Butchered rear quarter panels... sort of. | Ford Explorer Forums

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Butchered rear quarter panels... sort of.

Dre

Elite Explorer
Joined
May 30, 1999
Messages
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City, State
Largo, FL
Year, Model & Trim Level
2015 FPIU
I've got a 94 Limited... and wanted to install newer taillights (95-97) but as we all know those taillights are a bit different and are not a direct fit. I've seen people do it though but they would modify taillights to fit into square openings... I've decided to modify quarter panels since I was going to do a bit of painting anyway... here are some pictures of the process... next - fiberglass to finish and new paint. Will post pictures of the process...
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looks great, really updates the old square tail end
 






and this is going in the front...
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lets get some pics of those lights installed and everything, looks good.
 






Nice work. That looks really good.
 






It looks good even without the fiberglass... all I need is some kind of plastic edge that I can slip onto the cut area and voila! I'm done... maybe not! I might want to play with fiberglass and then paint. It would look as it came this way from the factory... as for euro spec headlights... those are Cibie lenses... problem is I still need another one... on it's way.
 






Love it. Now to convince my wife to let me cut her truck..
 






Dopler174 said:
Love it. Now to convince my wife to let me cut her truck..
:fire: right?

mine totally loves our rig... and whatever I do to it. She knows well there is no stopping me whenever it comes to "upgrades"... :rolleyes:
 






Where did you find those Euro Spec head lights? :eek:
 






MORE PICTURES!!! :fire:

Ha, so I can go see if i need to get 2nd gen tails at the u-pull it.

Was the wiring connector the same? And did you change anything else other than the cutout?
 






nice work so far I wanna see what you do up front...seems interesting!
 






Euro spec headlights? from Europe, naturally! cost? about $125.00 each shipped. Wiring is a bit different since they use H4 bulbs and have parking light inside the headlight... turn signal is just turn signal, that's all. I could of kept it the US way but decided to just go for the Euro spec all the way.

Taillights... you'll need to get complete tails with sockets and wiring loom, at least enough to get you inside the rear quarter panels in order to splice wires. You will also need to run an extra wire for brake lights... yes, not turn signals but brake lights. After looking at the wiring diagram I figured that all I had to do was to cut one wire and run one end of it to the back to seperate brake lights from turn signals... simple thing. And I'm not loosing hazard flashers...

Besides cutting the outer rear quarter panels I didn't do anything. Insides work good with a little bit of help from a hammer... not too much though since it also stiffens the sides of the quarter panel. I should get some pictures of the set-up as I got it (taillights with wires) and sketch of where to cut. I used my angle grinder... cut-off tool would of been better as it has a smaller diameter cutting wheel. Also a trick of where to cut the wire for brake lights. More tomorrow...
 






looking forward to the rest of the project.
 






Screwed-up last night... I did manage to cut a fiberglass patch and put it on... didn't realize that my resin hardener is already past it's life expectancy. Found out this morning that resin on the car is still wet... :mad:

now after removing most of the crap off my truck I need to find a way to clean it up and start from the beginning... did manage to take some more photos though... will post later. It's coming along... just don't have enough time.
 






Here we go... a little update. New fiberglass piece is on and dry... the other side calls!

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Looks good. I would have just gotten door trim molding from autozone or something and lined that edge. Too much work into a wheeler ;) Really like those headlights. Now, find some EB axles and get it done!


Hopefully I get my steering fixed this weekend and I got a new job so i can pay bills off and then get more work done on my bronco!
 






have you seen any EB axles laying around? :rolleyes: let me know... I'll be over to pick them up... :confused:
 






Unless John has gotten rid of them, he's got an extra set!


Dre said:
have you seen any EB axles laying around? :rolleyes: let me know... I'll be over to pick them up... :confused:
 






I think I asked him about these already. Even if he's got them I'm short on $$ at the time... unless someone wants my D35 TTB front end? It's locked and has 4.10 gears in it.
 



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Talk to John on PM at rrorc. He knows that crew very well and what they're interested in. From what we were saying, you could easily sell your ttb/8.8 setup and then move to an eb 44/9in setup and make a fantastic wheeler for little cost. He knows them and those parts better... Contact him. He was great help on working on my bronco.

Dre said:
I think I asked him about these already. Even if he's got them I'm short on $$ at the time... unless someone wants my D35 TTB front end? It's locked and has 4.10 gears in it.
 






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