To Remove a Front Clip

[PaulZ]

I have a '92 Explorer engine donor vehicle with a perfect front clip. Can the front clip be removed as a unit? Is it worth doing to assist the engine removal? Any market for them? Rest of it is going to the scrap yard.

Thanks.

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

The hood, fenders, and front grill area can be removed. But the radiator and inner fender support is spot welded on. I've used a special bit to drill out the spots on a 89 b2, iirc there was 29 spots per side. I screwed a new support in using sheet metal screws and didn't see any signs of loosening when I looked two years later.
As far as a market, perhaps advertise it before doing the work.

 

[PaulZ]

Thank You! Good advice on advertising first. So barring drilling out the radiator support welds, is there any benefit to removing sheet metal (the hood, obviously) for engine removal? Do the inner fender wells come out with the outer fenders? I'll probably keep the A4LD and transfer case too. I was thinking of pulling it all as a unit but it's likely not possible with the radiator support in place.

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

There is two ways to remove the spot welded metal support. You can remove the rad support from the fender supports by drilling the spots at the front corners [by the headlights], or you can remove both the rad and fender supports by drilling the spots under the a-pillar. Another way I've contemplated but not done is cut the upper portion or the rad support out [between the headlights].

The following pics show my removal at the front of the cab under the a-pillar;



fuzzy but you can just make out the holes;



And the bit I use;

 

[PaulZ]

Nice truck. OK I think I get it. Today I towed it home and started at the front bumper. On old (like me) cars you could just take out the two big bolts going through the frame and radiator support, and undo the fenders back at the cowl and lift the whole enchilada off. So now the inner fenders are spot welded to the cowl and the radiator support? I'm thinking maybe just cut two feet out of the radiator support at the top to assist getting the engine (and maybe trans) out and sending the fenders to the scrap yard with the rest. Sound like a plan?

Craig's list ad is up:

http://sfbay.craigslist.org/nby/pts/5420614780.html

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

Yeah, the full size you can remove the whole front clip. On these smaller trucks they are spot welded....it sucks.

Most times there isn't much call for the rad support, but it's worth a shot with an ad. Put an ad on this site too. And cutting 2 feet out of the top is how I was able to pull the motor/trans/t-case all at once out of a 91 explorer.