As this is my first go round with an Explorer frame and the fact that it looks like a nice swap in area when it comes to space, my intention is to start with the old frame and bust out the laser level for measurements. Distance front to rear on the cab mounts, distance to the front rad support mount (looks like I may be able to cut the old one out and install it in the new frame (since I don't have the steering box to deal with) and then do all the elevations. This should get me the plan view and elevation location points for the mounting as per the original design. The largest consideration I have after that will be the height required to clear the transmission. I'd like to keep the trans hump to a minimum if I can.
I picked up the donor vehicle on monday, stripped the body off on Tuesday to this point
Someone was looking for the transmission and transfer case out of this thing so I stripped the rest of it down (for the most part) yesterday and got it to this point...
Look at all that free space for the engine in the front! Sorry that the drain pan is in the way, I was bleeding out the power steering fluid now so I didn't do it all over the place rolling it around in the future...
I also stripped out the front axle in the process, effectively making this a 2WD. I'm not a big fan of leaving the splined hole in the hubs open (after pulling the CV joints), and considering I really didn't want to pull the front end apart to get the joints out, I cut them just behind the small boot end (had to pull the boot back to do it. This gave just enough clearance to slide the remaining part of the CV joint out of the front hub and enough that I could pop the other end out of the front axle and get the axle out (after unbolting it).
And so they were machined down to this point and fitted back into the hubs, just using the original nuts.
Today, I finish pulling that massive fuel tank (I think I'll be using it since it's poly and will give a wonderful range of driving and fits right in nicely. Exhaust lines go down the other side and there's removable heat shields that cover it all. Finally a pressure wash before I roll it back into the shop and let it dry for the week while I go camping.