Varsity's 2000 Explorer Sport

[Varsity]

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]

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]

It feels great!! I did miss a little spot around the oval plastic piece by the ball hitch. I think I overlapped the tape a bit and missed so I have an incredibly small patch of rust there but you're right, it's great!

I used a can of Krylon Rust Tough so it should be set for awhile hopefully. Eliminates rust and prevents supposedly.

[Varsity]

Very exciting update, at least it is for me! Over the long weekend, I went to a J/Y in IN for a half-off parts sale. Went for a few things in mind, but came back with more than I could ever ask!

Yep, a tailgate. I know I never really went into detail about my old one, but long story short, it was a mess. If you look at some older pictures, you'll see a big ding under the wiper, some rust forming under the bottom left corner, and right above the third brake light was dented scratch and dinged...badly. So, I ended up getting a tailgate from a '99 XLT. It has a few paint chips and I think a very very small ding on the side, but no rust, dents or anything. Everyone takes for granted the ability to use the hatch on a daily/whenever you want to basis. Now I can join in! Dunno when I'll get it painted, probably in November at the earliest but I'll trade style for function anyday! Any one know a rough estimate on how much it may cost to paint a tailgate?
And my other "goodies"

I plan on installing an overhead compass since at times it feels like I have the only 2nd gen on the planet without one.
And finally, a little touch:

A first gen Explorer Sport emblem. I always liked the first gen writing and think this is a great looking emblem. When I take the gate in for paint, I'll have the guy replace the original 2nd gen lettering with this one.

[MCD04EB]

This X is looking really good! i like all the little details you did, and the bumper looks great!

[Varsity]

Thanks!! Sometimes the details are all you can do.

Actually, things have been goin' pretty slow on the Explorer lately, which I guess can be a good thing. I gave the Ex a great wash and wax in preparation for winter this past weekend with this amazing fall we've been having so far. But other than that, work around the house has been priority so far thus the lack of cool things done to the truck.

That will end eventually though, so next up is an attempt at tinting the side vents/quarter panel glass/whatever you want to call them and this pesky overhead console install. Then hopefully I'll be looking at either a billet grille or some Indiglo gauges, I really can't decide. Looks like Amazon has the gauges and a one-piece upper billet grill for about $30 each. Who knows...

[GRNMACHINE]

Nice! Can you supply name and place of the junkyard? Still havent found a pick n pull with Ex parts. Guess I havent looked hard enuff.

[Varsity]

Last time I went out to Pick 'N Pull in Hammond, IN. When I was there, there were loads of 2nd gens which was weird because the Pick 'n Pull in Summit had only 1st gens. Just Google "Pick 'n Pull" and you might be able to find one close to you. Prices are alright I guess, but last time I went for their half off sale and got stuff for dirt cheap.

[GRNMACHINE]

thanks!!!!!!!!!!

[Varsity]

And the little side "vents" as I like to call them finally got tinted. Tinting is NOT easy by ANY means, but for ~$10 and a buttload of patience and yelling, it looks pretty good and I am happy. Definitely not perfect, but for my first tint job, I'm pretty content and happy. Again, something you probably wouldn't recognize as a "mod" unless you tell someone that it wasn't factory, but I guess that is good in its own way. My whole theory has been that if something really needed to be redone, I'd do it again no problem. (That actually sounds so much worse than it did in my head.) I'll get pics next time the truck comes out, its really dark out, but I'll say it's pretty decent.

And... the rust on the bumper is making a slow appearance. When I took care of the bumper before, I sort've ignored the fact that there could be (and ended up being) rust on top of the bumper, but under the plastic step or cover. I never pried it off the top of the bumper, just sanded as much as I could get to. It's actually just a very little bit around the tippy top corners, but whenever it gets wet, I get a rust streak or something. Like orange dribbles down the bumper. It's really not too bad now that I think of it, since you have to literally be right up next to it, but kinda aggravates me knowing that I should've done that. The rest of the bumper looks fantastic though! That'll probably be something I'll take care of next spring. I repeatedly kick myself really hard though every time I see it.

But in a week or two, I'll get started on installing the overhead console. I don't have any wiring of any sort of up there, so it's time to get creative. Putting things in my Explorer that wasn't supposed to be in that particular Explorer

[Varsity]

Really good stuff to report now. I got a quick pic of my tint job compared to the other windows. You'll have to excuse the garage pics since it was yucky outside and the Explorer was nice n' cozy inside. And a few minutes later, it got dark and started pouring, so it's all I got:


^^Matches the factory tint 99%, so I'm extremely happy.

Second fun thing to report is that I installed an overhead console. I expected it to be a lot worse to install, but it really wasn't too bad. Plus, it looks original!! Never would've expected it to have turned out so nice. Apparently, if you don't calibrate it immediately, it'll do it by itself, so that's why there's the nice big CAL on the screen. I'm pretty sure it's done now.


And the final product:


Overall, really happy.

[Joe Dirt]

Nice work!

[GRNMACHINE]

I would be happy too, I think my second "mod" to my Ex was tinted windows. Went to a so called "reputable" shop (they were the total opposite), they tried to match the side sport windows to the back, not even close. From your pics your tint looks exact. I should have went to your place.... 15 years ago that is.

[Varsity]

Originally Posted by GRNMACHINE

I would be happy too, I think my second "mod" to my Ex was tinted windows. Went to a so called "reputable" shop (they were the total opposite), they tried to match the side sport windows to the back, not even close. From your pics your tint looks exact. I should have went to your place.... 15 years ago that is.

Hehe, my place was my garage...at 7:00 at night. But in all seriousness, the side tint does match the factory tint almost perfectly and I was really surprised by that. I used Black Magic 20% tint from Walmart which I think cost about $10 or so and I was kinda skeptical if it would really work. Ideally, I wanted to tint the fronts too but not being in a position to gamble with the cops (which I hear can be pretty strict about tint) I decided to just go with the little vents for now. And really, one roll only lasted enough for those two little vents. If I were to do anymore tinting than I did, it probably would've been cheaper to have it done somewhere.

But, it does have its little flaws. On the passenger vent, you can kinda see a little line or crease at the bottom and on the driver's side, there a small bubble by the black nut holding the handle to the glass. However it doesn't look as bad as it sounds, really just looks like a scratch on the window or some dirt. For a little bit of time and effort, I'm pretty content.

[Varsity]

And something I really never expected to get done was converting my dome lights to LED. I read through many write-ups on here covering circuitboards, soldering, etc but a little creative thinking brought and LED swap way easier than anyone would have thought.
For the overhead console lights, I basically took out those lights and sockets and broke them by removing the light bulb. Apparently the light and socket is a one-piece thing so changing a bulb = replacing the socket with it. So I removed the bulb from the socket and put in a 194 bulb but moved the little metal wires to the side thus making a connection. All in all it worked and it's just as bright as the stock-yellowy bulbs just cooler.
And for my "middle" light, I basically just replaced the bulbs. The two map lights were 194 to begin with. The middle dome light, although a bigger bulb was actually a 194 base, so I popped in a LED and voila, it works. So in the end, I guess I got an LED conversion done. Still not sure about the rear cargo light, but that's no biggie at all right now.

Only picture I have compares the two. Note the regular bulb in the cargo area, main dome and console lights are both LED along with every other light in or on my truck, lol.

[Varsity]

I am excited to say that I got even a few more things done recently. Some pictures aren't too clear, I think my camera is dying on me.

First was a new Sony stereo. BIG jump from my previous one so it's taking some time to get used to.


And I got some new paint for the tailgate. Over Christmas break, I took it in to get the black gate painted over and a couple days later... YAY! Absolutely incredible job on it too. It's nice to have a one-color vehicle.


And if you couldn't tell....


See what I did there?? ^^ A 1st-Gen emblem.

And what I'm REALLY happy with are my new foglights. Technically driving lights, but I've always wanted foglights and hated seeing the patched in/covered fog light holes. So, a box of lights and a couple weekends later...




And they're controlled by this: (again, REALLY fuzzy picture I know)


The switch is tied into the parking lights so the parking lights have to be on for them to come on, so they work with parking lights and headlights. The switch itself lights up when its on too, so no confusion there. It's all tied into a relay so I don't do anything stupid.

[BrianDye]

Nice!! Looks great man!

[Varsity]

Thanks!!! Haven't really tried the lights at night yet, so we'll see how bright they actually are.

[Varsity]

Night shot added.

[GRNMACHINE]

Really dig the fogs. Nice work.