Bkennedy's SAS and Rebuild Thread

[BKennedy]

I am rebuilding a garage clock that I made many years ago with developed pictures of favorite vehicles I have owned. White Explorer is the same one 20 years later. It had a Superlift 4" lift and 32" Geolanders in the picture. It was lifted about a month after it was purchased in July, 1994.

Picture taken at the first water crossing going out of Coyote Canyon (yes, that's Sarah).

The Porsche was my all time favorite road car. I regret selling that car to this day, even though the yearly maintenance was crazy expensive, especially since its worth about $25,000 more now.
1989 964 Carrera 4 (all-wheel-drive) with only a few hundred made that year, all in AWD. Last of the air cooled 3.2 engines with solid valve lifters (hence, the high maintenance cost).

The 300ZX was fun because it was a daily driver that was crazy fast, but it was no Porsche. The blue Explorer was a 1992 that stolen at my wife's work. It had a 2.5" Rancho lift and 31" BFG AT's.

 

[Stic-o]

So your saying if it wasn't for someone stealing the blue one, you would have never had the white one? Did they ever recover it?

They had to be pretty dumb to steal a car from a cop.

 

[BKennedy]

So your saying if it wasn't for someone stealing the blue one, you would have never had the white one? Did they ever recover it?

They had to be pretty dumb to steal a car from a cop.

Correct, I would have still had the blue one. Its my favorite Explorer color, just not very practical for an off-road vehicle. Insurance paid more than I paid for it a few years prior, including the lift.

Several years after it was stolen, my buddy who was working in an auto-theft task force busted up a good size car theft ring. They were taking the trolley from the border up the I-15 corridor and then steal a car to drive back to Mexico. During interviews, he showed some of them a picture of my Explorer. One of them admitted he stole it and knew details about the location. He said it went south of the border, into a container and was shipped to Mexico City. I got a recall on the master cylinder a few months later, always hoped the brakes gave out on a steep grade.

 

[BKennedy]

Caution, cosmetic upgrades ONLY!

The trim piece on my B&M Megashifter is plastic chrome. It is all scratched up and looks like crap. Since the center console looks so nice now, I thought I would sand it down with some 320 grit and paint it the same satin black as the rest of the metal. While I was sanding it down, I realized it is chrome over copper plated plastic and it was starting to look very cool. I did a little more sanding and then decided I liked it better than black. I sprayed it with satin clear and got this

Installed

If down the trail I decide I don't like it anymore, I can paint it to match the rest of the console. Now, I wonder if the shifter stick and trigger rod are coated the same way?? Too shiny now and need to be powder coated satin black, or aged the same as the trim.

 

[gmanpaint]

That looks great! Rat Rod wheeler style.

I have been using clears on bare metal with rust inhibitors, then final coating with Plastidip clear spray. It has UV blockers that work great.

 

[BKennedy]

I like it more the more I look at it.

I have made my gate hinges, some yard art and a few picture frames out of old farrier's rasps, and a bunch of horse shoe stuff (napkin holders, coat hangers, candle stands, etc). I aged them with a salt and bleach solution then cleared them when they got a nice color. The horse shoe art and picture frames are all over my buddy's house because its western themed.

 

[gmanpaint]

I think that's cool you do that stuff.

I often thought of incorporating the aged paint effects onto a vehicle, but haven't had one I wanted to do it with yet. I really like the subtle rat rod paint jobs.

There is some black paint I use from Masters, that has actual Iron particles in it. I spray it with a speed activator to make it rust. The more you spray it, the more it rusts. Just clear it when you get the rust effect your happy with. Same with a copper paint they have with patina activator. You can make brand new stuff look very old in a matter of a couple hours.

Now find something else on the rig to do like that shifter ring! lol

 

[BKennedy]

I am keeping mostly with the white with black trim outside and tan with black trim inside themes. I liked the way it looked so I left it aged. I am not a huge fan of rat rods, but I do like doing stuff that no else has thought of yet.

 

[BKennedy]

Warning; Cosmetic Upgrade Continuation...

I decided the rest of the shifter looked too shiny after reinstalling the trim. I pulled it apart one more time, sanded down the stalk and T-handle. Decided it was too much aging and didn't look intentional, just old. I painted the stalk the same satin black as the center console trim. Two coats of satin clear for the T-handle and I think it looks much better. I thought about painting the handle, but knew it would rub off quickly and look like crap, so I left it alone.

Everything seems to match much better and it got rid of the only chrome in the interior.

 

[josh40601]

its so pretty

 

[BKennedy]

Hey, I warned you it was cosmetic upgrades only. You could have looked the other way.

 

[josh40601]

I was giving it a complement. I'm just jealous both of my truck's interiors look like something out of a mad max movie

 

[BKennedy]

I know that, I was just messing with you.

Saturday I took a drive through the backcountry. I left about 11:00 and made it to Poway Costco gas station when I realized the driver side window would not roll up. I could hear the relay clicking so I knew it was getting power so I figured the motor died. It was a replacement motor as the OEM quit about 10 years ago. I drove back home because it was cold and starting to rain, and didn't want to go up to 5,000 feet with no driver side window.

I pulled the door panel and water guard off. Since the motor had been replaced before, it was bolted into place. I pulled the motor and pushed the window switch. Motor worked fine. Spent about an hour cleaning out the 10 years of dirt out of the window mechanism and lubing the sliders. Works great, so put it all back together. Decided to go for the drive anyway and left the house for the second time about 1:30.

Drove up through Ranchita and took Jasper Trail off S-22. Jasper to Grapevine Canyon was a little snow and chunky rain. From Grapevine Canyon, I went west of SR-76, then left on S-2 to Oraflame Canyon trailhead. Going up the switchbacks of Oraflame trail, it started snowing lightly, very cool. Got back to SR-76 about 5:30 and headed home. It was raining lightly during most of the day. All of the trails are fairly easy and any 4wd vehicle would have little trouble. Never turned the hubs, but it was a nice getaway for a few hours. I only took two pictures, which were at a pit stop off Jasper Trail.

 

[timtimtimajim]

I had/have the same problem with my driver window. I’ve found that when I roll the window all the way down I have to make sure to roll it back up just to the point where the glass is sticking out of the door, then it doesn’t get stuck.

Your Explorer is one of my favorite by the way!

 

[BKennedy]

I had/have the same problem with my driver window. I’ve found that when I roll the window all the way down I have to make sure to roll it back up just to the point where the glass is sticking out of the door, then it doesn’t get stuck.

Your Explorer is one of my favorite by the way!

Funny, I just started doing the same thing with my window.

Explorer thanks you for the compliment.

 

[josh40601]

I know that, I was just messing with you.

Saturday I took a drive through the backcountry. I left about 11:00 and made it to Poway Costco gas station when I realized the driver side window would not roll up. I could hear the relay clicking so I knew it was getting power so I figured the motor died. It was a replacement motor as the OEM quit about 10 years ago. I drove back home because it was cold and starting to rain, and didn't want to go up to 5,000 feet with no driver side window.

I pulled the door panel and water guard off. Since the motor had been replaced before, it was bolted into place. I pulled the motor and pushed the window switch. Motor worked fine. Spent about an hour cleaning out the 10 years of dirt out of the window mechanism and lubing the sliders. Works great, so put it all back together. Decided to go for the drive anyway and left the house for the second time about 1:30.

Drove up through Ranchita and took Jasper Trail off S-22. Jasper to Grapevine Canyon was a little snow and chunky rain. From Grapevine Canyon, I went west of SR-76, then left on S-2 to Oraflame Canyon trailhead. Going up the switchbacks of Oraflame trail, it started snowing lightly, very cool. Got back to SR-76 about 5:30 and headed home. It was raining lightly during most of the day. All of the trails are fairly easy and any 4wd vehicle would have little trouble. Never turned the hubs, but it was a nice getaway for a few hours. I only took two pictures, which were at a pit stop off Jasper Trail.

View attachment 166235

View attachment 166234

I can't wait until the ranger is done so i can go on *****in rides like this.

 

[BKennedy]

I was looking at the sliders trying to figure out if I could make pull-out steps for Sasha the Wonder Dog as she is finally starting to slow down a little. While I was deciding that nothing I fabricated would be faster than just picking her up and tossing her on the back seat, I saw this crack on the bottom of where the slider support plate is welded to the frame.

The plate was supposed to prevent frame damage by not welding the slider support tube directly to the frame, but I guess 10+ years of holding up the Explorer is pretty good. The crack extends to the edge of the leaf spring hanger. I looked at the other side, and its the same. I can't decide if the impacts to rocks on the spring hanger, or if flexing the sliders up a few hundred times caused this. Probably both. Since the Explorer has been hung up on that spring hanger bolt (which I still don't understand why its there since the sides are riveted to the frame) and that little cut out just behind the bolt, quite a few times on rocks, I figured its time to fix that too.

To repair the damage, I am just going to weld the crack. Then, I am going to weld the spring hanger along the bottom edge and the sides next to the rivets so if I ever have to remove it, I can cut it off without too much trouble. I am also going to fill in that cut out section of the spring hanger and tie that piece into the slider support, making the spring hanger and the slider support both stronger. Next time I go to Marshall's Hardware, I will pull the bolts and replace with hex button heads so the rocks don't get hung up so much. So far, I have only made a cardboard template, but should get to this on Friday.

I was thinking of running a piece of flat bar across the entire face of the spring hanger to make a slider, but remembered that one of the times I had to tow the Explorer the tow company said they wouldn't touch it if it didn't still have the original tow points, and one is right on that hanger.

 

[Stic-o]

It's funny you say that about the tow company. I once had JP towed tow for a bad thermostat, and I couldn't keep it cool, so II decid to just have it towed. They wouldn't use the bumper D rings.

 

[BKennedy]

It's funny you say that about the tow company. I once had JP towed tow for a bad thermostat, and I couldn't keep it cool, so II decid to just have it towed. They wouldn't use the bumper D rings.

Same deal with me, and then I had to show the driver where the OEM mounts were located; "One here, one here, one here". And then the clown cranked my front suspension all the way down to the stops so I made him back it off a few inches.

 

[Stic-o]

Same deal with me, and then I had to show the driver where the OEM mounts were located; "One here, one here, one here". And then the clown cranked my front suspension all the way down to the stops so I made him back it off a few inches.

That's the part where your like..."dude, it's suppose to flex, I built it that way!" .