Fishtank, Spas's truck #2 | Ford Explorer Forums - Serious Explorations

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Fishtank, Spas's truck #2

It's a little past time I put up one of these for my 'other' truck, seeing as to how I've had it since last November, don't you think? ;)


'Fishtank' is a 1991 Explorer Sport that I purchased from Apalachin, Ny for a whopping $800 when I didn't think I'd ever see Blackjack again. Doug and Justin (explornj) met me halfway home out in Hazleton, PA to have a looksee at my bargain and give me their opinion... after the laughing subsided, we got to work fixing right away. Doug jokingly signed his name and the date on the inside with a sharpie and scribbled Blackjack's old nickname (it's a long story) where I wouldn't immediately find it, hence Tank's name. The sharpie gag has grown to unbelievable proportions- when I get the chance I'll take pictures of all the signatures and post them.

Aside from the phenominal amount of rust from living in a road salt climate all his life, he came with 3.73 Limited slip, pop up sunroof, manual locking hubs w/ the auto Tcase, power locks/windows/mirrors, but no rear wiper or deforester oddly enough. Oh, and he came with 200,000 miles on the odometer and some wicked lifter tap but by george, he wheels like nobody's business for such an old goat :D


Massive thanks to: Draper for installing the shocks, brakes, and finding me a new hatch to replace my rusty one; Dave and Justin for the alignment, rocker panels, putting on the new hatch, bleeding brakes, etc; Ben and Wolf for the local help and tons of bondo; and Doug for the silly trail fixes when I was ready to drive off a cliff (electrical tape! mwa ha ha!).. Y'all rock, I couldn't do it without you!

Don't make too much fun of my mods, the name of the game with this truck is "CHEAP!" :D

Tank:
2" lift coils
F150 spacers
7degree camber/caster adjusters
Rough country shocks
Advance Auto lift shackles (reinforced thanks to Dave)
2 sets Add-a-leafs
32" BFG mud terrains on 15x8 black steel rims

1 pair Hella 500
The obligatory Wal mart neon (red!) :D
Cobra 29 Nightface w/ Lil' Wil antenna
3 plug cigarette lighter
custom glass switch panel and relay box
400 watt inverter
Pioneer Cd Headunit
Pioneer 3 way front speakers

New hatch, brakes, calipers, headlights, fluids, and a mess of rustoleum, too!


I hope someday to have a total of at least 7 inches of lift.. the trick will be getting that much withOUT a body lift! IE: 6" skyjacker, cut and turned TTB and custom leaf springs ;) Why no body lift? Well, one of the body supports is shot, plus I'm trying to keep the center of gravity as low as possible. Like any true 4wheeler, I plan to do this someday when I can afford it :rolleyes:

Here's links to two of my more wild offroad moments...

Flying Fish

and

Raush Creek's Tank trap

Picture 1) Tank on the rocks at Raush Creek, June 2004

2) Tank and little brother Jack munching on an H2

3) What color is he again???
 

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1) Tank and my best friend Bri's Ranger (awww, that's from when I only had 31's and one set of add-a-leafs! He's so little!)

2) Cartoon mini of my boys :)

3) Working hard to get over a snowy obstacle at RC
 

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This is the first vehicle I've ever outright owned in my 24 years... it's such a great feeling, no wonder I'm always grinning whenever I drive him :cool:
 

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Fug, you RULE for this picture!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D :D :D :D :D
 

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Feeling the love.... and a desire to strangle my friends every time I get in my truck.....
 

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ESPECIALLY this one...!

Me: "Chris, please don't sign anywhere I'll see every time I get in my truck... 'cause everytime I see it I'm going to end up thinking of your dumb @$$"

Lizard: "MUAH HA HA"
 

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Why you should NEVER wheel through mud with your windows even slightly open:
 

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Dang!! I KNEW I shoulda taken a pix of the rust pile on my garage floor.... Tank's photo gallery is incomplete without it!! :D :p
 






Did you put that 1993-94 dash panel on there Lindsy?
 






Crankcase said:
Did you put that 1993-94 dash panel on there Lindsy?
Yessiree!

Blee and I were hunting junkyard parts for our trucks when I saw that one on a wrecked 93.. It almost fit, but for the radio bezel. Wolf graciously dremel'd off the excess. It's not quite the same shade of grey, but it looks just a little bit more modern, IMO.
 






I think we need to decorate the dash to look like a fishtank background.. :D I think I may have a roll left or two..
 






9101DCP_0085.jpg

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9101DCP_0023.jpg
 

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Thank you SO much, Ben :p Just in case I ever forget how rusty my truck is, eh?
 






*tries to look innocent*


It's all Fug's fault! Ok, maybe a little bit Brennan's too... :eek:
 

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Awesome truck's Spas I see you have one street and one off-road and I guess since Tank is a bucket of rust waited to fall apart :) another off-roader! you have the best of both worlds! good luck with Shelby.
 






Thought I'd post a picture of Tank's final resting place, get some closure :rolleyes:

The red Explorer in the other picture is the one that all of his parts are going to, hopefully we'll see Tom and his son Steve on the trail by this winter. The rust issue made getting the transmission out extremely difficult they tell me... all I know is it's been equally as tough to get out parts that have been on there less than a year :eek: The truck really had a rust problem!
 

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Cranky, the bezel got re-used again ;) Like my new switch location?
 

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how many miles are on tank?
 



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Spas said:
Cranky, the bezel got re-used again ;) Like my new switch location?

....And painted black to match the rest of the Dash...sweet.
 






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