HAHAHAHA this cracks me up! I remember my mom yelling at me when it was 11:00 pm and I was still in the garage with the skil saw building my sub box. I remember my Dad getting pissed because he could hear my stereo from 8 blocks away. I used to get grounded from my pull out stereo! (he would take it and hide it).
Now I'm almost 30 and I'm still getting it! I work with my dad everyday and he's always saying stuff like, "looks like you lifted your truck some more", or "You're gonna ruin that truck if you try to make it an automatic", oh and my favorite "You coulda bought a cadilac for the $$ you have in that truck!"
So get used to it, I havent lived at home for 12 years, or had my parents pay for any carpayment, mod, insurance, nothing and I still get grief. "Parents just dont understand".
Now the funny thing is they should have seen this coming! They are the one's who bought me the remote controlled dune buggys when I was little. It was only a natural progression to building a Bronco for 4x4ing....
Now my advise to you. Dont go inside and tell your mom you are going to remove the skid plates. She will never get it. Look at your other options to gain a few MPG first, exhaust, tune up, routine maintenence. Just like the kid who lives next door to me, went out and bought a bright red 88 Toyota MR2, sweet little car in great shape, spent $1100 for some 16" Konig rims and Nitto tires, Spent $1500 on his stereo, spent $$$ for a bra, blue headlights, sport seat covers, tinted windows, alarm, etc..all that stuff is great until the brakes go out because they needed pads 20K miles ago, or until the 130K mile exhaust system falls apart, etc...you get my point. I spent 6 years building my truck, the first thing I did was get it mechanically sound, who cares what it looks like!!! get it running right, get ahead of the maintenence, because those shiny rims and that 1200W stereo dont do you any good sitting in the Ford sevice department...
actually there is no reason to remove the skid plates, actually they help keep the frame rigid when cornering, they protect dry grass from catching fire from your exhaust, and they will save your butt if you hit a speed bump too hard with your lowered 4x4. Also I wouldnt be surprised to see your MPG go down when you removed the skid plates, they may also help the undercarriage airflow. Oh and if your dad catches you removing parts from your Explorer without his permission, just know that he's gonna get pissed and you are gonna get grounded. I see you are a smart kid, especially for 16, You are VERY lucky to be driving a 96 Ex, and it seems that you know that. SO just do yourself a favor, follow your parents advise, concentrate on other stuff besides making your Explorer the coolest one in the neighborhood, and just be careful. Dont go getting speeding tickets or driving like a little punk because one day you will wreck that Explorer and all those mods you made will go to waste. Being a good driver takes time and experience.
Dont get me wrong, I'm all for you using your hard earned money to fix up your truck, or for doing the cheap tricks like the throttle cable mod, but dont make the mistake (alot of kids do these days) of pouring all your $$ into it, pace yourself. Buy your GF some flowers instead, get your mom a nice card or something, and tell your dad how much you appriciate all their help and the fact that they let you drive THEIR 96 Explorer. For you (like me) are one of the lucky people in this world, we have nice homes, we have nice cars, we have opportunity and education, thats more then 99% of the people in this world will ever have. So if your dad yells at you for doing something he thinks is stupid, just take it in stride, you are not always going to see eye to eye. My dad and I rarely see eye to eye, but he is still the best TEACHER i ever had, especially when it comes to learning the value of a dollar.........
So good luck, keep us posted, be proud to drive such a sweet ride, treat it like a lady, and most important STAY OUT OF TROUBLE! it will pay off later in life....go straight to college after high school, dont buy a motorcycle, chew with your mouth closed, open the door for your girlfriend, blah, blah blah blah......I know I'm bored.
Oh and work your ass off for that $9 an hour, do the best job you can always, no questions asked.....
. Whoever said doing stuf like cleaning maf, iac, rotating tire... etc is good to save money and learn about it, i totally agree and i love it. the weird thing is.... my parents still want me to get tires rotated, oil changed... etc, somewhere else. they don't know how, so i don't know how apparently, i guess its just hard to explain some things to them. Anyways, after reading some of your life stories, you all had some good things to say. OMG you all have changed my life, you can die happy 
. Anyways, for those of you who build up muscle cars with your dad or what not.... i envy you like no other, i'd love to help my dad build up a car, sadly he isn't into cars much 
. anyays... thanks... somewhat, or something, for all the replies, i didn't expect this many, guess i opened on a hot subject for many of you
