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Fat Cat's 99 SAS

Well, I finally pulled my head outta my SAS! Now that I have things just about right, I'll post a ton of pictures to show how everything went.;)

Thanks to everyone who helped me out with my questions and everyone who posted all the info about other SAS projects. This forum is a great place to search and find loads of info.:salute:

Test-run-2.jpg

Test-run-front.jpg


Engine:
4.0 SOHC

Cooling:
EBAY Transmission cooler
EBAY Power steering cooler
Trans pan tapped for Temp gauge.

Drivetrain:
Atlas 3.8 Transfer case
Custom Drive shafts

Front Axle:
‘75 Bronco Dana 44
Ected locker
Purple Cranium Half cover, diff guard
5.13 Yukon Ring & Pinion
Superior Chrome Molly inner and outer axles.
SuperJoint U-joints
Warn premium manual locking hubs
14" travel 2.0 SAW resi coilovers
Light Racing Hydro Bumpstops
Trail Gear Hydro Assist Ram
1st. gen steering box, tapped for hydro.
CAGE Arms

Rear Axle:
Explorer 8.8 31 spline
Superior Super 8.8 axles
Detroit Locker
5.13 Yukon Ring & Pinion
Stock rotors re-drilled to 5.5
Fox 2.0 resi shocks
Spring-over
McNeil Racing Anti-wrap bar
Mag High tech Diff Cover
Add a Leif.

Tires:
37x12.50 17 MT/R's

Rims:
17x8 Black Pro Comp 7089 Aluminum Rims

Body Mods:
Glass front fenders
EBAY black headlights
Harbor freight roof rack lkights
Pro Comp 130 driving lights
ABS plastic rear windows
Removable vinyl side windows


Body Armor:
Custom Built Bumpers by Renoso Racing Tijuana
Full roll cage By Renoso Racing Tijuana
Under body skid plate and transfer case guard by Renoso Racing Tijuana
Rock Sliders by McNeil Racing Tijuana

Miscellaneous modifications:
Currie Universal AntiRock
Headers
K&M intake
BamaChips tune
MileMarker 9,000 winch
2" wheel spacers


Here it is when we started cutting the IFS stuff off;

Before.jpg

BeforeSide.jpg

UnderCut.jpg

CrossCut.jpg

Cleanframe.jpg


The new front axle getting re-worked;

NewAxle.jpg

Cut2.jpg

Cut1.jpg


Here is the steering work done by Willy's 4x4 shop in Tijuana. They reinforced the frame and tapped the steering box and mounted everything as well as making a funky custom High Steer arm using a pitman arm, cut, flipped and welded to the knuckle (so good so far);

SteeringBoxplate.jpg

SteerBox.jpg

HighSteer.jpg


Some more shots of the work done at Willys and the truck standing on its own to be moved to Renoso's for the cage and hoops;

37side.jpg

AxleandArms.jpg

Frontworking.jpg

FirstWalk.jpg


Over at Renoso's shop we started the bumpers and mocking up all the steering components;

EarlyTieRod.jpg

Earlymounts3.jpg

Earlymounts2.jpg

Earlymounts.jpg

Earlyhoopmounts.jpg


Once everything was lined up we finished the steering stuff and added the coilovers;

Rammountdone.jpg

Hydrodone.jpg

Coiloverstestfit.jpg

Coilandhoopin.jpg

Enginecross.jpg

Enginehoopmeet.jpg


After that, we started on the cage. I wanted the cage to be inside the pillars and channels and welded to the body. That way I could hopefully put back most of the stock interior and give myself some extra interior space;

Gutted.jpg

Dashtrashed.jpg

Cagepillar.jpg

Cage3.jpg

Cage1.jpg

Cage2.jpg


The rear storage and bumpers came next. I wanted to mount the CO2 tank, battery's & spare tire inside, down low, and still have room above for my footlockers for storage. I can fit 3 footlockers inside and 2 more on the roof rack. They are marked; Spares & tools, Camping, kitchen, clothes. Plus a misc. one. I only load the ones I'm going to use on any given adventure:)

Reardeck.jpg

Rearstore.jpg

Rearsparebox.jpg

Bumperside.jpg

RearBumpFull.jpg

RearBump1.jpg


Here is a few of the radius arm mounts, the transfer case cross member, and the skid plate which incorporates a front cross member in front of the oil pan;

ArmMounts.jpg

Skid-plate.jpg


OK! that's about it:eek: Here are a few shots from my first trip out with the new locker and rear axles. I ran the truck hard to try to find the weak spots and except for being a bit tippy (I'm going to lighten the AntiRock settings) the truck worked great!!!:D

It was a 2 hour freeway trip to Jacume & the truck was a dream on the road. No wobbles, shaking, or anything unpleasant. It drove like a comfy truck & wheeled like a Hell Raiser!

Test-run-flex-rear.jpg

Test-run-flex-front.jpg

Climb-down-1.jpg

Climb-down-2.jpg
Testrun1.jpg

Tire-up.jpg
 



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Drool big time! sweet truck fat cat. What ya gonna do with the 44 when the 60's get under way i know a pretty good place to dispose of that 44 (my front step) j/k but seriously... nice truck fat cat very nice
 



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Where did you get those awesome hood vents.. my truck seems to have developed an overheating problem after bumper and winch install
thanks

QUOTE=FAT CAT;1721204]
Testrun1.jpg

[/QUOTE]
 












thanks by any chance do you remember the size you got
 












The new hi-flo ones look like they would work better then the ones I have, although I happy with the way mine work...

Pretty soon, I won't worry about under hood cooling as the only part of the body that I'm leaving on the truck is the hood between the yellow lines:D:D:D
 

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what are your plans?
 






Man i was looking at that if i went 2.5 ton but i got to save more money for that first
 






what are your plans?

believe it or not, after I spent all that time and effort to tuck the roll cage into the body, I'm going to cut off all the body and make it a buggy. It's going to look a bit like the pictures below which used to be a Wagoneer... All I'm keeping is the hood:confused:

I'm doing a few more runs with it like it is and hope to have all the new work done by the AZ run early net year...

Or, if anybody wants to buy it for $10,000 (minus the Atlas) let me know & I'll buy a buggy... Getting the van free'd me from needing to keep the Explorer family friendly so I'm gonna mess it up!
 

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Wow you've done a great job making this explorer lookin good, it'll be a shame to see it cut up i think. But how much will you sell those fiberglass fenders for? Please send me a PM.
 






Ouuu CG, cant wait to see a naked Explorer.
 






wow that nuts cause your rig look awesome as is. but hey to each his own.
I wouldn't be surprised if you got it in a magazine, with the way it looks and is setup.

but hey if you want to sell me your head lights/corners and taillights when you cut it up I'll buy them off you.
oh and maybe your mirrors too I have a problem with snapping mine off. sucks
 


















hey, how do you like that mtx sub in the back end? i have one sitting around but an audio shop said it needs a bigger box to breath. how do you like yours?
 






just when I thought this truck couldn't get better. he ditches the MTRs (which I feel are really overrated and suck) for some Irocks (which i dream about and will be my next set of tires)
I said it before and i'll say it again
This truck is AMAZING!
 






Are you going to come out to truckhaven in January? I want to see the beast. You have come along ways sense the busted TRE in Moab.
 












hey, how do you like that mtx sub in the back end? i have one sitting around but an audio shop said it needs a bigger box to breath. how do you like yours?

For me, it is great! When I installed it, I changed all the speakers in the doors and added tweeters up front. I have a dial to add more bass if I need it. I used to have a 10" Bazooka sub & this hits as hard as that... I'm not a super bass freak though, I like a lot of volume, but just enough bass.

just when I thought this truck couldn't get better. he ditches the MTRs (which I feel are really overrated and suck) for some Irocks (which i dream about and will be my next set of tires)
I said it before and i'll say it again
This truck is AMAZING!

Thanks! I really like the new tires, the cool thing is W/ the aluminum rims, they weigh less then my old 35" creepy crawlers on steel rims.

Are you going to come out to truckhaven in January? I want to see the beast. You have come along ways sense the busted TRE in Moab.

I hope to make that run in truckhaven, I'm planning on that being the last run before I start ripping into it.

I skimmed the thread but didn't see it. How many inches forward did you move your axle?

I planned for 2" but it ended up closer to 4" We welded the frame mounts for the radius arms a little too soon & the heims are all the way in. To adjust the axle I need to go out on the heims.

I should have went 3 or 4 link with the coilovers but when I was planning everything I was just going to use coils. Now that it's done, I have pretty even flex front & back so It's all good.
 



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ok cool, so it should work fine for me too.


and i can't stop from saying it, your truck is beautiful.
 






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