Snowball 94 Limited

Hey I'm a long time reader and Just bought my first X Wednesday I love it.

She's a 1994 Limited.Named her Snowball (Sry If someone already had this name) I paid $1500 for her. She got a new Thermostat 2hrs after I bought her cause it locked up on me and over heated in the middle of the road. Her primary duty is going to be as a daily driver/Photography vehicle. I am an avid amateur photographer.

The day after I got her I took her out on her first photo Journey.
Here's some pics.

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She is replacing the 1989 Ranger my parents let me drive till I found my own and just like the Ranger I couldn't keep her on the pavement for long.

I also found a mound of gravel and flexed the suspension a bit.

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Her primary purpose will be to get me to college and back and do a little off-roading. She does have some problem but what 16yr old vehicle doesn't. I will eventually get some kind of lift but first is New/Used tires and a MAF.

Leave your opinions did I make a good purchase? What Kind of lift should I get it need to be cheap cause most of my money will be going to School.​

 

[willindsay]

UGH!!!!!!!!!!!

Trying to fix one thing and another thing breaks!!

See Here for specifics. But essentially I got my gauges face's installed and new Speedo cable and now the Speedo won't work.

 

[willindsay]

Alright time for an update.

I kinda have the above issue resolved. I bought a new speedo cable when I started this project and I came to discover that it was about 3in to short and was binding. I re-installed the original cable after lubing it with some new grease still didn't fix the issue. So I got a new VSS and that kinda fixed the speedo but now it bounces wildly. So wildly that I have no idea what speed I'm going. It also will cut out completely from time to time. Wouldn't be such a big deal but it messes with the odometer too and that's how I keep track of how much gas I have.

Not sure what to do about it. Any ideas?

All that aside here's some pics of what I did to the gauges.
Painting the needles orange.

and here's what the overlays look like.

I'll get some finished pics here in a while maybe.

Here's the work bench I built a few weeks ago I mentioned.

It was very useful for this project. It needs a little more bracing though.
and my work chair I made out of and old seat stand I found in the top of our shed and the seat for my old desk chair.

 

[willindsay]

Alright time for some finished pics for those of you still following this...

Here's the new gauge faces installed.

And not sure if I mentioned doin this earlier but I added an indicator light for my under-glow case I never can tell if it's on or not.

I put it in the metal bracket where the headlight switch is. I used some LED holders from Radioshack and ground the LED flat so it would look fairly stock. I am really happy with the finished product and it was very simple just required drilling a 1/4inch hole and running 2 wires.
Here it is on.

I also acts as a door ajar light because of the way I have the under-glow wired.
Might have to make it a but dimmer as it is pretty bright at night.

I'll have a few more night pics up later tonight.

 

[mr cribb]

nice

 

[Varsity]

Really cool! I like.

 

[willindsay]

Here's the pics of them all lit up.

Gauges.

Here's the under-glow.

Side

Rear

 

[i<3myexplorer]

Alls I can say is wow! U have inspired me to get started on big bertha! I'll be posting pics soon! However are these dash things just stick ons? They just go over the stock ones? Or does it replace them? I was gonna order that kit but didn't know if it was just stick on or replace? Thank you!!

 

[willindsay]

Alls I can say is wow! U have inspired me to get started on big bertha! I'll be posting pics soon! However are these dash things just stick ons? They just go over the stock ones? Or does it replace them? I was gonna order that kit but didn't know if it was just stick on or replace? Thank you!!

Glad to hear I could inspire someone.

They are stick on they just go over the original gauges no need to remove the needles or anything.. They come with some double sided 3m tape to secure them. The Speedo is held on by the 2 screws also. I got them off Ebay to answer the question you PMed me.

If you do get them I would suggest drilling a hole in the plastic of the cluster(make sure not to drill through the circuit board) to run the wires out the back instead of trying to route them under like I did.

 

[i<3myexplorer]

Glad to hear I could inspire someone.

They are stick on they just go over the original gauges no need to remove the needles or anything.. They come with some double sided 3m tape to secure them. The Speedo is held on by the 2 screws also. I got them off Ebay to answer the question you PMed me.

If you do get them I would suggest drilling a hole in the plastic of the cluster(make sure not to drill through the circuit board) to run the wires out the back instead of trying to route them under like I did.

ok thank you very much! I'll be looking into this more =)

 

[willindsay]

Made a trip to Pull A Part Friday morning. Didn't really find anything major for the Ex.

I ended up with a transfer case skid plate, a new engine cover, pair of mint tan sun-visors, a bucket full of emblems and a drive shaft to be turned in to a pair of lamps.

Here's the skidplate after I cleaned it and painted it.

It's now a goldish color cause I wanted to use up the can of paint I've had for 2yrs.

New engine cover. (will be painted later)

And the new sun-visor installed and a pic of the old one.

Also I got an awesome portable workbench/toolbox combo given to me today. Check it out Here.

 

[willindsay]

Took a couple new pics of Snowball on Monday.

Also discovered this scratch too. Not sure where it came from..

And here's some better pics of the skid plate and visor.

Installed. Not sure if I have it on backwards though.

 

[willindsay]

Haven't done much work on the truck lately I've been working on some other projects like a driveshaft lamp.

Still workin on this there's gonna be a matching floor lamp. Follow here.

Also been workin on a cool new tool cart/bench.

Follow project here.

I have managed to add a intake bracket to keep the filter up.

I got it from a member on here. It was for a 3in system so it required a little work to make ti work how I wanted it. For the 10$ I have into it I really like it.

I also changed to aux tranny filter today and added a fresh quart of ATF at the same time. Sometime soon I really need to drop the pan and change the filter.

Also on a personal note I finished my Sophomore year of college Wed and Yesterday I got the work that I got a promotion and raise at work. So I'll have more money for Mods but unfortunately less time to work on them.

 

[willindsay]

Oh ya also forgot to add that I added a plug outside on my carport so now Idon't have to drag the extension cord through the door every time I need to use a power tool.

First time I've added on to house wiring.

 

[willindsay]

Well Had the CEL come on on my way to work this morning.

So I just ran the codes and had 5 diff ones: 157,327,543,116,and 538.

I've figured out the cause of all these except 327-EGR feedback signal is/was low and 543-Fuel pump monitor circuit shows no power.
Not real sure what to make of either of them. Anyone have and Idea?

I'm just gonna clear them for now and see if they come back.

 

[mr cribb]

Well Had the CEL come on on my way to work this morning.

So I just ran the codes and had 5 diff ones: 157,327,543,116,and 538.

I've figured out the cause of all these except 327-EGR feedback signal is/was low and 543-Fuel pump monitor circuit shows no power.
Not real sure what to make of either of them. Anyone have and Idea?

I'm just gonna clear them for now and see if they come back.

Maybe the EGR valve is saying I quit. And are you having starting issues? Maybe the fuel pump is almost done?

 

[willindsay]

Maybe the EGR valve is saying I quit. And are you having starting issues? Maybe the fuel pump is almost done?

No starting issues besides sometimes havin to giggle the shifter from it bein a bit out of allignment.

I'm thinkin the EGR might be sayin quit too. Or it might not be gettin vacuum because I can hear a leak somewhere but I can't seem to track it down.

Fuel pump was changed last fall so it should be fine.

 

[willindsay]

Well I made a trip out to Pull-A-Part yesterday since I had to be in knox anyways.

I went out with a list of all the things I wanted but as usual I got almost none of them. Oh well.

I did get some pretty cool things though. I'm gona go from least exciting to the most.

First I grabbed some 4ga wire from an x that had a system. There also was a (what I'm assuming is) a bass control switch so I grabbed it too. Got all the stuff in the box for 2.50$.

Next I grabbed a set of mud flaps to try and keep from kickin so much dirt over the body. I'm Gonna scrub them clean before I put them on.

I got 4 2nd gen fog lights as I need a set for mine and these are pretty close to the same size.

Also in the pic is something I have seen on very few explorers... A rear tow hook. It's from a 2nd gen but I'm fairly sure it'll bolt up to a 1st gen with just havin to drill 2 more holes.

Now the last and probably the coolest thing I've found yet. I walked past it at least 4 times before I finally saw it. IT's a police Spot Light!!!

It was half apart when I found it. I looked it up online and they're almost 200$ new. I'm trying to figure out how to install it without spendin 50$ on a kit since I have all the parts.

I know there are a few members who have them on their exs but I can't remember who they are. Anyone know?

 

[mr cribb]

I try to hit the junkyards pretty regularly, what all are you looking for and I can keep an eye out?

 

[Varsity]

I definitely know what its like to go and not find the stuff you're looking for at the junkyard. It really sucks, but looks like you made out with quite the stash!! Any ideas what you're gonna use that police spotlight for?

 

[willindsay]

Spotlight is gonna go on my explorer once I figure out how to mount it.

I don't really care that I don't find the parts I'm looking for cause I always find diff things. All the parts I had on my list were just gonna be used for mods, but I've got plenty of other parts sittin in the shed waitin to be installed so I'm not really too bummed. I just like goin and lookin through all the diff cars.

Mr.Cribb Thanks for the offer but most of the things I'm lookin for are fairly large so shipping would suck. If you ever come across a trip minder message sender cheap I'm in the market for one.
They are found in 1980-1989 Crown Victoria/Grand Marquis, 1980-1982 Thunderbird/XR7, 1983-1986 Thunderbird/Cougar, 1983-1986 LTD/Marquis