I need help with idea for mods

[dersch6221992]

So im just about to start college and i currently have a 2000 mountaineer that is stock. What i want to do is add a few things here and there to make it look nice/ more offroad like. I really dont do any heavy offroading i will take it out through my yard or a friends here or there but nothing serious.
I have a few thigns i want to add:

1. I want to add some more lights to it for sure but idk what kind i should add or how. I had 2 mounted on the front off the frame rails using an L bracket coming up through the bumper but i took them off when i was goign to sell it. Im thinking of putting a flat piece across it and then putting 4 lights on there. Or i was thinking of a brushgaurd, or a light bar. Any ideas?

2. I was thinking of removing the running boards but im worried about rust/ holes. I really could live with the holes as long as they did cause the interior to get wet. But im worried about what rust could be under there. any thoughts on this?

3. the next thing i wanted to do was paint my rims black since the clearcoat on them is already chipping/ flaking off. Im not to sure how to do this or how much money it would cost or if it would flake/ fall off. Advice please?

4. I have been wanting to put some bigger tires (31's) on it but im worried about killing the gas mileage and finding a cheap pair. If i could find a cheap set or if someoen is sellign a set with rims that would fit itd be nice to have those as "winter set" or "offroad set". But thats more of a wish.

5. for the intereior. Im not really into any electronics such as subs or anything. i got my CB already and im pretty content with that. But anyone have any ideas for some cool/ cheap mods for the inside? i already have the camo seat covers and the custom camo center console thanks to the extra headrest.

I know that was long but im just throwing some ideas out there lookign for some advice, places to look, and ideas that people have done. Pictures of the mods would be EXCELLENT . well thank you. talk to yall later

 

[Electrohacker]

1. I want to add some more lights to it for sure but idk what kind i should add or how. I had 2 mounted on the front off the frame rails using an L bracket coming up through the bumper but i took them off when i was goign to sell it. Im thinking of putting a flat piece across it and then putting 4 lights on there. Or i was thinking of a brushgaurd, or a light bar. Any ideas?

every set of lights SHOULD have a a seperate relay then a switch actuates the replay keeping the high current under the hood.

if you arent offroading you dont need many lights, infact it MIGHT be illegal to operate more than 4 lights depending on your states rules

2. I was thinking of removing the running boards but im worried about rust/ holes. I really could live with the holes as long as they did cause the interior to get wet. But im worried about what rust could be under there. any thoughts on this?

if you have rust there... you might as well find out now and fix it. if it's light surface rust a quick wire brush followed by a good primer and paint will usually work to prevent further rust. duplicolor also makes a rust converter coating that will oxidize rust to a different oxide other than rust which stabilizes it and can then be painted over. If you want a REALLY tough looking truck you can make a two tone line by masking off the upper part of your truck at a line you determine and paint the lower half in bed liner.

3. the next thing i wanted to do was paint my rims black since the clearcoat on them is already chipping/ flaking off. Im not to sure how to do this or how much money it would cost or if it would flake/ fall off. Advice please?

duplicolor wheel paint, and a red scuff pad

4. I have been wanting to put some bigger tires (31's) on it but im worried about killing the gas mileage and finding a cheap pair. If i could find a cheap set or if someoen is sellign a set with rims that would fit itd be nice to have those as "winter set" or "offroad set". But thats more of a wish.

also realize you're going to have to fix your speed reading with bigger tires

5. for the intereior. Im not really into any electronics such as subs or anything. i got my CB already and im pretty content with that. But anyone have any ideas for some cool/ cheap mods for the inside? i already have the camo seat covers and the custom camo center console thanks to the extra headrest.

the sky's the limit, a popular conversion is to add the message center to get fuel calculations, but you probably already have this. if not it's 14 simple wire to run (BEWARE 98+ and 95-97 used different message centers)

 

[dersch6221992]

thank you for the speedy reply.

1. i check laws in michigan you must run 2 headlights and you can run up to 4 auxillary lights.

2. yea im thinkign about painting over it with some bedliner and then painting it to match the bottum of the truck

3. i do realize that thats why i havn't really moved on that at all.

4. i do currently have the message center but i dont have the fuel calculator built in. its just temp and direction.

also do you think itd be smart to run a second battery? if so where would a good locatio be under the rearseat?

 

[Mounty 09]

As Electrohacker said its better to find it sooner than later with the rust. Its much easier to fix a small section than a big section. When I ran the 31's with 3.73(stock gears) my speed reading was about 2-3 off. I painted the bottom of my truck with the roll on bed liner and I love it. Really changes the look of the truck and don't have to worry about it scratching. Here is a pic of the bed linered bottom.

 

[Electrohacker]

4. i do currently have the message center but i dont have the fuel calculator built in. its just temp and direction.

actually that's not the message center, if you have the full center console you either have two bins under your temperature knobs or a message center

 

[dersch6221992]

As Electrohacker said its better to find it sooner than later with the rust. Its much easier to fix a small section than a big section. When I ran the 31's with 3.73(stock gears) my speed reading was about 2-3 off. I painted the bottom of my truck with the roll on bed liner and I love it. Really changes the look of the truck and don't have to worry about it scratching. Here is a pic of the bed linered bottom.

yea im gona wait on the tires. but i LOVE the way your truck looks like that. im think about doing that with my truck although i do have the plastic panels on it. im think take off the side steps and then paint it all black with the bed liner. and im kinda interested in paint over that with the color that was originally on the bottom or leaving it black. im not sure which to do. whats your opinion? im kinda thinkign just leave it black.

 

[dersch6221992]

actually that's not the message center, if you have the full center console you either have two bins under your temperature knobs or a message center

ooo yea i deffiantly dont have that. i just have the 2 bins but i kinda like the 2 bins.

 

[Electrohacker]

yea im gona wait on the tires. but i LOVE the way your truck looks like that. im think about doing that with my truck although i do have the plastic panels on it. im think take off the side steps and then paint it all black with the bed liner. and im kinda interested in paint over that with the color that was originally on the bottom or leaving it black. im not sure which to do. whats your opinion? im kinda thinkign just leave it black.

if you have a few bucks yu can have it professionally lined in whatever color you want. whats best about this is it's guarenteed not to fade or chip off. if you paint over bedliner it probably will chip off as its ruberized

 

[dersch6221992]

if you have a few bucks yu can have it professionally lined in whatever color you want. whats best about this is it's guarenteed not to fade or chip off. if you paint over bedliner it probably will chip off as its ruberized

yea thats true. i got a buddy that owns a paint booth and stuff. im gona get a quote to paint the bottum that color including bumpers and all. and then to paint the rims black. what kind of price you think i should be lookignat?

 

[Electrohacker]

yea thats true. i got a buddy that owns a paint booth and stuff. im gona get a quote to paint the bottum that color including bumpers and all. and then to paint the rims black. what kind of price you think i should be lookignat?

several hundred dollars with that route

 

[dersch6221992]

several hundred dollars with that route

hmmm im deffiantly not looking to spend that much. looks like a homemade job to me! its to bad the bedliner doesn't come in differnt colors

 

[Electrohacker]

hmmm im deffiantly not looking to spend that much. looks like a homemade job to me! its to bad the bedliner doesn't come in differnt colors

duplicolor touchup paint does

 

[voss24]

When I got my white 96 explorer the first thing I did was pull the running boards. Makes it look less like a station wagon I didnt go with bedliner, I chose to paint it flat black. so far its holding up great and looks amazing. I plugged all the little holes with silicon and those little interior plug things to prevent rust.

Then painted the trim (flat black) and bumper flat black with Duplicolor Bumper Paint.

Really cleans up the look

You should get a new headunit too, it really modernizes the interior.

if you wanna get it up a little bit, definetely get shackles and crank the torsion bars. Shackles took me about an hour, and made a noticeable difference.

Goodluck and HAVE FUN!

 

[dersch6221992]

When I got my white 96 explorer the first thing I did was pull the running boards. Makes it look less like a station wagon I didnt go with bedliner, I chose to paint it flat black. so far its holding up great and looks amazing. I plugged all the little holes with silicon and those little interior plug things to prevent rust.

Then painted the trim (flat black) and bumper flat black with Duplicolor Bumper Paint.

Really cleans up the look

You should get a new headunit too, it really modernizes the interior.

if you wanna get it up a little bit, definetely get shackles and crank the torsion bars. Shackles took me about an hour, and made a noticeable difference.

Goodluck and HAVE FUN!

yea im thinking of repaiting the whole bottum half the same color of green that is on the lower half. im pretty excited for this project. im thinking of using the aluminum tape over the holes but idk if the tape would show still. how did you got about the silicon and the plugs? whered u get them and how much

 

[voss24]

I got the silicon and plugs for about 20 bucks all together at discount auto. What I did was I globbed a bunch of silicon on each plug then pushed it into the hole and put pressure for about 30 seconds.

I chose plugs over the tape because I was worried that in the long run the tape would start fallin off.

Oh, the reason I went with the flat black along the bottom is that the plugs can't be seen more than a couple feet away. Alot of people dont paint the bottom black, and I just don't think it looks good being able to see all the pins.

But whatever, as long as the holes are filled

 

[dersch6221992]

I got the silicon and plugs for about 20 bucks all together at discount auto. What I did was I globbed a bunch of silicon on each plug then pushed it into the hole and put pressure for about 30 seconds.

I chose plugs over the tape because I was worried that in the long run the tape would start fallin off.

Oh, the reason I went with the flat black along the bottom is that the plugs can't be seen more than a couple feet away. Alot of people dont paint the bottom black, and I just don't think it looks good being able to see all the pins.

But whatever, as long as the holes are filled

haha yea agreed. im looking into possibly getting a pair of explorer rockers.