my 03 ST XLT, we call her DORA THE EXPLORA! (lots of pics)

[LONO100]

since i have to get up really damn early for a memorial weekend hike (upcoming snowstorm in tahoe nixed our original plans), i decided to stay in house this friday night and take it easy, so naturally im on the forum just trolling around until the alcohol kicks in and i doze off. thanks to the forum, ive gotten some great info and im getting my ST just the way i want it. im still waiting around for my shocks to be available, and then get my rear lockers, and after that shes pretty much a done deal. here's chronicle of my ST from when i first got her to today;

this is the day after i brought it home. it was an XLT, only 68k miles, camper shell, tow hitch and brake controller all on it. the ford dealership was asking 13 and change, but after 2 hours of beating them down, i got it for 11500. there were only 2 ST's within 100 miles of me, this one that was clean and a 4WD xls that was pretty damn beat up and looked iffy. so i went with this one.

here's my power plant with the KN MAF intake

this is when put in fresh instrument lights

painted my trim white

before i painted the cladding from that drab gray

after i painted it

when i threw on my deal of the century black wheels on pro comp MT's (got the whole set for 200!)

this is how we are looking now

this is my local mountain biking spot. just over the hills are some greeat single track trails.

just thought id show my build since i know everyone likes pics. nothing too crazy, just basic stuff, i also have a maganflow exhaust, i just got my stubby antenna that looks great and the last two things i need are my shocks and my rear locker, (i decided to go with aussie lockers), and im still refinishing a set of centercaps that im going to put on the wheels to protect the hubs. after that im done! thanks to everyone who answered all my stupid questions and helped my get my ride just the way i wanted it. more pics to come, and ill document the aussie locker install when i finally do it. if anyone has ideas or suggestions for my ride im all ears, this forum is dope!

cheers!

 

[Sams01XplrSprt]

nice sport trac

 

[LONO100]

thanks, post some of yours and how shes looking like these days

 

[Blake A]

You stole my trac! Ha mine is a white 01 4x4 too. i have blacked out pro comp rims and new km2s.
Im really liking the painted grill. keep up the good work.

 

[Sams01XplrSprt]

lono i dont got a sport trac i just got the sport the 2 door model.

i dont got any recent pics of it. i have older pics of from like 3 yrs ago

 

[3rdGenExploder]

Nice! i wish i could get some procomps for 200! haha

 

[Sams01XplrSprt]

here r some pics of my 01 sport but they r hella old but tell me what you think of her.

I need to get some new ones eventually.

the pics were taking at my parents place when i was visiting the bay area & that cadillac deville next to my 01 sport used to be my 03 deville but i sold it to my mother.

 

[LONO100]

your sport looks pretty sweet, nice duals on the back. have you done anything to it since these pics?

and yeah, i guess white tracs just look bad ass with blacked out wheels! i love the way the black wheels blend in with the black cladding, and then on top along the bed you got the black liner and hooks and the black rails on the roof. there was a picute on google that i used as a model as to how i wanted mine to look.

thanks everybody, and thanks especially for all the info and great help.

 

[Sams01XplrSprt]

my friend wants me to put vht night shades on my 01 sport

 

[Schobanger]

any trouble with the open K&N filter and mud/sand at all? i was thinking of getting one to help with exhaust sound, and overall performance, but i am a mudder. what do you think would be best?

 

[LONO100]

im not a big mudder, i pretty much use my ride to get me places for camping, hiking, mountain biking and fishing. i know that they make bags for open air filters like the one on mine. the bags are supposed to be water proof and dirt proof

heres a link:
http://www.jcwhitney.com/hydro-shield-pre-filters/p2011144.jcwx?filterid=c2034d6554y2003o60j1

ive also seen some really cool CAI intakes made by VOLANT that have boxes. hope this helps!

 

[Pjibs]

Nice Trac!

 

[Pjibs]

What did you use to paint the bottom of the outter trim? (the black plastic that goes all the way around)

 

[LONO100]

pjibs, here's a link to a write up i did on painting the cladding on these ST's. all the info including the kind of paint and materials i used is on here. hope it helps.

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=315413

 

[LONO100]

thanks, i try to contribute to the forum as much as i can, this forum has given me a so much great info and knowledge.