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 )
~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.

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

Truck of the Week, Baby!

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

 

[MONMIX]

BTW I just looked at the dash board photos.
You didnt lable a single connector did you?
And you dont have a photographic memory do you?

*sigh*

 

[SuRrEaLNJ]

not labeling makes it way more fun....

becomes like a f'd up jigsaw puzzle...

does this fit?
no
damnit
does this fit
no
damnit
does this fit...

and so on....

 

[Spas]

Does this fit?
no
How about this?
damn it
Okay, let's try this one..
....

Where did I put my hammer?




Kev, I'm not re-using Jack's dash because I really want to do a half dark charcoal interior (from the dash down). Which is why I'm still pissed that my parts truck got towed so prematurely :fire: It'll happen...


59Ford, where have you been hiding?? HOLLA! lol.

Tim, I'm still working on finding a damn box big enough for the wing, let alone getting a shipping quote on it :x I've been digging through body shop boxes for two days hoping someone ordered a bugshield but so far no luck. I'm not slacking, I swear!

 

[vroomzoomboom]

lindsy, try this. this is what i normally do for shipping dash pads, door panels, ext. get a windshield box, and trace the wing around it. that way you have a tight fitting box.


.......wait did i just say that?!

 

[Blee1099]

how big of a box do you need lindsy? I have some boxes from the dog legs I ordered thru LMC that have been sitting here..

 

[vroomzoomboom]

lindsy, can you do me a favour next time your out visiting jack (on top of the other stuff i asked for LOL), he had a full length console in him did he not? if he did, can you snap a picture of the mounting plate that is on the floor at the back of where the console would sit. i am trying to figure out if it is the same as it is in evil for when i change the console in it for the message center (mine is just the short console with the ever famous snapping arm rest).

 

[Spas]

Man, I don't know WHAT is up with my motivation lately (or lack thereof).. had a great time hanging out with Kevin, IZ, Brian and Ben at a car show Saturday and then spent 3 hours discussing build options with Andy so I was all kinds of stoked for a day. Then I tried to pull the rusted body bolts again yesterday and promptly gave up. Somebody come out here and give me a much needed kick in the @$$, PLEASE! It seems like mission impossible, trying to get those stupid bolts out with only 110 electrical to work with :fire: *sigh* I'll tell you what, though: remembering all the times the little fart has aggravated me certainly helped when it came to cutting out body pieces that can be used to patch door handle holes and etc in the new body...

Anyway, I'm slowly formulating a proper game plan for when I DO get his frame out.
~I've decided to stick with a beefed 8.8 over a 9" simply because I have a few spares, I'm familiar with them, and between a truss/c-clip eliminator/welded tubes/Moser shafts and some variety of locker I think it'll stand up to 500+ horsepower pretty well. If I break it, then I'll go with a 9.
~After much discussion, I'm leaning towards something called a Satchell Link rear suspension design (scroll down to "Derivatives of the 4-Bar system"). I've read about a couple of advantages of this design over a triangulated and parallel 4 links, namely that's it's a compact system and that it provides good anti-squat and a low roll center. While a parallel would probably be best for track use, I still want to drive my truck on winding back roads without him knocking my teeth out.
~No airbag shocks or airbags of any form on Jack's new design... The point was driven home quite clearly when Andy asked me what I'd do if I lost an air line halfway down the track at 100+mph. The answer is "Die" Coilovers pleeez! Kinda sucks because I was looking forward to the coolness factor, but oh well. Plus the coilovers are about HALF the cost of the shockwaves.
~The front suspension is giving me massive headaches. We all know there aren't any lowered arms available for Explorers so I'm researching other ways to go. I thought about a complete Mustang II front end but the cost and fabrication necessary is too much. There is no shortage of lowering arms available for (can't believe I'm going to say this...) S-10's, and since I have no aversion to chopping the factory IFS off and grafting on something else, it looks like that's what will happen. Picture this but with the mount for a coilover:

My coworker Greg is going to take apart my 4r70w in two weeks and give me the shell so I can have it powdercoated, along with the accessory brackets (Damn it JT, why can't you live closer?? : ), then it gets rebuilt with some Baumann goodies and Red eagle Kevlar junk. Scored a beautiful and practically brand new top end, fuel rails and 42 lb injectors for Jack from an old friend who switched his race Mustang from fuel injected to carburated, too.

Hubba hubba

So while I'm not physically motivated at the moment, the gears are still turning at least

 

[briwayjones]

Then I tried to pull the rusted body bolts again yesterday and promptly gave up.

Can you just grind the heads or nuts off of them?

 

[SuRrEaLNJ]

bust out the torch and/or angle grinder and then take a trip to the hardware store. problem solved. if its not solved by that point than add a bfh and a drift to the equation

 

[Blee1099]

bust out the torch and/or angle grinder and then take a trip to the hardware store. problem solved. if its not solved by that point than add a bfh and a drift to the equation

torch and old barn.. Can you say break out the marshmellows?

 

[IZwack]

Wow so this is going to be huge eh!?

I personally can't wait till the build starts!

 

[SuRrEaLNJ]

torch and old barn.. Can you say break out the marshmellows?

then we better take away anything this side of safety scissors

 

[sn0border88]

You know, I have a 9" laying in my garage with a truss already on it? If you want it its yours. its fullwidth, but they arnt hard to shorten.

 

[briwayjones]

You know Linds, I bet my Dad's Crawler Loader and Bull Dozer could get the body off of the frame.

 

[IZwack]

You know, I have a 9" laying in my garage with a truss already on it? If you want it its yours. its fullwidth, but they arnt hard to shorten.

And the 9"'s outters is basically an 8.8 with a C-clip eliminator built in (the axle retainer plate). But of course it'll probably need a disc brake conversion, but thats what this thread is for :
http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=212307

 

[Spas]

Oh yeah? I may take you up on that one, Micah. And thank you for the linky, Iz

I think I'm going to need rotors that are considerably heftier than the ones that came off a Suzuki, though Wouldn't I need ones that will allow Explorer style parking-brake-in-the-rotor-hat? Hmm, or maybe a trans brake... hmm hmm....

Brian, you scare me No bull dozers!! I'm going to try grinding the suckers off in the next week since Justin is in desperate need of a transmission and I don't want him to miss the Carlisle shenanigans because I was too lazy to get my project started already. Jus, if you wanna bring your @$$ down here and help it would be much appreciated

 

[IZwack]

Hey is this build more for a road course or more for the strip? Cauz if its for the road course, it would be a ton of fun if we all spent a day apexing . I'll bring my Civic - just dont bump into it, its fragile.

 

[Spas]

Never really thought about a road course...hmm! I was really pleased with Jack's cornering before but hopefully this will make it even better, although he'll be predominantly set up for 1/4 mile shots. Not sure if it's possible to be really good at both types of tracks but if I can find a happy medium I'll be pretty tickled Sure I'll race ya!

 

[Spas]

Mua haha... Oh, Look. Motivation.

I'm pretty sure the lawsuit is finally done (I hope!), seeing as to how I have a fat little check waiting to be deposited into a seperate account that will be for Blackjack only

I went straight to his busted up carcass as soon as I received it to show him. Then I dug out the grinder and cutting wheels and managed to hack up 6 out of 10 body bolts before I lost the sunlight

Kinda glad he's getting a new body after seeing what the one disintegrated body mount looks like from above (that would be the one I discovered right before the accident, there's a picture of it around page 7 or 8 I think). I'm going to have to go over Frankenstein with a fine tooth comb to make sure this doesn't happen again!

Hopefully going to get the other four bolts out tomorrow night as well as the radiator. If I can pry it off of his engine :

 

[SuRrEaLNJ]

no apexing without me!

jack dosnt even hold a job and hes gonna have a bigger bank acount than you do =P