dreamr's finally elite

aldive · January 22, 2004

Welcome to Elite..... nice looking truck.

Crankcase · January 22, 2004

Congrats....

Bashman · January 22, 2004

Congrats! Being elite is cool.

jimbo74 · January 22, 2004

nice truck and congrats....

Redrig · January 22, 2004

Did you say nearly stock?

Nice truck and congrats on being elite.

Limited Ex · January 22, 2004

Welcome, one thing that you may not know, but kind of goes as an understanding here, is you are never allowed to leave! Explorers may come and go, but Eliteness is forever!

And by the way, I enjoyed reading your history, very well written I thought

dreamr · January 22, 2004

Originally posted by redrig
Did you say nearly stock?

OK OK almost completely stock, just give me some time.

Gina · January 23, 2004

Congrats on Eliteness!

And very nice looking X!

What do you do up at Baker? Hike, ski, 4x4? I've only been up there once and I live in Bellingham!!

dreamr · January 24, 2004

Thanks everyone.
Gina, sadly my knees don't deal well with skiing any more, but I do a lot of hiking and camping in the area.
I also have this obsession with fishing high mountain lakes. preferably without road access to hinder others joining me, but I found a lot of roads to lakes that I've never had the guts to try witha vw golf and their just to far for a day hike. Backpacking is an option, but i usually take my kid too Baker as she loves playing at Silver Lake campground especially when the tadpol's all hatch

Should be fun to get up some of those roads with the X this summer. Maybe you'll bump in to me and the fam have a beer with us and the bears. I swear I've spotted more bear sign in whatcom county than any where else in the cascades I've been.

SoBeLover · January 24, 2004

Congrats Bryce on becoming Elite

Your little daughter is a cutie pie

dreamr · January 24, 2004

She likes to think she is at least

You should see her when she's mad

dreamr · January 27, 2004

NEW MODS YEAAA!

I know I post too much to my own thread, but I got me a few new mods this week and have to tell someone, my g/f just rolls her eyes.

1st I upgraded to Sylvania Silverstars..

......how did I ever see before? With all the street lights in Seattle I rarely see my beams on the road, only the Pilot's. Now evrything is just so .........well light. Almost perfect color match with the Pilot's too

2nd Spring is coming so I need to get those breather's up out of the water. I spent more here than necessary, but I wanted it to look nice so i ran all the lines to a set of three k&n breather/filters on the pssenger side of the engine bay. Where does the T-cases original breather stop at????????

Last and I am still berating myself for blowing more money. I went in to a local shop and had them build me a 2.5" cat-back system. I was originally going with the magnaflows, but after debating with the mechanic he conned me into going with the Allied systems muffler (Meanstreak if i remember right). After looking at all the flow charts and other comparisons he had available they seemed to have equal performance capabilities. (They were dealers for Flomaster, Walker, As well as the Magnaflow). Selling points. Lifetime warranty, Much more offroad worthy than others offered, The sound is deep and rumbely, at 3000rpm instead of starting to sound like a v-6 it quiets down and gets this nice hum. very quiet inside while cruising. Plus he said if I didn't like it he would trade me stright back for the magnaflow, no cost. we'll have to see so far though nice.

The exhaust really made the intake do it's job. before it growled under the hood, but just seemed not to get any where, Now though that intake just kinda snarls

Actually I think it may be louder than the pipes.

Also to the first post I am continually adding things I change or do. I also added dates to the listing of mods to help me keep track a little better. lol Anyway I digress time to go finish the breathers. I'll put up pics of stuff when I can borrow a friends cam.

Lefy · February 10, 2004

nice truck man nice to see that you take so much pride in taking care of the explorers.

for the sylvania silverstars did you just change the bulbs to silverstars?? for the head lights.??
I think my stock lights do a good job but you can never have enough light.

dreamr · April 5, 2004

The original post in this thread has been updated to include the few new mods, and updated pictures including a couple from the recent NWExplorers run at Tahuya

I sat down to bring this thread up to date, and realized that I did little in february to help the project along. It seems nearly all my money went to getting A hitch and miscellaneous recovery gear, not to mention winter hiking gear for my gf.

March was similar, only my money was rapped up in chasing down a runability issue and buying a new car for my gf

Mod wise I only got in a new kenwood deck, removed the pinstripe, and of course tinkered around a bit with the exhisting toys. Pics without pinstripe, and the new deck are below, nothing to fancy, just a cd player is all I needed.

If the taxes ever come (silly girl spends all my $ and forgets to file taxes) then possibly April will hold a bit more in store :bounce:

Guess we'll see ehh

Pinstripeless

The deck

explorer4x493 · April 7, 2004

You know, you should try writing a book or something. Your thread from top to bottom just kept me sucked in. I couldn't stop reading....

Anyways, why does yours look more lifted than mine? Are 4wd leaf springs stiffer, because i have the same lift as you i believe? TT/ warrior shackles.

I would really love to live somewhere desolate like that, at least where all of the pics are taken. I take that you and your gf are pretty serious, you buying her a car and everything? Sorry to get nosy if i have.

dreamr · May 1, 2004

I don't know what I did the first part of April, other than hike and drive all around my sacred mountains.
It seemed that somehow,
as I drifted through
evergreen slopes
and ice covered crags
somewhere the mod bug lost its hold,
possibly to be replaced by the mosquito,
perhaps to forever be lost
in this misty mountain mystery,
Of course come the end of april,
Taxes are in ,
what shall i do?

GET MORE TOYS!!!!!!!! :bounce:

:smoke:

I gave John at Explorer Express a buzz and he quickly shipped out a BBK 66mm. Throttle Body for me.
It arrived in three days and was a beautiful piece. Install was simple and straight forward with the exception of getting the TPS off the old throttle body. I finally ground the screw heads off and proceeded to finish the job.
Minus grinding time, the install took under 15 minutes, then 15 more for fine tuning the tps and idle.

I pulled out of the driveway to the hill I go up every morning. It is a steep mother and my driveway is right at the bottom. At 3000 rpm's I have been hitting a tad over 30 sometimes 35 at the top of the hill. It always felt like labored exceleration.

Today it effortlessly climbed up the hill at the same 3000 rpm but i was doing about 42 at the top :bounce:

When I stand on it is really is only a moderate/mild mprovement over just the K&N, cat- back exhaust, and larger bore Maf on these newer 4.0's, but in general driving circumstances it shows itself with smoother exceleratrion and much quicker rpm rapping.
It kinda feels nice to accelerate evenly, or a little faster than the pack, without having to give it a bit of gas and make my exhaust get loud.
On the freeway, after 60 it just keeps rapping up like it would at 40.. Yeah, no more standing on it to try to get past the 60 hump to pass cars. Now I get to gently accelerate

I think I finaly understand how Aldive can get 30mpg there is no need to stand on it to get going if you've got just a little x-tra power to boot. I don't fool myself though, it is only a little extra power.

Now I am just waiting for my package from Apten :banghead:

Private_Joker · May 1, 2004

Hi Bashman,

I also have a 93 (black sport) that is in SERIOUS need of some mods!
I'm new to this and you have what looks like a great list of stuff you've added/done to your 93.

Could you elaborate a little on what you've done? (please be gentle as I'm a noobie to this)!

ANY help (any at all!) is greatly appreciated !!!!

So far I've seen a cool lower valance & fog lights for 93's, but I'm in serious need of ideas & where to get them!!!

PJ

Bashman said:
Congrats! Being elite is cool.

dreamr · May 9, 2004

Mays additions to the project

The month is still young, but with the adventure schedule I have set up over the next weeks I bet I won't do much work on the truck

The first Mod of the month is..... Infinity Kappa's

I just got sick of the stock speakers. They had no range, and couldn't keep the voice audible when the bass guitar or drims kicked in. After debating between the pioneer three ways and the Infinties which I had in my last car, how could I choose anything less than the Infinity.
They are a great sounding speaker for a simple stock upgrade. The Pioneer three ways seem to be a good pick too, but I had to go with my tried and true.
I did buy my gf the three-ways for all around her little kia, as well as a nice Pioneer cd deck, so I guess I'll get to test the theory of sound out soon

Dang mothers day makin' me spend money on someone else's ride.

Now if only Apten would get it together and get me my dang programer. I ordered 2 weeks ago, and the guy goes I'll ship it out in the morning. Yeah right.
Go Explorer Express!!!!!! I ordered my TB And the tuner on the same day, I got the TB 9 days ago? Now do ya think Apten has shipped the tuner yet

dreamr · June 12, 2004

For some strange reason I find myself at home on the weekend rather than off fishing in the mountains. Guess it's a good thing every once in a while, for it allows me to catch up on my chores. And update a few threads.

I have had a hell of time with Apten Performance, and am very disgruntled by their complete lack of customer service, but to move on. I am going to try and just look at their product.

I used the new flasher to reprogram my truck with a 93 octane program.

IT ROCKS!!!!!!!!!!

Performance wise, it really didn't add much, but definately helped to tie my other engine mods together. It raps a lot quicker, and the shift pattern is so much better!!!! I am actually more pleased with the re-mapping of the shift points than I am with the other 800 dollars spent under my hood..

The program rocks, just be damn sure you make yourself absolutely clear when dealing with Apten so you don't wait 6 weeks for the wrong thing and have to go through the mess of sending it back for the appropriate programs, or getting a refund. I can't even get a return call. What a joke!

Update 12-04 *** So I still really like this chip though I never did have success in getting Apten to work out our deal. Neddless to say I paid for a dual program custom tuned flasher. Something like 420+ dollars. When I got it there was only one choice of programs, and it immediatelt threw a check engine light indicating a lean condition. After chasing what I assumed was a problem with the truck for months. I started a series of tests running 100 miles on the freeway with different configurations of my aftermarket add-ons.
What I found, was that It mattered not what parts were installed. with the exception of this program.
With the program I throw codes.
With out it I do not.
I even tested it in it's stock configuration for 890 miles to Idaho in a wide variety of conditions (lava rock to freeway). Coming home I put the program in and threw a check engine light at mile 63.

Today I took the flasher into a local performance place and described my problems. He professed to have little knowledge of the explorer, but pulled the programs onto his computer. Guess what he found......... The tuner had never been tuned by anyone other than SCT at manufacture. Figure ehh..
Anyway, I will get it tuned properly after the winter lift projects :fire:
Sadly I like the shift point diffence so much that I ignore the check engine light. Probably bad, but hey it'll get reprogrammed soon.

dreamr's finally elite

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