2003 Explorer Sport XLT | Ford Explorer Forums

  • Register Today It's free!

2003 Explorer Sport XLT

frankcal

Well-Known Member
Joined
March 9, 2010
Messages
333
Reaction score
2
City, State
Perris, California
Year, Model & Trim Level
03 Sport XLT 3.73C, 5R55E
Hello all my name is Frank from Orange County California and I've been visiting this forum for a couple of years now and have gotten a really good help on this site. I'm recently unemployed so I've been on here a lot more now and have been fixing things and doing some cheap mods to keep my sane in the mean time. My car is a 2003 Explorer Sport XLT, 4.0 SOHC 2wd. I bought my explorer in 09 for about 8k with only 42000 miles from the dealer. I have been in 2 fender benders since i got it, one was my fault the other wasn't so theres a couple of scratches on it but nothing too ugly. I really haven't done much to the car just a couple of body mods but will be putting on Ranchos RS5000 on all corners. I am going for the offroad look and have take it to some trails and actually manages pretty good, but had to get some good lights since I drive the backroads a lot in riverside county and san bernadino, where lights on road are pretty non existent.

The mods I have done are:
Tinted front windows to match rear and put wind deflectors
Paint all cladding Black
Painted the wheels Black
Install Kenwood head unit and speakers
Change all the interior lights and puddle lamps to LED's
Hunter grille guard (headlight guards came off because driver side got really bent in accident no. 2)
Installed Rugged Rigid HID fog lights to grille guard
BFG All-Terrains 265/75/16
Added EXPLORER lettering to the hood
Customized the rear Ford emblem to black
Black headlights and turn signals, but back to stock turn signals after one light broke after accident no.2 (back to black now after fixing)

Add a leaf and hybrid 4 dr leaf pick, 1.5 shackles and tt.
1.5 wheel spacers all around
2nd gen rear tow hook
expedition front tow hook


Heres some pics of different stages of my explorer, never took a stock one but they all pretty much look the same:D I know my cars nothing special compared to what some guys have done here but I'm proud of it so far, let me know what you honestly think and what I could do to improve it.

Earliest pic I had of it
black2.jpg


IMG_1223.jpg


After installing Grille Guard and black Headlights and corners
black4.jpg


black5.jpg


After accident no.2
Painted the wheels black and took off headlight guards and black turn signals

murder-1.jpg


IMG_0105.jpg




After installing Rugged Ridge HID

black3.jpg


black.jpg


IMG_0201.jpg


black6.jpg



Installed Rancho rs5000 on all corners

rancho1.jpg


Mine and My Dad's bone stock 98 Explorer XLT
carsssss_zpsd052bbbf.jpg


carsss_zps09832379.jpg
 



Join the Elite Explorers for $20 each year or try it out for $5 a month.

Elite Explorer members see no advertisements, no banner ads, no double underlined links,.
Add an avatar, upload photo attachments, and more!
.





nice sport u got there i used to have an 01 sport and i also live in so cali but i am located in newport beach
 






thanks sam, cool good to know another oc resident
 






Hey Frank, great to see another member from the So Cal area! Really nice sport you got there, looking forward to what you do next with it. If you ever want to do some trial runs let me know, I'm always down..
 






Thanks hbrichman, i'll keep that in mind cus my brother lives in hb as well and drives an 03 ranger. I actually do have some plans in mind for my next mod. I snagged a rockford fosgate p3 sub and amp for $60 from my sister's boyfriend so I need to research up on exactly how to do all that. I installed my own speakers and head unit so I don't think it should be too hard. Just gotta put on my new ranchos and front brakes this week then I'll tackle the rockfords next week.
 






Update: Just redid most of the front suspension with MOOG parts.
Left & Right: Upper Control Arms
Caster and camber kits
Left & Right: Outer Tie Rods
Left & Right: Lower Ball joints
Left & Right: Stabilizer Links
And both Sway bar bushings

I know I should change the hubs and rotors next time around, but is there anything else I would need to do upfront? And for the rear what exactly do I need for the suspension back there.
 






Nice sport you have there.
 






thanks cam
 






UPDATE:
Just installed some bfgoodrich all-terrains 265-75-16 with the white letter out to break up all the black a bit. Also installed a four door leaf pack, but not really happy with it since I really didnt notice an improvement and it squeaks a lot more than my stock one. So I bought a set of pro comp add-a-leaf and installed them on my stock leaf springs. I will be installing those on the ex next weekend when I have more time. Right now i'm not experiencing that much rub only at full lock so I can live with it for the week, just gotta avoid doing u-turns. But I'm really happy with the results from the tires and the lift it gave me.
 






Great looking sport! I wish mine was black, I have that problem where i want everything blacked out. Just to throw an idea, cowl hood?? eh eh?? :) lol
 






Thanks dweeberman. I'm actually not too into cowl hoods and really don't have much need for one but who knows maybe my mind will change down the road. But right now im focusing more on the front bumper area and what to do with that.
 






Heres some updated pics of the ex with the 265's. Sitting pretty mean.

Picked up a spair matching rim for $30 on craigslist. Also picked up one brand new tire and a good matching spare tire for $100 off craigslist too. So I only had to buy 3 brand new ones from sam's club.

Finally got the whole set together at home waiting for install.
newtiires2_zpsf014cfb8.jpg


After going to 3 different places to try and get these mounted and balanced they were finally getting put on 4 hours into the day.
newtiires_zps61f26969.jpg


Close up of how they fill up the rear with a dirty car.
newtiires3_zpsf7f17e24.jpg


Finally got her home and cleaned up.
newtiires1_zps3992b4b1.jpg
 






Update:
So this update really has nothing to do with the ex but I just became ELITE, which will in turn have more to do with the ex later on down the road. I haven't installed the add a leaf on my ex yet due to having complications every week that I try to do them. But I finally did a lot more searching and reading on here and have spare hardware on hand to tackle them again. Hopefully I can get to do it this weekend if the rain stops. On the to-do list this weekend (weather permitting) is installing the pro-comp add a leaf pack on the back, changing the rh upper control arm( the current one has a torn boot and leaking all the grease i put in it, so since its under warranty from rockauto I'm going to change em out). Also do the torsion twist to match the front. Take off the front bumper cover and realign it since it got shifted after the accident I had. I also have a whole new set of cladding waiting to be painted and have to paint the one rim that is still silver to match the rest.
 






Just installed the stock leaf springs with the pro comp add a leaf and doing a torsion twist and changing the right hand upper control arm. In total it took me 6 hours to complete the job from 6am to noon. I like the lift it gave the car, before it was sitting at 31" stock height from floor to top of wheel well. With the new tires it was sitting at 33 1/2" and now with the add a leaf and torsion twist its sitting at 36" up front and 35 1/2" at the back. Didnt get time to do the alignment today, just too lazy to wait around a shop for an hour. But I will drive it around and let it settle and recheck everything tomorrow morning to see how it sits and if I should make any adjustments before I get it aligned. pictures coming soon.
 






So after a little settling of the springs and everythings finally evened out I love the look and feel I got from the changes. So here are some pics of what it looks like now. Any comments or suggestions are gladly accepted.

How it looked after the aal, a little stink buggish before I did the torsion twist some more to even it out.
or9_zps562de769.jpg


How it aal looked from the back, not much different just a lil higher
or5_zpsfad54b9f.jpg


Just a shot of the new tires and how big and wide they are
or6_zps618d40e4.jpg


and just some poser shots
or_zpsa98f8bde.jpg

lift3_zps20a0c350.jpg

or1_zps40dc8923.jpg

or4_zpscdcb2f1d.jpg


Let me know what you guys think
 






I think it looks quite awesome.

How are the hids? (I have an led lightbar)

What is your final goal with it? Like to have it on 33s, 35s, etc...
 






Thanks, I appreciate that. I was starting to think nobody liked my ex since I never really get no feedback on it :)

The hids are pretty good on them, they light up the road really good and for a long distance. I'm currently in talks with a fabricator to get a prerunner light bar built so i can have 3 of the lights on there. Right now though, I have nothing on them because I was in an accident and just took em off in the mean time till I get something better.

For right now I'm sticking with this size. It's my daily driver and gas is already a killer. The only thing I really wanna do with it is figure out how to get a limited slip. Gotta do a lot of research on it because i don't know if I can mod the diff I have or if I have to get a different one.
 






Was able to snap a comparison pic this weekend at the GWC swapmeet next to a second gen 4 door with 255's. Mine is on the left and the 4dr on the right. My sport used to sit lower than the 4drs quite a bit. Seeing them side by side actually made me realize how much it got lifted by the tires and aal. Just made me that much prouder of sport :)
 






forgot the pic...duh
ce348523-5265-47f9-827a-beb54535dcc1_zps71dd1c99.jpg
 



Join the Elite Explorers for $20 each year or try it out for $5 a month.

Elite Explorer members see no advertisements, no banner ads, no double underlined links,.
Add an avatar, upload photo attachments, and more!
.





ahh gotcha, smart idea. I need a daily driver. Because this thing is not so friendly when it comes to gas. I see those red ring hids everywhere. Which brand did you get?

and are you talking about something like this?
fj-cruiser-light-bar-3850.jpg


or this?
PICT0598.jpg
 






Featured Content

Back
Top