Completed Project TTB Terror build

[Explorer23]

5 speed

I have thought about a 5 speed swap but at the moment don't have the time to track down all the parts nor do I have room for another truck. In all honesty after a solid rebuild with upgrades, dual coolers, and temp gauge I should be all set and if that fails I may look back into it but it is one of the places on the truck where I would rather just pay a trusted shop to do the work, same with the engine work. Then I can dive into body, suspension and fab work.

As for the green 94... The bottoms of the rockers were toast. In the picture I posted they had already been cut off. There were just so many little problems with that truck that made it a headache. Could you blame me for starting over when I knew I could get a better, cheaper, mostly rust free truck just down the road? Best part was I know the entire history of the 92.

 

[jprentice94]

Are you just going to body swap or suspension swap

 

[Explorer23]

Do you mean body vs suspension lift? or body off resto? or trade bodies and frames between the 2?

If the question was the latter then I plan to keep the 92 and 94 bodies and frames to themselves and take parts from the 94 as needed but in reality besides doors there isn't a lot left on the 94 that is reusable.

 

[Explorer23]

As for updates, none this weekend. I was very busy hardly home at all but I did get to chat with the previous owner. I told him I had been driving it around the yard getting it stuck and climbing on rocks to which he gave me a puzzled look. Then I told him "oh yeah by the way it drives." he asked what I did to get the transmission to work to which I replied "Well it works in anything other than overdrive". Turns out he Let it sit for months in a parking lot, towed it home, and towed it up to the curb when he could have driven it for another couple of years! I couldn't stop laughing about that all weekend.

 

[jprentice94]

I ment switch bodies
Or put the suspension of the 94 on the 92

 

[Explorer23]

Gotcha, like I said a lot of the parts on the 94 aren't usable in their original function or can be used but need fixed. For example I popped a small hole in the diff when I jumped it, steering box leaks, steering pump is ready to seize,rear lift gate never lined up and leaked so i took it off and broke 3 of the 3 bots holding it on in the process, the door panels have fallen off, windshield chipped etc etc.

I will use it for my core exchange when I get the beams cut and turned, an extra 8.8 laying around never hurts, and I would like to have a set of "race doors" that are skinned with lexan that I can put on in the summer. Other than that I may just take everything I don't use and scrap it or use the body as a crush car for the 92.

 

[jprentice94]

So do you want a lifted ttb or normal height

 

[Explorer23]

Lifted via cut and turn.

 

[Juggernaut31]

Man looking at those rear shackles, i have it so easy. i just fabbed a set for my 2nd gen. and the ones i took off my 97, look as new as they did from the factory, well except for a little dust. not so much as a single spot of surface rust, or paint chip. lol

 

[Explorer23]

Good to hear! Your post reminded me, I need to post a pic of the SOA on the "beast". It was interesting to say the least. Not quite booty fab but a what were they thinking moment.

 

[Explorer23]

Finally!

Ok guys, Rome wasn't built in a day. I just got done with the golf cart lift and its taken me exactly 2 months. heres a quick low down.
The day I got it home.

Simple SOA rear

Bumper

Final mock up

 

[Explorer23]

Last but not least

The finished product. I never connected the shocks because they were very damaged and gave the front end 1 inch of travel. I still have yet to test it because the owner never replaced the tie rod that got it parked in the first place. Oh yeah this isnt mine by the way, just a favor for a friend.

I spent yesterday cleaning up the garage and reorganizing. This week I'll be fixing my welding table and getting a plan together for winter storage/projects. Garage space is surprisingly limited at the moment.

 

[Explorer23]

I forgot to post this. The rear SOA on my 94.

Not sure if those are the stock U-bolts, original spring plate got reused, no biggie, and the spring perches were cut off and relocated but the welds look good and perches were not mutilated in the process. Overall not how I would do it but nothing dangerous. BUT, the shock was mounted to the shock plate, fully compressed. I changed that very shortly after I got it running. The guy I bought it off of complained that it had no power and a horrible ride. Thats what happens when you have 1.5in of rear travel and try to run 35" tires on stock 3.27 gears.

 

[jprentice94]

Thats a sweet golf cart if you could fiberglass i would a raptor front end

 

[Explorer23]

They do make front end conversions but they cost 1000+. Not worth it on an off-road cart haha

 

[jprentice94]

O i ment make one didnt know you could buy one

 

[Explorer23]

Not a ton of updates as of late, it's getting a little too cold out for my taste and I just got done getting my new winter tires and rims on my tacoma. Although I did get my old laptop working which has suspension design software on it so I'll see if I can get all my steering geometry figured out before I have to fab it. I'm getting a lot of overtime at work as well right now so the plan for the winter is to save as much money as possible then hit it hard in the spring.

 

[Explorer23]

The weather is warming up and it's about time for an update. I decided this year I will be tackling the transmission and engine. I hope to have them both completed by the fall, before I have to put it away for winter again. This winter the temperatures were frequently below 0 and that meant that I got very little done other than getting the fenders off to make it a little easier to work around.
I was also talking to a fellow member about steering and suspension. Turns out he has a friend that owns a 4x4 shop in Idaho. SO MAYBE if I save my pennies I'll be able to do something wild with the front end that I have never seen on an explorer. I won't let the cat out of the bag yet in case I change my mind again.

 

[Explorer23]

Enough rust and golf cart crap! Let the REAL progress start!

Last pic before it went under the knife for good:

After a LOOONG cold winter, I decided its time to start tearing things apart! Gotta get to the engine and transmission so these had to come out

Here you can see the torn up core support. Unbeknownst to me it had a run in with a deer and a hasty repair.

ANNNND IT'S GONE!

I'm not sure if it's already been posted but I had trouble finding info on removing it.However it's not difficult at all just mark the wires and screws and then drill the spot welds out.

 

[Explorer23]

I began toying with the idea of blue wires and hoses, I think i like it.

It should look good when matched with blue coilovers and a paintjob similar to this.

The color is "New ford blue" tractor paint. I'm thinking about using it for the body, tough, rust resistant, and cheap.

I got bored saving my money so I went back out and started on the interior. nothing new to me here just therepudic dissassembly, with one rust surpise. the rest was spotless.

I also clearanced the inner wheel wells in preparation for larger tires and made the mistake of trying to seam weld it back up. The seam on the fenderwell itself was no big deal but when I got down to the firewall, lets just say I blew through and it lived up to it's name. I managed to get the insulatuion on the driver side to catch and didnt notice for a bit. I looked up in the windshiled and saw pure smoke, opended the door to find smoke pouring out the vents flames under the dash and thought for sure this was a 911 moment. Thankfully I had a fire extinguisher in the garage and got to it before it melted the main wiring harness. The flames only appear to have got 1 ground, and it charred 1 unused (I hope) plug, and one wire in the braid that runs to the rear.

I have to write first alert, I thought there was no way the little extinguisher I had would save it but it put a solid 1/4" of dust in the driver floorboard, covered the rest of the floorboards all in a 1 second burst.