Diesel Tech

The Ellsworth build started with a 2004 Crew Cab Ford truck. During the build process—that took an estimated 350 hours— the stretched Excursion begins to take form. The interior and back half of the 2000 Expedition was still in good shape despite being in a wreck. The Ellsworth Build One of the trucks Steve has recently stretched was for Paul Ellsworth and his family from Yucaipa, Calif., who were in need of a larger vehicle. With a large family, the Ellsworths were looking for options. "Paul started talking to me about two years ago and said his wife Amanda didn't want to drive a 15-passenger van, there was just no way she was going to do it," says Steve. "He was originally going to bring me a 2004 Excursion and a 2004 Crew Cab, but then decided to go with a 2000 Excursion, which made it a lot more challenging since the wiring is different." According to Steve, with Ford trucks the wiring can be the biggest issue. "I've been doing this long enough that the frames aren't the Challenges With Fords the biggest challenge is when you're working with different years so merging the 2000 Excursion with the 2004 Crew Cab wasn't easy. Plus the Excursion was a wrecked V-10 that had front end collision damage and had been bought from an auction. But the interior was clean and Steve just needed the rear half, so he had plenty to work with for what he needed for the build. Remarkably, the build only took 7 weeks, which made Paul really happy. "The things that pleased me the most was the body work and the way Steve stretched the frame," says Paul. NOVEMBER 2013 converting to a flat bed. He's calling it his "towter home" and loves to joke that he does a little bit of everything in his shop. Mega X 2 does business as SLC Powersports and Steve has been in his current shop in Kanosh, Utah, for over 15 years. All of his children have worked for him from time to time and currently it's s a family-run business with no outside employees. At times Steve has hired other people, but right now it's all family members, which he likes because he feels it gives him better quality control. 51 DIESELTECH When complete, the six-door Excursion perfectly flows to not only look like it just rolled off an assembly line, but with a frame that is actually stronger than stock. issue and the body lines aren't this issue, but roof seams and wiring can be my biggest challenge." Paul wasn't exactly sure what he was looking for when he first started searching the Internet for six-door trucks, but he found his answer when he came across a Chevy that Mega X 2 had built. "I loved the quality work on the Chevy Steve had done so I called him up," recalls Paul. "He was great to work with since the very first call. I was looking out of necessity since my wife and I have eight children. He has taken every call personally and has given me the time that I need to make the right decision for me and my family." The Ellsworths had five kids in six years and they thought they were done, but then four years later the couple had three more girls. Their oldest daughter is 14 and their youngest is now two, which can make travel quite difficult on the family. "We've had three Suburbans that we've loved over the years but as our family has grown our needs for a larger vehicle have too," says Paul. "My wife currently drives a lifted 2004 Excursion that we're now growing out of. The last thing we wanted to do was drive a big, old, 15-passenger van, which for a time seemed like our only option. We considered just driving two separate vehicles when our entire family needed to go somewhere, but we of course liked the idea of traveling together."

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