New member with a few introductory questions.

[tinman_72]

Greetings fellow Explorer/Mountaineer owners!

I have kind of wanted a V8 Explorer/Mountaineer since they came out in 1996 but it was never a practical purchase for me. Back in Dec of 2019 I purchased a '99 Mountaineer 5.0 2WD beater for the sole purpose of yanking the drivetrain out and putting into either my '93 Ranger or '73 F100. I decided I would drive it for a few months on weekends to make sure everything was in order before tearing into it. Little did I know that I would end up liking it better than my loaded 2011 Ford Escape; I don't want to be without it!
I just purchased a 1998 Mountaineer V8 AWD to use as a daily driver. It has a nearly perfect interior and a very nice (for a '98 model) exterior on it and almost everything works. I have a few questions that I would be grateful for answers to:

1. I would like to remove the cargo carriers on the roof to repaint them but I am curious what the retaining screws are threaded into. If I remove the screws, am I breaking a seal that will be a pain-in-the-behind to restore? Do I need access to nuts that are covered by the headliner? Any advise before I try to remove or reinstall them?
2. I plan to roll the body off of the frame of the '99 2WD before transplanting the engine from it. Once the drivetrain is out I will have a rolling chassis that I could spend some time restoring. (The '98 AWD is from NJ and is rather ugly underneath.) Just how different is the frame between 2WD and AWD?

Thanks!

 

[koda2000]

You can remove the roof rack without worrying about creating leaks. The holes the screws go into are blind nut-serts. There are no "seals".

The frames between the 1995 through 2001 (Mountaineer or Explorer, OHV or SOHC V6 or V8, 2WD 4WD or AWD) should be identical.

 

[J_C]

^ Good to know, my cargo carrier needs repainted too, but once I get it off then I wonder if I'd ever put it back on since I don't use it.

 

[tinman_72]

Awesome, two answers I was hoping to get. Thanks Koda!