1997 Mountaineer into 1959 Ford F100 Build Diary

[V8BoatBuilder]

Very cool!

Make sure you keep a few pieces with the VIN, you might need it for title/registration/inspection purposes.

 

[NICE59FORDF100]

The wheelbase issue will be taken care of when I cut the f100 frame in the right spot to acheive the 110" i need. Since the frame is pretty much 34" wide from front to back, I have a lot of wiggle room to cut. And the explorer frame is exactly 34" behind the torsion bar brackets that would fit perfectly.

As for the grille, it was too damaged beyond repair to be fixed unfortunately and was trashed.

V8boatbuilder, thats a very good point you mention. the vin is located of course on the top dash, but where else other than the door sticker is it printed or pressed into? Ill look along the frame when I get it exposed.

 

[V8BoatBuilder]

Dash and door should do it, but I think it might also be on the frame. Check with your local DMV to find out what you need to register it. It would be best to be able able to register the '59.

How much of the 59's frame are you keeping?


Also, I'm curious why you want to retain the AWD/IFS? Why are you not keeping the 59's front axle, and just dropping in the motor/trans/rear?

 

[NICE59FORDF100]

How much of the 59's frame are you keeping?


Also, I'm curious why you want to retain the AWD/IFS? Why are you not keeping the 59's front axle, and just dropping in the motor/trans/rear?

I will be keeping approx ¾ of the f100 frame and grafting on the explorer front clip to it. There are several resasons I'm doing it this way instead of using just the driveline. The biggest is safety. I will be gaining disc brakes with power brakes along with power steering. Ill be able to retain the abs. Not to mention better feel and handling. while it will be a little extra work I feel this will be an added bonus to the truck since i will be using it as a truck.

 

[NICE59FORDF100]

Ok i just confirmed with my father, picking up the frame and cab tomorrow.

 

[NICE59FORDF100]

11-20-2010

A very productive day indeed. Started out the morning by my buddy craig (Forum Member Cspy) coming over and riding out with me to go get the frame for the 59 and bring it back to my place. Got some video of pulling it out with Indy, will post it as soon as craig uploads the videos.

The frame rode well and my neighbors were giving me funny looks as I pulled into the 'hood, but they always give me funny looks

The other black explorer is Craigs, a nice little 93 XLT, which Ill get to later.

Anywho, backed the trailer into the garage, thanks in part to my fantastic awesome trailer-backing skills (sarcasm btw LOL) and finally rolled the frame nose-end into the garage. Afterwards, taking advantage of the incredible warm weather for end of novemeber, Craig wanted help installing leather seats into his 93. I found the seats for him a while back on craigslist from a 99 XLT for 75 dollars for all 4 seats, so I told him to buy them. So we spent about an hour pulling his old cloth seats, and installing new ones. Interesting note: Later second gens have different seat belt buckles than the first gens...did not know this



After that, again, taking advantage of the nice weather, I decided to install the mountaineer bumper onto Blue. Seeing how this A) got the bumper of out my garage and B) It would fix the caved-in bumper of Blue, I thought I could have this done in under an hour....I WAS WRONG.

Craig and I fought with Blues rear bumper for well over an hour trying to knock out the retaining bolts going through the frame. At one point, I got my recipricating saw and proceeded to cut out holes in said bumper to get a hammer inside. Needless to say, it was a PITA. But, after a few drinks, stubbed toe, and a head wound, I got the bumper off and the new one installed in 10 minutes. I was happy.



By this time it was getting dark, And I needed to manuever vehicles out of the street and back in the driveway. So while it doesnt appear I got a lot done, In fact, I did. Goals this week for the mountaineer:

1) remove dash and steering coulmn.
2) drain all fluids and free shotgun supports from body (and remove some engine bay components)
3) remove rest of body from frame.

Anyway, thanks for reading, hope to have some progress every night.

Oh, and this is why my neighbors were giving me strange looks...

 

[frosh1]

Looks like I'm a couple of weeks ahead of you but not for long!

Hi there,
I'm doing a very similar build at this moment. I'm taking a 1996 Eddie Bauer Ex and using it to repower a 1949 Mercury M-47 Pickup. The old Merc is a shell and was sitting beside an old hot rodders house for 12 years before I bought it. My Ex is already stripped to where I need it (finished it last week), but the foul weather here in Canada has caught up (its under 3-4inches of snow already) and I doubt I will be making much further progress on it until next March when the snow melts again. Check out my Thread... I will be watching your's with great interest as I'm sure you will pull ahead of me in the coming weeks. Good Luck!

 

[NICE59FORDF100]

frosh, checked out your thread, looks promising. And welcome to the forum!! Be sure to keep us updated throughout the entire process!

 

[NICE59FORDF100]

Not a whole lot to report, but did get some free time tonight to pull the dash. Seeing as how this is the first time ive pulled a second gen dash, it was fairly simple really. Not like the 92 ranger dash I pulled once, where at one point I was slashing wires and vinyl to remove it, LOL. Anyway, here's yet two more pictures showing the infamous second gen HVAC unit...

 

[lynchy wa]

Mate you are an absolute legend for pulling this off, even so far. definitely subscribing, bloody awesome

 

[NICE59FORDF100]

Lynch, I appreciate your Words of encouragement, but I assure you, I am not the first to try something like this, lol and will probably fail horribly. But its a learning experience for me, and hopefully i can build something thats worth a damn. but thanks for subscribing!

 

[OneLever]

Thank you for posting the tear down of the old Mountaineer. I'm learning a lot about how the guts of it look just following this thread.

 

[NICE59FORDF100]

Just thought I would share a video of me trying to remove Blue's rear bumper...After a rear end collision year ago, the brackets were bent making access to the bumper retaining bolts next to impossible...so we went in from the top...

 

[OneLever]

Why not use an angle grinder with a cutting disc? I've cut through 1/4" steel with no problem using a 4 1/2" disc. Definitely need a face shield when using one though. It throws particles everywhere and even wrap around goggles don't do it. Good thing is you can get a polycarbonate face shield for $13 in the same aisle as the goggles.

 

[NICE59FORDF100]

Yea, unfortunately I didn't have an angle grinder, so I had to make do with what I have lol. I just put that video up for giggles

 

[NICE59FORDF100]

I thought I would throw up another video for you Guys. Enjoy!

 

[NICE59FORDF100]

ok, gonna try and remove the body from the frame today, so wish me luck!

 

[NICE59FORDF100]

...and i just dropped my 8mm 1/4 drive socket between the intake and passenger head...

 

[NICE59FORDF100]

just some photos so far...


and the new fall fashion!

(lost photos)

 

[NICE59FORDF100]

(lost photos)