2000 AWD Xploder from Turbo back to NA

[willzilla]

My buddy got tired tinkering with one of his 3d printers so I bought it off him at a nice discount... Once I finish setting it up and figuring everything out hopefully I can print some repair items for the Xploder... def want to see if I can print a replacement for the plastic housing for the sensor that sits behind the rearview mirror that handles the auto headlights. Also think I'll be able to print some interior clips to fix the trim piece above the driver's side door that fell off, lol.

 

[willzilla]

Have been tinkering with the 3d printer over the past week... got pretty good with printing in PLA and TPU 95a... picked up some ASA filament so I can print durable UV resistant materials for vehicles and outdoors/etc On that note.. does anyone happen to have a photo and some rough measurements of the plastic housing for the headlight auto lamp that sits behind the rearview mirror? Mine had shattered into a million pieces and I'd like to try and use Fusion to make a replacement in ASA...

 

[willzilla]

Long time no see! LOL.. Not a lot to report lately.. I've been driving the Xploder every day pretty much with no issues.. other than my AC still not working, of course! haha. I still need to fix the back driver side door and figure out my fog light issue but car itself is driving great. I've been slowly tinkering on the ZL1 but hopefully will have it finished within a few weeks and I can return my focus onto the explorer. Also, still playing with my 3d printer and learning Autodesk Fusion to design my own stuff. Just recently modeled up my own Arlo 4k camera and solar panel mount to hook to a front home mounting system I made initially to mount some Govee spot lights, lol.

Camaro ZL1 suspension progress...

Some of the parts that have been replaced...

 

[willzilla]

FINALLY got the Camaro off the QuickJack lift and back on the ground and finished up (mostly)... Looked over some old photos and footage and it's been... 9 MONTHS!!

Quick wash as it had 9 months of dust on it...

Now for an alignment and a few other things and I can focus more on the Xploder especially rear driver side door, lol.

 

[willzilla]

Hope all are doing well! Wow.. I've had this thread going, off and on, for a solid 14 years!! WOW. Lol. The thread is older than my son. My youngest daughter was about 2 years old when I started it and yesterday she turned 16 and today she passed her driving test for her license Crazy how time flies!

I got the alignment done on the zl1 a month or so back and car has been driving great. It just sticks to the road like super glue. I did run into an issue when they were dialing in the rear camber than my non adjustable control arms didn't allow any additional camber adjustment more than the lower control arm camber bolts would already allow which was oddly enough -1.4/-1.6. I wanted to aim for something more like -1/-1 in the rear for better take off grip and straight line acceleration. So, I ordered up some rear on-car adjustable upper control arms which should allow for adjustment to -1/-1. I will hopefully install the arms sometime within a week or so. I need to install new rotors and pads on my wife's Mustang first.

I just replaced the blower motor and resistor on my daughter's Impala to fix the lack of the heater or ac air blowing. I've already had to replace all 3 hvac duct actuators on that car for each one dying at different times, lol.

Hopefully once I finish up the brakes and everything else I can finally return to getting my rear driver side door functional again, plus, I need to see why my drivers window going down suuuuupppeeerrrr slow.

 

[donalds]

drivers window going down suuuuupppeeerrrr slow.

Dust in the channels
I recommend spraying them down with CRC heavy duty silicone spray and then simply wipe the window down with windex
Works every time

 

[willzilla]

Dust in the channels
I recommend spraying them down with CRC heavy duty silicone spray and then simply wipe the window down with windex
Works every time

Cool, that's what I was thinking. It only is sluggish when it's not "hot" outside, lol. I'll give it a good blasting lol.

 

[donalds]

I understand about the kid my son just bought an LS430 had hoped that he would drive the explorer but this thing is fast and it has a V8 and we're going to make it go faster Giggity
Today's mission was cutting off the mufflers Muffler delete

 

[willzilla]

I understand about the kid my son just bought an LS430 had hoped that he would drive the explorer but this thing is fast and it has a V8 and we're going to make it go faster Giggity
Today's mission was cutting off the mufflers Muffler delete

View attachment 464474

That looks and sounds nice! Sounds like it will be fun! I need to get off my ass and get my El Camino fancied up, lol.

 

[willzilla]

Driving around and noticed a new sound coming from the Xploder... almost like a metallic grinding meets sleigh bells a jingling sound.. seems to come from maybe front wheel? Sound is pretty constant while driving but not 100% of the time.. if I tap the brake it comes back until I let go. Loose caliper maybe or maybe it's bouncing the pad against the rotor or something? It doesn't sound like the typical low brake pad noise. Front wheel bearings are pretty new as well.. replaced them 6 months ago or so to fix ABS light.

Video where you can kind of hear the sound. I found it kind of hard to record due to exhaust and wind noise, lol...

 

[410Fortune]

What brand wheel hub?

 

[willzilla]

What brand wheel hub?

Timken... "Timken SP450200 Axle Bearing and Hub Assembly" - https://amzn.to/3e2kTe6

 

[willzilla]

Had a bunch of storms and flooding the San Antonio area recently so I didn't get much of a chance to tinker on the Xploder.. I did finally get to pull 1 wheel off, though car was in driveway on a decline so didn't want to put into neutral and mess with it to much so mostly just a quick visual check.. The POS MOOG ball joints on the upper control arms look shot... again, lol. Also the pads somewhat low and rotors pretty corroded from so much time on and off sitting around in the elements undriven (until fairly recently). I think I'll just replace the upper control arms (with ball joints), again, and the front and rear pads and rotors... Anyone who had been following this thread for the past decade + may recall the junk MOOG ball joints crapping out on me last time after I installed them and car sat a few years and the rubber boots disintegrated, lol.

Some light rain

Anyways...

Maybe the source of the sound? Also seems to be a tad brake pad drag on the rotor that may be assisting some additional noise expanded by the rotor grooves.

This time I think I'm going with the Mevotech TTX upper control arms, Power Stop CRK1861 Geomet coated rotors (blank, no fancy slots, grooves, or holes lol), and ceramic brake pads. I put those same rotors and pads (same version) on my wife's Mustang last month and they seem really nice and still look mint.

Also.. I've been busy expanding my 3d printing hobby, lol.. Picked up a Creality K2 Plus multi color printer... It's a BEAST. Now I can print some custom emblems in ASA with multi color which is pretty awesome. I also have a Silhouette cutter that can cut shapes and stuff that I think I will be able to use to cut sheets of double sided 3m tape so the plan is to 3d print an emblem and then use the cutter to cut the 3m tape for an exact fit to the back of the emblem... in theory at least, lol.

First test print with multi color...

 

[willzilla]

New front upper control arms arrived. Just waiting on the new rotors and pads now.

 

[410Fortune]

You will need camber shims on both sides now with that one piece passenger side control arm

 

[willzilla]

You will need camber shims on both sides now with that one piece passenger side control arm

My current setup is with the one piece passenger side control arm (MOOG) and has been for a long time now so I believe I have whatever is needed in place from when I got an alignment with the setup many years ago.

 

[willzilla]

New rotors and pads arrived so hopefully I'll get everything installed soon!