Varsity's 2000 Explorer Sport

Varsity · June 28, 2011

Joe Dirt said:
Because you have black lower trim, I think I'd stay silver. If you go black, you'll have black tires, rims, and trim, and it might just look weird... Might want to photoshop it, but I think you might need the color contrast.

You make very good points. I'll try photoshopping it first, but I think you're right. Don't want to get stupid with the black just yet..

Varsity · June 28, 2011

I don't even know anymore. Just for fun I sprayed the rims black in Paint (all I got) and while its not 100% accurate whatsoever, now I'm really liking the black look. Personally, I think it makes people focus on the truck itself more rather than height, impurities and how low and tiny my tires are. AHHHHHH!!! I can't decide. Any comments are welcome. Did this in between running in and out, I'll try to find a decent set of black rims to paste on for a more accurate reflection. Mom and sister think painting the rims black make it look like I'm running 4 spare tires, while my dad and I think its great. Meh.
Stock Aluminum:

Blackened Rims:

Joe Dirt · June 28, 2011

Hmmm- it doesn't look bad at all...

BrianDye · June 28, 2011

I like it....alot better over stock!

Varsity · June 28, 2011

No, it doesn't look bad at all. I like the look a lot, but I'll have to think about it for awhile. Heh heh, worse thing that can happen is that nobody else wants to drive the Explorer but me :thumbsup:

Joe Dirt · June 28, 2011

Win.

Varsity · July 2, 2011

I got my LED lights in the dash, but stopped to hit the pool

. While it was apart, I cleaned the clear lens over the speedo and the whole upper dash assembly. I also finally can paint my last vent black. I'll have pics in a day or two when I get it all back together. They don't really make a night and day difference, but its brighter than stock and changed my needles to white instead of that pukey yellowish.

And still thinking about the rims. I would love to paint it black, but I saw coincidentally another Sport all black with nice shiny aluminum rims. It looked really nice, and put me back on the fence with the decision. However black may still win because a shiny aluminum, while a nice contrast, may throw the colors off a bit. I'm liking the gold/black scheme I have going :thumbsup:

Varsity · July 5, 2011

Really really crappy pic of the LED illuminated dash, definitely not spotty or anything. Still looks like the stock green, but actually shines instead of the poor "glow." Other than that, it whitened up the needles and just made the whole dash look so much better. Nothing crazy, but definitely worth the $.99 a bulb

Joe Dirt · July 5, 2011

I'm thinking about doing this when I swap my steering wheel...

Varsity · July 5, 2011

Joe Dirt said:
I'm thinking about doing this when I swap my steering wheel...

That sounds like an interesting project. But you should, it's pretty cool actually. Just be careful with the LEDs you choose to do it. Looking over some writeups, pictures, etc., I should've went with some better LEDs as my dash isn't nearly as vivid and bright as I thought it would be and I think I can accredit that to my $.99 LEDs. I was always wondering why I was paying so much less than others on here, lol.

Either way, the dash is much better in person, I think taking the picture next to a glass block window in bright sun with a cheap camera kinda hurt the quality. I love the dash though.

Varsity · July 16, 2011

Next quick project is to install some el cheapo LEDs in my cupholders. Kinda stupid I know, but I hate how dark the inside is during the night and for $6, I figure I'd give it a shot. Seeing as I don't have that fancy full length console with message center, it may take a smidge more work, but I should be able to splice or wire it into the ashtray light and run the wires under the carpet. I got red LEDs to match my stereo so I'm thinking this will look pretty nice. For $5, I really can't go wrong.

Also gonna try and change the headlight switch light, I didn't know that was supposed to light up with the parking lights and stuff. I know they don't sell that bulb separate, but I may come across an old switch and I can swap the bulb. Worse come to worse I can use the extra red LED.

Snowboi · July 17, 2011

I actually thought of that, but didnt really like the look. What I was thinking, get the halo LED's (its a circle, with LEDs going around, kinda like a neon light), cut a hole for the wires, then either lay a piece of plexi glass over it, then seal it, or just put clean resin over the lights. It may look nice, depending on the color and quality.

Nice project!

TallZac · July 17, 2011

Varsity said:
I don't even know anymore. Just for fun I sprayed the rims black in Paint (all I got) and while its not 100% accurate whatsoever, now I'm really liking the black look. Personally, I think it makes people focus on the truck itself more rather than height, impurities and how low and tiny my tires are. AHHHHHH!!! I can't decide. Any comments are welcome. Did this in between running in and out, I'll try to find a decent set of black rims to paste on for a more accurate reflection. Mom and sister think painting the rims black make it look like I'm running 4 spare tires, while my dad and I think its great. Meh.
Stock Aluminum:

Blackened Rims:

You have a beautiful explorer, and the newly painted wheels look awesome. They always remind me of cop car wheels. So badass.

Looked over your registry and your interior is flawless!

Varsity · July 17, 2011

Snowboi said:
I actually thought of that, but didnt really like the look. What I was thinking, get the halo LED's (its a circle, with LEDs going around, kinda like a neon light), cut a hole for the wires, then either lay a piece of plexi glass over it, then seal it, or just put clean resin over the lights. It may look nice, depending on the color and quality.

Nice project!

Now THAT is an idea!! However, right now I am kinda going for simple, cheap alternatives but I like your idea alot! I think I'm going to give the cheap single bulb idea a try first. When it comes time to replace them or I get bored, I think I'll give that a try. If you manage to do it before me, I'd love to see how it turns out.

TallZac said:
You have a beautiful explorer, and the newly painted wheels look awesome. They always remind me of cop car wheels. So badass.

Looked over your registry and your interior is flawless!

Gosh, thanks for the compliment! I'm glad to know that simple, somewhat stock can still catch people's attention. I didn't paint the wheels black yet, that was just a very very rough idea of what I could expect. Still not 100% sure whether I'm going to repaint them silverish again like stock or paint it black even though black seems to be the best. Once I get my LEDs installed in the cupholder, repaint my whole center console and fix the armrest, then my interior will be flawless!

. Thanks for the kind words!

Varsity · July 26, 2011

Ahh finally got another project done! With a little help, I got the LEDs in the cupholder and it looks amazing! Wasn't too easy since I don't have the full message center to tap into, but everything worked out and I am quite happy with the results

Matches my red stereo lights perfectly. I also painted my antenna black just for fun. I figured it would be one of those little small things you don't notice, but adds to the beauty. Who knows.

Next up is to finally give my bumper a good coat of paint once it stops being so miserably humid out. I tried tinting my side windows, but 10 year old tint doesn't work too well.. It looked amazing though once you got past the dirt and creases so I'll check how much some cheap tint is at Walmart and I'll give it another go, hopefully before the end of summer.

Varsity · July 31, 2011

Aaaannnd hopefully next weekend, we investigate and attempt to fix my coolant problem I wrote about a year ago. I used to just keep an eye on the coolant, but now it's just getting plain annoying and kinda expensive. Plus, when school starts again, I won't have time to be going out every day and checking the level. If we fix this, this will be more satisfying than any mod.

luluxiu · August 7, 2011

You must remove all of the grid, and then two screws, lights and pull out the screw assembly, and then behind the grille where the corner lights screw...

Varsity · August 20, 2011

And finally touched up my back bumper. Not nearly as bad as many 2nd gens, but still did the whole buffing, sanding down, wet sand clean and paint. It looks incredible. Best part is that it looks like a new bumper and I did it for less than $5. I'll post before and after pics in a day or two when it's actually light out.

Varsity · August 23, 2011

Da picture. It was raining when I took the picture and the truck was wet, but it was a now or never thing.
Only "Before" shot I had:

Now:

sport97 · August 23, 2011

Looks great. Feels good to get rid of rust doesn't it? I did mine last summer, I have one rust spot coming back, which is no shock, my bumper was rotted.

Varsity's 2000 Explorer Sport

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