Mountaineer

[deamon3]

Any one else notice how much better the Mountaineer front looks then the explorer front? Mercury fixed the "bug eye" problem ford had and I wonder why ford didn't use it aswell? The headlights are clear too. Has anyone ever used a mercury grille on there explorer before with some body kits? I think it would look pretty good. (Remove the mercury emblem and just continue the grille as is or change the mesh).

 

[V8BOOST]

Nice Mountaineer, but I prefer the explorer front end with the big round cobra style fog lights

 

[Turdle]

98 mounty on left ( ahem, with round fogs)-97 on right-

look closely at the headlight angle-

 

[Charlie]

I much prefer the mounty front-I think it looks better. I wish they were easier to switch the fronts, but given the angles, new fenders are needed as well.

BTW Jon-I thought your's had the rectangle fogs? Or..are you talking about the ones behind the grill?

Also-I should add, thanks to Jon pointing it out--It's the 98+ fronts I like. The 97 is essentially the same as the explorers.

 

[Dan Whitaker]

Charlie,

The fenders are the same. Only the grill is upside down I myself think the '98 & up Mountaineer front ends are ugly.

 

[deamon3]

Thats actually not my mountianierr. I just pulled that pic off of ebay. But I'll probably some day put that same mountianeer front end on my first gen explorer since there the same car really.

If the fenders for some reason stopped me I would just break out the saws all , lol.

 

[Charlie]

Charlie,

The fenders are the same. Only the grill is upside down I myself think the '98 & up Mountaineer front ends are ugly.

Huh..When I had compared them one day I could have sworn they were different. Oh well, I've been known to be wrong before

 

[deamon3]

I too think they are the same , it would be cheaper for mercury to use the same fenders and just make there own grille.

 

[410Fortune]

header panel, hood, grill, rock guard, bumper and lights are all different if memory serves.
The 98-01 Merc front end conversion has been done, it can get $$$$$$$ for sure depending on how much you fab yourself and where you get your parts.

I like the 98-01 Merc front end too, using aftermarket lights and a little dress up it looks sweet

Search this site you will find a couple of street trucks that have done that conversions... there is also a real nice sport trac conversion on a Gen II I like even better

If I only had more $$$ and time!!

 

[ZBlackBeast]

SHOOT. i had a pix of my 97 with its off road lights.. i thought they looked cool and they worked great.. Too bad the pix is gone...

 

[NYMount21]

I AGREE, i think the mountaineers do look better, but the color scheme has a lot to do w/ it i think. My truck has the monotoned grille, its olive like the rest of the truck and matches.

I have been looking into the grille thing actually for about a year now. About halfway down the page in this link, theres a white mounty/explorer that isn't around anymore on the site (sold). I PMed the guy once, he was real nice and told me it was a '95 X w/ a mounty front end swap. The grille was done by a body shop using a method known as "plastic welding". So far i've either been turned down by nervous shops, or the prices have been ridiculous but eventually i'll have it.

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=183329&page=7

(Tell me the truck isn't awesome looking when you see it....)