The Bandits 72

[The Bandit]

I've been lurking and drooling over all you guys that are working on their trucks long enough so it's about time that a feller started one of these here project update thingy's I guess.
Most of you guys have seen me posting and adding my .5 cents to some things but mostly just taking in all the info and learning a great deal as i go.
I lucked up on this truck by inquiring about an old refrigerator that these people had just sitting at their lake house not to far from me as I had been looking for one to fix up and put in my shop. Well long story short they gave me the fridge so long as i came and looked at this old truck to see if I wanted it or not. My dad and i along with my daughters made a 1.5 trip just to see the truck and I ended up buy it for a GREAT deal.
I did rebuild the motor and trans and went through the interior for the most part and recovered the seat, repainted the door panels, new fuel tank and replaced the instrument panel with one out of an old F650 or something like that but realized it wasn't the way I wanted to go with the truck.
Which has led me to the point that I'm at now.
This past weekend I pretty much took the whole truck apart to the point all I have left is to pull the cab off the frame and start modifying it to my liking.
The plan is to put in a crown vic front cross member and an explorer rear end that I've already acquired and probably use the 4.6 motor and trans out of the crown vic and go from there.
Any way heres some pics to have a gander at.

[The Bandit]

Here's a few other pics of the donor crown vic and the explorer rearend.

[sargentrs]

Looking forward to more! Great truck!

[The Bandit]

Finally got the Cab off the chassis yesterday and the frame is now ready for pressure washing.
In all I was able to disassemble it down to a rolling frame in about 6 hours total. These trucks come apart pretty fast once you put a plan together on how you want to do it.
Now to take apart the small things in the cab.

[The Bandit]

Now on to the donor car. I drove it over to my Dads house to put it in the race shop where we can get it apart and get all the components that i'm going to use out of it and cleaned up and ready to mock up in the truck.
We made pretty good progress in a few hours on it as we were almost able to get the body off the frame. Once that's done we can set the body outside then pull the motor and trans out really easily from the chassis and I can begin sorting the front cross member out. We did find the the crown vic has a bend LR axle and one of the tie rods but nothing to major to worry about.
This car has a ton of body bolts holding it to the frame..

[yellercat]

Foot Stompin' good stuff.

Bring it !

[sargentrs]

Keep it comin'!

[The Bandit]

Just a quick update. We were able to get the body separated from the chassis today after all the festivity's and have it where we can just lift it out and set it off to the side until we get the crossmember out.
We will probably get that done on sat at some point and get the truck frame over there to start cutting on it to get it ready to mount the cross member in to it.

[sargentrs]

If you don't mind, could you pull one of those body mount bushings and check out the hardware? Looks similar to the ones for our truck and hard to find items. It would be sweet if they could be used as substitutes.

[The Bandit]

If you don't mind, could you pull one of those body mount bushings and check out the hardware? Looks similar to the ones for our truck and hard to find items. It would be sweet if they could be used as substitutes.

I doubt they are as they look to be only about two inches or so in dia but when I'm back over there tomorrow I will check them out for sure.

[sargentrs]

They look bigger in the pic Thanks!

[hfdco4]

Great project and awesome work!

[The Bandit]

If you don't mind, could you pull one of those body mount bushings and check out the hardware? Looks similar to the ones for our truck and hard to find items. It would be sweet if they could be used as substitutes.

I forgot to get a pic but I wouldn't use those mounts on our trucks. They are just a little bigger than the holes on our frame Randy so I'm pre3tty certain that our cabs would just push them through the frame mounts.

Small update with the truck,
I was able to get the motor pulled out and the cross member removed from the donor car and we got the frame moved over to the old race shop at my dads.
I stopped after getting the front end apart to just thinking about what I'm about to do to this frame.
Tomorrow I may get started on cutting out everything that has got to go.
Here's a few photos to enjoy.

[sargentrs]

Thanks for checking them out, Bandit!

One more last look and the thought "is this what i really want to do??"

I asked myself that, too, when I started on my truck. Great progress and keep up the good work1

[The Bandit]

Day 1: First day after removal of the famous alum cross member...................................
"Why does everything in my upper body hurt!!!! And why does my little toe hurt......?
Haha! Just a little funny there to make some of you smile .

To aid anyone else who is considering buy the whole crown vic as a donor car and plan on removing the cross member themselves......
The cross member has four main bolts that hold it to the chassis of the car and then it has three bolts in each side that holds the rear of the lower control arm bushing to the frame.

You had better bring your "A" game!!! No seriously... Bring your A game and then have three or four of your younger friends or relatives that are no less than 6' and weigh 200lbs or more (preferably more) and a few of their favorite cold snacks (and let them get a few in them) and then challenge them that they can't get one bolt out each in less that 8 to 10 minutes without breaking any tools or cussing about it at all.
And then after your volunteers get those four bolts out you can walk up to it and bust those six bolts out holding the lower control arm to the frame in about 30 seconds and laugh at them for being suckers..
Seriously though those bolts are about 1/2 to 5/8 in dia and 8-10 inches long and a pain in the butt to get out.
Good luck to you if you're doing it anytime soon.