carboncanyon
Active Member
- Joined
- February 28, 2012
- Messages
- 62
- Reaction score
- 4
- Location
- Carbonado, WA
- City, State
- Carbonado, WA
- Year, Model & Trim Level
- 1998 F100 swap
I guess I kinda left you guys hanging. Going thru the thread, Ive made slightly more progress than the pics show. Here are some more...
Raised the floor of the bed about 6" to clear the higher frame rails of the explorer chassis. Also aligns the bed rails with the height of the cab and gets fender to running board alignment correct. Just tack welded in some cheap angle iron from home despot for now. Bed sides are pretty hammered and bent out of shape, so may eventually turn into brand new sheetmetal if I ever go with a full on clean hot rod look.
First cruise. Literally held together with random bolts and bailing wire. New Years Day 2018. Cold but at least it was sunny. Hood fits like ass.
Bed is shoved a little far forward to close the gab between the bed and cab. The explorers are technically slightly longer than the f100. Thought I had the cab pushed back far enough, but I didnt know until later than I was hung up on the front frame horn and needed a little more trimming. There is a LOT of "just a little more trimming" to this project.
Original explorer spare tire and hardware still work, although the factory explorer tires are almost 31" tall and just catch the back of the bed crossmember. Hopefully with a little shorter tire, it will clear and suck up under the truck the rest of the way. Got the script tailgate from my grandfather. Always liked them better than the block letters.
One significant problem is the cab is just a hair too short (front to back) for the tall back seats. You cant lean them back far enough without putting your knees into the steering wheel. So I pulled the cover off one seat and cut the top half of the seat frame off, then slipped the cover back on (excess is folded over and tucked between seat and cab at the moment). Feels much better driving now, but I need to trim about another inch off the top, as the power seat height still jams the top of the seat into the back window seal.
Raised the floor of the bed about 6" to clear the higher frame rails of the explorer chassis. Also aligns the bed rails with the height of the cab and gets fender to running board alignment correct. Just tack welded in some cheap angle iron from home despot for now. Bed sides are pretty hammered and bent out of shape, so may eventually turn into brand new sheetmetal if I ever go with a full on clean hot rod look.
First cruise. Literally held together with random bolts and bailing wire. New Years Day 2018. Cold but at least it was sunny. Hood fits like ass.
Bed is shoved a little far forward to close the gab between the bed and cab. The explorers are technically slightly longer than the f100. Thought I had the cab pushed back far enough, but I didnt know until later than I was hung up on the front frame horn and needed a little more trimming. There is a LOT of "just a little more trimming" to this project.
Original explorer spare tire and hardware still work, although the factory explorer tires are almost 31" tall and just catch the back of the bed crossmember. Hopefully with a little shorter tire, it will clear and suck up under the truck the rest of the way. Got the script tailgate from my grandfather. Always liked them better than the block letters.
One significant problem is the cab is just a hair too short (front to back) for the tall back seats. You cant lean them back far enough without putting your knees into the steering wheel. So I pulled the cover off one seat and cut the top half of the seat frame off, then slipped the cover back on (excess is folded over and tucked between seat and cab at the moment). Feels much better driving now, but I need to trim about another inch off the top, as the power seat height still jams the top of the seat into the back window seal.
