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lilduec

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    Troy IL

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  1. The Explorer rear end is a 3:73, with the S10 trans it works great.
  2. So I've drove the wagon about 300 miles so far since I've put it on the road. Been workin out the bugs with it but it drives wonderful. Tires rub a little bit at full lock, but nothing horrible and they dont rub at all in regular driving. I can cruise with traffic on the insterstate running 70-75 no problem. Brakes are all working good so far and getting better as they get worn in. I'm gonna have to take the rear leafs out to get them checked out at St Louis Spring since I have a pretty good lean to the left. Also gonna have to cut the driveshaft tunnel to keep it from rubbing when there's more than one person in the car. Other than that, it starts up every time with about one pump of gas and sometimes not even that. I love this thing and its a blast to drive! Just sold some seats I had the other day so the next thing I will be buying and installing is air conditioning. More to come!
  3. I've been running the wagon for a couple weeks now and around 300 miles so far. Just plan on running it the way it is and changing the oil.
  4. The only reason I did it this way was mainly my buddy did the same setup and it works well. Also: 1. The shock would hit the axle tube and rub with the stock explorer mounting tab under the leaf springs. 2. These shocks are shorter so I measured the travel and mounted them where they would have enough travel up and down. You can see the mark on the shock. I was going to use just the street rod/coilover type mount that you weld to the axle tube, but i figured I would keep the shock going to the stock explorer location since that is how it was designed. I dont know if it really matters or not though. Anyways, everything works well so far, except for the driveshaft rubbing and the rear pinion when we hit big bumps. I'm gonna put 2" blocks in the back instead of 3" to see if that helps.
  5. ]Yeah that would work too!!!! I went vertical with mine. I used 3" blocks with 67-80 something front Chevy 4x4 shocks. Those shocks are a little shorter. Like I said before, the brackets aren't done yet but they seem to be working really well so far. They are welded on the inside and out so they are really solid.
  6. 50 coupe I did pretty much did exactly what you said. I kept the existing explorer lower mounts under the leaf springs, cut off the explorer shock mount tab, used some strong angle iron and mounted the explorer tab onto it, then welded the angle iron to the explorer lower mount. I'll post up some pictures tonight when I get home. I havent cleaned up the welds or anything yet because I wanted to make sure everythings working correctly first. But so far the shocks are all fine and travel fine and the angle of them are I think around 30 degrees if I remember right. No rubbing or anything either. Steveplym, yeah there is stuff going on every weekend around here with cruise nights and what not. I'm sure I'll see ya around and we hope to make it down there Saturday.
  7. Thanks for the compliments! StevePlym yeah too bad we didn't run into each other. We may be taking the wagon to Duquoin this Saturday for the day to the Street Machine Nationals, but gonna wait to see on the weather. And you're right, those pork steaks are the best!! I've been goin to that show every year since I was a kid. I went with my Dad and now I get to bring my son to enjoy it too.
  8. Well yesterday was the day. I worked alot on Friday and Saturday doing wiring, working the front wheel issue, did some sheet metal work in the floor for the trans tunnel and taking it for a couple of short drives. I wanted to be able to take my family in the wagon and follow my Dad to the Fathers Day show we always go to and we made it! Car runs wonderful. The only issue I have now is the rear end and driveshaft is rubbing the body when I hit some good bumps. So I may either put in 2" blocks to see how that does or just cut a bigger tunnel and get if over with. Other than that just some small issues like little drips of brake fluid, oil pan and valve covers needs to be tightened up and probably gonna have to get some narrower spacers up front. Speaking of the spacers, I ended up borrowing some 1 1/2" wheel adapters up front to clear the tie rods. I think I'm gonna need probably 1" so the tires dont rub so much at full turns. But no rubbing or any issues up front when we're just driving down the road though, just mainly in parking lots. The car rides great too other than the loud chainsaw grinding noise when we hit bumps haha. Here's a couple pics. Not too bad sheet metal work for just using a hammer, vise, and an old oil drum to bend it all up. Made it to the show! The black 48 truck next to me is my Dads.
  9. DAAAAANG man! Thats alot of sheet metal work, but that looks awesome! I love the tunnel work you've done.
  10. So I noticed yesterday when I had the car up in the air that the front tires are rubbing the tie rod ends. The front wheels are I think 15x6 and the rears are 15x7 or something like that. The only reason the fronts are skinny and rears are wider? Well thats what we had laying around. So I'm thinking that the offset is whats causing the problem so I am going to swap the fronts to the rear and vise versa to see if that fixes it. If not I have another set of steel wheels I will have to clean up, paint and have the tires swapped over. Sucks but all part of building a new hot rod, just workin out the bugs. I got the tailights mounts drilled and mounted them yesterday along with running wires and getting the turn signals working. I also went and got everything legal with license plates, and insurance yesterday. I'm planning on driving this to the Fathers Day car show with my girlfriend and son on Sunday following my Dad and Mom in his 48 Chevy truck, so still got some things to do: Bleed the brakes and figure out the proportioning better Wire up the brake pressure switch Do some sheet metal work in the floor where the new master cyliner is and trans tunnel Headlights and running lights (if I get time but not needed for Sunday) Figure out the wheel issue. Do a nice shakedown run. I think I will be ok and be able to make it to the show, but its definately crunch time. I'll even drive the dang thing with no trans tunnel for the day I dont care, its just this dang thing called "WORK" that gets in the way of my time!
  11. @DonColliau, I didn't cut the coils but from what other guys have said they were probably cut one coil at some point. The only thing I did was put on the lowered Fatman Uprights. @pflaming, yeah that was a EXTREMELY generous gift from my Dad for a house warming present. He told me "It took me 40 years to get my equipment and I don't want you to have wait that long." He's never bought anything like that for me in my life, its always been "you want a car and insurance? Get a job and you have to earn it!" He's 66 now and I'm 35. We bought that lift from a place in Indianapolis called Greg Smith Equipment with a nice showroom and everything. My lift when we got it was I think around $1600. And let me tell ya, its soooooooooo worth it. I have had this wagon up and down probably over 100 times over the past few months. I feel very fortunate!!!
  12. Got the wheels/tires mounted and put some Lancer hubcaps from Speedway motors. I love the look! So thats it for now, gotta do some wiring on it and sheet metal work on the floor where the trans and master cylinder is before its really road worthy, but its super close! I'll take more pictures of the front end brakes and shock mounts and also the rear shock mounts when I get a chance.
  13. I was having issues with the front end not going all the way down or any travel. I couldnt figure out what it was until I was pushing on it and the travel stopped all together. Found out that the upper nut on the uprights was stuck on the upper A arm. I'm dumb and installed the bolt the wrong way. So if you ever install these the bolt goes from the inside of the car to where the nut is facing out! I literally had to hammer and chisel the nut out because it was stuck. A little grinding on the A arm and everything is good now with normal travel. Ordered the tires from Diamondback. 205/70R15's I think.
  14. Got the front end somewhat together. Rolled it out to see how it looks.
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