Sportruk

The fenders were the first change I made to the truck. I simply marked 3" at the front and went back to nothing at the rear edge of the fender. The driverside was the first to get cut and it was messed up. I made the cut going through the body line and made it difficult to rework. The 2nd fender, I made the cut above the bodyline. Made it much easier. I cut the inner and outer and welded it back together after reshaping the body line to a point. Some of my design was copied from the '91 F150 that Boyd Coddington did.

You can see the idea of making a seperate nose piece on that truck. I also did a similar choptop and extending of the cab.
The rad support is one of the things I screwed up. I only cut it down by 2" and had to modify the mounts for the rad. That was back in '91, so it might have been a screwup or the fact that the rad couldn't go any lower. I can't remember.
There is a full concealed, intermitant wiper system from an '80 Grand Marquis. I used only 1" from the original cowl and hand formed the rest. The difference in the fenders is they dropped lower than the hood and there was a kickup at the back edge, while the newer fender is straight at the back edge.
Modifying the hood is a big job. It's one thing to just add on to it, but if you need to reshape it, it's tough. As you can see earlier in the thread, I had to flatten out the rounded front edge. I'm thinking it might have been easier to cut it completely off and make a new section. I thought about buying a new '94 hood, but I didn't want to spend a couple hundred on a new one and screw it up. Used body parts up here come complete with rust.
This is the best pic I have of the difference in the cowl area.
This is a before and after of my truck.

Lucifer Sam 2

its looking good! maybe its just because it doesnt have paint yet but it takes a little bit of getting used to without the plastic headlight trim.
were you going to put on a chin spoiler or is it too low?

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1993 Black Lightning #1645
Vortech @ 9psi with cai
Heddman Lts with dual 3" exhst
Ajustable FPR
Windstar fans
Smog delete
LSF Traction bars

"entrance fee to the buick grand nationals $5
2 hot dogs and a mt. dew $10
Finding all the ford parts for sale at a buick show- priceless"

JAMES HESTER

wow!your skills are awe inspiring!

Sportruk

Thanks guys. Yes, it will be getting the chin spoiler with fogs.
Update as of today. I welded up all the small holes on the underside of the hood. There was 29 holes, ranging from 1/4"-1/2", plus the location where the hood spring was mounted. I also welded up the hole in the cowl for the antenna. I picked up a concealed antenna that mountes to the windsheild, above the mirror.
I just have to do some filler on the underside of the hood and everything should be ready for primer, tons of block sanding, then paint.

Sportruk

I'm finally at the spraying stage. Got the hood and cowl epoxy primed and fill primed. After all the time I spent on the hood, I can finally see the finished work. It looks like a factory stock hood.
It was a lot of work to clean up the underside. I originally filled all the gaps around the ribs with seam sealer, but all the paint on top of it was cracking. I had to scrape it all out and feather edge the panels.









Here's another homemade tool. With all the welding, there is no way to get to the backside to paint it. I made up a 31" extended paint gun. This cost $0. It's made up with an old 1 lbs fire extinguisher, previously modified as a pressure bottle for testing carbs with gas. The paint line is 3/16" poly tube and the nozzle is a gas nozzle from a weed eater.
I tie-wrapped an air gun to the bottle with 31" of 1/4" stainless tubing and pinched the end a bit and drilled an angled hole for the paint tip.
It worked. It was a little light on the paint flow, so I just had to move slower. I need to up the paint tube size to 1/4". When I first started spraying, the paint started at a good flow, but gradually slowed the farther it went.
I hope I got everything, but not being able to see in there, it was just a guess. This will work good on the fenders, as there is a lot of bare metal on the inside.

Jamie V

I will say this.... I thought I was pretty skilled and a perfectionist but you have me beat by a long shot (and I don't say that much at all) You have skills in the area that I hate BODYWORK!!

I was wondering as I was reading along what it would look like with primer but again it outperformed what I could even expect!! The bumper matching the grill is just plain AWESOME! would be nice for someone to make a mold of it before you paint it so we could get glass bumpers made like it! I can't wait to see the finished product.

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Patrick

Sorry, but I'm a little confused. Seems like it's pretty much the same look, but must be missing something?

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Best of both worlds! Mostly stock D/D's
03 & (94 sold)
4#, DMP Air Kit, DMP Dynotune, xcal 3, SCT BA2600, NKG TR6s, DMP Valve body, DSL, 389/498,

Sportruk

The biggest change is the deleting of the trim around the lights and flush mounting the grill into the new filler panel. My hood sits 3" lower than stock, so I had to remove some height out of the front end. With all the changes that were made to the cab, I couldn't simply bolt on the newer front end. I had to make the lights and grill fit my modified fenders and hood.
This is the front end I wish I could have done in the first place. I started building the truck when the new style '92s were just coming out, so I didn't have the option of parts from the wrecking yard.
The original concept for the truck was a 3" section and 3" chop top, but the sectioning would have been too involved, so I sectioned just the front end, along with the chop top.
Since putting in the 408 and AOD, cooling has been an issue. Changing to the newer frontend would greatly improve the airflow to the rad and trans cooler.
Yes, it looks very much like a stock Lightning, but it's different enough to make people scratch their heads, wondering what's different.
The Gen I Lightning was never available up here in Canada. Most people don't even know they exist, so my truck will be more unique up here, than down in the US.

5point8LiterImportEater

Wow, really? The overall front being about 210 square inches smaller didn't catch your eye?

Look at the pictures of when he took it out of the garage, it is very dramatic. The whole front of the truck looks lower and more sleek. I think it is the best redo of the best looking truck's front end. I think the 92-96 F series is the best looking truck built, but this just makes all the lines move so nice, and the front of the truck look much more aggressive.

Chris

Patrick

Yup, I like the Gen 1 look too. And his is indeed special.

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Best of both worlds! Mostly stock D/D's
03 & (94 sold)
4#, DMP Air Kit, DMP Dynotune, xcal 3, SCT BA2600, NKG TR6s, DMP Valve body, DSL, 389/498,

89notchcrustang

I agree! I also think the 78-79 F-series is a close second!

5point8LiterImportEater

See that is the 2 years of the 73-79 body style that I don't like as much. I love the 73-77 split front grill better. (hence why I own a 73 F250! I am lucky that I own only vehicles that I am going to keep forever, but I need more money to make them as cool as I dream they can be)

I will get there though. I am officially saying now though that the answer I was looking for the front of my Lightning project is basically this. It is a change that many people would not know what was different but when parked next to a stocker it would be dramatic, and effective.

Chris

Red 93 L1 #3383

Shawn, I wish I had 1/10th your skills w/ metal fab. Your truck is absoultly beautiful.

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L1 Mods: Born on 6/01/93 157k miles w/ stock trans & FTVB & 4x4 pan, stock long block w/ 5.0 HO roller cam, Crane 1.7's roller rockers, Jacobs Ignition, Bassani headers, off-road X-pipe, Flowmasters w/ rear exit, K&N Cone, Flexlite 210 electric fans, Rancho torque arms, ART rotors, Aeromotive adj. FPR, 6 UltraLite guages, 12" Vega between the seats in a custom box & Gen 2 wheels w/ Nitto 404's. Crac-Loc R.I.P. 123.5k miles 5-7-05, Eaton, FR 4.10's, & alum. cover installed.

Sportruk

Thanks for the great comments.
I'm on the home stretch now.
I tore down the front end for paint. I had to paint the rad support and all the small brackets Black, so I bagged up the truck and went to town. I pulled out the blasting cabinet first and cleaned the brackets up.


There was 19 parts to epoxy prime and paint.





The truck is not a pretty sight like this. It had to go outside so I could prime and paint the fenders, grill, filler panel, bumper and valance.



I picked up the valance from the parts supplier and it's one of those Made In Taiwan pieces. Of coarse, it fit like S**t. I had to use a heat gun to reshape it to fit the bumper.



I epoxy primed and fill primed the 6 pieces last night and blocking them now. I hope to paint them Wed or Thurs. The hood should get painted early next week.

89notchcrustang

Lookin good Shawn!! wow, the fit on that valance is a joke, is it the LMC one?? how did it look after?

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