Chop top and cage time!!

[Premier]

dayum.. joshc has a full cage as well

 

[bmxking5]

More progress pics. Started dovetailing it before I scared myself outta it lol

 

[bmxking5]

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[bmxking5]

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[bmxking5]

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[bmxking5]

Yea so as you can see I pulled out the back seats and interior panels yesterday. I removed the rear washer resevoir and related parts, and the tail lights. It took a while to figure out where I was gonna cut the body for the dovetail and started by cutting the rear body crossmember between the tail light housing and frame. When I got through with that I took a cut off wheel and pie cut it up to the front of the wheel well on the passenger side. It is pulled in 5", so it'll be narrowed 10" total. I started welding it back up today.....what a pain. First time I've tried to weld sheet metal lol. I ended up getting a few parts welded up but there are still some gaps and holes. I ground the welds down flat and went to home depot and got some 3/4" flat stock that I'm gonna lay over the seam and weld up on both sides, then I'll weld it on the bottom(fenderwell) when its on the lift. Should be plenty sturdy then. Also, I got a small stick on 3/4" square tube that I may use to sturdy up the upper portion of the body if needed once it's all done. The interior panel will still be able to fit in there as well as the rear seats with no issues!

I will be cutting the tail light housings flush with the back of the body once I get the dovetail done and will be using 1/8" plate to make new LED tail light housings and some 1/4 panel protection. Also will be chopping off the back of the frame and redoing that rear frame crossmember/body mount....Got some rectangular 1/4" thick tube that will go in its place and clean up the rear a bit. Also, priced up the 2" .120 wall DOM from the sprinkler shop next door and its only gonna be 4.79/ft delivered. Not nearly as bad as I had originally expected. Liking where this is going so far!!!!!! Let me know what yall think.

 

[CrazyAlaskan]

It looks almost naked lol. Looks like you got a plan and the meens so have fun with it Cant wait to see where this goes!

 

[dangeranger01]

Sorry for your loss man. Its lookin good so far, and thats quite the shop you have there. What I would give to work in that.

 

[bmxking5]

Sorry for your loss man. Its lookin good so far, and thats quite the shop you have there. What I would give to work in that.

Yeah, I'd pretty much be screwed if I didn't have this job. I'd be better off straight axle swapping another Explorer if I had to work on it at my house again!!

 

['97 V8]

welcome to my world. i decided yesterday to cage the mounty.

 

[robmurt04]

convertible explorer. haha looks awesomely funny like that. cant tell if I like it or not. gonna look bad ass with a cage.

 

[lifeguard379]

aww man glad your OK. just think now you wont feel bad about dents

 

[95exploderboy]

Patiently waiting to see how this turns out so I can copy the dovetail. Any updates?

 

[SVTmountianeer]

Dude im glad ur ok . cant wait to see how it turns out

 

[BrianDye]

Dang man, what i would give to have access to a garage like that....

 

[bmxking5]

Yeah, I'll post up other pics later. The other side is dovetailed and I pulled out all the dents (minus fenders which will be replaced) Still debating whether I will dovenose the front, but I am about to pull out all the a/c and stuff for some extra room under the hood. Trying to sell seats and stuff to get some money for all the rest of the parts and tubing.

 

[MrQ]

Wow! Agree with others you are extremely lucky to get out of 4 rollover down a hill in one piece.

Hope the finished project is to your liking, but it looks like you have a good start!

 

[bmxking5]

Well when I finally went to take pictures the damn batteries were dead in the camera so still no pics....

I pulled off the grille, front fenders, lights, etc. to try and figure out how I'm gonna do the front end. Still kind of up in the air about what is going to happen with it. Definitely want to shorten and narrow the front as much as possible though. Adjusted the rear quarter panels a bit to get them to match perfectly using a hi-lift and ratchet straps. Still gotta finish welding it up, but I've got almost all of it welded together and then ground it down and put a piece of 3/4" wide steel over the top of it and welded it all the way across where the cut was.. Really happen with how it turned out and it is surprisingly very sturdy even with no hatch, the doors open, and no roof. Hopefully I can get some tubing ordered next week.

Here is the guy from Static-X's bronco that I found online. Planning on trying to some things similar to it such as having a low and rectangular windshield like the old broncos had. http://www.4wheeloffroad.com/featuredvehicles/131_0610_1968_ford_bronco_buggy/index.html

 

[smurfxlt]

i want the front seats! if theyre cheap that is lol. let me know

 

[bmxking5]

I have them for sale for 100 for both but local pickup only. Drivers seat is power also.

Got some pics a little while ago. I'll post them up tonight.