My Jurrasic Explorer build thread

[NICE59FORDF100]

The thing with the later style ohv is they are EEC-V controlled, which if you wanted to go that route, you would have to rewire the entire engine system to do the OBD-2 conversion. the reason i went with a dual pcm setup was 1) if it didnt work, i could always just put an A4LD in, 2) it was completely plug and play - there was no rewiring of the truck engine system.

 

[92exp4x4]

The thing with the later style ohv is they are EEC-V controlled, which if you wanted to go that route, you would have to rewire the entire engine system to do the OBD-2 conversion. the reason i went with a dual pcm setup was 1) if it didnt work, i could always just put an A4LD in, 2) it was completely plug and play - there was no rewiring of the truck engine system.

I didn't think about the OBD2 part of it.. did the truck get much better mileage?

 

[92exp4x4]

A little update. Didn't do much to the truck, but got a lot done at the house. At least JP is in the shop now and I'm gathering the tools and supplies to attack this in the next several weeks.

I spent much of last weekend helping my buddy with his property. We are preparing to build a building to put a much larger shop in. It's gonna be a busy next several weeks, but I'm still aiming to have paint on this by November.

As she sits tonight. The new fenders are hung, I found one of them slightly damaged, but not a big deal. I'm hoping to have the replacement tailgate and rear door hung and the whole truck prepped by next weekend. I have a lot of masking and sanding to do.

 

[NICE59FORDF100]

I didn't think about the OBD2 part of it.. did the truck get much better mileage?

I Don't think the MPG changed that much to be measurable. the main benefitsof the swap was better quality trans and better diagnosis capabilities in the future with the 5R55E

 

[sanek502008]

Very interesting project. Great work!

 

[92exp4x4]

Got a little bit done on this today. I helped my buddy on Saturday, then played with this a little yesterday and a lot today. I ordered a new rear bumper today and another right fender. After messing with my damaged one, I made it worse. I decided in the interest of time that replacing it, for now is best.

For this week I plan on having the grill, headlight doors, front bumper, front sheet metal, installed and primed as needed. I want to get some of the masking done for the major stuff, frame, windshield, etc. Gonna try to start on the wheels this week too. I'd love to have everything ready by Nov 1, so I can have the paint finished before it gets cold out.

For this stage I bought a grinder, as mine took a crap, some primer and acetone.

Grinder $50
Paint supplies $14
Hours 8

Now some pics!

 

[92exp4x4]

Very interesting project. Great work!

Thanks!

 

[92exp4x4]

If anyone wants to chime in on technique, please do. This is my first body work project and I'm learning as I go. Should those who know see something in what I'm doing that could be better or done easier, please let me know.

 

[92exp4x4]

I started sanding a little on this today. What I have done looks decent. I still have some work to do to bring the contours out to where they need to be. I wish I could spend more time on this. It's getting dark earlier and work just gets in the way when its not funding this endeavor!

I ordered another front fender and it came in today. Someone put it in a box with no filler/padding/anything, and of course it got crushed. Somehow a mostly empty box was going to support everything thrown on top of it in the FedEx truck. I have contacted the eBay seller and am looking forward to thier response. This will be the second fender destroyed for this project. CAPA parts for these trucks just aren't that common anymore, at least for cheap anyway!

Hopefully the rain and cold will hold off a little longer. We'll see..

 

[92exp4x4]

I made significant progress this weekwnd with my project. Most of the major stuff is nearly complete. I still need to weld up the rocker holes for the "tupperware" trim, as it will not be going back on. I need to prep and install the front sheet metal, mount the bumpers, grill and headlight doors. If I had another good solid two days, I think it would be ready for paint.

I'm impressed with how the wheel arch has turned out as this is my first attempt at doing this kind of work. I'm really curious what it will look like with paint. I'm going to proof some of the spots with gloss black spray paint. I have heard you can see minor imperfections this way.

As it sits tonight.

 

[natenkiki2004]

That looks pretty slick.

I've seen the gloss paint trick too. One thing that may help is to print out a page with stripes on it. Body guys use that to see where dents are and how much more they need to pull/manipulate to totally remove the dents. There's fancy light strips that bring out the flaws more but the poor mans way is just a striped page and you look at it's reflection in the paint to spot issues.
Take a look: https://denttime.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/IMG_4568.jpg

 

[92exp4x4]

That looks pretty slick.

I've seen the gloss paint trick too. One thing that may help is to print out a page with stripes on it. Body guys use that to see where dents are and how much more they need to pull/manipulate to totally remove the dents. There's fancy light strips that bring out the flaws more but the poor mans way is just a striped page and you look at it's reflection in the paint to spot issues.
Take a look: https://denttime.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/IMG_4568.jpg

That is pretty cool. Thanks for the tip! I guess you would just mount the stripped paper to a trouble light and hang it up. I could use an LED bulb so it doesn't get too hot behind the paper. I think i'm gonna get some dual T5 bulb lights and hang them to shine in the truck

I was hoping to work on this more this weekend, but I wound up putting a roof on my house instead. With the crappy weather on the way, I figured it was best to get this done when my roofing friend had some time to help. I have been in desperate need of a roof for a while. they had to replace a bunch of the sheathing over the front porch. This only took more time and the details will be finished tomorrow.

I have taken off tuesday and will devote the whole day to this project. I'm getting really close to getting paint on this thing. I can't wait..

 

[92exp4x4]

Haven't made much headway with this lately. The weather has finally turned for worse, conveniently when I have time to work on this. I spent last weekend with my best friend. We welcomed his first child into the world. Pretty awesome thing, those of you with kids I'm sure can understand.

As far as this project, things have slowed slightly. I'm hoping to have an update this weekend. There isn't too much left until the first coat of primer goes down.

I started to fill the rocker trim holes with filler, but i'm thinking i would rather weld them up. I'm afraid the spots will show since the filler is so thick in those spots and it will probably start pulling away as it ages. On another note, does anyone know if the aluminum running boards are still available? I cant seem to find the ones i got with my parts truck. Its funny how you trip over stuff for so long, then one day when you need it, you can't seem to remember where it went..

As it sits now:

 

[Jacob Linder]

4th GEN owner here, COMPLETELY blown away with this thread. I'm really excited to see where it's come to. Any update?

 

[Amerigo]

What did you use to fix the wheel well? It looks excellent.

 

[Amerigo]

I used JB weld to patch my wheel well and it's holding up nicely. Not conventional but it worked.

 

[damasodeljr]

any updates?

 

[DOPR-Dragon]

I'm actually kind of glad to see I'm not the only one kitting out one of these big guys into a JP tour car.
You are going way more in depth with your build though, which makes me excited to see it. I already have the car, the paintjob and am getting all the parts together, but I am going to need to rely on the experience and tools of others for all the heavy lifting. There are a few tasks that I can trust myself to do, but I don't have the know-how, materials or space to even attempt what you are doing.
So far it looks like you've gotten off to a stellar start. Good luck!

 

[92exp4x4]

It's been awhile, I know. There have been many things to contend with that have taken my time and money away from this project. Property sales, contending with the farm, other vehicle projects and so on. The project is in storage for the time being. So, for those following this build, please be patient. I will hopefully be getting back on this later in the year.

Also, construction on my new shop should hopefully be starting soon. This has been the biggest hindering item for doing anything automotive related, not having a good place to work on anything.

Thanks all,

 

[Jacob Linder]

It's been awhile, I know. There have been many things to contend with that have taken my time and money away from this project. Property sales, contending with the farm, other vehicle projects and so on. The project is in storage for the time being. So, for those following this build, please be patient. I will hopefully be getting back on this later in the year.

Also, construction on my new shop should hopefully be starting soon. This has been the biggest hindering item for doing anything automotive related, not having a good place to work on anything.

Thanks all,

It's been a long road. Excited to see results!