Just wanted to share

[96AWD5.LOL]

Very nice. Where did you get the under-hood insulation? It's one of the things I haven't been able to find. As for the dash cover, my dash cracked for the very first time as we were climbing up Pikes Peak. I came so close to buying one from Coverlay this past summer but though it wouldn't look as good as they claimed. Now I think I'll give it a shot. They're also from Texas just west of me.

I also have the second gen rear end and must say the 95+ master and booster make a big difference. Adding the ranger knuckles for dual piston calipers up front will help greatly with stopping. I think I have the Powerstop heavy duty or towing pads and rotors for the front and they help if you're heavy as well.

Have you though about upgrading the headlights to retrofit the sharp cut off HIDs? I decided to try it this summer and it came out way better than expected.

 

[410Fortune]

RABS I delete
You can completely remove it from the truck and simply bypass the valve with fittings, RABS valve is located on the frame rail near fuel filler neck.

Booster is plug and play all of these fords have the same booster bolt pattern and pushrod length. The pushrod between booster and Master cyl should be adjusted to 1” in length, always a good idea to check it before installing new master

 

[BKennedy]

@Rick used a master cylinder out of a Dodge 1500. It's a larger diameter bore and mounts to the Explorer booster. Not sure what year but he should be along.

I have a 1995 Explorer MC and it works well, but a firmer pedal would be nice. I can't use the Dodge MC because the location of the fittings and my shock hoops would need the same space.

There are several threads about brake upgrades. Some very detailed step by step instructions. Most of the questions you are asking have already been answered. What helps others is if you search, then link the threads you used as guides to your thread.

 

[Rick]

@Rick used a master cylinder out of a Dodge 1500. It's a larger diameter bore and mounts to the Explorer booster. Not sure what year but he should be along.

Did you mean to tag someone else?

 

[BKennedy]

Did you mean to tag someone else?

I thought you used that MC in the Explorer, I must have been wrong. What MC do you have?

 

[410Fortune]

You solid axle dudes maybe need a larger master to work with your larger front and rear calipers?

If in install a f150 front and rear axle I would want a f150 master cylinder

Hydroboost from a mustang is my next big upgrade

 

[Rick]

I thought you used that MC in the Explorer, I must have been wrong. What MC do you have?

Never mind... I misread your post. Not surprising for my eyes to do that these days.

I do have the Dodge MC. The only issue is that the stock Explorer booster is a bit weak for it. Hydroboost would be awesome.

 

[JC3006]

Very nice. Where did you get the under-hood insulation? It's one of the things I haven't been able to find. As for the dash cover, my dash cracked for the very first time as we were climbing up Pikes Peak. I came so close to buying one from Coverlay this past summer but though it wouldn't look as good as they claimed. Now I think I'll give it a shot. They're also from Texas just west of me.

I also have the second gen rear end and must say the 95+ master and booster make a big difference. Adding the ranger knuckles for dual piston calipers up front will help greatly with stopping. I think I have the Powerstop heavy duty or towing pads and rotors for the front and they help if you're heavy as well.

Have you though about upgrading the headlights to retrofit the sharp cut off HIDs? I decided to try it this summer and it came out way better than expected.View attachment 446416View attachment 446415

Those headlights look great. Do you have a build thread on how to convert them?

I bought the underhood insulation from a small shop called TNT Auto. I'm not sure if it does anything other than just look nice, but it fit well.

The Coverlay dash cover fits nearly perfectly. My OEM dash was still in decent shape (only minor cracking in the tray area) so I opted to just 2 sided tape the cover into place. I couldn't bring myself to glue it on permanently, but that's how Coverlay recommended installing (I'll do just that, if the time ever comes). Unless you really look, you can't tell that it's a cover. I bought mine from RockAuto.

I have been struggling with detonation ping on 87 octane. Currently running 91 until I can dig a bit deeper. Valve cover gaskets are weeping. Again. And I've GOT to get around to fixing the low oil level sensor gasket leak. Found the 95+ MC that I had misplaced. Working on piecing together the bits for the Jeep Liberty PS pump conversion. And got my new roof rack in this week. I've got a couple small road trips planned over the Holiday season and would love to take the X if I can get caught up on the projects.

 

[RangerX]

Have you though about upgrading the headlights to retrofit the sharp cut off HIDs? I decided to try it this summer and it came out way better than expected.

Yes, I also would like more info on this, like what exact bulbs you used.
sorry to the OP for the hijack.

 

[Josh P]

Never mind... I misread your post. Not surprising for my eyes to do that these days.

I do have the Dodge MC. The only issue is that the stock Explorer booster is a bit weak for it. Hydroboost would be awesome.

I used a dual diaphragm vacuum booster when I did the rear disc brake swap on my Aerostar, it made a world of difference.

 

[Rick]

I used a dual diaphragm vacuum booster when I did the rear disc brake swap on my Aerostar, it made a world of difference.

What was the booster out of ?

 

[Josh P]

What was the booster out of ?

Universal aftermarket.

 

[96AWD5.LOL]

Those headlights look great. Do you have a build thread on how to convert them?

I bought the underhood insulation from a small shop called TNT Auto. I'm not sure if it does anything other than just look nice, but it fit well.

The Coverlay dash cover fits nearly perfectly. My OEM dash was still in decent shape (only minor cracking in the tray area) so I opted to just 2 sided tape the cover into place. I couldn't bring myself to glue it on permanently, but that's how Coverlay recommended installing (I'll do just that, if the time ever comes). Unless you really look, you can't tell that it's a cover. I bought mine from RockAuto.

I have been struggling with detonation ping on 87 octane. Currently running 91 until I can dig a bit deeper. Valve cover gaskets are weeping. Again. And I've GOT to get around to fixing the low oil level sensor gasket leak. Found the 95+ MC that I had misplaced. Working on piecing together the bits for the Jeep Liberty PS pump conversion. And got my new roof rack in this week. I've got a couple small road trips planned over the Holiday season and would love to take the X if I can get caught up on the projects.

Link
I don't have a build thread. Partially because I wanted to make sure they were going to last before promoting them. They've held up really well so far. The process, like any retrofit, involves removing the lenses to install the HIDs. I had a set a of clear lenses laying around and that makes the lines very crisp. If you were to re-use the rippled lenses the sharpness becomes muted but usable.

Rippled:

Clear:

Wiring them up may take some effort though. I bought the 9007 light connector kit off of ebay and made my own harness to connect them. The high beams are just a relay for the lid to open and close. That means you need to supply power to both the relay and the light from the high beam power. A few schottky diodes on the 12v power and the high beam 12v worked fine.

 

[JC3006]

Hey guys,

Been a while since I updated. Got a few things checked off the list in the last several months. Progress has been slow, I decide after 15 years of putting it off, to get back into school. Working towards my second bachelor's degree, have a 13 month old learning to walk, and have been trying to work in some time for the Mustang, means the Explorer has been lingering on the back burner for a while. But here goes:

Last November I drove it one cold morning across the county to hunt. Halfway there I noticed the heater stopped blowing warm air, then the temp gauge started slowly climbing. We limped it to the farm and parked it JUST before it fully overheated. No coolant, so I had to fill the radiator with water from a creek.

After getting it home, I found that the gasket between the timing cover and the block was leaking. So after a thorough coolant system flush, I commenced a tear down. Thankfully everything looked good, so it was a pretty simple strip, clean and reassemble. While I was in there I thought it was time to do some long-put-off mods I had been wanting to try.

I DESPERATELY considered throwing a COMP 410 cam at it at this stage. . . But the budget is quite a bit tighter being back in school, so I decided to leave the OEM stick in it. After some degreasing, new seals, some Ford New Grey paint and some new stainless and red hardware (just to be a little different), it all went back together:

I replaced the badly deteriorated harmonic balancer, R&R'd a set of later model 4 hole red-top injectors, and finally got around to converting it over to a Jeep style saginaw power steering pump (courtesy of a Proquipped conversion bracket).

Not pictured is a new ACDelco 130A alternator. I also went ahead and replaced the 30 year old idler and tensioner, added a 195 degree Fail-Safe Tstat, and replaced the water pump out of precaution. I also replaced the weeping low-oil-level sensor gasket which greatly slowed down my oil loss. I'm not sure if it is the new balancer, or the injectors, or maybe both, but the idle MUCH smoother now, not nearly as much vibration. So far I haven't noticed any performance difference, but I feel the quick starts and the smooth idle were worth the hassle.

The Jeep power steering pump took some time to fully bleed out, but so far, it's a winner. Completely silent, no more Ford whine. The install was super easy as well. Other than cutting the OEM PS bracket, it was basically a bolt-in.

I also took a real interest in the newer flat "pioneer" style roof racks, so I picked one up from amazon and mounted it to the OEM roof channels with Unistrut crossbars. I'll get some pictures of that soon. I love the look, and it's completely silent (no wind noise).

Holley Galactic Ford Fest is being hosted in Bowling Green KY this weekend. If I can get it detailed/waxed in time, we're going to drive it over and enter it into the show (no expectations of placing, just for fun).

These vehicles are getting to the age that they are starting to garner a lot of attention (at least in my area). Nearly every time I drive it to town, I get an offer from someone to buy it, or a compliment, or a thumbs up. It's very satisfying, and vindicates all the labor that has went into it.

I also got a new laptop so I'm hoping to do updates more often than once a year. Thanks for reading, more to come.

 

[410Fortune]

Excellent! Good luck on your degree and raising up the kiddos! Sport looks awesome!!!
Nice work