Blue's 91 XLT

Hello, this is my new to me 91 xlt. i just got it from a friend who has had it for years and just got a new truck, he needed space in his driveway and i needed a vehicle and it was one of the two vehicles i was thinking about getting, (an explorer or a blazer were on the top of my wish list) and so i bought it for 300$. Of course, with any 22 year old vehicle you buy for 300$, it has lots of little problems, but i still love it anyway.
Almost ran into his new truck trying to turn around in his tiny driveway on the way out after i bought it hehe.

Future plans includetrying to restore it as much as possible, this wont be hard inside, as the interior is almost mint aside from a small tear in the drivers seat leather, but i have to fix the rear shocks eventually, fix the tail lights, and some cosmetic stuff like minor rust and the dissapearing clear coat.
I plan to get larger tires, probably 31's. New or different leafs in back, maybe an f150 leaf pack, and manual hubs for the 4wd, along with some custom cosmetic upgrades like running boards and maybe a brush guard.

This will be a long project for me as money is and will be pretty tight for quite a while. and at first my priority is just getting it to respectable shape mechanically.

that is how it sits right now, i hope to improve it as much as i can, it has about 156k miles right now, my goal is to go to at least 350k.

any changes i make i will post on this thread as well

enjoy. thanks!


EDIT: The image site i originally used to host my earlier pics decided to delete all my photos because they started requiring a paid account to host on their site. My normal computer with all the pics on it currently does not have a charger that will work, so once i get a new charger i will repost all of the missing pictures if i can. you can see the basic progression though, just missing some of the pics on the first 2 pages. all the cool stuff is on the 2nd and 3rd pages anyways, but i'll repost the pics as soon as i can. thanks!

 

[Blue91Ex]

So... that list I posted, well I guess I sorta just chucked that into the wind haha. I bought another truck, just not an explorer...

compared to the list:
yes. - 4wd
nope! - electric windows and locks
yes - preferably manual
no. - no rust
2 door - 4 door preferable, 2 door maybe,
try 240k - under 140k miles
Yes - runs good
electric Tcase -manual T-case would be good but ok with electric.
not even close. - taken care of interior, preferably tan
no. - did I mention no rust? not dealing with that crap this time!

So I didnt want a 2nd gen explorer because I don't like torsion bars or the front end. I bought a 98 Ranger supercab, with torsion bars and the ugly front end. There is a lot of rust but none of it is real serious. Mostly surface rust from worn off paint, the bed needs help but aside from that it just needs a radiator support, which I'll build myself.
The interior is dark grey and discusting, the seats are deffinitely going to need to be replaced, and the floor is that awful plastic crap. Also there are no options like electric windows, which might be added eventually.

Now the good. Its a 5 spd, (even though its attached to a 3.0, which isn't as fun but gets better gas mileage which will be good) it has real 4wd (none of that auto crap.) and it runs DAMN well, very smooth engine idle, no obvious bad noises (alt might squeak a tiny bit, not sure yet.) It is in pretty good shape for being in Maine it's whole 244k miles
It has the rear seats which means I still have some interior storage space, and rangers have lots of potential for fabrication projects (back rack with side rails and custom waterproof toolbox anyone?) and last but not least, it only cost 700 bucks. I planned to budget around 1500 for a new vehicle by the end of april, so I have a 800$ budget to fix this thing up, more than enough for the body work, any new suspension parts, and new interior parts like a carpet and seats (I'm thinking buckets) as well as the metals needed for that rack.

If I fix it up a little and decide it isn't what I really want, I can fix the rad support and some of the rust and sell it for 2k easy. I will get pics as soon as I get ahold of a camera to use.

 

[Blue91Ex]

Alright two things for this post, first, I'm happy to notice this thread has nearly 13,000 views, I'm not sure how the views works but in my eyes that's a lot, so thank you to all the people commenting as well as the lurkers.
pic because why not:

Okay second thing, I just wanted to post a link to my new registry for the ranger.
http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=421250

Read and comment guys like I've said times before, I love getting comments and ideas and input on my projects!

 

[Blue91Ex]

My spedometer is messed up again, this was on a really cold morning the other day, no, it is not actually going that fast. maybe 60-65 since I still don't have 4th gear.

It is odd because it follows the speed like normal until about 40-45 mph, then it just doesn't match up, it still follows the speed but the wrong ratio, as if I was accelerating like 2x as fast.

 

[5spdman]

My spedometer is messed up again, this was on a really cold morning the other day, no, it is not actually going that fast. maybe 60-65 since I still don't have 4th gear.

It is odd because it follows the speed like normal until about 40-45 mph, then it just doesn't match up, it still follows the speed but the wrong ratio, as if I was accelerating like 2x as fast.

Mine did the same thing for a while after I bought it....just went ahead and downloaded a speedo app on my phone.

 

[mr cribb]

Your problem could be the gear on the end of the cable or the gear in the transfer case. Another issue could be the speedometer itself.

My speedometer gets stupid when it is cold out, reading faster than I am traveling. Mine is actually the speedometer itself.

 

[Blue91Ex]

yea im not real worried about it, I drive mostly by the tach anyway. 2500 is ~55, 27-800 is ~60-62 3k-3100 is ~65 etc etc

 

[Blue91Ex]

Exhaust is basically falling apart on the truck right now. I'm going to be buying a new resonator, muffler, intermediate pipe (or welding mine back together since I still have both halves) and tail pipe so I can get another state inspection, as I will need one in order to have enough time to finish working on the ranger and to get it ready for the road.
pics when I get to it which will hopefully be in the next couple weeks

 

[Blue91Ex]

whoops double post.

 

[Blue91Ex]

okay that was triple posted, not sure how that happened..

 

[Blue91Ex]

Okay so Here is some current stuff on the explorer.

Rust, keeping me from getting that sweet sweet inspection sticker..\

These aren't structural, and only will be problems because they can be seen from outside, so I will most likely be going the cheap not-really-right way and filling both spots with spray foam, slicing it off, and bondo-ing over it. Not proper, not permanent, not the way I like to do things, but it just needs an inspection at this point..

Now to the exhaust, this is the classy setup I got going on right now..

Resonator inlet:

yea she broke., also rusted open along the seam running front to back of the resonator.

crappy glasspack

And the best part, the flex pipe, clamped onto the front 3" of the intermediate pipe:

and yes, it is indeed attached to the glasspack with a campbells tomato soup can. It's just that good.

Now to the good part.
New exhaust!

I believe this is everything I need. Tailpipe, with section of tube for a resonator delete (I asked the shop they said it is legal as long as I have a real muffler) a Thrush Turbo muffler (was going to get the Welded but this one was the right inlet/outlet and only 30 bucks) and an adapter just in case the intermediate pipe is outside diameter on the end (muffler is outside diameter so now they will attach regardless of how the int. pipe is set up)

I will update this with progress when I either do some body work or get that muffler and tailpipe on. Hopefully it will be quite enough to keep me out of trouble but loud/throaty enough to have some fun too.

 

[Blue91Ex]

new exhaust pics.

So the intermediate pipe had to be re-attached to the portion I cut off last year for the flex pipe.

Then I had to extend the muffler, as it wasn't long enough to match the stock tailpipe and intermediate pipe.
The welds are better than they look in the pics, flux cored wire spatters a lot and I also had to fill a couple little holes that I missed on the first passes.
These two pieces I added were a 2 1/4"od-to-2 1/4"id adapter, and part of a length of 2 1/4" pipe i will be using to "delete" the resonator later after I get an inspection sticker. Not having the resonator is legal but better safe than sorry.

Thrush turbo muffler:

I also have the new tail pipe on so this is the best overall pic I could get

The exhaust is deffinitely quiet, not as quiet as stock and has a good tone to it, but with the resonator on, it just isn't enough to be fun, so that will get changed.

 

[mr cribb]

So you can't have rust to get an inspection sticker?

 

[Blue91Ex]

So you can't have rust to get an inspection sticker?

Basically no. Rust is fine as long as it isn't rusted through into a hole on the outside of the vehicle, basically anywhere that either is visible standing next to the vehicle or that could let carbon monoxide into the cab, or that threatens structural integrity. rocker panels, fenders, quarter panels, floor pans, all need to be solid.

Also on a side note, today leaving school I popped a rear brake line, so I had to take it to a shop and get a new line installed so I could get home. Great way to throw away 80 bucks.... oh well, old truck, **** happens.

 

[mr cribb]

That makes sense.

I wondered how the land of salt and rust caused failed inspection, but I can see the point now.

I blew a brake line years ago on an old toyota 4 runner. It busted in the gas tank skid plate, so i created a new line around the tank.

 

[Blue91Ex]

That makes sense.

I wondered how the land of salt and rust caused failed inspection, but I can see the point now.

I blew a brake line years ago on an old toyota 4 runner. It busted in the gas tank skid plate, so i created a new line around the tank.

That is about where mine broke, the actual blowout was a few inches behind the gas tank, but they had to replace that section of line. very tight area there, lots of complaining about the abs sensor/computer (by the t-case) from the mechanic lol. sometimes, while I hate letting other people mess with my truck, it is nice to not have to deal with the BS one runs into working with rusted parts in tight spaces haha.

 

[mr cribb]

Yeah sometimes it is worth paying the money to not deal with a difficult task.

 

[Blue91Ex]

Yeah sometimes it is worth paying the money to not deal with a difficult task.

Sometimes, also I was away from home and didn't want to risk driving the 20 miles through 2 small towns with no brakes, or worse 5 miles into the larger town to get parts and then back, just to struggle with putting brake lines in at home on a gravel driveway, also they had to use a bunch of new fittings which I most likely wouldn't have thought to get. Oh well. Next on the list is some body work, oh boy.

 

[EMBRACETHEHATE89]

I like this old truck, im partial to 1st gens tho. That roof rack is sweet, alot better then these things they are making with conduit LOL.

Im not exactly sure what you could do to save her, maybe a body swap?? Thats easier for me to say, as im in Texas and we dont have much rust. Good luck to ya!

 

[5spdman]

I like this old truck, im partial to 1st gens tho. That roof rack is sweet, alot better then these things they are making with conduit LOL.

Hey hey hey...nothin wrong with the conduit roof rack lol....it's lightweight, welds easily, cheap and seems pretty strong. Personally, mine looks like crap at the moment with no paint, but I have a 40" LED bar waiting to be put on when I get back to Ohio, so paint is going to have to wait as well...

I agree though, I'm liking all you've done to the truck!

 

[EMBRACETHEHATE89]

Hey hey hey...nothin wrong with the conduit roof rack lol....it's lightweight, welds easily, cheap and seems pretty strong. Personally, mine looks like crap at the moment with no paint, but I have a 40" LED bar waiting to be put on when I get back to Ohio, so paint is going to have to wait as well...

I agree though, I'm liking all you've done to the truck!

conduit is weak and id never trust anything but maybe 20 pounds sitting on top of it. The metal rips its so thin....

If i got a roof rack, id want it for a spare, hi lift, maybe a few jerry cans and a cooler. No more then 100 pounds.