My 2003 Expedition EB rebuilder

[Foot]

Hi, my name is Bob, I'm new on this forum. I bought the Expedition for towing and so my wife can drive to work when it snows. I'm from Nebraska. I work for a company that makes slow moving vehicle signs. A long time ago, I use to swim for the University of Nebraska mens swimming team, go Huskers

Just bought a 2003 Eddie Bauer with front end damage for $300. I plan on getting some parts from U pull it and U pick it in omaha and kansas city, as I see they have some of these in their inventory. I've painted lots of cars for myself and family over the years. I have a chassis liner lift n' rack to do minor frame work. My first goal is to get it to start, I think it just needs the fuel pump reset after the crash, maybe some wiring too.

 

[1955moose]

Well if your SUV is the same location as my first gen 2000, the fuel pump reset switch is in the passenger kick panel. Good luck with the repairs. Sounds like your way ahead of most of us for body repair.


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[1955moose]

Well I stand corrected, I just read it's in the left rear near the tailgate, behind panels. Sorry about first post.


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[Foot]

Thanks, for the tip, I've had a couple Fords with the inertia switch reset and then they started right up. I'll look for it.

Told my wife today I bought her an 2003 Expedition for Christmas and she's very happy. Happy wife, happy life.

I found an Expedition on craigslist for parts in the same color. I'm going to call him tomorrow.

 

[1955moose]

Ain't that the truth about the wife. Keep us posted. We all here like to hear about progress, good or bad, that way we can collectively help you and others. Merry Christmas to you and your family, from the Chrismoose!


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[roush9799]

Should be a trim piece on the left side back there, it opens right up. I opened it up to see what was there, and that's what it was.

 

[1955moose]

Theirs a guy named cleaningman94 on this site that's parting out his 2003 expy. You might want to give him a call, maybe he's got something's your looking for on your SUV.


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[98eb5.4]

might wanna check your frame at the front bumper attach points and back,

if that part has any major damage, ford considers it unfixable, at least for 98

http://www.expeditionforum.com/189125-post19.html

The same
rule still applies, however.
That rule is: DO NOT REPAIR
CRUSH INITIATORS. This area is
from the front to about 600 mm
(24") back. If the frame is bent in
this area, straightening is not an
option. Ford maintains that the
integrity of these areas is crucial to
proper airbag deployment, and
therefore these areas should not be
repaired.

 

[GAINMOB]

welcome to the site

 

[Foot]

High hit, so the frame is not damaged at all, it's isolated to the radiator/ core support.

It started up and runs excellent. Nothing mechanical was damaged at all. There is a lot of room in the engine compartment for crash damage, so I'll get away with just replacing the radiator and core support. The oil coolers survived too. Even the battery took a charge and is now at 100%.

I'm getting most of my parts tomorrow night.

I still need a blue hood and blue/gold front bumper cover, if anybody has that within a 2 or 3 hour drive from Omaha, Nebraska pm me.

 

[Foot]

I bought the parts car on craigslist for $500 and it runs and drives good. I used the door and fender off it and the drivers seat and steering wheel, since mine were worn out and ugly.

Parts car:


Then U-Pull-It salvage sent me an email alert that an Expedition just came into the yard. So I bought the front bumper, headlight, hood, and drivers side fender in the same color.

Upull it parts car:


I decided not to chop up my other parts car, so I bought a front clip, structure only from United Auto recyclers for $110 and it was rust free. I painted it blue.



Then I cut off the damaged front clip and created sleeves for the boxed section of the new clip to slide over and give me some adjustment to make sure the fenders and hood all lined up.



sleeve for box section of upper apron:


Then I checked fitment, and once I was happy, I started welding it together.






Then I put on the fenders and the new headlight mounting reinforcement that I got from Ford and put in the headlights.


Then I bought a plastic welder from Harbor Freight and welded the bumper from U pull it to the remnants of my original bumper to make one good bumper.




Now the bumper is on the car, but I still need to fill in the seam and sand and repaint it, but for my first plastic welding job it turned out good enough and It should look fine after bodywork.

Now my wife is driving the Expy and she loves it.




I replaced two spark plugs, a coil pack and one boot and fixed several broken vacuum lines thanks to the help from others on this site who had the same vacuum leaks and pointed me in the right direction. Now it runs smooth and drives great.

The guy I bought my hood from had this Expy, just like mine, and he mounted 2015 F150 wheels and tires on it. He said he had to cut off the tips of the rear axles so the ford emblem would fit on the wheels. I think they look great and want a set for my Expy too:

 

[Foot]

Here's a close up of my plastic welding on the front bumper. I just need to get the right filler for it. I've heard there's a special polyester filler for bumper covers. Does anybody have a recomendation for a good filler to use?

 

[GAINMOB]

bondo