Project Endeavor

[brockimusPRIME]

Howdy. I just want to introduce Boone. For Daniel Boone of course. Boone will be my project over the next few months to years, lol. I plan on turning him into a capable overland vehicle.

Project Endeavor is my first attempt at building an overland vehicle. I figured for the size and availability of parts for this platform it would make a good first model.

Boone is a 1997 Eddie Bauer 4x4 powered with the 5.4L and 3.73's. Just over 230,000 miles on the board and running strong wanting another 270,000. This came from a second owner who bought it from his neighbors who were the original owners. Everything mechanically is in amazing condition. The owners kept up with all preventive maintenance and replacing anything that needed it. Minus a few cosmetics like clear coat, paint and leather cracks it's impeccable.

So Project Endeavor will be getting a major face lift from this grandparents vehicle. I welcome any and all participation from the community in my build. I will want to keep a nice record of this build so I will be videoing and taking a lot of pictures. I also have a Instagram page for it. If you are on Instagram I would love for you to follow me and I would love to follow your project. Look for @project_endeavor

Just a small idea of what is to come.
- Liner Paint
- Headlights and Tail lights
- LED Light Systems
- Suspension
- Wheels and Tires
- Bumpers
- Rooftop Tent
- Internal Storage and Rack systems
- Cold Air Intake System (possibly a snorkel)
- ECU Tuning
- On Board Air
- Awning
- Possibly Lockers and New Gears
- And much more, I definitely want suggestions from all of you.

I appreciate this community and look forward to being a part of it.

I am having an issue with uploading some images. As soon as I figure it out I will have some up. I do have some posted on IG.

 

[devincox]

I am interested to see the details of your build. I also have a 97 EB 4x4 5.4 that I am building as an overland vehicle. I just finished the new engine/transmission install yesterday. My original engine had 239K and ran well but the cam phasers started making noise so, it was a good excuse to replace the engine.

I have already done quite a bit and bumpers (Move Bumpers) are next. You might consider these, as they look decent and have a very reasonable cost. https://www.movebumpers.com/gallery/ford

I have always thought this platform is perfect for overlanding, but you don't see many people using it.

Devin

 

[ExplorerTom]

Looking forward to it. Check out the link to my 2000 in my signature for what I've done to mine.

 

[ExplorerTom]

As far as using this platform as an Overlander, it is pretty rare. I've considered it myself- it would be highly dependent on the terrain you plan on doing. Full size vehicles are rare sights on trails in Colorado. They are just too big for the sometimes very narrow trails.

Check out this build on ExPo.
Nitro Budget Expedition Overland - Expedition Portal
Unfortunately it seems to have hit a snag and there hasn't been any updates on it lately.

 

[brockimusPRIME]

Awesome stuff. Do you guys use IG? I'd like to keep up with the builds.

 

[ExplorerTom]

I update my build here.

 

[devincox]

I update here as well.