Видео

So is the Willy's dead, or did you get it on the explorer

@@channelofchannels7845 My 53 Panel is on the 2-door explorer chassis. It fits perfectly. But this retains the willys dash and firewall, floor etc. The advantage of using all the wiring and aircond, steering, firewall, floor etc of the explorer is pretty big. But I already stripped the 2 door of these parts. I have another 49 truck cab, and might try to widen it to fit on the full 4-door awd explorer

Thank you for the comment. well, The generator, coil, condenser, all the bulbs and balast resister have to be changed to 12 volt varieties and some say the starter and wiring harness. you will lose the function of the gas gauge as well if you do not install a voltage step down or replace the sending unit. I only ran it as 12 volts brielfy and did the bare minimum due to the fact i was doing a frame swap and only wanted to drive the car as it was briefly. The cars ive done proper conversions on I buy a new full universal wiring harness and replace the 6 volt wiring as its not really designed for the current and well...its 70+ years old, cheap insurance really.

Thank you for the comment! That's awesome! I'm really glad I could help and that i'm not the only one crazy enough to body swap a 40's car haha. Do watch my video on why no one uses a ranger for body swaps before you start though...ranger frames are not flat you'll have to channel the body down over the frame. Not a huge deal just extra work. Let me know when your channel is up and running and i'll definately subscribe!

Bondo, collector's edition! haha!

Thank you for the comment! I'll be sure to get some farther back full car shots and some outside the car driving footage in future videos!

Thank you for the comment! whoa! I didn't know they made a silver face model. That would look amazing with the silver Ranger/sport track housing! Thank you so much for letting me know about that variant! I googled a picture and I am now on a mission to find one and swap it in!!

⁠@@myrustlifeSorry for the late reply, but you’re welcome! I love mine that I installed in my ‘99 Ranger that originally had no tach exactly like yours, the new one looks so sweet though. And I considered adding a Sport Trac housing on mine too. Hope you can find one, I bought mine that was tested off Ebay, there’s a couple nice ones listed on there right now, if you need any links I’m more than happy to provide them for you. They’re pretty rare though, they were only on ‘03 Ranger XLT’s, no other year or trim level, but they are plug & play exactly like the Sport Trac cluster though, in fact they look the same as those do with the design & gauge print, except the gauges are silver, not white.

Thank you for the comment!

Hi, thank you for the comment! It is a ATLAS aftermarket underdash heater from the late 40's early 50's from what i've been able to find out from matching it to pictures. It is basically a heater core with an electric fan attached, it worked suprisingly well and puts out a good amount of heat. It has 2 coolant lines coming in from the engine and an electrical connection. I don't know if it was originally intended for 6 or 12 volts but it was operating perfectly on 12 volts when i was useing it.

@@myrustlife Thank you for the kind response.

Thank you for the comment! Exactly, well said!

Thank you for the comment! All fingers are present and accounted for!

Thank you for the comment

Thank you for the comment! It does have a back seat. The back of the seat is the stock 48 seat back. The bottom is out of a 2000's Lincoln Town car in a similar white color and material to the seatback. It is sitting on the floor as it's raised from the channeling. There is a video on modifying the Lincoln seat bottom to fit. Not a perfect solution but it does work and i've had several passengers and no real complaints to speak of.

Thanks for the response.

Thank you for the comment! I like it!!

Thank you for the comment! I"m glad that the video was helpful!

Thank you for the comment! True, Having just completed the battery relocation..it was vastly more labor intensive than just moving it before I installed the front clip. I should have listened!

Thank you for the comment! yes, door adjustment was a concern...just not a big one, obviously. I did consider braceing the body but after seeing the overall condition of the car and with what i was doing to it I made the decision to adjust them after. When rebuilding the A and B pillars as well as the rockers since they were either loose or non existant i used my best judgement on where they would attach. I did close the doors and tack it together when the gaps looked good enough. From what i've since learned and seen the gaps and fitment from the factory were less than perfect. After welding everything together i'm not sure I filmed it (because it looks and sounds terrifying!!) but there was a little bit of what i'll call brute force fitment using the same accepted techniques I used working in the luxury automotive assembly industry to make the gaps and doors fit...i figured if its good enough for a $100K car it's good enough for my jalopy! haha

thank you for the comments! I thought there were some videos on that but i'll have to check. I'm posting a video soon where i go over the battery relocation to the trunk so there will definately be some shots of the modified trunk. The back seat and trunk are most definately highly modified but functional. I had to make a new trunk floor (would have had to anyway as the trunk floor was missing) above the frame and make filler panels from the back of the body to the new trunk floor (there is still plenty of useable trunk space). The back seat is the Lower seat from a early 2000's lincoln continental just on the floor with the stock seat back. They meet properly and it looks good in my opinion. There just isn't a footwell for the back seat due to the channeling that had to take place for the frame kick up. It may not be the most comfortable long distance ride in the back but it works and no one who has ridden back there has complained...haha What model 48 do you have and what are you planning on doing? frame swap? engine swap? I'd love to know and of course offer any advice not that i'm an expert by any means but i'm happy to help.

Thank you for the comment!! You said it perfectly! Chip Foose would probably get violently ill watching my channel with the amount of hackery that takes place! I'm aslo pretty sure i'm not allowed within 800 miles of sema or pebble beach. However of all the old junk i've owned and wrenched on this has been the most fun, most driven, and by far the most reliable!! I've enjoyed this process so much i've been discussing with dad what we should hack up next! I think he needs a body swapped abomination of his own!

Thank you for the comment! After having done this body swap, while it is more work than just putting a different drive train in, it's completely worth it! I can't wait to do another one!! There is something to be said for being able to drive down the interstate at 70mph everyday (not white knuckled!) All while not being concerned about 70+ year old suspension and drive line components (even if replaced) failing due to not being designed for the speed or amount of driving we do today. That brings me to traffic! I have absolutely loved being able to sit in traffic with the AC on high and not once worry about overheating, heatsoaked carb or boiling fuel!! I've done several engine swaps and have never really been happy with the end results at least not like i've been with this build. to date i have been able to do this entire project including purchasing both vehicles for less than the price of upgrading the 48's suspension and rear end to be comparable to that of the ranger. I would have kept the 48 dash had any of it been salvageable, it would not have been very much work to hide the AC vents behind the center speaker grill. The ranger frame has a pretty severe kick up at the cab which requires the channeling of the floor. the S-10 does not have this issue. I would have used an S-10 however i really love the 4.0 engine and I really wanted to keep it all Ford. i used a 2000 ranger long bed single cab with the 4.0 v6. I chose this not year but model specifically because the wheel base of my 48 is 114 inches and the wheel base of the ranger i used is 117.5. the short bed single cab is 111 and the extended cab is 125. The wheel base is not quite right the rear axle is about 4-5 inches too far back compared to the stock appearance of the 48, i could have corrected this during the build by relocating the axle but the costs invloved in getting the driveline resized and relocating the fuel tank were not worth it (to me). I bought a set of fender skirts from ebay and they (in my mind) completely solved the issue. Mostly however this was an exercise in very limited budget as well as keeing the donor modern vehicle completely stock so i could procure parts and service anywhere in the country. i hope this helps, if you have any other questions feel free to ask!

Thank you for the comment! The hoist was a little overkill height wise, but I had no idea at the time really how tall it was going to need to be. As I recall we used 12 foot 4x4's for the height a 12 foot 2x10 for the header with through bolts and 8 foot 2x4's for the bracing The width was good but I think 8 or 10 feet would have be sufficient for the height.

Thank you for the comment! I agree completely, now if i could just come home without things i didn't need for cars i don't own!!

@@myrustlife That's called stocking up for future projects. we all know we're going to have more projects so why not get the parts early. :)

@@KensStuff Exactly!!

Thank you for the comment! I agree, a shame for sure!

Thank you for commenting! yes, very soon! My day job got in the way and i've just been incredibly bad about posting. To date i've put a little over 5 thousand trouble free miles on the build (the perks of unmodified stock/factory drivetrains). I am about to start the pre paint body and metal work. I also have to make a decision regarding what to do about making the ranger dash and 48 windshield frame look more uniform.

thank you for the comment! It's been a fantastaic build and we've enjoyed every minute.

thank you for the comment! i think you mean nasty AWESOME!

Thank you for the comment! You are absolutely right! a 4th state of matter cutter would make this sooo much easier!! I purchased a cheap one and it worked for about 15 minutes; then the magic smoke escaped and never worked again. i'm currently in the process of budgeting for one of a higher quality.

yes!

bedankt!

thank you for the comment! I would love to see their faces! "Lets take a look at the king pin condition..wait what?? these are A arms??" hahaha i have thought that same thing!! I'm really hoping that future generations will be understanding and maybe even a little relieved that they will only be buying 50 year old parts to get them back on the road insted of 100+ year old parts! Honestly thats part of the reason for doing this myself.

I’m confused now and disgusted the poor 48 Ford it didn’t deserve this

Thank you for the comment! Crazy was kind of the point, i need to post an update video 5000 miles on and so far crazy works...

thank you for the comment! i honestly don't know, at first i was absolutely going to. The more i stare at it and drive it the more i'm on the fence. This is mostly due to my fabrication skill level and not wanting to ruin the lines of the car with my fabri-cobbling (on the outside).

thank you for the comment! That is a perfect description!

@@myrustlife thanks

thank you!!

I like to think of it as legal adjacent..haha

Thank you for the comment and feedback!

thank you for the comment! Right, see most peoples boredome meter goes to 10...ours goes to 11! it's one louda.

This project was built with the vehicles i had on hand or was able to trade for. The donor pickup i traded for becuase i do really like the 4.0 drive train. The 48 because it was the worst condition complete car of the era i could find. I wanted to make sure that the car i was cutting up was just beyond a traditional full restoration and would need to much work or be too expensive to bring back.

It is a flux core job smart 110v welder from tractor supply. no need for the nozzle with flux core since there is no shielding gas being used, the flux core wire "makes" a bubble of shielding gas when it's used. Haveing the nozzle removed allows me to make my bad welds in some really tight spots!

thank you for the comment!

obrigada!

Thank you for the comment! True, I'll work on that.

I readlly wanted to use the defrosters and wipers but unfortunately i could not use either. there simply isn't enough room for them. the defroster is under the vent outside the car and rerouting them isn't a option becuase there isn't enough dash left before the windshield. same with the wipers, the motor and linkages had to be removed for the air conditioning to route stock. a more talented fabricator could make that work i'm sure or if that was a function i really needed. i was solely concentrating on keeping the AC system and electrical system as stock and functional as possible. Having used the car pretty extensively this winter (on dry days) the heat from the center and side vents actually do a great job of keeing the windshield defrosted since they are so close to it.

@@myrustlife You did a great job despite loosing defrost function. I'm wishing the Mazda / Ranger was a 4x4 that I bought new. I'd love to build a Jeep body around it. Still might do it and give it to my youngest daughter as a 2wd.