2000 AWD Xploder from Turbo back to NA

[willzilla]

Still available. May be starting a house build here in Texas soon.. ugh, lol.

 

[willzilla]

Still available. New house build begins soon. Trying to really cut down on how much stuff I have lol.. dropped price to $2500.

 

[willzilla]

Ok.. house build is underway and I've decided to just KEEP the Xploder... Flying up to TN in a week or so and driving down with the family for spring break and will tow it down behind my wife's 2019 NV3500 beast, lol

 

[willzilla]

Lots of stuff in storage and my house in Texas is almost complete... Hopefully done by the end of the month and I can begin bringing stuff, including my Xploder, down from TN to TX

 

[willzilla]

Long bump from the dead... Still alive! Lol. Settled into my new home in New Braunfels Texas (between San Antonio and Austin). Trailered my Xploder from West TN down here (10-12 hours or so) using my Nissan NV3500 van and a Uhaul flat bed trailer. Went smoothly!

Thinking I may actually lift it a little and toss some bigger tires on it and make it a little better for maybe bad weather/offroading/etc.

Also, ended up selling my Subaru WRX that I had modified the heck out of and... buying a new 2021 Camaro ZL1. Ordered it exactly how I wanted it with the a10 auto transmission, performance data recorder, nav, exposed carbon fiber heat extractor, and a few other things. Still in the break in period but so far it's been awesome!

 

[CDW6212R]

I like that, and what color is that? I'm glad the move went smoothly, enjoy it there. I have a cousin who lives near there, in Bauda, south of Austin.

 

[willzilla]

I like that, and what color is that? I'm glad the move went smoothly, enjoy it there. I have a cousin who lives near there, in Bauda, south of Austin.

Thanks man! It's called Satin Steel... Looks super nice. Yeah, move wasn't to bad.. still have some items in storage back in TN but not a ton anymore, will slowly fetch it down as we can. Ahh, ok, never heard of Bauda but if south of Austin I would assume it's fairly close by.

 

[CDW6212R]

The name is pronounced as I spelled it, but it might spell a hair differently than that. I'd like to find a way to visit my cousins and their dad once more before I can't, so I'd hope to drive something there some day.

Enjoy it down there, I gather it's a wonderful area to live.

 

[willzilla]

The name is pronounced as I spelled it, but it might spell a hair differently than that. I'd like to find a way to visit my cousins and their dad once more before I can't, so I'd hope to drive something there some day.

Enjoy it down there, I gather it's a wonderful area to live.

Thanks! And looking around, I do see a "Buda" Texas... looks to be just south of Austin and about 30 miles from me.

Def liking the area here... Lots to do but still quiet, and close to San Antonio and Austin. Also nice is the town has a lot of nice historical stuff, festivals (many are German themed.. beer, sausages, bbq, etc).

 

[CDW6212R]

Yes, I remember that from my trip when they took us around Austin for a couple of hours of site seeing. It looked like a great place to live.

 

[willzilla]

Actually have been spending some time working on the Xploder... Pulled the front and back seats out and will pull the carpet and dump it and order some new carpet I'm thinking (for passenger compartment, not trunk area). The stuff in the truck was NASTY lol. Now, if only I can figure out how to pull the damn console out... lol. I removed all the bolts and the instructions I found said hit the bracket with a hammer to push the console back inches and remove... Hammered the crap out of it, not moving even a millimeter, lol.

 

[CDW6212R]

Try to clean the rug first, it's very very rare for one to not be possible to clean well. It needs to b done on a sunny day, hot if possible. It can be done with a simple water hose and hand sprayer, after scrubbing with typical cleaners. I'd call Purple Power kind of strong, beyond that it'd be using brake cleaner etc, for small spots of grease etc. Keep it wet and don't let any harsh chemicals set in it long. Lay it over a large object like a big bush, upside down, to drain, in the sun. The heat and decent air will dry it quickly(in hours).

The console has a "hooking" bracket at the very rear on the floor. That hooks into the floor bracket pushing it forward, so it has to come straight back to get it out of that. So, two bolts at the front, and two in the middle, then pull it back.

 

[willzilla]

The carpet is real bad... And it looks like new carpet is only $130 or so (for passenger compartment). Not bad.

I removed the 2 front bolts and 2 middle bolts, and the one bolt that holds the connector in place.. And console does not budge at all. Prob rusted together or something. So, maybe just... hit it even harder or something? Lol.

 

[CDW6212R]

Try pulling it from behind, it is hard but I had more success that way.

I might have to buy new carpet for my project truck also, I have had a water leak and stain on the driver's front for a long time. I'll try to clean it first of course, the underlayment I worry about, mold may destroy that.

 

[willzilla]

Try pulling it from behind, it is hard but I had more success that way.

I might have to buy new carpet for my project truck also, I have had a water leak and stain on the driver's front for a long time. I'll try to clean it first of course, the underlayment I worry about, mold may destroy that.

Ok, I'll try to bear hug it from behind and HULK smash/pull it back! LOL.

Yeah, the carpet has stains and all sorts of water stains or soda or something and yeah, pretty funky. Looking around I found molded carpet fit for the car perfectly for $100-$150 range which is pretty cheap so will just go that route and will let me yank the old carpet out and deep clean everything. My oldest daughter plans to drive the Xploder soon when she gets her license, lol, so I may let her drive it some so it gets some usage as it's been sitting a ton lately. I still need to get it registered down here in Texas as well. I still need to go over the brakes again as they act kind of mushy initially, not sure if small leak somewhere or what. Also, still have an abs check light on even after replacing the rear middle sensor so need to figure that out as well.

 

[willzilla]

SUCCESS!! I bear hugged it and hulk pulled like 20 times and smacked with a hammer a few more times and hulk pulled 10 more times or so and console came loose, lol. Pulled out the old NASTY carpet (found some ants, old food and dead wasps, etc) so going to clean it up real good, put down some ant trap thingies and let it do it's work for a week or so and order up some new carpet, scrub down all of the interior, and also figure out to re-do the center console and pull the boost gauge out, and maybe replace the center console piece with stock one and then just mount the AF gauge somewhere different or figure something out.

 

[willzilla]

Any chance anyone has for sale, or knows somewhere I can buy (not a junkyard) online, this front lower console piece?

 

[willzilla]

Also, a nice condition piece that goes around the radio/hvac/etc would be nice as well. The one I have now has some weird sat radio extension piece molded to the top, would prefer the OEM one (like the piece pictured above), otherwise I'd need to turn it into some kind of phone mount or something lol.

 

[CDW6212R]

Those are hard to come by now. The console piece will be more easily found, but the radio bezel, ouch, tough to find. I need a better one too, if I go to an A4WD TC. Keep a search going on eBay, that's the best bet, or lots of JY time.

 

[willzilla]

Ye

Those are hard to come by now. The console piece will be more easily found, but the radio bezel, ouch, tough to find. I need a better one too, if I go to an A4WD TC. Keep a search going on eBay, that's the best bet, or lots of JY time.

Yeah.. Not super worried about the radio bezel as I can just remove the sat radio controller thing and maybe add a magnet mount for a phone or something to it. The bottom piece is what I'm really interested in as I'm pulling out the gauges as I no longer need a boost gauge and such Watching vacuum levels was kind of lame, plus the gauge itself was falling apart lol.