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.​

 

[Keeper0311]

I'm probably jumping the gun a bit, but have you noticed any difference?

 

[mr cribb]

I like it Will, let us know if you notice a difference.

 

[willindsay]

I'm probably jumping the gun a bit, but have you noticed any difference?

I never even started the engine today.

I'm not expecting too much of a difference since I've only done one door. I'm gonna work on the other doors tomorrow hopefully if my Girlfriend has to work late (if she doesn't she'll prob drag me to the water park lol).

 

[Keeper0311]

Either one of those sound like a good time to me.

 

[willindsay]

Well got a little work done today.

The A/C hose came in a few days ago so I installed it today. I figured since I've already dumped a ton of money in it I'd go ahead and replace all the O-rings so I got a kit from Advanced and got it all put together. I ran into a snag though the switch on the high side by the filter won't budge so it looks like I'm gonna be droppin another 20$ for a new one. Ugh, will it ever stop? lol.

I'm headed to Texas Friday for a week so I'm gonna have my mom drop it off at the shop towards the end of my trip to get it recharged. Hopefully there won't be any more problems the only things left to replace are the Liquid line, compressor and condenser.

Oh and so far the sound deadening is holding up well and made a little difference. The most difference is there isn't any more rattle from the door.

I also need to adress my rats nest of wiring some time soon as it's very unorganized and just a complete mess.

 

[bovine]

I have been following your posts and I like what you are doing with your explorer and how you got a limited (wish I had one). Any updates lately?

 

[willindsay]

I have been following your posts and I like what you are doing with your explorer and how you got a limited (wish I had one). Any updates lately?

Thanks.

As for updates nothing too major since I just got back from TX at 4:30am. Would have been sooner but we had a tire almost blow out. Only set us back about 30min. I was able to change the tire in less than 20min which really surprised me. So I slept tell bout 1pm today.

I did have the A/c recharged while I was gone and it blows ice cold now. This is my first vehicle to have A/C so I'm really happy. All in all I came out right at my budget of 400$ that I set for this summer. Add to it the about 200$ I spent last summer and I'm in it 600$ which I don't think is too bad long as it stays charged.

I do need to get some new adjustable cabin vents since all the ones in my dash but one is broken lol.

I also just changed the oil today with some Castoral High mileage Syn Blend and a Pure One filter. I'll change the tranny filter here soon and I'll be good too go for another 3-5,000 miles.

 

[bovine]

I know tire are not fun I had a slow leak in mine and had to have it fixed but i was at my house with a 3 ton floor jack I have bought a hydraulic bottle jack since the stock ones suck and got a about a 12 inch breaker bar with a 19mm socket (found that out when had to do my brake job brake go so hot it almost melted my stud to my lug nut and broke a foldable 4 way lug wrench. I got to get the a/c compressor replaced new they are $160-$300 junkyard $45 I put castrol synthetic 10w-30 (had 5w-30 but being in Florida with hot weather that was getting to thin) in mine about 1500 miles ago with a bosh distance plus oil filter and the oil still looks brand new and I did a transmission flush at the same time I do want to say make sure you get the same filter that comes out I somehow got a different one when I had somebody do it for me so it didn't want to shift to first when it was cold so I had to pull the pan again this time I did it myself with my dad's help and put the right one in and no problem and i used Valvoline high mileage mercon oil and it's perfect now you can kinda feel it shifting into second but only if your right foot is heavy on the starts.

 

[willindsay]

New Parts

Well I made a trip to Pull-A-Part about a week ago and spent the least I've ever spent going there but I came out with a good bit as usual.

I got

• 2 new center air vents (one as a replacment and another for a project I'll talk about in a min)
• dirvers side airvent
• one black pass side vent (couldn't find any tan ones that weren't busted)
• A better condition trailer harness
• another chunk of 4ga wire
• spare 4wheel drive switch
• the gromet for the wiring by the break pedal
• and some other misc. stuff

I nabbed 3 bags of fuse's. Mini, ATC and Maxi. To keep around as spares.

I also picked up some more owners materials that were in better condition than mine. I think I now have every piece of Explorer material. I just need the Explorer pen to complete my bundle.

And last but not least I picked up a TripMinder message center to install.
TripMinder Discussion Thread

I'm going to mock it up in the spare center vent I have then install it. When I do I will relocate the 4x4 switches to the ash tray are where I plan to remove the ashtray lid and hinge it to flip down to reveal the switch panel that'll be replacing it.

Also while I was out in Knox I went by HF and picked up a heat gun.

Last week I also placed an order with DelCity.com for a 12 position fuse panel, 4ga wire lugs, 3/4" split loom, and 200 female spade connectors. I'm going to use all this to redo all my accessory wiring. I just need to find a weather proof container to mount the fuse panel under the hood.

And to finally bring us up to date I discovered my idler pulley is going so today I ordered a new pulley and belt from RockAuto and will install them this weekend.

I just started classes today so updates will be slow coming for awhile.

 

[FIND]

You know... It's because I can't stop checking threads like yours that I can't stop thinking about buying this nice blue 94 that I saw a couple days ago and getting rid of my 99.

 

[willindsay]

You know... It's because I can't stop checking threads like yours that I can't stop thinking about buying this nice blue 94 that I saw a couple days ago and getting rid of my 99.

I love mine. Idk if I mentioned it earlier in this thread but I searched for about 6months for a good condition First gen because after spending a little time on this forum I wanted one. And you'd be amazed at the number of people that still claim that these are the best ones Ford ever made.

I even had a guy tell me that if e could find a low mileage 94 he would trade his 3rd gen for it in a heart beat because in his mind 94 was the best year for the explorer.

You couldn't convince me to part with mine for anything right now.

 

[willindsay]

Oh I forgot to mention that since I had the A/C fixed I've taken a hit in the MPG department. I'm down to 13.5 city and 15 highway.

I think by switching to an Electric fan I can gain some if not all of it back. But that mod will have to wait till next summer. I've already got too many other parts for mods sitting in the shed right now.

 

[FIND]

I love mine. Idk if I mentioned it earlier in this thread but I searched for about 6months for a good condition First gen because after spending a little time on this forum I wanted one. And you'd be amazed at the number of people that still claim that these are the best ones Ford ever made.

I even had a guy tell me that if e could find a low mileage 94 he would trade his 3rd gen for it in a heart beat because in his mind 94 was the best year for the explorer.

You couldn't convince me to part with mine for anything right now.

Yeah, I know. My 92 was a loving and devoted partner that even brought my kids and me home when we were 270 miles away from home in cold, icy weather, even after it knew its life had ended. I played friggen taps for it when I watched the crane pick it up to put it in the crusher after I stripped it to make sure 2 other first gens could continue to live.

There's the 94

 

[willindsay]

Yeah, I know. My 92 was a loving and devoted partner that even brought my kids and me home when we were 270 miles away from home in cold, icy weather, even after it knew its life had ended. I played friggen taps for it when I watched the crane pick it up to put it in the crusher after I stripped it to make sure 2 other first gens could continue to live.

There's the 94

That one looks nice. I really like the blue color around here though all of them a really faded and have some bad rust.

 

[willindsay]

Well I went and got my tires rotated and balanced at Walmart yesterday since I needed to get some food for school.

I was surprisingly impressed with the Walmart here in Jefferson city, They triple checked everything and didn't seem to mind one bit that I stood there and watched them the entire time. I got the lifetime rotation and balancing for 30$.

I'm hoping this will get rid of the vibration I have going down the interstate and maybe the one I have when breaking, but I think that's from warped rotors.

 

[bovine]

The one running down the interstate might be the radius arm bushings. I know mine gets a vibrations about 60. I just don't wanna drive with a vibration so I go 55 till I get time and money to fix it. The braking is probably caused by the rotors.

 

[willindsay]

The one running down the interstate might be the radius arm bushings. I know mine gets a vibrations about 60. I just don't wanna drive with a vibration so I go 55 till I get time and money to fix it. The braking is probably caused by the rotors.

I'll have to check that but I doubt it is because it looks as though the PO had them replaced. If it is the RA bushings it'll be a snap to fix as the rivets have already been ground off and replaced by bolts.

If I get a chance this weekend after I redo all my accessory wiring I will check them.

 

[willindsay]

Ok so here's my plan for redoing my accesory fuses and relays. If anyone has any suggestions fell free to post them.

I'm going to pick up a 8inx6inx3in plastic project box from radioshack and mount all the relays and the fuse panel in it.

Like this

The box is then going to be mounted to the radiator overflow/washer fluid tanks with a couple of angle brackets. I'm going to feed the fuse panel with some 4ga wire I picked up and fuse it at 150amps. All the accessory wires will run out of the side of the box towards the firewall since most of them go that direction.

Right now I will only have 4-5 relays in the box. I was thinking of changing my design from mounting them to the bottom of the box to the sides since it is 3in deep. That would allow me to probably squeeze 8 relays or so in there which I think is all I'll even need.

This is going to help clean up my fender solenoid and move everything to a central location to make it easier to trouble shoot should a problem arise. It will also keep everything dry and clean as I plan to seal all holes and the lid of the box up with some silicone.

Anyone see any problem with my plan?

 

[Sip]

Well I've been doing a little work on her I received my SMD LED's a few days ago and yesterday I put them in the gauge cluster. It's a lot brighter and made the gauges a blue color which matches most of my other lights. I couldn't figure out how to disconnect the speedo cable from the cluster so I just disconnected it from the T-case and feed the slack through tell I could get to the bulbs.

I also got some headlight bulbs in the mail they are very white but put out horrible light. I will keep them as spares and run them when cruising during the rod runs around here.

How you get the needles white and the blue gauge cluster i damn near can see mine

 

[willindsay]

How you get the needles white and the blue gauge cluster i damn near can see mine

I replaced the regular gauge cluster bulbs with 5smd LED's