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Jen's 03 Sport

Hello all...

To celebrate the final payment of my beast, I thought I should finally make a registry for it, with pictures and all!!!

When I was in college, I really wanted a 2door SUV that was relatively new and looked cool as well... Obviously that led me to the Explorer, as Jeeps are cool and all, but not all that practical as my daily driver. Sooo, the search was on! I wanted a black one, the newest year I could get for the Sport, with the fewest miles, with leather and a sunroof! :D

Eventually my searches pulled up my exact specs, but in South Dakota. I lived in Iowa at the time, so no big deal. I bothered the people at the dealership with my excessive questions to make sure it was worth the drive there to look at it. And luckily, it was! Mom and I drove out to look at it, and I ended up buying it. My first (nice) purchased car. It had 16,x.. on the clock, was a certified pre-owned from some old man so it was pretty nice, other than that saggy rear end.

First thing I did was swap out the stereo, and figured out how to wire it to the factory sub thanks to the forum! Then, add a leafs were next. I had the next several years mapped out for it when the tires would wear out and I was outta college and could finally have some money!!! I took off the step bars and added a Yakima rack and drove it like that until I moved to CO. That's when the magic started to happen, ;).

I knew I wanted to lift it from the day I bought it. When I started my big kid job out here in CO, I was able to buy new wheels, tires, shackles, and body lift to get it started! Thanks to the awesome boys from this forum (hokie, nssj2, sparkyXplorer) they got it on for me. I was of no use as I had just had shoulder surgery, but they made sure to get my on the right track :thumbsup:

Awesome! Now I'm good to go. Cranked up the torsion bars a lil, time to hit the trails!!! Got my feet wet in Ouray with the group. And by feet wet, I mean I almost peed myself on Black Bear pass, haha

Since then, I've upgraded my exhaust to 2.5 pipes from the cats back, Flowmaster 50 muffler (kinda quiet :rolleyes:) and a MAC intake. Changed out the plugs and wires at the same time, put on Motorcraft plugs and JBA cables...I also added a Yakima load warrior basket that is pretty quick to take off that holds my snowboard racks and my spare.

Mods to come ---- upgrading gears to 4.56, adding an Aussie locker (or something of that sort depending on my $$), removed gray plastic body panels to paint black, thus discovering rust on my doors GRRRRRR, need rock sliders, skid plates, and on and on.
 

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It doesn't look too bad. Maybe clean it up some and put some Por-15 on there? Your rockers look alright, that's a big thing.

yeah, i was happy it didn't look worse! it seems to have rusted underneath the double sided tape that held the plastic on.... i used por-15 on the wheel wells several years back, but must not have used enough.


and jon, i can use the back seat. when i need to use them, i can just fold that part of the platform up and lay it on the cargo portion, or just take it out all together. the cargo portion stays in. it's really quick and easy to take it all out too if i need! i'll take some more pics to kind of show it better, this was just a quick one i took to show a friend.
and, i'm glad to be back too! i lurk a lot, but i've got a lot of projects going on so i've been around a lot more.
 



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ah! so this is my new drama i found...
i noticed a week or so after i bought the X, that above the windshield there was like a slice in the paint or something, or a scratch. you couldn't see metal or anything, so i didn't worry too much about it. The slice went under the rubber molding around the windshield, which led me to believe that maybe the windshield was replaced at some time.

Well anyway, fast forward almost 5 years, and this is what I have.
20149_803854322479_14811518_45712705_5310102_n.jpg

Ouch. I was washing it a mont or so ago, and a big ol flake of paint blew off and this is what I found. Upon closer examination, I also have a lot of this going on all over the roof.
20149_803854407309_14811518_45712707_917488_n.jpg

Doesn't look too promising. I found those little cracks yesterday when I went up to take the first pic. The first 3 years of owning this, I babied it. Waxed, washed, polished regularly. BUT, I've probably only done the roof maybe once. Since I've moved out to CO, it's very sunny, I feel that it's baking th paint off!!
Not sure what to do next. I'm close to a few people back in IA that do auto body repair/paint, so maybe I can get a deal on getting it painted or something. Grrr. I don't ever plan on selling this car, so I want it to last.
 






OWWW, I haven't noticed any of that yet on my '03. Of course I haven't looked that close either. :rolleyes:

Seems like it just always gets worse doesn't it?
 






i didnt know there was a lift kit for newer ex`s?i have a 2000 sport.is there a lift kit for mine out there?
loving the dog riding along pics...lol way to go girl.
 












can you post a link to these lift kits for a 2000?
 






Do a search on here for "lift kit" and the like. There's more information on here about it than you can believe. There's several ways to go about it depending on what your budget is, hard to post just one link.
 






your right i,ll give it a looksee.thanks
 












OWWW, I haven't noticed any of that yet on my '03. Of course I haven't looked that close either. :rolleyes:

Seems like it just always gets worse doesn't it?

yeah... i hear ya there...as my dad always says, "it's always somethin!"
 






I have something going on my roof as well. Just some oxidation so far, but it could get worse if I let it go to much longer. Our rigs are just closer to the sun than most, so we take the heat (in more than 1 way) worse:D. Plus it is not all that easy to get to our tops to wash by hand. My washing of the roof consists mainly of powerwashing and a brush.


IMG_1208-vi.jpg
 






Plus it is not all that easy to get to our tops to wash by hand.

Yeah, that's the one thing I don't like about having a truck. The roof of mine only get washed better than throwing some soap up there and spraying it off about 1 in 5 washes.
 






in the summer, i get on a ladder and soap it off (well what i can reach anyway lol) but man, i should've been better at waxing it.

I was going to try to sand and touch up that spot above my winshield, but i'd probably have to pull up the molding part and don't wanna screw up my windshield.

bah. maybe i'll leave that job to somebody who knows what they are doing!
 






Bed Liner?

It works on beds of trucks, why not use it on the roof that never gets seen anyway? It is fairly inexpensive to do yourself and it is the right color......:usa:
 






I really like your sport. Pretty much exactly what I am planning on doing to mine when I get more loot.
 












update on my sleep platform--
it's almost done! the first version anyway. second version will have storage built into the front part, and hinged so the storage cubbies can be reached. The cargo area around the spare tire will stay the same though.
20149_805523317799_14811518_45772948_1878381_n.jpg


The paint matches the interior pretty well. I still need to put in my anchor points and stuff.

And there will be another section that can be placed so it gives a little more headroom when the front seats are pushed all the way forward. Not a lot of room in the sports, but I'm not that tall really :) I guess if/when I have company, they will have to make do!
 






Great looking X, love the wheels :) I almost went with the black/chrome when I ordered mine as well, but wanted to be a little different and got the all polished ones. Damn neighbor has a Jeep with the black/chrome ones and I didn't want to look like a copycat!

Anyway, I just wanted to mention that you guys sure have some beautiful scenery to go wheelin with out there, great photos. :thumbsup:
 









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If you weren't so far away I would so do the body work for you... I did all the work on mine...I'll start a thread on my build so far tomorrow.. then I'll give you the link.

I'm actually going to Lincoln Tech. in Indianapolis in July for Auto Collision Repair..so all this is right up my allie
 






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