46" 1991 Explorer in Iceland.

Hi, My name is Sævar and I´m 22, I live near the capital Reykjavik Iceland and I recently bought a slightly modified 91 Explorer


I have owned a lot of cars in my short yet life, but only 3 american made, first an AMC Eagle 82 and a Cherokee Country 1995, and now this Explorer


Ive mostly had Suzukies in the past, and for the longest time, since 2007 until recently I had a Vitara of which I also modified a little bit, heres a photograph

It has 38" super swampers and toyota pickup axles with locker, toyota transfer box and gearbox and 2.5 turbo diesel intercooled Hyundai engine




my plans with the explorer so far are unknown, Im thinking of finishing it up and using this winter and seeing what needs better finishing, but before that there are a few details of which need sorting such as

Checking the brakes, they have hydro assist, checking leaks, steering fluid is leaking and car has saginaw pump and steering jack so there are a lot of couplings of which could break a leak

finishing the fender flares, their surface is rough and unfinished and they are slightly too narrow for making the car road legal on these tires

the axles are D44 HD front and 14bolt 9.5" GM rear



here are some photos

I hope you come to like this project, at least Im a little excited to try him out but please if there are any comments or suggestions feel free to reply or message me personally


thanks

 

[Sævar Örn]

thanks, ill be trying my best to drive as much as i can on the trails and not the highway, tgats going to be boring

but i have an idea to a solution, the landrover transfer case has a 1.66:1 reduction in the high range...

 

[Sævar Örn]

 

[Sævar Örn]

Well I made it, yearly trip to camp Landmannalaugar 2016 as I had planned, everything went according to plan, or nearly...

The days between the previous "test trip" and the Landmannalaugar trip I had pretty long days, so I didnt have the camera with me all the time, and I wasn't writing up on the internet...

The reason for the engine troubles in the test trip were easily found, when I had removed the fuel tank to repair the fuel leak, I had cramped the fuel line between the tank and the frame rail when I tighteneed the tank up again... doh! For that reason the car ran fine for about 2 days when it bit a hole through the fuel line so air could get in, this resulted in poor running and very hard starting...

This was fixed as soon as I found the reason!


The reason the engine was overheating is naturally both that there is no fan shroud, and that even with the engine at nearly boiling temperature the silicone clutch on the fan doesn't work, my temporary solution was using three electric fans filling up the element area of the radiator, this almost fixed the problem completely, the engine still heats a little under full load moving slowly, so I have to check this some more...!

I bought a cheap laptop, 20.000 icelandic, around 150 usd, it's got an SSD hard drive, so it can handle the vibration of being in a car, I will be using this laptop to connect with my GPS and drive by it if weather conditions are such that you can only see your windshield wipers...!

the plexi glass table is welded on a piece of exhaust pipe material which I slide into another piece of pipe welded to the center console, then I have a wingnut which I tighten through the outer pipe, so I can adjust the height and direction of the computer to my, and the passengers' liking...

I put some side steps on the car, the height of the door opening is around my waist height, and I'm 6'2", so this was a necessity, this will also help keep the car clean... maybe I will put some side lights on them later... who knows.

The passenger side running board is heated, so ice and snow will not build up on it, this is because the exhaust pipe lays directly underneath, lol

I tar cleaned the car, for the first time since I got him, and he became a little cleaner, hehe

The afternoon before takeoff I decided to shake the car on an inspection pit where I found 2 broken tie rod ends, so I just replaced all of them to be sure,

after this it was time to fuel up and leave for the trip!

 

[Sævar Örn]

Friday 8th of january me ad my friends went on a trip..

The first group, my Explússó, Suzuki Fox 38" with toyota pickup diesel drivetrain, 44" disel hilux doublextracab, two 38" hilux og patról y60 á 38"

The biggest difference between traveling in a 3 door suzuki, or my Explusso is that I can bring the grill now!

Later in the evening some of our friends arrived...

Á laugardeginum lékum við okkur eitthvað, ókum inn að dómadalshálsi og einn okkar spilaði sig upp með snjóankeri, svona til að liðka græjurnar og sína mátt sinn, og gera eitthvað úr þessari malbiks ferð

On saturday we woke early and went back to greet the rest of our friends who were coming to meet us, traveling through the "VALLEY OF DOOM" as the Top Gear USA presenters call our "Dómadalur" valley, you can probably find this episode, i think it's called VIKING OFFROADING or something, season 3 episode 16

http://www.streetfire.net/video/top-gear-america-03x16-viking-trucks-ptbrtgbr_part-1_2423803.htm

Thats where we met 15 other of our friends in the Valley of DOOM

Most of the cars in one photo, not all of them...

The largest tyres, and then the smallest, and the funny thing is that the average driving speed was not much different between us two...!

Parking spaces almost running out... it's like a tourist week in july summer

Later on saturday, the weather was still and -12 degrees

sunday morning was extremely cold, -19 degrees, the coolant in my Explusso was slushy like, and the heater pipes completely frozen, the car had been warm for about an hour before the clog in the heater pipes melted hehe

Some cars had frozen brakes, because there is a river crossing just 3 minutes from camp...

My father and I...

It was at this hour where I was thinking, god this trip is going to be flawless, for the first time in many many years nothing will break down.... and thats EXACTLY when it happened!

Earlier in the day, a shock absorber had broken loose from its mount, this resulted that in a harmless (jump) later that day the spring jumped from its seating, there are no bump stops in the front suspension yet... so the car plowed down and the panhard bar broke off a fitting from the auxilary steering jack... no big deal really, could be worse, I blinded the lines and we were back on the road in 15 minutes...
Later I found the shock absorber was blown, and had filled with water, which then had froze solid, this is what broke it loose, the 46" tyres at 1.5 psi give great suspension, so I never felt this....

On our drive home the sunset was mind boggling... you really had to pay attention to the road but this sight was so amazing that you just wanted to stop and stare

The red line is friday, the dotted line is saturday, and the yellow line is sunday

Back home in my warm workshop




During this trip my car spent 85 litres of fuel, thats the same as the smaller 38" diesel cars were spending... this same trip last year I spent 240 litres of gasoline... so this is a successful fuel efficiency engine swap!

The best of all, performance is almost the same, the 4.0 was quicker from a stop, but the torque is what matters in snow, and it's very close to equal, however the diesel pulls better at lower rpms, so the clutch doesnt have to sweat!

85 litres equal 22.5 us gallons

240 litres equal 63.5 us gallons

 

[Sævar Örn]

https://www.facebook.com/egerbestur...deos/10154547229872907/?l=7127971227888841840

little video outside

 

[madbutcher]

From 240L to 85 is a sucsess

 

[Rick]

So cool it's frigid!!!


What a great looking beast!!!

How is the diesel engine working out for you??

 

[Sævar Örn]

So cool it's frigid!!!


What a great looking beast!!!




How is the diesel engine working out for you??

Thanks my man, just as I had expected, a little lazy from a stand still, but out on the road it's the same as the 4.0, except I can drive 3 times further per tank of fuel now!

 

[Rick]

Sounds good. Extending your range has to be extremely important up there.

 

[FR-425]

Iceland!

 

[Sævar Örn]

Extending range also means I can afford to go 3 times more often than last winter...!

 

[Sævar Örn]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEguZ109S4g

I did some tuning, more boost and more fuel, now there is a small poof of black smoke when you floor it.. but goes away once the turbo spools up, very responsive and not sluggish at all, highway speeds are difficult, gearing will solve some of that...

 

[Bobmbx]

Every time you post more pictures it is more amazing than the last time.

What do you do for a living, other than make us feel like mere amateurs?

 

[Sævar Örn]

Every time you post more pictures it is more amazing than the last time.

What do you do for a living, other than make us feel like mere amateurs?

It's funny, I work 55 hours each week, i'm a master degree auto mechanic, I do annual safety and emission inspections, they are mandatory here every year for each car after they are 8 years old

I also do registration of new cars of all kinds, mostly buses and semi trucks

in my little free time I do some work in my hobby workshop which I also use to repair cars for my friends and relatives, just to cover the rent and industrial bills.


Im a mere amateur myself really, ive only built a jeep once before, so this is my second, I guess the third can only be much better

 

[Willcall]

That is an awesome rig!

 

[Sævar Örn]

That is an awesome rig!

Thanks so much my friend, although so many things are left unfinished, before next christmas I need to reposition the engine and solve cooling issue, I also want to lower diff ratios... if this all goes to plan I will fabricate a new front suspension!

 

[Sævar Örn]

The other day I removed the intake manifold to inspect and do some fuel tuning, i noticed the bolts that hold the manifold are most stripped or loose and the threads ruined, so I came back with a tap and cleaned the threads, installed steads instead of the bolts and fasten it down with a new gasket and nuts to secure it properly...


I then decided to go on a trip to the wilderness even though the weather had been warm lately, this melts the snow and the snow turns into bottomless watery slush called crap ice, this is impossible to drive in, collects on the cars undercarriage until the suspension fully compresses, and engine struggles to move the heavy car... this is exactly what I did, lol

First off the snow was great, we could drive literally anywhere at any speed we liked...

Two U.S. made cars and two japanese...

Me and father were racing a little if you will, when suddenly I saw the earth swallow his truck, and a milisecond later I let off the fuel pedal and down I went too with such force that the fender flare flew off, the water splashed all over the car and surrounding area, I knew I was properly stuck but I was very glad it wasnt much deeper, the water level where I was deepest was around the lower sill and sidestep... probably 4 feet...

My girlfriend screamed at me and said the front wheel had broke off my truck, she could see it out the window... I quickly realized this was only because the fender flare had come off, lol, I was pretty relieved when I figured that...

3 cars of 4 total stuck in the slush...

Removed the flare completely to retard further damage to it... and tried moving the car back and forth,, I was able to move it back and forth maybe 2 car lenghts, but the slush ice was so thick and heavy under the car that I couldnt pick up any speed to hit the ice bank to crawl up,

This is where I sat and sang my song, "Crapstuck blues"

This is where the Nissan had pulled my dad out, and they were both working on winching out the Tacoma...

I meanwhile turned my car towards "land" if you will... breaking an UV in my axle shaft, leaving me only with 3 wheel drive...

The tacoma freewheeled, couldnt touch the bottom, and would probably have wet his carpet if he went in all the way

In order not to winch the tyres clean off the car we had to use this spare tire in order to lift the car up and over the ice bank... it worked flawlessly the first time... maybe we have done this before... lol

Thats when we can turn the attention to my tank, getting it out...

Thats a real harbor! lol

me really glad to be out, even with broken parts...

This mud truck look really impressed the tourists


This morning I went to the garage and tore out the broken axle, this comes to prove that with these open UVs no force should be applied unless the steering wheel is straight, they WILL break, even with a 2.9 tdi

 

[chefduane]

Wow! What an adventure. Glad you got her out!

Iceland! '„Þetta Reddast“

 

[Sævar Örn]

Bought new axle shafts from SPICER... welded the UV into it... they usually loosen up and turn, loosen the C clip and break the UV...

 

[Sævar Örn]

Well I haven't been very busy with the Explorer lately because Ive been waiting for my custom made radiator, a 4 row copper core radiator, and an american made (made in china) electric fan

But after last trip I had yet to glue the fender flare back on... so I did today

Real manly radiator, almost as thick as in a semi tractor truck

Dual electric fans, they kick on at seperate coolant temperatures and draw only 14 amps each

I need to find a new place for the engine oil cooler...

Both fans at full blast

http://vid121.photobucket.com/albums/o221/saebbi/Snapchat-2448598325611454840.mp4