I'm such a cut up
Okay, we have a bare frame. Check. Next is some demo work.
The frame has two extra front shock mounts. Yes, I realize multiple shocks were “cool” for a time. Maybe even still are in some circles. Those circles probably still chrome everything out too. Not happening here. The front ones have got to go.
The other removal is the original engine mounts. An Ecoboost isn’t going to be able to utilize the stock mounts, so they (don’t) make the cut.
That all sounds fine and good, but in practice cutting off these four pieces of metal turned into a multi-day event.
Buying the correct bits
I started this adventure with a fancy metal cutting wheel, one lone cutoff wheel, a grinding wheel, and a flapper disc for my angle grinder. Perfect, right? Just whack the pieces off with the fancy wheel, grind the rough edges, then head in for lunch!
Yeah, right.
Turns out that the cutting wheel cut the metal, kind of. It certainly wasn’t made to do what I was asking of it. Thankfully, my lone cutoff wheel showed me that it was up to the task. To Harbor Freight! They have wheels on clearance, great!
Oh hell. These aren’t the right wheels?! I got metal wheels, alright, but not cutoff wheels. Back to the store.
Fallen soldier
Now that we have the right equipment, time to get cutting. It is a lot easier to slice through the metal quickly with the cutoff wheels. Still, there are two obstacles - cutting angles and sparks. And those two issues can combine and interact in such a way that it becomes difficult to make a good cut, or even one at all. To get a good cutting angle, I had to constantly solve a puzzle of where the spark guard was going to be versus when the disc mounting nut was going to get in the way. Even then, if I didn’t consider the rotation direction, my first try of any cut was going to serve me up a hot face full of sparks. Yum.
This where the story gets sad. About halfway through, I switched on the grinder and…no rotation. That’s odd. A couple quick checks, try again…no rotation. In fact, the disc was even hard to turn by hand. Okay, time to get serious.
I break out the screwdriver, and start removing screws. Off comes its head. The parts directly attached to the shaft look okay. Then I see it, back farther in the casing. Tipping the casing down, out falls the pieces of a motor magnet onto the workbench.
My trusty Chicago angle grinder of probably 15 years, that has seen so much and still kept going, was finally done. Thank you for your service, and godspeed.
Smooth sailing
Time to find a replacement. A little internet searching showed that Lowe’s had a DeWalt that fit the bill. Supposedly that is still a good brand. We shall see, because it is my angle grinder.
So far, I can say it performed admirably in finishing up the job. And it is much quieter, which is a nice bonus.
After a slow start, the finish to this story is much quicker. I completed the cuts to remove the parts. The broke out the flapper(s) to grind down the old welding slag and sharp edges to an acceptable smoothness.
Now it feels like I can start assembling something.
