Dre's new toy

[Dre]

To make the long story short... I have moved back to Europe. Yeah! For the past few weeks I have been trying to make myself home and get acquainted with my new surroundings. Since my Un-Limited is on the boat, somewhere in the middle of the Atlantic I needed a car to get around... and what was my first choice? another Explorer of course! Meet my new toy - totally stock (except for the LPG system) 1998 Explorer SOHC 4.0L... born in the US, Euro spec "X". Within the past few weeks I have put about 2000 km on the odo and not much to complain about except a knock & shake coming from under the truck. I suspect something wrong with the transfer case but have no way of checking anything until all my stuff/tools arrive here... Truck is 100% Euro spec - those are a bit different than US spec... just a tiny bit. Entire instrument cluster is different, lights in the cluster are different. O/D light, Check Engine, door ajar lights are just symbols... radio is way different with RDS. Leather seats and self-leveling rear suspension are standard. Other than that, it's just another great Ford truck. One feature though stands out - the LPG system that was installed just recently. With high European gas prices I had to do something to make it less painful on my pocket. System is all automatic, kicks-in after engine warms up. You can't even feel it. Savings are huge. With gas around $7.20 per gallon and LPG around $3.55 per gallon you can see why it's such a big deal. Pretty soon, as soon as my stuff arrive here I'm gonna tear the truck apart and make a few changes. Suspension is gonna be beefed-up and new wheels/tires are going on. For now though - it's my daily beater... although I have veered off the beaten path on a few occasions already. It's pretty cool. I have made my contacts with local Explorer group and we are already planning on doing some "serious exploring".

Here she is:

 

[IZwack]

You're in Europe just like that? You woke up one day and decided you'd maybe scoot on over to Europe?
Are you in it to invest your $$ into a currency with greater future potential?

 

[CDW6212R]

Well good for you, enjoy the sight seeing. Keep an eye on the SOHC and its valvetrain, you've surely read the stories on here. Regards,

 

[Dre]

Well, I have been toying with the idea for the past couple of years... All the things going on around me just kind of pushed me and in a way helped me to make my decision. The economy in particular. So I sold my house (with a loss) packed my family and left looking for a better place to build my future. Central European economy is booming right now. Construction, financial, retail, manufacturing and housing sectors are just exploding. I could not have picked a better time. I have set-up my construction company and am doing business already. Eventually I'd like to open a custom truck shop but that's a few years down the road...

just like that...

 

[Dannyboy]

wow Andre, you were one of the first guys I met in person on the forum, and at the time we had the same truck (except yours was beefed out and mine was just a wee one)

Best of luck to you and your family.

 

[Essex4x4]

please elaborate more on the LPG system you have on your ex:
Did you do it yourself?
How much?
You got pics of the LPG system?
Come On Man i have got to see this thing

 

[A Wise Guy]

Welcome back on from afar. Glad to hear things are comming together for you. Does this mean I won't see you in Volo on Father's Day? Good luck over there.

 

[Dre]

Welcome back on from afar. Glad to hear things are comming together for you. Does this mean I won't see you in Volo on Father's Day? Good luck over there.

Huh, father's day at Volo? We never got more than three guys at the meet anyway... now you might have to do it alone since Tony dropped-out - sold his trucks... and most other guys moved.

Danny - I miss you man! but you were the first one to get out of the Midwest. It's been fun while it lasted. We had great time at the Attica runs...

as for the LPG set-up... no, I did not install it myself. The cost? roughly around $1200.00. No pictures but I will take some today. 60 liter tank is mounted where a spare tire is usually mounted. You can fill-up at almost any gas station. I use BP just cause I collect points towards gifts form BP...

pretty nifty idea.

As far as concerns about valvetrain? There are millions of cars with this kind of set-up around here.... It's nice to have other options... The system works like this: when you start the car, it uses gasoline to start and to run while cold. When coolant reaches certain temperature system switches to LPG itself. No jerks, no stalls... can't feel a thing. I don't think valvetrain is going to be affected that much.

It uses a bit more LPG than gasoline but savings are truly remarkable.

 

[Dre]

and some more pics... finally washed the truck today... looks awsome!

 

[redneck21]

Nice pick up. Is that how the head lights are over there or are they the ones you get off ebay. I like the lights in the bumper to.

 

[Sams01XplrSprt]

nice explorer u plan on doing any mods to it

 

[Dre]

Nice pick up. Is that how the head lights are over there or are they the ones you get off ebay. I like the lights in the bumper to.

All the lights are stock... headlights are asymetric, E-coded, side markers are just parking lights, upper portion is all just turn signal, lower lights in the front bumper are driving lights, no fogs in the front... rear bumper lights are rear fogs... required in europe... a bit different I say than the US spec - seats are leather even in basic model and rear suspension is air-ride - self leveling.

Mods? AAL in the back... twisted torsion bars in the front and bigger tires... 265/70/17 on some nice black, steel rims... already done. That should do for this baby. My 94 is all off-road... getting it "up to code" otherwise I won't be able to register it.

 

[Spas]

Hey Dre! I have a smallish favor to ask of you, would you mind posting some pictures of your floor mount shifter? I'm pretty sure all European X's have them.. Do you know if they all have rear air/radio controls like the North American Explorers do? I wouldn't think so since the floor shifter is smack in the middle of where the duct work should be but you never know.

I ask because I really really REALLY want to do a floor mount for my race truck's automatic so I can use a better aftermarket shifter and linkage (plus the coolness factor is an 11 on a scale of 1-10 ) Thanks in advance! How's life treating you in Great Britain?

 

[Dre]

Will get you some photos later... euro spec is really just the same as the US spec other than the lights.

Trucks sold in Great Britain have floor shifters.

Will get back to you.

I have sold this truck long ago... have now some more to work with... since I work on explorers now.