AWD explorer as hot rod chassis...

[410Fortune]

same vibrations and noise and less body flex, more solid cab mouting

 

[MoabB2]

With the poly mounts you should also notice less body roll. Oh, you beat me to it 410.

 

[scruff]

It all sounds like good stuff. You got a supplier for them ?

 

[scruff]

OK I am supposed to be delivering the stripped Explorer to the sheetmetal guy next week, this means I need to get cracking.

The next big chunk to come off is the dash, I will tackle that tomorrow.
I am also ready to cut off the remains of the rear quarters, basically everything behind where the door posts were is unbolted ready to come off.
After that it's the engine bay, I hope to use the radiator support so I'll try and keep that intact, possibly cutting it off just behind it.

For transport I went and bought another 8.8, I use a little uhaul tow dolly to move the thing around so this will allow me to get it up there and then have the metal guy straighten the flange on mine and wait for the disc carrier to show up.
I don't think I'll have any trouble offloading the extra axle at a later time, it's a 3.27 lsd, there will be a Jeep guy somewhere jumping for it.

As for the 51 cab, it's all chopped up. I haven't seen it yet, I go up there tomorrow so I should have some pictures.
We ended up with a 2 1/2 inch roof chop and re-profiling the roof line down as far as possible without ruining the lines. The drip rail is also shaved.

In another couple of weeks, this thing will cease to be an Explorer at all, but I'll probably keep y'all updated for performance and handling stuff.

 

[scruff]

Roof chop-A-rama.







There are more in my Picassa album but for the sake of the bandwidth I'll let people look at them on their own.

Roof chopping is an art to itself, there are so many small tricks to know it's not something I'd want to attempt on a cab as pristine as this one.
The guy doing mine is working out of his garage on this for cheap, but by day works for a big Hot Rod place here. This stuff is his bread and butter, so he's on the ball.

 

[MoabB2]

Nice, looks good!

My dad is doing something similar with a '56 big window pickup. We chopped the roof ever so slightly. A little more in the front to give it a nice rake. I'll have to find a pic for ya.

He is also going with a full OBD-II conversion, although he will only have rear wheel drive. He's using a wrecked 2000 Ford Lightning for a donor.

Can't wait to watch your project as you progress!

 

[410Fortune]

man Moab your signature sounds like you stole my truck! Nice work

 

[MoabB2]

56' Lightning

Ok, here's some pics, they are backwards though.
First, this is what it looks like after the chop.
2nd, during the chop.(yeah thats my beast of a b2 in the background)
3rd, before the chop. This picture made us decide to chop it, it really needed a chop.

 

[scruff]

Thats going to be a cool truck MOAB, shame it's not yours !
Wheels are a little too bling for me
I am actually glad he's not using the AWD, it'd suck if someone beat me to the punch. I mean I know it's been done before I haven't seen a completed one.

Is he using the chassis or just the powertrain package ?
Lightnings had 5.4 in them right ?

Looks like they pancaked the hood a bit, how far down they go ?
Thata very subtle chop, I like it. I tried to keep mine tasteful too, i don't want non-hot rodders looking at it and laughing (mainly my wife)

 

[MoabB2]

Thanks scruff! I've been following your project for a while now and it is going to be sweet!

We actually went with a fully custom frame/rolling chassis. I'm not sure of the builder, it came from back east somewhere. It had most of the lines on it already, as well as rear 9" and front IFS. We airbagged it too. It came painted red, here you can see what it looks like now..

Oh yeah, on that hood....I'm not sure how much it is pancaked, but it is quite a bit. They had to redo it multiple times, I know it was the biggest PITA of the whole project.

Yeah, the Lightning came with a very potent 5.4L Supercharged engine. With a lighter body/frame and a few modifications we made to the engine, it should really scoot. He is using just the 5.4L, auto trans, and computer/wiring.

 

[scruff]

Great looking chassis ! Keep me up to date on it. It's obviously a much bigger $ build than I am doing but it'll be trick as hell.

I think if I ever move away from the 5.0 in mine I'd like to get either 4.6 twin cam from a Lincoln Mark VIII or a 5.4 twin cam from a Lincoln Navigator.
Honestly though I am building this thing to be as usable as possible and anything over about 400 at the wheels isn't IMO, unless of course the AWD calms it down that much.

With my chassis I hope to get it all running and then strip it back down and fill all the unused holes and paint it...
Airbags...mmmm I want airbags. I have two workable ways to bag it so far, I just have to decide which is for me, the cheaper way or the more expensive but tidier way.

Glad you're tuning in the the build !

 

[scruff]

More progress !

Finally I am down to the chassis - the bit I want to keep.
The Sawzall scores again, I chopped right through the floor at about the door posts then lifted the whole back section off. We sat that on the driveway and then cut it right down the middle to get into the back yard.



Sorry about the blurry pictures.

 

[MountaineerGreen]

Wow! I missed this somehow- Subscribing now- what a great project!

 

[scruff]

Thanks greeen, I like this forum, hardly anyone has said I'm crazy... On the rodder boards people are all like - huh ? You want make a big ole four by four outta an F1 ? It seems AWD is still bit new school for them.

 

[MountaineerGreen]

The awd chassis will handle well, drives great. You won't burn off any tires like that- jtsmith used to have a video of some hard launches, no smoking tires, just acceleration. I think its a neat build- looking forward to watching it progress.

How do the wheelbases compare on your body vs chassis?

 

[410Fortune]

front bumper?

 

[CDW6212R]

The awd chassis will handle well, drives great. You won't burn off any tires like that- jtsmith used to have a video of some hard launches, no smoking tires, just acceleration. I think its a neat build- looking forward to watching it progress.

How do the wheelbases compare on your body vs chassis?

Ditto, the AWD will make you want much more power. Jon's 347 truck leaves very hard. Well done on the body work, I like it!

 

[5.0]

What is this white box? And depending on what someone says it is, do you still have it?

 

[CDW6212R]

That is the keyless entry module, the five digit code is on the side of it. You have to use 95-98, or 99-01 models to interchange. There is a cable going into the 95-98 models, I have a 98 version extra.

 

[5.0]

HAHA! That's awesome! It would be cool if you could have drove it more like that.



Seeing it reminds me of my '92 T-Bird Sport with a 5.0 HO motor in it. I have lots of room out here to drive it around and not get in trouble.

Here's a pic or four...