Most dramatic before/afters ever? (dial-up warning) | Ford Explorer Forums - Serious Explorations

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Most dramatic before/afters ever? (dial-up warning)

Well ok maybe not, but pretty dramatic too... My goodness, the truck has been through many phases. Here she is the day I picked her up.
phase1.jpg


Added the airdam and started putting some PIAAs on:
phase2.jpg


Put a brush guard on, and mounted some PIAA 80's on it.
phase3.jpg


Installed a rollbar with, of course, some PIAA 80's on it. Moved PIAA 520's to brush guard. Swapped out the chrome nerf bars for some black Westins.
phase4.jpg


Got some new flares, new lights on the brushguard, and some other goodies here and there.
phase5.jpg


Got some Lincoln Wheels, replaced the old euro brushguard with the fabtech, got all the tubular stuff line-x'ed, got some new PIAA's on the prerunner and a few other goodies.
phase6.jpg




Then, for a long time...

Nothing dramatic happened...

Until one day, in April 2004, when a hail storm came through and turned this beautifal truck into a pimpled, unattractive, beast.

The options were, have it fixed and brough to original shape, sell it, or do something wild...

I chose...

To do something wild...

And thus the project took form...

First, we undertook some massive disassembly, taking this off, bondo'ing the dents, primering over the bondo, sanding things down.
primer2.jpg



Things were further disassembled, body was completely bondoed, primered, and ready to be painted...
apart1.jpg



After many months, the paint transformation was nearing its end. The damaged hood was replaced with a Fiberglass Fabricators Hood, the roof repaired. The front fender, replaced and repainted. The bumper cover replaced. Hail damage on doors, bed, and tailgate was repaired. The truck was sprayed Lustre Gray, and the paint job began to take form.
flames2.jpg

flames4.jpg



Slowly but surely, things began taking form. Windows were reinstalled (including new windshield to replace damaged one, new power sliding rear window to replace manual sliding power window), trim was slowly reapplied, and taillights were reinstalled.
flames6.jpg

flames7.jpg



Over the stressful few days before the SEMA Show, things picked up a hurried pace. Skyjacker 6" lift was installed, BF Goodrich 35" tires were mounted on centerline wheels and installed, new brakes were installed, bumpers reinstalled, new airdam installed, bumper cap reinstalled, custom rear bumper (that had been sitting in my basement for over a year) was finally painted and installed. Rollbar was reinstalled, prerunner was reinstalled. Lights were hooked up again. new Grizzly double-bend nerf bars were installed. CR Laurence power sliding rear window was hooked up. New Nifty products carpet was installed. new Xtreme Catch-all floormats were installed. Custom wiper nozzle mod was completed. New PIAA Horns were installed. Emblems from 2004 F-150 were installed in place of old ratty ones. The truck switched from fog lights in the airdam to driving lights, sporting new grills. It was only missing a few parts, but it was getting there.
flames10.jpg

flames11.jpg



Finally the truck began to take its final form. The lightning grill and grill shell (grill painted to match the flames) was installed. Factory fender flares were painted and reinstalled. Mock hood scoop was painted ot match the flames and installed. Custom Sportmasters tonneau cover was installed. Vehicle was aligned. Things were good.
flames12.jpg

flames13.jpg

tonneau1.jpg

tonneau2.jpg


And next week the truck will be on display for the SEMA Show 2004! WOOHOO!!!! Hope to see everyone there!
 



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That came out simply amazing. Very nice looking truck. Hard to believe its the same truck.
 






Looks awsome. I love the paint!!

BTW- You forgot to get the paper ;)
phase3.jpg
 






:eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :thumbsup:
 






Wow, certainly made a change in that, since it sat in my driveway a few years back! Looks great, and I wasn't even sure you still had it Matt!
 






Holy ****! That's cool as hell. I think you'll definitely take home some trophies from SEMA. Awesome truck man.
 






That is sweet, really awesome. :thumbsup:
 






Wow, very nice. Now paint those fender wells to match:p
 






Looks great Matt.
 






All I can say is wow! You're ride has definetly lived up to the title of this thread. The work and craftsmanship that went into the project must have been enormous...
 






SEMA doesn't give show trophies, and if they did, I'd be nowhere in contention. Some of the rigs out there have easily $100k+ invested in them. But hopefully at some local shows it'll take a trophy or too :). yeah I have to paint the wheel wells,t aht is going to be a project for some day this week...
 






awesome job, very tasteful too and not over the top! i love it... just curious but do you have any pics of the hail damage? and looks like your site needs updating too ;)
 






Flames look really good.
I don't see too many of those Cragar wheels on lifted trucks. It's ashame they look very very nice.
 






I unfortunately took very few pictures of the hail damage and the pics I did take, didn't turn out good.
Yeah site does need updating, its on my list of things to do right now but getting truck out to SEMA and in one piece is priority #1.
 






WOW, very well done. Just enough Bling, but not over done. Excellent :D
 






:eek: :eek: That thing improved a 100 fold!
 






Very nice. I am very impressed with the end result. :D
 






:eek: Damn! What an improvement! :eek: :thumbsup:
 



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It doesn't look like it will fit in the garage. :)
 






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