Joe Dirt's 2000 Ex-El-Tee "Deuce"

Welcome to the registry for Wedgie 2.0, who has been affectionately named "Deuce"

From Shad's info to save keystrokes:

Here is the run down:

2000 Ford Explorer XLT 5.0L - AWD
Deep Wedgewood Blue
Gray Leather
Yada, yada, yada...

Highlights:

• Transmission rebuilt at 160,000 miles, and filled with synthetic
• Lifted 2" in front with torsion keys
• Lifted 3" in back with Add-a-Leaf and Warrior Shackles
• New Superlift shocks at 166,000 miles
• 31" x 10.5" tires
• As much rust as some southern trucks- she's clean...

Interesting fact- it was an XLT fitted with air-ride shocks from the factory. System was disabled with the kit and shocks were put on to avoid costly repair.



Next to Wedgie:

Today 1/28/11 was the first car wash.

And yes, it needs to be cleaned...

Um... This is going to be my biggest challenge to date.

But it's going to be fine. It's an incredible place to start- the steering wheel isn't even gummy or rolled. I'm very pleased with the canvas...

Anyway, after the car wash, I snapped some pics for starting point reference.
So, here are our obligatory before pictures...

Door seams always oiled

Hatch looks brand new as well!

Nothing on the rocker seams ...but a paint chip

Rockers nice. No rust even at the back- just grime and ice. I think the mudflaps really helped...

 

[BigRondo]

Joe would have us move our racks to the quarter deck!!!

 

[Joe Dirt]

...and there would be NO black flag days. If it needs to be cleaned, it needs to be cleaned. I don't give a crap how hot it is, girls.

 

[Keeper0311]

Imagine Joe during range clean up.

"If I find a piece of a brass I will slay your grandmother and make you pick up every piece of gravel in the street. "

You sir would impress my DI's with your dedication to minut cleanliness.

 

[bcbid]

Can you imagine how clean the heads would be.Give him an endless supply of Brasso and rags. All the chrome and copper pipes you could ever want. I know he would never fail inspection.

 

[bcbid]

Joe : On a serious note I do respect you attention to detail. There is nothing half a*s about the way you clean. OORAHHH

 

[BigRondo]

I agree, Joe is the man. You would need sunglasses in his squadbay!!!

 

[Joe Dirt]

Today's picture viewing music comes to us from the Rollins Band. Long been a fan of Henry Rollins all the way from State of Alert, to Black Flag, to Rollins Band, and his spoken word albums too... Your number is one.







On to last night's enjoyment...



We need to do some cleaning on the other half of the dash.

As well as start working on the steering wheel and the cruise buttons. I'm happy because all of my cruise button lights are currently working!

I popped the top vents off to also clean the ductwork.

Mini-Q's to clean up the vents. I don't pop that one out as the 2 times I've done it, I've ended up with a crease in the dash pad.

Detailed the underside, in, and behind the glove box.

Water from the dash only... Ugh. And no, that's not dirt on the console, it's some sort of epoxy. :

After first step cleaning of the wheel, pre-conditioning/cruise buttons:

After of the dash, MUCH better:

I also cleaned the kick panel, as that wasn't done last night.

Will hopefully be installing the seats and trim tonight leaving only the cargo area to do last. It's freezing, so paint correction is on hold until mother nature decides to stop playing around. Now it's snowing. WTF?

 

[BigRondo]

Good to go!! I know what you mean about mother nature. We are forecasted for 3-5 tonight.

 

[Joe Dirt]

I'm about sick of snow and cold. We had that obligatory blip of warmer weather last week, and now the rug has been pulled.

Maybe I'll just stay inside and make food out of construction paper with Drew... lol!

 

[bcbid]

I'm about sick of snow and cold. We had that obligatory blip of warmer weather last week, and now the rug has been pulled...(X2)

We got 4 or 5 inches last night. I couldn't open the back this morning. plus freezing rain.:thumbdwn:

 

[Joe Dirt]

Ah yes, the freezing rain. Since Deuce is occupying the entire garage, I had the pleasure of trying to get into the car this morning. That was fun.

Not!

 

[GRNMACHINE]

By the way- yes, things got out of hand tonight.

This is like the scene in Rain Main when the waitress drops the box of toothpicks on the floor....



(4:10 of video)

82 82 82 yeah 246 Q-TIPS...

Yeah Definitely have to pick up my Magic Erasers... Yeah Definitely have to pick up my Magic Erasers....


YEAH......

 

[Joe Dirt]

The thing is- I cleaned the dash and door panels about a month ago... And haven't driven it much since- that's all embedded dirt. They're amazing tools, them there erasers... I love them.

Oh- and the Q-tip count doubled last night...

 

[techieman33]

They make rust colored epoxy now?

 

[Joe Dirt]

You can see how mad I got at that surface rust on the bracket- I beat the hell out of it with a sledge...

 

[Sams01XplrSprt]

good work joe keep it up

 

[lynchy wa]

Bloody amazing work mate, Deuce looks better than Elizabeth Taylor in Cleopatra.

 

[BigRondo]

A subtle gesture of reflection perhaps Lynchy.

I agree that Joe is Mr. Clean. I will do my best to get my Ex in some kind of shape this spring as homage to Mr. Dirt and because it will be nice to have my Ex all shiny and clean. Carry on Mr. Dirt, carry on.

 

[Joe Dirt]

Today's viewing tune is from another Motown revivalist- Raphael Saadiq, because my garage is housing a Motown revival... Today's tune is "100 Yard Dash"

Enjoy!






Tonight, I put the truck together. I dropped in the seats, door panels, and trim. I have yet to clean the door panels properly, as well as the armrest pad. When you see them, you'll see the difference. But, I was out of erasers, and I wanted to get access to the garage since I was sick of trying to scrape ice off the car from the ice storms which worked, as we had about 1/2" of ice last night. Ugh.

So, here we go...



Rears going in. No matter how much I clean, there is always some bulls**t that ends up on something. Dammit!

30 seconds later, they're in. (maybe 45)

Front seats going in...

Viva clean!

Nice. Well, almost...

Saw that gunk in the seat belt bolt cover, had to clean that out of hte torx-cutout...

Much better...

Dropping panels back on... I'll clean them on the truck.

I'm missing one door handle bezel, I have so much crap in my garage, it has to be under something.

Rear panel on, this will be replaced, that cut is driving me crazy.

So all in all, it looks good. I want to see the pop once the panels are done, and you can see the difference in the armrest pad vs. the rest of the dash, so it should finish up stellar.

I also can't wait to see it in full sunlight, since cameras cast shadows. I'm actually about 80 lbs. lighter...

It's quite dark in there when you open the doors. I like the '95-'97 floor lights. Hmmm... Swap coming...

 

[BigRondo]

Looking really good Joe. Can't wait for the warmer weather, since I no longer have a garage, I have to do mine outside. Keep the updates coming!

I also can't wait to see it in full sunlight, since cameras cast shadows. I'm actually about 80 lbs. lighter...

Funny, I have been using that excuse for years.