Excursion body swap

[Tiha]

figured I would throw this out here. Y'all can watch us torture ourselves.

Both my boys drive excursions. They love them. I get it.

My oldest has a 6.0 diesel. He/We have done a ton of work to. It is his dream. Certainly not my first choice for engines. He has certainly spent the time and money on the engine to make it as dependable as possible. Mechanically the truck is pretty amazing. Body is junk on it. Every panel on it is creased, dented, rusted. It had a rough life before him.

He had ordered all the rust repair panels for it. When we were looking over the job we decided that his body was not worth fixing.

Time for a new body. He found a pretty clean non running Ex with 143k miles on it. The interior matches his and is in great shape. BUT not only is it a V10 it is also the wrong color.

The original plan was to body swap. But the body swap requires everything to be swapped. Wire harnesses, dash, everything. So we are going to do it a little differently.

Since the donor is in such great shape we are going to put his parts on the donor. Engine, trans, harnesses, axles.

That avoids the awkward and dangerous part of figuring out how to lift the body or jack it up for the swap. Also keeps both trucks mobile to roll around, in and out of the shop. Also makes it easier to set this project aside. He doesn't need his excursion as often anymore but this way it will be useable longer. Down less.

First plan was to strip some parts, then treat and paint the underside before it came off the trailer. I started stripping it last night. It is a little worse than anticipated so we are going to go ahead and gut everything so we can prep it properly. Stop what rust there is. Get it painted. Then he is adding all the sound deadener inside.
Going to eliminate some problem areas. Like the rear 1/4 windows will be sealed shut permanently. I think he wants to eliminate the roof rack all together and weld up the holes.
Also gotta cut the windshield out and check the frame.

This excursion was purchased new in Alaska of all places. It also has a 4th row of seats added. Kind of neat.

Honestly there are probably better bodies out there, but this was so close to home and interior being usable kind of worked out better. He was going to hop a plane to arizona or Florida to buy one and try to drive it home.

First question, I have to cut in the door frames, window frames, fenders and such with white. Wanting to use a single stage in these areas. What to use? Acrylic enamel? Acrylic lacquer?
Do I have to hand scuff these hard to reach areas? Or is there a adhesion promoter I can just spray on there?

Not planning on pulling the fenders or doors. Spraying over them in place. So looking for short cuts.

 

[Tiha]

Couple more.

 

[miesk5]

Yo Tiha,
Is Oxford White; Paint Code 9L/Y0/YZk?

 

[Tiha]

Yo Tiha,
Is Oxford White; Paint Code 9L/Y0/YZk?

Yeah he said oxford white.

Thanks.

 

[paul rondelli]

I have always liked the Excursion.

Too bad you can't find any with the 7.3L with a manual transmission and manual transfer case.

I'm Sure they are out there .... but if you have one .... you are not going to get rid of it.

 

[Tiha]

I have always liked the Excursion.

Too bad you can't find any with the 7.3L with a manual transmission and manual transfer case.

I'm Sure they are out there .... but if you have one .... you are not going to get rid of it.

My other son has the V10 and honestly it has been a great truck, but he wants the 7.3 so bad.

He has been watching for the right one, there are some really clean 2wd ones that we will probably swap to 4x4.

 

[paul rondelli]

I still see the 7.3l 4x4 ones going for 10,000 to 15,000 with 300,000 miles on the clock.

 

[Tiha]

I still see the 7.3l 4x4 ones going for 10,000 to 15,000 with 300,000 miles on the clock.

It is hard to see anything from where I am just looking at ads anyway, but as my kids were driving to look at this one I was shopping FB marketplace and CL all over the lower usa.

They are not common, but there are some in the $7-$8k range. But they are usually 2wd and yes they are listed all the way up into the $20k range.

Funny though, You can have to that look the same in pictures. One is $10k, the other is $20k.

 

[L\Bronco]

Hey Tiha, it looks like a pretty clean start! Is there a reason he wants it white? I think the black/gold looks good. Even if it needs paint it would save a ton of work! Unless that is the plan.
About the edges, fold up a little 400-600 grit and go to town. Any peeling paint Ive encountered has resulted from poor prep work.
It will be an awesome ride when its done, plus, it looks like a mountain of work, but it should all be disassembly and reassembly with a bunch of cleaning in between. Very rewarding work, plus, it usually goes quicker than you expect.
Have fun with it!
Cheers

 

[Tiha]

Hey Tiha, it looks like a pretty clean start! Is there a reason he wants it white?

It is his dream not mine. LOL He just wants a white one. Of course he has no idea what he is getting himself into. I will do what I can.

Need to grab some pics. We worked on it saturday got the interior minus the dash out. Pulled a few parts off the outside, but next is engine and trans.

Supposed to be like 100 degrees everyday this week so I doubt we will get much done.

Once we get the drivetrain pulled the washing starts, maybe some spot sandblasting. I have a pickup torn apart in my garage. Need to get that out so we can pull the glass on the Ex and get it inside.

He is ordering **** mat and dynomat. Gym foam. For the sound deadning.

Trying to decide on the headliner. I say we should recover it, but he wants to find one without the DVD player. His brother has one. I will let them work that out. There is plenty to do.

I don't think it will happen this year, but will be interesting to see how close we get before the snow flies.

 

[L\Bronco]

Sounds awesome!
My boys found an old guy up here who’s cleaning up his farm while prices are high, (60 yrs of collecting)
We've brought home 3 already!

I don’t always “get what they are up to, but the time we spend gathering, resurrecting, and possibly restoring them together is invaluable!
Its awesome that you get to be part of that with your boys!
Enjoy Tiha!!
Cheers

 

[Tiha]

Sounds awesome!
My boys found an old guy up here who’s cleaning up his farm while prices are high, (60 yrs of collecting)
We've brought home 3 already!

I don’t always “get what they are up to, but the time we spend gathering, resurrecting, and possibly restoring them together is invaluable!
Its awesome that you get to be part of that with your boys!
Enjoy Tiha!!
Cheers

Yep, my kids make decisions I wouldn't either but they grew up in a different world too.

My son says over and over it's my fault because he has so many good memories driving across country in my bronco. He even went so far as to say that is why he got an eddie bauer instead of a limited.

Funny what things have an effect on us.

I have a pickup torn apart in the garage so we are doing this all outside right now. It was hot out last night. Going to be all week. I worked underneath it some until the shade it.
Between last Saturday and last night it seems like we got a lot done, but there is a lot left.

 

[Tiha]

Interior is pretty much ready for a good pressure washing. The rear heat and AC had mouse stuff in it. So it needs to come apart and cleaned out better. It will come out when sound deadener goes in.

underneath, fuel tank is out. Exhaust is out. Just about got the driveshafts off. started pulling the engine. All the wiring in the fender wells have to come out. none of it will work on the diesel.

What I found interesting was I think this thing had a snow plow on it. Looking at some brackets welded on the front frame and the wiring splices into the front lights.

I did scope the engine, the bad cylinder. Looks like a broken piston. I can see the connecting rod. Engine turns over good though. It might be salvageable. My other son has a V10 with like 275k miles on it. It certainly can't run forever. LOL

Need to at least get the engine and trans out. Then it is time for pressure washing. At that point we will decide if we want to sand blast under it or not. I say yes, but my son is like, it will be good enough.

He wants to drive it, not be a garage queen. I fear he won't keep up on the little spots that appear along the way and be in the same boat in 10 years. But then, that is his problem. Maybe he learned his lesson from his bronco. We did a ton of work and he didn't take care of it.

 

[L\Bronco]

You guys made a lot of progress!
Its tough to work in that kind of heat!
We head for Boise to race next week, its going to be hot there!

Way to go for teaching your boys to just do things, its becoming very rare out there. My boys thank me all of the time for the life skills they learned growing up and the memories.

Cant wait to see the progress as it transforms!
Cheers

 

[Tiha]

Sure doesn't seem like it but we got a lot more done.

Kind of like the battle is over but the long war begins.

Engine, trans, transfercase is out. As well as a bunch of wiring and fuel lines. I keep looking at stuff and go, yep can't use that either.

We still have more we can strip, but we are far enough along now that it needs a good washing. I told my son if we don't spend 4 hours pressure washing we didn't do a good enough job.

The details you can't see are what takes forever. I probably spent 2 hours pulling weather stripping. Not the main door seals, all the other little pieces added in.

We will probably keep stripping stuff until we can get it on a trailer and to the pressure washer. Where I work I have a high pressure, high temp. washer. Soap, degreaser, anything I should need to clean it up.

I need to get my garage cleared out because after washing out comes the glass. All the door windows, 1/4 windows. Windshield needs cut out. Door latches. all kinds of little details left.

Then finally I can start scuffing to cut the door jambs in.

Trying to figure out how to keep the project progressing. I may spray the roof when I do the door jambs and rockers. Be nice to have a little bit out of the way.

We can't decide if we should spray the whole engine bay or just cut it in. I want to spray it. I think it would look great, clean white. But then there is a lot more stuff to come off first.

Then the underside. I want to spot sand blast it. Treat it and spray it white. My son keeps saying, it's good enough just spray it. So jury still out there. But that will be a whole project in itself.

If I can get the doors and door jambs done. He can start sound deadening and putting interior in. It should stay clean at that point. So that is my goal.

Pulled the blower and resister on the front AC. Going to clean the evap and ducts out. Was surprised it was as clean as it was inside.

Forecast shows cooler temps which is great, but also forecasts rain which would slow us down. But like I said, Need to clean out garage anyway.

 

[Tiha]

Loaded back up on trailer, Ready to go for pressure washing.

The rear heat and AC lines are garbage. I am not sure I know anyone that doesn't have a leak in them. You can't buy new, so I would imagine we will have to make hoses to run from front to rear.

I guess I should pull the hood since we won't use this one. No need to have it in the way all the time. LOL

 

[L\Bronco]

Loaded back up on trailer, Ready to go for pressure washing.

The rear heat and AC lines are garbage. I am not sure I know anyone that doesn't have a leak in them. You can't buy new, so I would imagine we will have to make hoses to run from front to rear.

I guess I should pull the hood since we won't use this one. No need to have it in the way all the time. LOL


View attachment 31533View attachment 31534

Wow!
Thats a lot of work!
It’s going to look amazing.
My 2 cents…
If you can stomach all the fiddly bs, paint the engine bay. It will look like a new truck! The downside is nobody will see it!
For the underside of the floor, I use a product called POR 15. It comes in black, white, and grey. You just scuff and brush it over surface rust. It flows out and gives a surface almost like porcelain. It is unbelievably durable and sticks anywhere. (It doesnt do well in direct sun though)
Looking great, keep up the momentum!
There may be grumbling along the way, but, they will thank you later!
Nice work Tiha!
Cheers

 

[Tiha]

Washed it all off, out, whatever last night. spent over 3 hours in the washbay. Soaked it with degreaser, then hit it with high pressure soap with heat. Then high pressure hot water. Our pressure washer runs about 2800 psi at 180 degrees at about 4 gallons a minute. It is really hard to use anything less once you have used something like that.

It needs to dry out a couple days, which could be tough, Chance of rain, high humidity. I get isopropyl alcohol free from work. In the past I put it in a yard sprayer and spray everything before rust treatment or undercoating to make sure it is dry and no moisture trapped. I may have to do that here.

But once it is dry then the rust treatment and primer of the underside is started. I got a cheapo undercoat gun with a 30 inch hose.
hoping to reach inside all the body cross members and rockers to spray.
I think that alone will take days. Give everything a coat, let it dry over night. Re coat at least one more time. Then let it dry a couple days before top coating it.

If I can get it into the garage this weekend the windshield will come out as well as the 1/4 windows.

the RR 1/4 panel has been repaired and the paint is not sticking. There is some bondo below the tail light. I will dig that out and see how bad it was. Seems like they did okay work, but they did not prep it very well when they painted it.

There are some door dings on the passenger side. Not sure I have seen any on the driver's side yet. But need to get those marked now while the paint is clean and shinny. I am not hand blocking this whole truck. LOL

There is some hail dings in the roof. They are small. Kid says leave them. truck is going to be white. Nobody will see them. So I tend to agree. Leave it. A guy could easily spend more time fixing the little roof dings then prepping the entire rest of the truck.

Gotta say I still have not completely decided on what product to use under it. Seems like I am so disappointed in most of the specialty products. POR15 sure that would be great on the frame rail but it does not adhere well to paint, Nor does paint adhere well to it. Just a year ago I used some eastwood encapsulater products and I have to say I am disappointed. Actually had really good luck with Rustoleum rusty metal primer. It is enamel based and can be topcoated with about anything and it is cheap and we need a lot of it.

Will spray the underside with basecoat/ clear for final step But not putting that stuff inside the crossmembers or rockers.

Oil base will not mix with basecoat. So probably find some generic white enamel to top coat inside the rocker and crossmembers. It is one of those deals where you shoot it and let it run out and drip on the floor.

My son says he is going to get it rust proofed when we are done and keep up on the yearly maintenance visits. I have no idea if that is the woolwax type spray, or rubberized undercoating or what he is looking at. Even worse, I am not sure I believe he will keep up on it. My bronco has the old school rubberized undercoat. I do touch it up as needed. It has kept rust at bay for almost 30 years now. But honestly it doesn't see rain or winter very often anymore.

Door handles need to be white. I am not sure do I spray these white? Or do we take them out of his other truck? Not sure what Ford did yet.

 

[Tiha]

More progress updates. Kid came down this weekend. Kind of unexpected.

1/4 windows out. Adhesive cleaned up. Roof rack off. Weatherstripping out from around the windows.

Finished pulling the dash.

Started putting in **** mat and dynamat.

Also laid out and drilled for cab clearance lights.

 

[Tiha]

Put factory insulation up against firewall. Debating on adding gym foam to it or nor. Not sure how much room we really have until we install the new dash.

Oh yeah, windshiled cut out as well. Frame was pretty decent. These trucks and the superduties have a problem with rusting under the molding.

kinda hard to see. So the dynamat is on the roof. Then we used contact cement to attach 1/4" gym foam. The excursion is neat in that most of the roof bows unbolt and can be removed. Only the front 2 were glued. I wanted to glue them all, but this might work out better.
The sound difference is already quite noticeable.

What you can't see is the 3m Thinsulate we are stuffing in the void areas. Like the A and B pillars. few areas overhead. basically any echo chamber we can find.

took the old front carpet to my work. Pressure washed it. Good shape except stained pretty bad. He is going to do captains chairs in second row now so he is probably buying new carpet anyway.