glassed the hull from behind. The fiberglass was ripping because if was pushing up and tearing so we used some foam for support....well that stuff expands WAY more then you would think. We ended up chipping a whole bunch of it out to get the floor level again because it bowed out so much. Repair worked like a champ however.....

They have several diffferent grades, dont get the SUPER EXPANDER stuff or it will push the body panels right out! :)

If you got the stock doors back.. you should cut the tops off 'em and have jeep like doors on the sides. Or atleast for the rear passenger doors.

I'm glad I dont offroad... I dont think I could ever see my ex with its roof cut off.

I foamed one hole up already and that looks like the way to go. I still need to lay the glass over it, but I think I can make it look decent enough to go with everything else.

The half door suggestions are good, but I like it without doors. I can see so much better and it make hopping in and out on the trail easier.

The bumper and other fabrication were done by Texas Auto Gear here in Houston. www.texasautogear.com

OMG! You're nuts, lol :D

Gerrald I take it this is not in your trucks future? hahahaha

OMG! You're nuts, lol

Thats kind of the pot calling the kettle black ;)

Originally posted by Michael
Thats kind of the pot calling the kettle black ;)
LOL funny, but true :D

DUDE! sweetest explorer i've ever seen.. i think urs even looks cooler than the pumpkin.. and i love that explorer. i need a new job.. my 5.50 an hour aint cutting it. i got my cb and rain gutters and thats about it.

If that truck had a back seat my kids would love to ride back there. They're so much fun. I should do that to my truck. But if I could only make it a removable hard top, so I wouldn't freeze so much in te winter. Sweet truck, man!