Sport5spd4x4
Active Member
- Joined
- December 22, 2010
- Messages
- 62
- Reaction score
- 1
- City, State
- Seal Beach
- Year, Model & Trim Level
- 1993 Exp Sport 5-spd 4x4
Now it's official.
I have a 1993 Sport 4x4; just upgraded from a power-nothing '94 2.3L Ranger. It has 186k on it, but it's been mechanically taken care of-- can't say so much for the truck cosmetically, though.
These pics were taken about 5 days ago, since then the truck got lightly t-boned on the driver's side, putting a dent in my driver's side door and quarter panel. It's too embarassing to post, because as you can see, this truck was STRAIGHT before that.
Plans for the truck are a brush guard from an 80's Ranger that once was on the front of mine (currently chrome, it'll be resprayed matte black), a set of black tail light guards (need these), LED tail lamp bulbs, diamond clear/clearcorner headlamp assemblies (black, and I'm not going to run the white LEDs, those look dumb), going to run overhead lighting on the roof rack bar or a suitable light bar (already have 4 square lights), off-road capable tires (these michelin ltx's aren't cuttin it) and getting my auto hubs working or installing milemarkers. And last on the list is a rear disc conversion.
In February, she'll be getting repainted Hunter Green or some other similar deep, darker green shade. I'm going to retain the black Sport moldings and rock a subtle green and black look, and I'm leaving the wheels in their natural machined finish. I may paint the center caps that shroud the hubs black, the chrome doesn't look salvageable on them.
My Explorer's not perfect, she has her flaws.
I've got that bigass dent in my door right now for one,
My automatic front hubs aren't working (though the other 4wd parts are)
My passenger side window motor is bad, and I don't know how to remove it so that I can change it.
The driver's side window won't roll down now either, getting hit the other day must've messed up the window track.
The interior is dirty (but all there) and the headliner is a shredded mess.
The gas gauge doesn't work (found the link to cut the access panel)
There's some strange electrical issue where it thinks high beams are on all the time and the dome lamps and door panel lamps are always on and never want to shut off. It took me a bit to figure out why all of the bulbs had been removed.
The muffler needs to be replaced completely.
All in all though, she's very strong and much more vehicle for my money.
I test drove this Explorer at lunch time, decided to sell my Ranger that day and had it up on craigslist by 4:00pm, had the Ranger sold by 7:30pm and had my new Explorer in my driveway by 10 that night.
I sold my Ranger with 103k on it for $1000
To put it into perspective:
The Ranger had no Power Steering.
The Ranger was 2wd with an open diff.
The Ranger had no power windows.
The Ranger had no AC.
The Ranger had a heater that once turned on, could not be turned off without popping the glovebox and manually resetting the blend door.
I figured a barebones truck would have very little to actually go wrong with it. I bought it a year ago for $1000 and sold it in far better shape for the same money.
When I sold it, it was still wearing the shell, overhead lighting and the San Diego Beach Patrol bumpers I fitted it with along with the 17" lincoln aviator wheels. During the year I had it, I I chose to sell those with the Ranger because 17" truck tires cost a damn fortune and the offset was all wrong.
I did also get it stuck in mud when I discovered that my auto locking hubs weren't working and had to get winched out (set me back $250
).Since I bought it last week, I've already replaced the sunvisors, the tailgate trim, installed HIDs, polished the rims to their original machined luster, cleaned the interior, repaired both driver and passenger side door panels (replaced every last one of those effing plastic rivets on both of them) and replaced the glovebox and rear washer tank/4wd module/jack cover panel.
Thus far, I know this about my Explorer:
It has been maintained with newer brakes, tires and diff fluids. The Electronic Shift motor and transaxle seem to be working in great order. Several of the major bushings on the Explorer have been replaced with what look like red polyurethane bushings, most likely from Energy. The suspension is good and rides pretty nicely, though I can't really figure out what brand the shocks are.
It came already equipped with an ipod interface Pioneer Head unit and the speakers were all replaced with Pioneers (as I discovered after pulling the door panels)
It is a 3-owner car and was owned by someone who cared enough to buy the extended service plan (found the owner's manual, extended service card and everything with even the EXPLORER pen still in place!) and kept receipts for work on it. I think it spent its life outdoors in Riverside because the 2nd owner had it there, there's no rust, but there's brown dust everywhere and though the body is straight there was some "desert pinstriping", haha. Then after that it was on a ranch in Temecula. And now it's here in Seal Beach, with me.
I want to get the 4wd system in good order in time for this weekend, my friend just invited my girlfriend and I up to his cabin in Arrowhead day after x-mas.
About me:
I'm 25, long time gear head and first time 4x4 owner. I come from a Ford family, granddad worked as a draftsman and tinsmith at the Terminal Island Ford plant building Thunderbirds and most of my vehicles have been Fords, and my family's entire current fleet is Ford.
I currently own a 1996 Thunderbird LX (heavily upgraded, Nascar body components and a NPI 4.6L that done blow'd up. With the motor on its last legs when I got the trans tuned, it churned out 197rwhp and then let go that night when I pushed it too hard on the freeway. This 'bird needs a new front main seal and PI heads at the very least. I'm told that with the PI heads and my current tune and other supporting upgrades, I should be close to the goal of 250rwhp. The car's built to go cup-car speeds, thanks to fatttt tires, functional 55* spoiler and Nascar aero-bumper along with modified xenon ground effects to complete the skirting. This is my 3rd MN12 Thunderbird and I post as the_ghost on tccoa.com and sccoa.com ; the previous was a 95 LX 4.6L, and before that a 1990 Thunderbird SuperCoupe 5-Speed 3.8L Supercharged.
Other vehicles in the stable:
1995 Ford Thunderbird LX 4.6L SOHC - Low Mileage nice daily driver, upgraded with Sport brakes, suspension and wheels
2004 Ford Mustang 3.9L Split-Port
2000 Ford Windstar 3.8L Split-Port
Ironically, despite being a Ford guy, I work for Class1c 1ndustri3s, handling their PR, writing ad copy and generally selling stuff. If you're not familiar, it is a mail-order restoration parts company catering specifically to all generations of Camaro, Firebird, Chevy/GMC trucks, Nova/X-body, Impala/B-body and 1960-76 Mopar A, B and E-Body. What's funny is that noone drives a Camaro to work but there are at least 10 Mustangs, at least 5 of which are fox-bodies. We'll be offering parts for 1965-73 Mustang soon, so no hate on the Chevy thing, but if you need parts, you know who to ask.
I'm local to Seal Beach / Huntington Beach and am generally willing to drive anywhere within the LA, San Bernadino or Orange Counties to hang out, get parts, help out with a repair or hit a meet.
Thanks for having me on EF!
-Sport5spd
