front end swap

[Anime]

Says the guy who didn't read this post on page 1

and in reply to that, in post #17 of this thread I replied

Sounds to me like you're avoiding the topic you brought up because you don't have a valid point. Everyone in this thread so far has been quite interested to hear what's so 'bad' about the first gens.

I'd be VERY interested to read what specific problems you feel plagued the first gen that makes it 'bad' compared to second gens.

My opinion is they are bad cars. You can either

A: type a novel about why they aren't

B: ignore it because trying to prove they aren't via text isn't going to magically make my 3 first gens come back to life.

Having an opinion is fine. Just because you feel they are somehow less reliable than second gens based on the three you owned doesn't have anything to do with the millions of other Explorers owned by others. The PROOF they are relaible vehicles is all of the other first gen owners on this site whose Explorers are working fine to this day.



As for the front clip, the big reason you'd want to swap the radiator support is the hood latch. It's lower on second gens because of the sloped hood. You can probably just bolt on the 1st gen fenders and hood, then make brackets to relocate the hood latch, spacers to raise the hood supports, and bolt on adapters to make the first gen headlight brackets bolt to the second gen radiator support.

It would be easier with a welder though, you could cut out stuff you don't need and weld in stuff from a donor.

You're at least going to need a welder to fill in the rear panels if you're putting 1st gen taillights in there.

 

[deamon3]

It's funny how others have let it go and are helping with the thread topic , yet you wanna just hang on in there , lol.

If it bothers you that much move it to pm's because other people aren't really interested. I'm more interested in the swap anyway.

 

[Flip4ford]

It's funny how others have let it go and are helping with the thread topic , yet you wanna just hang on in there , lol.

If it bothers you that much move it to pm's because other people aren't really interested. I'm more interested in the swap anyway.

WOW you really are an ARSE-- but that is just MY OPINION!

 

[MercuryMullet]

This is a funny thread. I'm a chevy guy but went explorer for an off road truck. To me, both truck have pros and cons depending on what you want it to do. Its funny to watch people bash ford explorers on a ford explorer thread. I wouldn't do it and I don't like ford. Good luck in your swap though. A V8 first gen would be cool. I would rather have that style than my 97.

 

[snoranger]

It's funny how others have let it go and are helping with the thread topic , yet you wanna just hang on in there , lol.

If it bothers you that much move it to pm's because other people aren't really interested. I'm more interested in the swap anyway.

You can either ignore it, respond to it (which is what you have chosen to do), or admit the 1st gen is better (which it what you should do).


The frame mounts on the 2nd gen wont line up with the rad support... You need a welder.

The inner fender mounts can be done without a welder . It would be easier and quicker with a welder (and look better.)

Trying to modify the 2nd gen rad support to accept the first gen front end will just end up looking like ****. It would take too much to line everything up right.

 

[Anime]

It's funny how others have let it go and are helping with the thread topic , yet you wanna just hang on in there , lol.

If it bothers you that much move it to pm's because other people aren't really interested. I'm more interested in the swap anyway.

Sounds like your attempts to troll went sour and now you're trying to get out from under it by pretending that all the other comments in this thread don't exist.

It doesn't bother me at all, it's kind of funny.

You REALLY should have just stuck to asking a question. You dug your own hole with your statements. It's great you've walked it back some to being an opinion, but you still persist in trying to pretend that it's valid and we should all just accept it as fact and "move on". Not gonna happen on the first gen board.

You can either ignore it, respond to it (which is what you have chosen to do), or admit the 1st gen is better (which it what you should do).

x2

Trying to modify the 2nd gen rad support to accept the first gen front end will just end up looking like ****. It would take too much to line everything up right.

I agree, I think a "new" version of the JP Explorer in the newer body style, even the 3rd gen, would be better, and easier in some respects.

 

[snoranger]

I agree, I think a "new" version of the JP Explorer in the newer body style, even the 3rd gen, would be better, and easier in some respects.

Thats not exactly what I was getting at (I meant that you really have to swap the 1st gen rad support), but we already know a 2nd gen JP Ex looks good.

Why dont you build the first 3rd gen JP Ex?

 

[colintrax]

You should probably just do a v8 swap into a first gen.....
Or invest in a welder. Their helpful to have, and welding isn't that hard with MIG. TIG and stick take some skill, but nothing you can't learn.
I get the feeling you aren't going to do this or it's gonna look like ****

 

[deamon3]

I was looking at the spaghetti under the hood today and it is quite a mess of junk. I'm thinking a sport trac front end conversion would be better/easier , then someday have a shop tear out the engine and install it in the jp mobile.

At least the sport trac is basically the same as a second gen so most of the parts will bolt on.

 

[colintrax]

A sport trac now?
Really?

 

[01STrunner]

A couple guys have found out when making their custom bumpers the frame dimensions are just a little bit different. I think it was the frame ends that were different lengths so there will be a little bit of modding to fit the panels on. But if you're just talking drivetrain and guts then it's basically a direct swap.

 

[01STrunner]

I see there's been a bunch of BS on here. Both generations have their plusses and both have their minuses. Really can't it just be left alone long enough to answer a damn question. The whole reason this forum is better than most others is because the *****ing is kept to a minimum. Why can't we keep it that way?

 

[deamon3]

A couple guys have found out when making their custom bumpers the frame dimensions are just a little bit different. I think it was the frame ends that were different lengths so there will be a little bit of modding to fit the panels on. But if you're just talking drivetrain and guts then it's basically a direct swap.

Do you mean the first to second? or the second to the sport trac?

 

[rickybobby]

the frame width is different from the 1st gen to the 2nd gen, but it can be worked around. bronco2guy got a 2nd gen body to bolt on to a 1st gen frame by relocating the front body mounts. That is my plan as well, i love the looks of my 2nd gen, but i hate the suspension, so im gonna swap a 1st gen frame to save a ton of custom fab work on the SAS

 

[Bruces expo]

I Don't See the Sport Trac Being any easier than The First gen Swap

 

[01STrunner]

From the ST to second gen. If you look up clusterpups rlc bumper install and midnight rebels front bumper build it explains some of the differemces.

 

[deamon3]

I Don't See the Sport Trac Being any easier than The First gen Swap

Well it'll be easier because the radiator support is the same as well as that window wiper panel thing.

If you look under the hood of a sport trac it look pretty much the same as a second gen. But the first gen is way different.

 

[deamon3]

Ok so get this. I test drove an explorer last week , a 97. Drove great had plenty of power ran nice. Drove it home an hour and a half and parked in my driveway. Today i put the plates on it , went to start it, and it didn't turn over. Tried again and it started but wouldn't idle , had to keep my foot hard on the gas.

Eventually after pushing the gas enough it slowly started to idle on it's own. But now it sounds like it's running on SOME of the cylinders and idles real low.

I can't believe it only took one week , just one week and it's already dying. This is 100% my fault for having faith. lol

You guys seriously convinced me it wasn't the explorers fault at all and just bad experiences. So I got up the courage to buy a good running 97 , and it took only a week to break down. WOW.........

 

[colintrax]

I would say it had a problem the previous owner was masking with something. But whatever

 

[rickybobby]

wow bud, you really do have some luck, sorry to hear about this