Leetz's 2WD Allstar. | Ford Explorer Forums - Serious Explorations

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Leetz's 2WD Allstar.

Leetz's 98 Exploder Sport.

Here's a little background info on me first.

My name is Rob Rodgers. Born and raised in Virginia Beach, VA. I am 18 years old and currently attending Miami-Dade College in Miami, Florida. I am here for the 2 year Air Traffic Control program they offer at the school.


It was not easy getting my Ex by any means.......My sisters and mom all drove hondas. I was told I would be getting a honda because of there extreme reliability and longevity. No way are you getting a ford! I showed countless magazine reviews and testimony from my friend's parents. Regardless NO! You are not getting a big SUV! Those things rollover so easily.After Finally spanning the internet I found an article on this forum showing my mom the rollover thing was all the tire manufacturer's fault and not the explorer itself. Still no they cost too much to repair blah blah. After much battling and basically annoying her to death she agreed that we would look for them but didn't guarantee I could get one. She gave in but under a few circumstances. I could not get 4x4 or v8, 64,000 miles or under, and under 8k dollars. I couldn't get 4x4 because she said my step dad who had one had to get a 4x4 sensor replaced or something and it was over 1000 dollars to replace. And no v8 because of the gas mileage. Regardless I didn't care I was happy to have an explorer period.So the search began.

I saw an explorer freshly listed on autotrader without a pricetag or anything. It wasn't far from my neighborhood, so my family who happened to be down, went with me to check it out. Well it ended up meeting all the specifications had 63k miles one it, v6 SOHC, 4x2, and had a very nice system in it. At the time I had no idea what any of it was. Also had 2 orion subs in the back. So after talking to the man and his son my parents talked them down to 8k. My mom asked me if I liked it and I said yes alot. Well needless to say the 1998 4.0 SOHC explorer was mine 3 days later and the modding began.........

EST. 1 year and a half from purchase.

As soon as I got a job I started doing various mods and such to my truck, and mildly cruising the forums.The major mods came when this guy from the forums named boominXplorer sent me a pm saying he was moving into my area and was wondering If I could show him around. So me being the nice guy I was said ya sure. 2 days later sure enough he moved down and gave me a call. So he tells me to meet him up at the local wendys near my house. We meet up get some lunch, and start talkin. He starts talking about all his mods and what not. Basically Speaking French, I had no clue what he was talking about at the time. So we go outside and he pops his hood. I see a crazy air intake nitrous and just all kinds off stuff that I knew made u go fast. Chris asks me want to take a ride? So I'm like ya sure why not. Well I literally had no idea an explorer was capable of moving that fast. You know your going fast when I'm looking back out the window and there's a honda civic SI eating our dust with no spray. Well needless to say I starting modding my truck like crazy from that day on and it became and endless money pit thanks to chris.

Well enough boring stories here's what my ex turned out like

719222_44_full.jpg


719222_42_full.jpg


719222_43_full.jpg


MODS:

Engine:

Ford 4.0 SOHC
KKM TrueRev Intake
Optima Red-Top battery
Motorcraft Double Platinum Spark Plugs
Motorcraft Wires
Valvoline Synthetic Blend Motor Oil
Motorcraft Oil Filter
Magnaflow Catback Dual Exhaust 2.25 Stainless slants.


Brakes:

Drilled and Slotted Rotors.
Ceramic Pads
.


Suspension:

Rancho RS5000's
3" Body Lift


Rear:
1.5" Warrior Shackles
1" 4 door leaf springs(ExplorerDmb's actually lol)


Front
2.5" TT
Drivetrain:

B&M Shiftkit
4.56 gears
Detroit TrueTrac


Exterior:

Clear Corners
Sylvania Silverstars Corners and Lamps
Baja Fog Lamps in stock Location
Rain-X Wipers
33" Xterrains on 15x8 Black Rockcrawlers
Fender Flares Removed
Running Boards Removed
Thule Rack System... Surf Rack and 4 Fising Rod Holder
Spray on Bedlined Underneath Truck and Axles.
Aux reverse lights mounted under bumper
Detailing done with products on this guide I did a while back.......
http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=134931


Interior:


XMRadio
Autopage 2-way LCD alarm System w/ autostarter
Ford racing wheel cover
Alpine CDA-9830
Eclipse Mids
MTX 10" Thunderform concealed Sub
Memphis Audio Fronts
Polaris Tweeters
Orion Xtreme 200 Amp
Phoneix Gold Amp



Before And After Axle Shot:

719222_10_full.jpg


719222_11_full.jpg


Trunk Space After ThunderForm:

719222_38_full.jpg


With fenders still on :

719222_7_full.jpg


thanks for visiting my registry. More pics and updates in a few days!!

be sure to check out my cardomain also!!
 



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Nice truck. I love the black on black on black on black :D
 






dude..awsome truck..what did you do about all the holes from the flares? an what does your family think of the beats now that its lifted? anyway it looks freaking awsome..great job!!
 






Kickass. Looks real good man, another blacked out big 2wd. :cool: Woot!
 






"dude..awsome truck..what did you do about all the holes from the flares? an what does your family think of the beats now that its lifted? anyway it looks freaking awsome..great job!!"


I haven't done anythiing about them yet. I want to get them filled and painted, but my modding money is gone :( . They weren't kidding about being broke in college :)

As for it being beast now....... my sister really likes and when I park at her house people always ask her about it. And how much it would cost to make their explorer like that. Well as for my mom.... well she couldnt really care less. She drives an element.. I'll leave it at that lol.
 






Sweet truck...I love the black look. :thumbsup:
 






AWWWW my little baby is growing up.
 






leetz said:
Rear:
1.5" Warrior Shackles
1" 4 door leaf springs(ExplorerDmb's actually lol)

Glad I could help ha. Good looking explorer. How are those springs working for you?

-Drew
 






boominXplorer said:
AWWWW my little baby is growing up.

lol yes it is.


ExplorerDMB said:
Glad I could help ha. Good looking explorer. How are those springs working for you?

Great man. I was lucky enough to find a later model explorer with great springs.I wanted a later model that way the saggage might not be that bad. We could only find like 94's with the leaf springs still on at the junkyard.
 






The springs I gave you only had like 63K on them. So you should be set. Keep up the good work.


-Drew
 






The blacked out look really looks cool. That painted underbody really makes it look a lot better too. Nice job on the truck. :thumbsup:
 






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