My 1991 Explorer XL Is My Frankenstein

[FarmageddonNRO]

So I have had my 91 now for like 6 years, it started out as a work and fishing rig. It's been all over the US and it has proved to be a reliable SOB, excluding a few minor general problems along the way. This was a one owner truck when I got my hands on it, it had like 90k on it. It was tan then, interior door handles falling off, rust starting, cracked window, etc. I decided on a whim to paint it with an airless Graco House Sprayer, with a fine finish tip. I laid down some flat OD paint on it and it's really lasted for 3 years with no problems. But it's time to upgrade and strip it all off and lay down some real paint soon. I am going through this truck from bumper to bumper, replacing everything and anything I can get my hands on to make this sucker better than new.

I decided to scrap the idea of replacing the original interior door handles with fabricated wood handles to match, stained and polyurethaned. I'm ripping all the carpet out, I'm either gonna Rhinoline the floor or lay some heavy duty carpet down. Taking out the stock seats and headliner, looking for captains seats, gonna have a good friend upholster them with military grade canvas including the headliner. I built a lightweight but strong wood roof rack that is currently installed now. Gonna throw a 2-3 inch lift on it, replace all suspension, steering and drivetrain parts with high quality replacements. I wanna throw a Power Master Alternator in it, a high grade battery, a bumper bar, fog lights, etc. It will be a beast when it's all done, looking forward to transforming this semi-stock truck into a lean mean gravel eatin' machine!

So far I have done a fair share of under the hood work to Larry, that's his name, and it's going well. I think the body style of this truck was the last of it's kind, nice lines, still looks like a truck. I'm all about preserving this early model explorer and trading in any plastic parts for custom wood or metal replacements and making it what the factory should have. I'm sure there a handful of folks out there who feel the same way. If you have any stories or photo's to share of your truck, things you wanna do, advice, shoot fire!

 

[Roadrunner777]

That's pretty much where I am at... got mine last year, and it was a bit of a panic buy because my car was in the final stages of head gasket failure. I saw the explorer on craigslist and after a good long test drive, I was hooked.

I like the truck styling, non-integrated bumpers, huge turn signals, etc... I have a Sport 2-door and while it seems big on the inside (I LOVE the wide armrest and the legroom), it is small on the outside. It fits easily in a parking space and has a nice tight turning radius. All the gauges are there, including a functional oil pressure gauge, thanks to this forum.

Well, I could write a lot more, but one more thing stands out. A major plus is this forum. The experience and advice here are very important to me, for reasons I guess everyone already understands.

I plan to have this truck for a long time to come. You know what kind of fanantic I have turned into? I am currently collecting and hording Motorcraft AWSF42PP spark plugs so I will never have to run anything else.

Certifiable, thats me!

 

[mr cribb]

I traded in my 94 ranger single cab 5 speed with 235k straight across for a 92 Explorer on Dec 16 2010, from a car lot that dealt with mostly DUI impounds. I was stationed in NC and evidently this previous owner got his 3rd one(DUI) and lost his truck. I was instantly hooked when I saw the stick shift pokin through the floor. 4 door 2wd and a 5 speed. I noticed an antifreeze smell and determined the water pump was leaking and got the car lot to change it before my acquisition. I also ran into a no heat situation, and from the advice on here I replaced the heater core two days later.

The odometer read 94k... after the thanks to this site I found the comment of to tell mileage look at the plastic on the clutch pedal... It was kinda worn so I assumed this was 194k. Two weeks later I ran an autocheck vehicle report found out it was a 1 owner with two mileage reports one for 52k and one for 114k thanks to state inspection records. I replaced my speedometer w/ one from a 94 in the JY with a 6 digit odometer. I did try the whole cluster but the fuel/alt/temp gauges were way off track so I just used the speedometer part. Just turned 203k last weekend.

Mine was built as an XL the only options from factory was a cassette player and cruise control, no rear defogger. The door panels were trashed and while searching how to fix it on here Foxracin got a hold of me told me he had a free set of power doors from his parts truck which was a 91 EB. My front bench seat had the typical broken armrest as well. I drove out the 2.5 hr drive to Charlotte NC and met up with Foxracin and swapped stuff out, by the time the day was through I bought his interior from his parts truck. For $60 I left with damn near pristine full EB interior.

Before leaving NC to my new duty station (Ft. Campbell, KY), I replaced the radiator and hoses, and changed the plugs and wires. I am pretty sure I pulled off the factory wires at 195k, I put new motorcraft plugs and wires back in it.

My paint was hideous and the wife was kinda (ok a lot PO'd) about my trade, but she's okay with it now. The paint was multi shades of faded red and looked like it was put on with a paint brush in some spots. After the door swap I had brown and tan doors and rest of an ugly red truck. I searched craigslist and found a 94 Limited model being parted out for a bad trans, so I got the fog light bumper, fog light switch, and aftermarket taillights that were on it for $60. The bumper was green.... the process began with my spray paint job. She's now flat black, still kinda looks bad but it's down to one color .

I'm working on finishing the interior color change to tan because the main dash it still gray. At that time I will finally install a CD player to replace the tape player.

All I need to finish out the interior is a headliner, my fabric is non existent.

Future mods:
I have the wife okaying a Gen2 full console swap (I like the cup holder positions for my 5 speed); Gen 2 teardrop wheels; Receiver hitch; New paint.

Contemplating installing the rear defogger glass and wire it up to the factory switch, and also considering the puddle light mirrors from a gen 2, and maybe if I'm feeling froggy the overhead compass/ temp gauge.

I call my truck Personality Disorder with all the different trim lines I've used.

Thanks for letting me share my story.

 

[FarmageddonNRO]

Wow, that's an awesome story! Thanks for sharing, both of you. For some reason I just can't envision letting go of my truck, through good times and bad it has treated me well. We have been through a lot, and my 91 has never let me down, in times when it probably should have! So I feel that I owe it to my truck to just clean it up from bumper to bumper. I would rather own a vehicle that I know what has been done to it, and it's even better when you do the work yourself. Keep me posted on the progress of your trucks. I really want to put fog light in, but I think I'm gonna opt for 2 or 3 on a grill guard. I'm having some fuel related issues right now I'm trying to figure out that are driving me nuts, I'm gonna start by replacing the filter and pump relay, see how that goes. I'm sure it needs a new pump, so I will probably end up replacing that too. Cheers again on the stories!

 

[Roadrunner777]

The lower you can get your fog lights, the better you will be. I took off my front bumper valence and that opened up a bracket across the bottom of the radiator support, lots of mounting options.

I am currently doing a dry run to ball joint replacement... a good chance to inspect bearings and replace some worn out grease.

 

[FarmageddonNRO]

Keep me posted on how your ball joint replacement goes, I'm pretty confident that I can tackle this without to many headaches, but it would be cool to hear how your experience is. Cool on the fog lights!