[Taurusup]

I have raised a 2004 Ford Taurus up approximately 3.5" at both the front and rear ends and put larger diameter wheel/tire combinations on it. I can describe what I did to accomplish this if anyone is interested.

Here are a few pictures of the finished car.


I don't know why, but I could only download this one picture. For some reason all of the others, while they showed 100% completely uploaded, ended up with a line drawn through the upload instead of a picture appearing. Perhaps someone can help me with this "attachment" problem?

 

[Taurusup]

Well, now all of the pictures are appearing (although the others are all upside down).

 

[02sesvulcan]

Are you asking how to lengthen the taurus? Its a unibody, its extremely difficult to do, and you'd likely not find anyone willing to do it for less than the price of a new taurus.

If you really want the car to look longer, the most you might be able to do is modify you bumpers to "look" longer.

 

[Taurusup]

Thank you for the input 02sesvulcan.



I realize that it is no simple project, and while I am not a body shop I do have some experience regarding lengthening cars. Back in my 20’s I extended the length of five different cars (all of which I scapped, ha, ha, ha) while learning to weld.



The project may be a little easier than it looks, in that I intend to extend the car at its read end (not through the center). I must admit that I am drawn to the long sleek rear trunk sections of the cars out of the early 60’s, and it is my intent to further modify my Taurus by stretching out the body at the rear end.



I plan to move the rear wheels back about 4” through moving the rear suspension mounts (control arms, trailing links, and strut towers) all back about 4”, and lengthening the rear end of the body through purchasing a rear body clip from a car whose lines will approximate the lines that I am after for my Taurus when finished, finally joining the lines from my Taurus at roughly a section through the base of the rear window to the lines on the new section, (then body filler).

 

[02sesvulcan]

Hey man, sounds like you've got a good plan.. I agree lengthening the rear would probably be the easiest spot. Might want to look into some other fords that are longer with similar architectures. If you want a serous build maybe look into putting that body on a F-150 frame? Who knows right?

 

[Taurusup]

Hey, thank you for the input. You have further fired me up. I think that it is time to walk my locale "Pick-your-Part" yard with my tape measure and see if I can find something that will work. I will keep you posted.

 

[02sesvulcan]

Yeah, I'm still going on the record saying you're crazy.. But if you want to, and have the balls, then go for it!

 

[Automender12345]

Well gas is so expensive in California you won't afford to drive in a month or so, might as well hack it up. Nowhere to cut it without a lot of glass and interior work. My guess we will never see it completed

 

[kekaye56]

If you want a longer Taurus, why not look for the wagon version?

 

[Taurusup]

Well, I may be "crazy", but at 65 I am too senile to realize it.

It's off to "Pick your Part". I bought a battery operated hand cutoff grinder from Harbor freight Tools (first 'battery operated' tool I have owned), and borrowed my brother's 'battery operated' hand held reciprocating saw.

The weather here is overcast this morning, so it's a good time to 'attack'.

 

[Taurusup]

Alright, some people may think me ‘nuts’, but I went to my local “Pick-your-Part” yard and dropped $700 on rear end parts for a 95’ Buick Riviera (parts pictured below). I picked up a trunk lid, rear light bar, bumper, bumper cover, and the rear of the body (trunk mounting frame, window base crossmember, rear body section, etc.). After evaluating many car’s rear ends (I walked the entirte lot), I think that I can work with this rear clip (we will find out in the coming months - after all I have srapped all previous attempts - but that was a long time ago).



For the entertainment of any “junk yard dogs” on this forum the standard battery on the Hercules battery operated cutoff hand grinder (which I purchased from Harbor Freight Tools for the “field work” in this project) is good for about 5 minutes of running time (wow, what a power hog!).



My plan is to start by cutting the rear end off of my Taurus (that should get me committed to the project - even though the car cost me only $1800). I will lay it out and cut it through a section roughly through the top of the trunk lid and behind the gas filler tube on the passenger side.



More to follow…..

 

[Taurusup]

Here are some pictures of the originally raised car (for those that don't like looking at pictures sideways or upside down). I found that if I simply "drop" (instead of "uploading") them onto the page they come out alright.

 

[Taurusup]

For what it might be worth to anyone who is interested in following this project, I am including the following “mocked up” picture of the concept inside my head which I developed last night. I took a profile view of my already raised car, and made a cutout of the lines that I would like to add at the rear end, including moving the rear wheels 4” rearward. I realize that it is only “on paper”, but it should give members some idea of what I am after.

 

[blueberry]

Following! That rear end sketch reminds me of the Dodge Monaco cop cars used in Dukes of Hazard

 

[Taurusup]

Those were the days, when cars had decent (long) trunk sections, not like the 'stub ends' you get nowadays. Dodge, Chevy, Ford; they all had long trunks back in the 60's.

 

[Taurusup]

It has been a busy couple of days.



First, I secured the rear end of the car safely up in the air by placing it on a support which I had fabricated for working on the front end of the car when I had raised it previously (back end of car on support pictured below). This support has the added benefit of being level, so when engaging the car’s rear frame rails, it holds the rear end of the car up in the air in such a way that I can balance height measurements to different features on the car using the garage floor as a reference plane. I took a profile picture of the driver’s side rear end, just so I can compare it to pictures when it is finished.



After this I basically stripped the back end of the car, removing the bumper and its cover, the trunk lid, rear window, taillights, trunk liners, rear seat, interior trim panels at the back of the cab, speakers, wire harness, rear suspension components, and gas tank (yes, I removed the gas tank this time).



Then I cut the rear end off of it through the top corners of the trunk lid frame on top continuing on down roughly through the middle/back of the wheel wells on the sides (behind the gas filler tube on the passenger side), and across the trunk floor just in front of the spare tire cavity at the rear of the crossmember which mounts the control arm “box”. (pictured is the back end after being cutaway).

Finally, I cut out the spare tire well (pictured), with the intent to reincorporate it into the new extended rear end of the car.



At this point I am obviously commited to the project.



More to follow…..

 

[mcsteven]

Not a fan of the new trunk, etc, but I keep thinking about lifting my 3rd gen wagon with some large wheels and off-road style tires. Then I look at how long my wagon will likely last since it's got no rust and only 152K miles on the meter. And personally, when I invest in another vehicle, I still want to do the 4.8 32V DOHC InTech V8 swap into my wagon. A nice 300-325 hp grocery getter sleeper .

 

[Taurusup]

Back in the 70's and 80's we would call your's a 'Go-boat', while what I have in mind would be called a 'Show-boat'. By the way, 'lifting a car' with the 'carriage-type' (front wheel drive) mechanical assembly is far easier than lifting car that is rear wheel drive (at least at the front end).

 

[Taurusup]

After studying my “concept picture” I realized that I had to pitch the rear window frame down a few inches at its base (where it meets the rear deck/trunk) in order to get the “lines” that I am looking for. So the first thing I had to do was cut the rear window frame (both inner and outer sheet metal) through the two side pillars and across a section through the rear speaker shelf. (probably better explained through the attached pictures). Once this was done, I pitched the rear window frame down about 2” at its base (folding the sheet metal past itself along the inner and outer side pillars) and welding it into the new position. (pictures below) At this point I refitted the window to make sure that I would not have issues latter on when reinstalling it. I finished up the repositioning of the rear window frame by welding the rear speaker shelve together as shown.



At this point I intend to extend a couple of reinforcing frame rails rearward from the existing rear frame rails to mount the rear bumper and support the trunk floor (basically giving structure to the new back of the car).



More to follow…..

 

[Taurusup]

In order to better envision how long the car should be lengthened, I purchased a 9’ length of 3” x 2” x .120wall rectangular tubing for the new rear frame rails, I cut it in half and made some cuts to the front ends of the two resulting “rails” in order to soundly attach them to the existing rails. (Note that I cut the ends of this tube so that I had 8” of extension at the upper and lower surfaces extending past the actuall butt joint where it met with the existing rear frame rails - this makes for a far stronger joint). I layed them out, squared them up and welded them in place (pictures).



Next, I mocked up the Buick’s bumper temporarily and have decided to lengthen the Taurus 17” at the bumper mount which will equate to a total of 19” in length due to the fact that the 95 Riviera’s rear bumper is more curved than the Taurus’.



As part of this lengthening project I am moving the rear wheels back 4”, so that the car’s finished profile does not look too long at the rear. This will naturally require that all of the rear suspension mounts will have to be moved back 4”.



More to follow…..