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Feature Truck 10-19-04 Sk1er17's 98 Sport

Jeez ive been on this site forever and decided to do a little exploring tonight in the "un clicked" parts- I never knew there was actually an Elite Explorer Registry... so I figured Id put in my thread for those of you who dont know me.

Im 20 years old (well will be on March 29, 2004; close enough). Currently an auto technician at STS in central NJ. Also a full time Mechanical Engineering student at Rutgers University. Graduate in 2006!

This explorer was my first car. By the time i had my car for about a year, i had done all the "cosmetic" stuff to it basically because in small steps its cheap and easy.
No need to add a long list of items to this thread- you can see pretty much everything in the picture:
12637matt3a.jpg


Next I started feeling ambitious. My truck really needed to start fullfilling the name "truck". So I installed 4 door leaf springs, WAR153 Shackles and did a Torsion Twist up front. It was alright, but not quite enough..
12637newpic.jpg


You could tell it was lifted while comparing it to other explorers, but it "felt" like a stock explorer while i was driving it. And being by then I had discovered some new places to offroad, my thirst for a 4x4 monster convinced me to take the plunge. My initial plan was to sell it, and buy a Sport Trac. I actually had a buyer for $10K but i backed out and realized with what i owed on it, id be paying off a stock sport track for 5 more years.. So instead I went into a little debt and bought a 2" body lift, 32" tires, (my girl got me the rims for xmas :D ).

I did the body lift by myself! Took 27 straight hours (some of you might remember seeing a thread in the middle of the night when i needed help) But either way it got done, I got my tires, did a few minor mods and whalaaaa:
12637003.jpg


Ive been tweaking it ever since!
12637coolshot.jpg

EDIT************************************************
:bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce:
Well, i blew that list of "mods away".. just look!... And Arnie- I think i am now Un-Surpassed! :D
12637DSNEW.jpg

12637DSNEW2.jpg

12637DSNEWSIDE.jpg

12637DSNEWREAR.jpg


Those would be Perry's Fiberglass Fenders. 33x12.50x15 Xterrains.
Eventually im going to get the fenders painted to match and have the whole truck sprayed to get rid of a lot of my scratches... but not anytime soon due to $$$
:D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D
Done Editing!

Now for a few of my own touches:

My Bracket to mod the brush guard to fit my BL:
12637bracket.jpg


Havent made a skid plate YET. So i installed this steel to protect my tranny cooloer lines:
12637snow_007.jpg



Theres PLENTY of off-road shots in my photo album. Not to mention some GREAT ones of me stuck as hell!
like....
12637stuck_pose2.jpg

SO CHECK IT OUT!! :bounce: :bounce:

And finally; Some mods that arent as obvious from the pictures:

- Flowmaster 50 Series w/2.5" pipe bent back
- Upgraded to Bosh +2 and Jacobs wires
- K&N filter and Cut out the front of my Air Box
- i have 4.10 gear stock .. na na na na na :p
- Throttle Cable $0.05 mod
- Extended all breather lines for water protection
- working on gettin an APTEN chip.. had one but went back cause my EEC needs to be flashed.

BTW: my goal is to OUT- WHEEL LIZARD... someday..... a very very long time from now.... but someday :burnout:

Update: 2 Recent pics from April 04.
12637MattPullJay.jpg



Can't forgets some interiors:
Anyone lookin for some waterproof/ sweet seat covers.. look no further! X-Bound seat covers. $20 each from wal-mart or $55 after shipping online. No reason to spend $300 for fancy ones. My dad thought i had my seats re-done at first! PM me if you have any questions..
12637SeatsA.jpg


And just another shot to show my control panel :smoke:
12637Interior.jpg

Cant forget about the all important OBA:
I have a 2.5 gallon tank and 200H compressor. Fills all 4 33's from 0-35 in roughly 10 minutes.
12637VIAIR_OBA-med.jpg

NEW ADDITION!!!
On Friday, July 30 I hydrolocked my engine for the SECOND TIME!....
So i got ambitious and this is what came out :D
12637Snorkel1-med.jpg

12637Snorkel2-med.jpg

12637Snorkel4-med.jpg

12637Snorkel5-med.jpg

________________________________________________________________

Someone Got 35's....
Let the pictures speak for themselves :D
126371rear.jpg

126371cool.jpg

126371side.jpg

126371front.jpg

To Answer some questions:

1) 35x12.50x15 BFG AT's
2) 15x10 rock crawlers with 3.75" backspacing
3) No Rubbing
4) Will rub if i flex a lot (but only in the rear and that can be taken care of)
5) 4:10's seem to be a good gear for em so far.. no doggin
6) yea, the 33" xterrains are for sale so buy them!
 



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So the story goes:

on the way to school this morning, some kid in a lexus with mudders follows me. I purposely parked like a few rows down... he parked right next to me. I stayed in my truck.. he got out, went up to the bus stop and didnt say a word. I left a note that basically said "wanna wheel? email me"
Turns out he had a lifted jeep, went on vacation and his parents traded it in for the Lex behind his back. But he does take it wheelin... hopefully ill have some muddy ones of this thing in my photo gallery soon:
(**Oh yea, i didnt know he took a pic of my truck till tonight when he emailed it to me)
12637meNlex.jpg
 



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that's awesome-- you should take him up on that offer!!
 






actually it turns out hes from south jersey and wheels the pines.

he openly admits the lexus sucks offroading... and is in good spirits about it. lol he sent me a pic showing how little flex it has in the rear.

Im just happy to find out that he put mudders on it but actually uses it! I cant wait to go wheelin, ive seen some pics but i really would like to see what it can do in person.
 






be sure to post pics afterwards so we all can have a good chuckle
 






sup

hey all im new to this site i just got my first car which just so happends to be a 98 xlt 5.0 explorer. i already put the mac intake on it and got brush guard wit set of piaas on it i like this feature 98 sport i wanted to know where u got those scoops i want em i know a guy who does custom carbon fiboring so i want to make a hood for it :D who ever has that truck says they live in nj whereabouts i live in bridgewater cant find anyone who has a explorer wit stuff done to it i wanted to know any get togethers also i was thinking bout doing that body lift so since u did it id like to ask u a couple of ques thanks guys also i want to get into 4 wheeling a truck isnt rly a truck till it gets muddy
 






well the hood scoops are Lund medium sized...you can get em anywhere- ebay, jchwhitney, summit..

Im from central NJ (near trenton). Theres actually a few lifted explorers in NJ, northern and southern.

You can always PM me or send me email through this site. Ill answer all questions best i can. Also the "search" button on the top bar of every pages comes in very very handy. Any answers I give you are probably from something ive read after researching it. Soon you'll see how much this site has to offer and I hope you help support it by becomming "elite".
 






nice cool yeah ima have my friend lay em in carbon fiber for me. thanks man yeah im definatly getting really hooked on big trucks i do like the website looking forward to talking to you all more thanks
 






man that woulda pissed me off if my parents traded my vehicle while i was gone
 












Awesome video! I thought you said you didn't have any rubbing issues with your setup? Also, do you have any pictures of how close those fiberglass fenders come to your brushguard on the sides?
 






Arnie: ill get some pics for you tomorrow morning.

I didnt have any rubbing issues until i stuffed that tire as pictured above. And its not even that serious- i can trim it without it being noticeable. No rubbing up front at all :D
 






Thanks! I've been toying with the idea of the front fenders like you have but now that I have that new bumper up front I don't know if they'll fit.
 






here you go arnie.

only problem i just realized is that mines modified for the 3" body lift.. so it doesnt sit in the stock position..
 

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Dang....I don't think those would fit my X because the new brushguard bumper thing is very close to the fender already. Thanks for the pics though...I would have hated to find that out after I ordered some.
 












Lol.... I don't know about tow rig. You'll have to check out my pics from the Badlands. Yeah, you got me though...just trying to catch up. I think I'll just have to go with more lift though ;)
 









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Nice truck :) get a rear locker and start saving for the SAS :)

Or you could build a hell of a IFS setup like the dessert guys do (custom upper and lower arms, coilovers, etc..) and continue to be different......www.dezertrangers.com

I like your truck, good job :)
 






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