Varsity's 2000 Explorer Sport

feared100 · March 25, 2012

My HID's where about 50 dollars. Il post a pic of where I have em placed on my truck.(In my registry) Its a really easy process and it does help out a lot. I too wont get projectors. Too much money for me. Im just going to get clear lenses. Which kindof does the same thing. And is significantly cheaper in price.

Also the black and chrome is a great look. Its nice & gives it a mean & clean look to it(also looks like cop car rims lol) and same here i go on spring break in two weeks and probably getting an oil change as well. The summer is when I shall lift it maybe. :salute:

GRNMACHINE · March 31, 2012

Noticed the Kasch's Fine Cars ads on your vehicle, drove by there a few months ago. How long have they been closed? They always seemed to get decent looking vehicles. Who painted your tailgate, looks really good! Still havent had a chance to check out the Hammond junkyard yet.

Varsity · March 31, 2012

Yup, the Explorer came from Kasch's when my grandpa bought it. It definitely was a nice place and had some decent cars too, I actually saw quite a few 2nd gens in their lot coincidentally whenever I would drive by. The tailgate was kinda messed up from the start on their lot and they tried replacing the hinges there. But once we took off the old gate, we saw that it was apparent that they were pretty confused on what to do with it as well. They've been closed for a couple of years now, dunno how many exactly but I was pretty surprised when I saw that too. I used to run their license plate frames until I replaced them with the EF ones.

The gate was painted by a shop called Bel-Air Collision. The people there were extremely nice and did an incredible job. Honestly I was just gonna have them paint the outside and leave more of the inside alone since let's face it, its not a show truck by any means, but they ended up painting the inside too and added the pinstripe along the back for no extra. Super friendly place, and even though I hope I never have to go back to a body shop, if we ever had to, it would definitely be them.

The Hammond lot is now my go-to place now without a doubt. I went to Summit before but their lot was so picked over and Explorer-less that it was almost depressing. The Hammond lot had at least 10+ 2nd gens when I went and had all the trim levels, from XLT to the Limiteds. Nice place, I just wished they had newer Sports so I could grab the gauges but whatever. Hehe, already making a list of parts for their next 1/2 off sale.

GRNMACHINE · March 31, 2012

Will check out Bel-Air. Always good to hear of decent bodywork places, there are not alot. Let me know next time there is half off sale. Will try to check it out as well.

Varsity · April 11, 2012

I've been pretty busy with the Explorer this week the first being a nice wash and wax

. Secondly, I started restoring my bumper AGAIN since the rust came back with a vengeance. Long story short, I missed some spots above the bumper itself under the plastic and that rust started spewing down. Ugh.

So today I've been working since the early morning on the bumper and I have some before and a couple of during pictures. My tools stopped being effective so I had to go old school and use an emery cloth for the rust removal.

Before:

During:

Oh and my EF frames

As I write this, I have a 2 coats of primer and 2 1/2 coats of paint on the bumper drying now. I know it looks like I skipped alot of the rust, but I got every speck I possibly could off. I was going through too many grinding discs and the bumper was so pitted and rusted that I did what I could with an emery cloth. Its all nice and smooth now though so don't worry.

Tomorrow I need to look in my door since I think the window track got loose again so i need to tighten that up. And Friday-weekend I'm gonna paint my rims black but leaving the center caps chrome so I'll be pretty busy. But it's really exciting. I'll post more pics as I finish.

Varsity · April 16, 2012

Finished pictures!! It took a little longer to get them up because when I took off my back tires to paint, it was like opening a can of worms. Basically realized that I had no rear brake pads and I had a nail in the tire that nobody was legally allowed to fix

But here are some quick snaps from the finished rim job and a good look at the bumper this time around. Hopefully this stuff holds up awhile.

GRNMACHINE · April 16, 2012

Nice work. Painted my front bumper with Duplicolor Bed Liner. Noticed a few small chips on the rear bumper. Looks like I will be tackling it also. How hard was it to remove the plastic trim? Bottom of the bumper has a decent amount of rust. Tried removing the plastic trim last year and felt like it was going to break....

Varsity · April 16, 2012

GRNMACHINE said:
Nice work. Painted my front bumper with Duplicolor Bed Liner. Noticed a few small chips on the rear bumper. Looks like I will be tackling it also. How hard was it to remove the plastic trim? Bottom of the bumper has a decent amount of rust. Tried removing the plastic trim last year and felt like it was going to break....

Ehh it's a pain but doable... Basically there's the plastic clips under the bumper attaching the plastic cover to the bumper and if you get under there, you can try to push them out. We needed a few random tools like pliers and a hammer to force it up, since it was pretty darn secure, probably from the rust

It wasn't too bad for most of the middle, but it's really tricky around the corners since it sorta tucks in under the body. And yeah, there's some pretty bad noises that made me cringe and I got really close to walking away. Unfortunately the upper corner just underneath the plastic was the source of my rust so I really had no choice at this point though. The rust was really awful up there though, super deep and just a pain. I guess all in all it's not too bad, but it's just tricky. I probably won't remove it again unless it gets really bad again, I felt like I got a little lucky there when taking it off. But really, I'm a realist and for the $4 or so I spent on paint for the bumper, if I can get at LEAST a full year of protection, I'll be satisfied and if I have to touch it up again next year, I will but with better ways of attack.

And eventually I'd like to spray all my trim with bedliner as well. I saw some guy in the 2nd gen pics section who did it and it just looks incredible. Definitely gonna happen when funds get a little better since bedliner isn't too cheap.

GRNMACHINE · April 16, 2012

Thanks for the info. When I had my step/nerf bars painted, I removed the plastic trim. Alot of tabs broke. Yes I would be happy with another year or two after painting. Not looking forward to having to replace the bumper. The 2nd gen Sport that had the trim and bumpers done was red, he had everything done by Line X. It truly looks Awesome! I went to a local Rhino guy and he wouldnt even do the plastic parts. I believe the price was about $200 per bumper or so. The guy with the Red Sport I think paid like $350 for everything! That is a Steal! The amount of time I spent on my front bumper was insane.

Varsity · April 17, 2012

GRNMACHINE said:
Thanks for the info. When I had my step/nerf bars painted, I removed the plastic trim. Alot of tabs broke. Yes I would be happy with another year or two after painting. Not looking forward to having to replace the bumper. The 2nd gen Sport that had the trim and bumpers done was red, he had everything done by Line X. It truly looks Awesome! I went to a local Rhino guy and he wouldnt even do the plastic parts. I believe the price was about $200 per bumper or so. The guy with the Red Sport I think paid like $350 for everything! That is a Steal! The amount of time I spent on my front bumper was insane.

Oh yeah I hear ya on everything and totally agree. That red Sport was the one I was talking about too, a shame that Chicago is so rough on its vehicles. Like I said, I was so close to giving up on the trim, but that was really where my problem areas were so I felt like I couldn't give up. And everything I've done so far has been helped by this forum and learned as I went. My stuff hasn't been professional quality, but it's been what I can do and in the case of painting the bumper for a 2nd time, I tried to improve, which is what the old cliche' says.

I knew bedliner wasn't cheap but it's ALWAYS in the back of my mind. This summer, if everything works out, I'd love to give a shot at repairing my rusty rockers and maybe touch up some spots too. If that happens, I'd have my trim off so maybe I can see then. Haha, little afraid to take off the trim or "tupperware" until I'm totally ready to do bodywork because I'm a little scared at what may be hiding under there and knowing whats under there will bum me out and make me paranoid if I don't get to it. But, there's always hope!

feared100 · April 18, 2012

LOOKS GREAT!!! loving the chrome caps btw. Its a look all explorers should have lol. did you do anything to the grill???

Varsity · April 18, 2012

Thanks for the compliment, been meaning to do it for awhile and once I saw yours, it was a definite. I agree it should've been some sort of original option, but at the same time its a cheap way of getting a slightly more aggressive look. I can't top staring at it in parking lots and stuff.

And no, I didn't do anything to the grill. It's painted the same body color and I think it looks pretty cool that way. However, I've seen a few black ones and it's pretty tempting to do. There was instructions for a custom grill on this site somewhere that I may give a go soon and if I do, I'll try and snag a black grill from a j/y and see how I like it. Definitely been thinking about that too, but I'm starting to like the body color grills on Sports and black for XLTs. Another thing they should've offered as an option.

But if anything, I want to try putting my Explorer lettering on the doors, kinda like on the 3rd gens if you catch my drift. I have the lettering from my old hatch, and lettering from the j/y/current one now so I've got two EXPLORERS so I'm debating on giving that a try. I just need to figure out how to keep it all straight since I believe the 3rd gens was one-piece and mine are all individual letters. Either that or get another Sport lettering and put Sport on the side.

feared100 · April 19, 2012

I stare at my wheels too. STILL. I turn my wheels when I park at school to show em off too. And with the lettering I like the idea of it. I just want to get an autobot raised graphic and put it in front of the driver door. And figure out a name and put it on my back window lol.

For the lettering if anything try using a level on each letter and mark it with something that you can clean off your truck. You know what I mean? Just an idea though. May work in theory but not in reality .

Varsity · April 19, 2012

Haha, I think I'm gonna have to try turning my wheels every so often at school too.

I was planning on getting a set of wheels from the junkyard next time I went, but doubt I need to anymore. Don't want to either.

Not sure about the lettering anymore. I made a quick post and it just seems like it may be alot more work than its worth, and I don't want to risk it and make it look like some drunk put it on, cause on top of making the wording straight, I have to have the letters turned perfectly too. Don't know about that right now, maybe I'll come up with something eventually. Either way, it was just a cool idea.

feared100 · April 19, 2012

Yea I was thinking about new wheels as well. But $10 of wheel paint is fine by me

. And if it was one piece it would definitely be easier to do. You dont wanna mess up yur explorer by some chrome letters on the side of it.

kisekikitsune · April 19, 2012

finally someone did this!!!

Varsity said:
Finished pictures!! It took a little longer to get them up because when I took off my back tires to paint, it was like opening a can of worms. Basically realized that I had no rear brake pads and I had a nail in the tire that nobody was legally allowed to fix But here are some quick snaps from the finished rim job and a good look at the bumper this time around. Hopefully this stuff holds up awhile.

Wow! I have the same rims and now that I know how it looks, I will do the same. I'm thinking of keepikg the lip of the rim silver .

Varsity · April 20, 2012

kisekikitsune said:
Wow! I have the same rims and now that I know how it looks, I will do the same. I'm thinking of keepikg the lip of the rim silver .

That sounds pretty cool, I'd love to see pics when it's done. I don't have the patience or steady hand for doing the lip but really cool idea!

kisekikitsune · April 21, 2012

The time will hopefully come soon.

Varsity said:
That sounds pretty cool, I'd love to see pics when it's done. I don't have the patience or steady hand for doing the lip but really cool idea!

Yes I will put up a photobucket link when me and my uncle get around to doing it. And I hope to have it done soon b/c, freetime will hopefully come soon. >_<

Varsity · May 27, 2012

After a somewhat disappointing trip to the picknpull, I did manage to come back with some mirrors off a '99 Mounty with puddle lights, so hopefully soon they'll be hooked up and working, then I can convert those to LEDs too

Varsity · May 30, 2012

Quick picture of the most recent finished product:

But as you can see I got the puddle lights working and finally finished both sides. Kinda tricky, but it's done with and is just about the coolest thing ever. And while it was out, I changed the regular 912 bulbs with some 194 LEDs which are just as bright, if not brighter and look a whole lot better. I haven't really figured out how to take good nighttime pictures that do justice to what's been done, so I should probably figure that out and hopefully get better/good pics of the puddle lights, LED domes and LED dash.

Varsity's 2000 Explorer Sport

Well-Known Member

Explorer Addict

Don't need no stinkin 4WD...yet

Explorer Addict

Don't need no stinkin 4WD...yet

Don't need no stinkin 4WD...yet

Explorer Addict

Don't need no stinkin 4WD...yet

Explorer Addict

Don't need no stinkin 4WD...yet

Well-Known Member

Don't need no stinkin 4WD...yet

Well-Known Member

Don't need no stinkin 4WD...yet

Well-Known Member

New Member

Don't need no stinkin 4WD...yet

New Member

Don't need no stinkin 4WD...yet

Don't need no stinkin 4WD...yet

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