Photos 3rd gen pic's

[uponone789]

Sorry I had your Explorer confused with someone elses...So the polished stainless skid plate comes off of the Westin brand bull bar? Also, how much of a pain was it to paint your grill?
Thanks!

 

[MCD04EB]

today i took my grill off and painted it black, and i think it completely changes the look
Before

After

i know the pics are kind of dark, so i will get better ones posted tomorrow

 

[uponone789]

I have the same model Ex....how hard was it to remove the grill?

 

[MCD04EB]

not hard at all, when you pop the hood, on top of the grill is four screws that are plastic, you just screw them out some, reach under neath and pop them out, then pull up and it should pop out and its the same puttin it back on, it didnt take but about an hour, maybe less.

 

[uponone789]

Thanks! I'll make sure I get some before and after pics.

 

[CALDWELL]

Xplorerguru,

just need some black Headlight housing's and it will look sick !

 

[therover1991]

KAZER,

just need a small 4 channel amp to make those speakers sound almost crystal clear when you got the volume cranked lol

THEROVER1991,

what kinda lights you have in your low beams ? -

Late reply, but I have 6000K HIDs (DDM Tuning)

 

[armysoldier30263]

[So jealous of you people who don't have front license plates]

I KNOW

dont be jealous ... cause then your wife can put a pink license plate that says "Georgia Princess" lol

 

[NHarris]

dont be jealous ... cause then your wife can put a pink license plate that says "Georgia Princess" lol

Can't be worse than this guy with a tacoma. Obviously his wife went on a spending spree...Pink wheels, pink flames, pink bed liner, and I'm sure the list goes on and on. Funny thing too, is I always see the guy driving it.
So I'd take the Georgia Princess over a pinked out car :

 

[armysoldier30263]

Haha that's definately not the response I was expecting ... But down here at Benning there are so many pink cars and there's even a 90s civic pink with white stars (never moves) and I totally understand ... But I always get so much crap coming on post by the security guards and at work (maintenance) ... Before we got the x my wife had hot pink truck nuts on our rodeo and we got some CRAZY LOOKS ... Even a few that about rearended us lol

 

[NHarris]

Wow, pink truck nuts. lol :bsnicker: I would imagine you get so much crap for that plate. How about removing the plate?
Be glad you only get crap for that; when my Ex was stock with paper plates I got so much crap for buying an explorer. Now its all modded up so no one talks trash anymore, well, except for the ricers who are always parked down at the loan store.

 

[armysoldier30263]

The wife says no its hers ... But I pay for it (confused) lol but I think all of us guys with the stock x gets crap .. Can't wait till I get the 265s and ronins spacers ... Everybody says why spend that much money on an x then they see pics of some of these lifted / modded xs and change their whole attitude ... But I'm dreading getting worse mpg than already that's my only regret

 

[NHarris]

The wife says no its hers ... But I pay for it (confused) lol but I think all of us guys with the stock x gets crap .. Can't wait till I get the 265s and ronins spacers ... Everybody says why spend that much money on an x then they see pics of some of these lifted / modded xs and change their whole attitude ... But I'm dreading getting worse mpg than already that's my only regret

The wife says you can't take the plate off, but allows you to mod it?
I don't have to worry about that just yet, my X is all mine....for now
Well you at least get to throw mods on your X.
The MPG, just get a CAI, Magnaflow or gibson exhaust, and a tune. That'd help big time on the MPGs.

 

[armysoldier30263]

im having to "let her" do what she wants to do lol (i influence it to what i want greatly lol) the only thing she isnt for is the prerunner style bumpers ... but after the lift/tire what should i do first? cai and exhaust or tune? thought i read tune needs to be last and how much does a tune cost?

 

[NHarris]

but after the lift/tire what should i do first? cai and exhaust or tune? thought i read tune needs to be last and how much does a tune cost?

Do a CAI or Exhaust. A tune will be one of the more costly items (if you get your exhaust cheap). And you'll want the Ex tuned for best performance with the intake/exhaust.
The intake you will have to be a little creative with, because you have an 05. (?)
Easiest to do is caldwell's "stage 2" intake.

 

[lynchy wa]

Tuner from James Henson is about $380. Well worth it.

 

[armysoldier30263]

how much of an mpg gain is there? and should i do a full exhaust or cut of before cat and do 2.5"? is there a big enough difference to matter? cause the "half" exhaust should be a little bit cheaper imo right or wrong? i have no idea lol ive always been into just lift/tire until now, trying to save what mpgs i have left lol and isnt henson in alabama?

 

[Ronin8002]

Was not a huge gain for me...1 - 1.5 MPG. Don't worry about removing the cat, just do 2.5 from the cat back or buy a catback kit.

James Henson is in Bama, but what you do is buy the tuner from him then hook it up to your OBD port. It allows you to display a read strategy code for your computer. Then you email him that with the 3 tunes you want and what mods you have and he emails you the tune files. then you hook your tuner up to your computer and put the tunes onto the tuner. Once you've done that you take your tuner, hook it up to your truck, and upload the tune you want into the truck.

For big mods like cam upgrades, head porting, supercharger, or nitrous, that will probably require you to datalog the runs with those mods on a dyno (the data gets put into the tuner). Then you send the data log to him and he writes a tune based on that.

For bolt on type mods like intake and exhaust, though...the ones he writes and sends you over email are great and work fine for everyone I've heard from. I love mine.

 

[armysoldier30263]

is the 1 - 1.5 mpg gain just exhaust or tunes also?!?! and how much did your gibson run you? sounds simple enough (tunes) ... does the tuner just work for individual vehicles or can they be used for others (within year range)

 

[Ronin8002]

is the 1 - 1.5 mpg gain just exhaust or tunes also?!?! and how much did your gibson run you? sounds simple enough (tunes) ... does the tuner just work for individual vehicles or can they be used for others (within year range)

That was just exhaust, and I already had a k&n drop in filter and underdrive crank pulley so that might come into play also.

I stopped tracking my mileage before I bought the tuner, and didn't realy pay attention to it till I put on my 265s. With 265's, KKM filter, underdrive pulley, gibson catback, and tuner, and crappy winter gas/cold weather I get about 16.5 mpg combined. In warmer weather and summer gas it's about 19-20.

I paid around 380 shipped for the gibson catback (part #619691), but that one is all stainless so it cost more. The aluminized one (part #319691)is much cheaper...around 280-300. You might also look into Magnaflow...louder than the Gibson as it is more of a straight thru design but not sure how much more flow it has compared to Gibson. Probably not a whole lot of difference at normal driving RPMs. Remember the Gibson kits are for both the V-6 and V-8 explorers (one kit fits either model), so flow shouldn't be an issue. I bet Magnaflow is the same way.