new Blackjack pics | Page 23 | Ford Explorer Forums - Serious Explorations

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new Blackjack pics

Thanks to Rick and all the moderators who make this such a fantastic site ;)

In case you're slow (or just don't want to read the entire thread) Blackjack was totaled by foreign POS mother #$@%er who didn't know how to yield on November 14, 2007. He rolled into a gas station parking lot and his body was crushed, but he saved my life in the process. In return for that, I've saved everything that I could scavenge so I can save HIS life. He has a CHP 347, rebuilt 4r70w with Baumann shift kit, Ford Racing BD-11 supercharger kit, and a RideTech parallel four link all waiting for installation :) Here's his original thread post:

Blackjack: Born February 16,1998 in Louisville, Ky. Rescued from Koons Chevy March 20-something, 2000 with 33,333 miles on the Odometer. Couldn't think of any good names and then I heard 'Blackjack' while listening to Brooks and Dunn's Boot Scootin' Boogie. He's been 'Jack' or "f#%^&$ pain in my @$$!" since then. His favorite hobbies are eating money and hunting Blazers, and he enjoys playing pranks (dropping hood on my head, chewing on his power steering rack, mystery squeaks, randomly starting himself up, etc).

All factory options, including 4.0 SOHC, limited slip diff, 4:10 gears, skidplates (on ExplornJ's truck now), sunroof, cass/cd player and changer, leather, blah blah.

Exterior mods:
~Ford Platinum color racing stripes (2 10" stripes, 2" space)
~Ventshades
~Lund Windjammer (painted to match)
~Sport Truck dual fog/driving (SMURF LIGHTS)
~Black Euro III Altezzas w/ cut up slotted tail covers
~20% Tinted Windows all around
~Doetsch Tech Nitro Slammer shocks
~Hella LED sidemarkers
~GT emblem from a 94-98 Mustang
~Explorer Express Rear sway bar
~Truck performance front sway bar bushings
~Diamond clear headlights and corners w/ blue chrome bulbs
~Shortened EB (running board delete option) side skirts

Interior mods:
~Aluminum dash kit by Exotic Wood dash
~Pioneer DEH CD head unit
~Pioneer 6 disk CD changer
~1 pair Pioneer 3ways up front
~1 pair Pioneer 2ways in rear
~2 JL Audio 10w6's in a custom box (replaced with 2 Kicker Vcomp's, thanks for blowing my subs, Meatball :fire: )
~1 Kenwood 729 S amp
~1 pair Pioneer 1" dome tweeters in B pillars
~1 pair Pioneer 3/4" Tweeters in front doors
~Custom MMRUSA "Sport GT" silver/white gauge faces
~Carbon fiber dash bezel
~Cold Cathode Blue neons

Engine mods:
~Valet Remote start/ custom alarm
~KKM
~Flowmaster 50 single straightback
~Taylor Spiro Sparkplug wires

Wheels and tires:
~Foose Nitrous 20x8 and 20x10, grey
~Toyo Proxes 255/50 and 295/45
~1/2" aluminum front spacers w/ extended lugs


The kinda sorta mods:
~lowered approximately 2" via TT and monoleaf block flip
~Brown wire mod, full 2wd hi/low (Yanked the front 4x4 in 2006, the hell with that mod :D)
~Throttle cable zipties
~Chopped front bumpstops
~Mr. Bat (gave up on replacing blown hood shocks. It's a Das Frem thing, you wouldn't understand)

I run Mobil 1 Synthetic 5w30 and only use Ford filters (Fram ones sometimes knock)

Guestimated 215-220 Horsepower when he was younger, 15.5 seconds 1/4 mile at Cecil County Dragway.

DSCN2168_Small_.jpg


Here's some links to other things I've done with the ol' boy:
Bullitt Rims
Stereo and lights

Truck of the Week, Baby!
Sep1120060854.jpg

Blackjack and Red, my best friend Brennan's rig:
rigs.jpg
 

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you didn't say daring!

Umm.. i don't wanna die.. She will kill me and slowly to at it. Though I do enjoy messing with her.. I thought about static cling ones.. just to mess with her :D
 



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How about the goods to convert one to RHD? :D

Off-topic, are you still going to import yours to Canada?

I've only got most of the centre console parts, I think.

and I'm still planning on it, but it has to be 15hrs old, so I have to wait another 3yrs.... :(


Si
 












Speaking of speculation I need your help too, Iz. My friend Andy (Lowdown on the Creepers) is the one doing the framework and he after I showed him your build thread he asked if we could all get together for a few hours one Saturday night soon and discuss the best route to take with my project. He knows I admire your ideas greatly ;) You free any weekends in the next month?
Sure thing, just PM me whatever time/location you and Andy decide on and I'll be there.
 






Coolios, thank you IZ :) Blueka, 'most' is good enough for me! I just have to figure out how to make our column shift interlock work with a floor shifter. I can make my own linkage or get high tech and order somethig fancy ;) Brian, if you can make it, awesome, if you can't, don't worry about it. Most of my heavy lifting is going to be Wednesday and Friday... I hope.


Got a lot done today! Man I'm glad it's so nice out and I'm on 'vacation' :D Although I'ma KILL Porter for tricking me into thinking that Explorer dashes are easy to pull. EASY MY @$$! At least I don't have a windshield in the way.
IMG00279-20090427-1418_Small_.jpg

IMG00287-20090427-1826_Small_.jpg

IMG00289-20090427-1832_Small_.jpg


This little sucker managed to strip all the skin off of a knuckle :eek: Does anyone know the proper way to remove the cable from the bracket? I just used the 'Tim the Toolman' approach...
IMG00282-20090427-1607_Small_.jpg


Ta-daa! I has dash. I can't believe how freakin' HEAVY these things are...!!!
IMG00291-20090427-1833_Small_.jpg


I'm really happy to have his steering wheel out too. Probably sounds pathetic but it's the part of him that I'm closest to since it's how we interact. Still has blood on it though, so I didn't take a picture.



..... I'm acting like I'm in a good mood but in reality I'm on pins and needles. In 15 hours I'll finally know how much I have to work with after 17 months of grief. I can't wait for this to be over, but I'm alternately dreading and hopeful. It's like that saying, "Hope for the best but plan for the worst".
 






Coolios, thank you IZ :) Blueka, 'most' is good enough for me! I just have to figure out how to make our column shift interlock work with a floor shifter. I can make my own linkage or get high tech and order somethig fancy ;) Brian, if you can make it, awesome, if you can't, don't worry about it. Most of my heavy lifting is going to be Wednesday and Friday... I hope.


Got a lot done today! Man I'm glad it's so nice out and I'm on 'vacation' :D Although I'ma KILL Porter for tricking me into thinking that Explorer dashes are easy to pull. EASY MY @$$! At least I don't have a windshield in the way.
/photopost/data/500/IMG00279-20090427-1418_Small_.jpg
/photopost/data/500/IMG00287-20090427-1826_Small_.jpg
/photopost/data/500/IMG00289-20090427-1832_Small_.jpg

This little sucker managed to strip all the skin off of a knuckle :eek: Does anyone know the proper way to remove the cable from the bracket? I just used the 'Tim the Toolman' approach...
/photopost/data/500/IMG00282-20090427-1607_Small_.jpg

Ta-daa! I has dash. I can't believe how freakin' HEAVY these things are...!!!
/photopost/data/500/IMG00291-20090427-1833_Small_.jpg

I'm really happy to have his steering wheel out too. Probably sounds pathetic but it's the part of him that I'm closest to since it's how we interact. Still has blood on it though, so I didn't take a picture.



..... I'm acting like I'm in a good mood but in reality I'm on pins and needles. In 15 hours I'll finally know how much I have to work with after 17 months of grief. I can't wait for this to be over, but I'm alternately dreading and hopeful. It's like that saying, "Hope for the best but plan for the worst".

YOU FAILED! at posting your pics :D
 






Har har. EF failed, the 'Direct Link' on the pictures I just uploaded won't show the entire link for some bizarre reason. I just suck because I forgot to hit 'preview' before I posted and catch it ;)
 






Har har. EF failed, the 'Direct Link' on the pictures I just uploaded won't show the entire link for some bizarre reason. I just suck because I forgot to hit 'preview' before I posted and catch it ;)

Can it be cause you've been out of the water too long? :mattmoon:
 






Not really sure why I'm posting pictures of me taking apart a broken truck... but for some reason it makes me feel better so I hope you guys don't mind. The arbitration seems to have gone well but the judge said he wouldn't have a decision for up to two weeks. It was hard not to let my jaw hit the table, since I was expecting this crap to finally be over already :( *sigh* The good thing is that the other lawyer couldn't come back with any points that might compromise the case or give him any hope of winning because we shot him down really hard on EVERYTHING. The judge didn't even want to watch the "surveillance" tape they got of me doing a rotation at work on a Mustang since I flat out told them that I have no problem doing my job and moderate lifting. Unfortunately he still is required to watch it but he made it clear to the other lawyer that he thought it was a waste of time. NYAH NYAH :p: It almost made me laugh when he asked both lawyers what they thought my case was worth and mine says "2k a month for the rest of her life" (which according to some scientific thing is another 47 years on top of the 29 I've already lived.. I didn't tell them I'm convinced I'll be dead by 45 and my last words will be "Hey ya'll, watch this!" XD), and the opposing lawyer just caved and said that his client was horribly in the wrong and whatever the judge says is fine. Lol.


So anyway, I just hope the call I'm waiting for is a really good one and it doesn't come at a really inopportune moment like when I start my new job on Monday. In the meantime, Jack's losing even more weight than I have. Today he shed his remaining windows and a door as well as almost all of his interior. Tomorrow I'm going to start disconnecting his motor and such.

Took some pix of the really crinkled areas for Monmix to shake his head at:
Driverside B-pillar
IMG00294-20090429-1527_Small_.jpg

Driverside inside pinch weld at front of rear wheelwell
IMG00295-20090429-1527_Small_.jpg

View from driver seat of rear driverside tire. Gee, the body's pushed in over a foot, wonder why he flipped. FRIKKIN NISSAN :fire:
IMG00298-20090429-1529_Small_.jpg


IMG00304-20090429-1534_Small_.jpg


I had forgotten about the factory "Ford Pillow" that they sometimes stuff under the speaker boxes and remembered the first time Wolf and I found it. We were scratching our heads and going "what the #$%@ is the point of this?!" Made me laugh :D
IMG00299-20090429-1530_Small_.jpg


Surprisingly, the only body part that ISN'T heavily damaged is the passenger door. As you can see by the reflection, it's still straight and true and was opening and closing just fine despite the fender being squashed. Btw, Jack's old wing is for sale for $30 since I won't be re-using it. PM me if anyone's interested.
IMG00301-20090429-1531_Small_.jpg


Took this one because a year from now I want to remember how much I never want to see this in person again!!
IMG00306-20090429-1712_Small_.jpg
 












I have told you I have my body hammers ready. Not to fix that dang pillar though. Let me know when you want me up there to start the metal repair. It would be an honor and a privlage.
 






I have told you I have my body hammers ready. Not to fix that dang pillar though. Let me know when you want me up there to start the metal repair. It would be an honor and a privlage.

Thank you Kev ;) I have a lot of things to order in the next few months! Do you recommend using stock Explorer sheet metal to do fill-ins for the door handles, antenna hole, etc? Or should I use something else? There are a few places on Jack that the metal is straight... ish... I thought it might be cool to use some of his old body to patch the new one.


Speaking of the devil, it looks like I will have enough to do most of what I want. The judge was fair, and gave me more than the minimum I need to do this project although not as much as the maximum. I'll just say that I should have taken the original offer instead of going through hell for a year and half and that's all you guys need to know about how much Jack is getting ;)

Soooooo, in two weeks I get the money-- and as soon as I get his #$%@ body off the fun begins :D
 






yeah I would use jack old metal for patches. You might recall when I shaved Zorro's rear wiper I used the sheetmetal from Zorros old lift gate.

(NOTE: Five more posts and you hit 5,000 :thumbsup: )
 
























Oh dag... 5,000! I'm slacking compared to you and Ben, Kev ;) I have Jack's old hatch in the basement, I'll save some metal off of that and take a sawzall to his left quarter panel I suppose. How sad is it that my truck looks like a giant played kick-the-can with him and yet I still find it exceedingly difficult to cut into his sheet metal ? :rolleyes: Lol. I'm hopeless :p:
 















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Spas, I haven't forgotten about you even though I kinda disappeared there for a while. I've been praying for you and Jack though, give me a hollar sometime!
 






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