The Bandits 72

[The Bandit]

I've been slightly busy with work lately but I have made some progress with the frame as far as the control arm mounts go. I did make a slight change to them by making the side plate taller to add a couple more bolts to hold it in place better.
Also got the fuel tank, fuel pump, and sending unit in from Tanks Inc last week and am working on fitting it in the frame rails as we speak. Looking on their website they don't list a tank for our trucks so I spoke with the guys at Tank Inc about what I was planning on doing with my truck and this is the tank I decide on. It's their universal efi tank for a 70 mustang and it fits like a glove between the frame rails with very minimal trimming and it holds 22 gallons of fuel as well!
One thing I'm coming to realize that is so true, Anything that we do while modding our trucks to our liking is like taking one step forward and two steps back and some times it's 10 steps back....

More to come on the fuel Tank install.

[hfdco4]

YES, on the ten steps back brother!

[The Bandit]

Thought I would give you guys a little update on what I've been working on here. I've spent some time going through and filling in any of the extra holes in the frame as I hate looking at the swiss cheese frame rails so the majority of them are gone now. On one side anyway.... why so many!!!
Next up I got the fuel tank mounted up for good now so that's over with and I was able to get the original shock mounts to work by removing the rivets out of them and rotating them slightly so they were at the right angle to match up with the lower mount from the exploder. Also I got luck and the old shocks for the front end of the truck were the perfect length to use as mock ups for the new rear end. To be a little different than all the others I removed the brace in the back to make room for the fuel tank and decide part of it should go back for support where the rear mounts for the springs are as that was it's intended purpose was from the factory so the frame rails didn't flex in under load. the bottom half I haven't thought of a use yet but I will at some point.

[The Bandit]

Tonight I got to work on boxing in the frame a little around where the notches are that I cut for the rear end. I got both sides cut and fitting well and then got the spotted in and called it quits for the night.

[sargentrs]

Nice work!

[The Bandit]

Hey Guys! I've got just a small update here as I haven't had much time to work on the truck but I have been acquiring some more things to go with the truck possibly.
I've been looking for a set of seats out of a new mustang to put in my 02 Gt that i have and finally had a chance to buy a complete set out of a 2018 that a friend of mine was parting out that had been wrecked. I grabbed up both fronts and the rear for a great price but just missed out on the IRS that came out of the car. I had also been looking for a newer model filler neck without the cap and almost walked away without taking it off of this car but luckily my friend asked me what fuel tank I was using in the truck and it reminded me to grab the filler neck up as well.

Anyway heres a couple of pictures of the seats in the cab of the truck and I really thinking of putting them in there after seeing them in it.

Hope everyone is staying safe and using this time to get these little projects done and get to work on your trucks!

[sargentrs]

Great seats!

[hdman90]

Wow, quite the build you've got going on here! And you're making a lot of progress in a decent amount of time! Keep up the good work, it seems to me as if you're doing everything the right way!

[The Bandit]

Alright guys I figured I'd do a little update on my progress. I've been rounding up all the little small things for the truck like new motor mounts for when I get ready to set the motor in it for good and I got all the things in to rebuild the crown vic front suspension. I finally got time to tear the front cross member down and get it all cleaned up and got the control arms in the media cabinet and blasted clean and ready for paint. I've finally finished the over whelming job of filling in all the unused holes in the frame.. that was a task in its self...
Hopefully I'll be updating this later with lots of pictures tonight or tomorrow so I can show you guys the progress.

Chris

[hfdco4]

How much weight do you think was added by closing up all those holes! Great to see you are still making progress.

[The Bandit]

How much weight do you think was added by closing up all those holes! Great to see you are still making progress.

Not sure how I missed this post so sorry for the delayed answer but It was not noticeable when picking up the frame and flipping it around so nothing thats going to affect anything.

[The Bandit]

It's been a little while since I updated everyone on the progress but I have been busy working on it when I get the chance and a couple of weeks ago we were able to get it sandblasted and coated in the Eastwood rust encapsulator and ready for paint.
We dropped it off on this past Thursday at my cousins auto body shop for him to spray the 2K gloss black chassis paint and should be able to pick it up on monday or so.

[hfdco4]

Awesome progress man!

[The Bandit]

Finally Had the chance to get the frame home after it was painted and It looks pretty good! Now it's time to get it back on it's wheels!

[390FE1972]

Looking good!!