supercharged 5.0 true fire 98 explorer sport

[GRNMACHINE]

Tim-sorry to hear about losses, been thru it, it will get better. Keepin busy helps and Evil looks better than ever (and I dont usually dig lowering SUV's)!!!

 

[vroomzoomboom]

Keepin busy helps

you have no idea how true that is! every time i have had something majorly go wrong in life, or something has picked away at me it seems like i have locked myself in a garage, and in the end have built something pretty wild! (or wild for up here, using what i have). thanks a lot!

well after walking out of the alignment shop, and almost dragging the asshat behind the counter outside for a tuning (you don't talk to a customer that has almost spent close to 3 grand in 8 months in the shop you work at the way he did to me), i took her for a real drive. i am sure going to have to cut the bump stops somewhat, that's for sure, but it is a major difference in handling, hands down! the only one problem is the steering wheel isn't centered. that's ok, i well get to visit mr asshat again next week......if he still has a job there.

but once again, evil praised by the lowered, and you can see her in these ones!

 

[vroomzoomboom]

ugh. this truck keeps reminding me why i named it evil. i was driving to a place to get a dent that i put in the hood. as i was going there i hear a wind whistle coming from the windshield. as i try to put my hand around the top corner of the a pillar......the windshield moved.....or came unsealed.....err, take a look



so ok, had to cut the windshield back out (and didn't break it neither) and redo it.

its been a few weeks now since i have lowered her, but haven't been able to drive it much (only put maybe 200kms or about 120 miles). i want to go for a run to corkey's place to see what happens (he lives about 3 hours away), because if i cant survive a drive to his place or evil, i wont be able to survive the drive to carlisle!

i had cut the bump stops when i did the windshield. made a big difference to, but when i hit a good bump, i still could hear a pretty loud "bang" from the back end. yesterday, i wanted to re torque the ubolts when i found this!

jon did a rush on that cover for me last year, and i put it on just for AFN last year, and decided it completed the truck from the back so i kept it on. well, a good amount of it got shaved off because of that now useless spare tire carrier.!!!!!!!

looks like i found what what banging in the rear of the truck.
MR. Sawsall to the rescue!

also looks like the tail pipe is hitting the diff as well.

if you look at the top part, it looks like its bare metal on the edge

oh well. if that's all the problems i will have from her being lowered, i will be happy.

 

[lynchy wa]

That spare holder could've ended up being nasty mate. Glad you got it sorted. That would of been one hell of a loud bang comming fro the back end!!! Doesn't look like your pipe need's to go to much higher to gain the clearance you need though, Bonus!

 

[corkey]

good thing it didn't shatter that diff cover allowing a rapid fluid loss,, \


good catch,,

 

[GRNMACHINE]

Yikes, Im guessing you wont even be able to see the paint scuff on the rear diff though since it is lowered.. Still love that truck!

 

[vroomzoomboom]

pete, no kidding. but i now know just how strong those suckers are! when you think of it, the weight of the entire back of the truck was hitting it. that thing must be at least a 1/4 inch thick. glad i didnt have the stock plastic one on, then again it prob would have cleared it.
grnmachine, not sure if you can or cant see it. havent really looked yet (dont want to either, it makes me want to cry after jon did such a nice job to it). also, i might be stopping at joe dirts place on my way to carlisle. if you can, stop in and meet up.

 

[GRNMACHINE]

Tim, didnt mean to minimize the damage at all-it would kill me also. Let me see what is kickin, what dates are you thinkin? I do love Holland this time of year.

 

[vroomzoomboom]

if i go before the show, it may be on the 29th or 30th. if not, im not sure when i am coming back. i was going to come back the day after the show, but plans are changing daily, lol

 

[Spas]

*Is suddenly feeling like a jerk* In my defense, it's been so long since I had Blackjack in one piece that I completely forgot to warn you that the exhaust will contact the axle at some point, and the tire carrier is a pain. Jack's carrier never rubbed on anything but I couldn't use the full size spare tire with the EE solid sway bar. My exhaust hit on the U-bolt plate, though.

 

[Brandon96]

Definitely likin' it lower! Though I've always thought the thing was saweet.

You may already be planning this, but I'll say it just in case... it might be worth your while to look up under there every now and then and check for diff fluid to make sure that impact didn't break the seal of the cover. A slow leak can turn bad real quick, ask me how I know hahah

 

[vroomzoomboom]

*Is suddenly feeling like a jerk* In my defense, it's been so long since I had Blackjack in one piece that I completely forgot to warn you that the exhaust will contact the axle at some point, and the tire carrier is a pain. Jack's carrier never rubbed on anything but I couldn't use the full size spare tire with the EE solid sway bar. My exhaust hit on the U-bolt plate, though.

no biggie lindsy. hell, for all the help you have given, along with tara, i would have been deathly afraid of lowering it. and your right, it still rides like stock only until you hit a MAJOR bump. besides, i was looking for a excuse to get rid of the stock pipe. evil my have to visit the flowmaster both at the show

 

[vroomzoomboom]

Definitely likin' it lower! Though I've always thought the thing was saweet.

You may already be planning this, but I'll say it just in case... it might be worth your while to look up under there every now and then and check for diff fluid to make sure that impact didn't break the seal of the cover. A slow leak can turn bad real quick, ask me how I know hahah

i have talked to jon tonight. the cover is coming off, and rushed down to him. he will make it a priority for me, and whip it back up so i have it fixed for the show. that man is also a life saver!!!!!!

 

[vroomzoomboom]

well here is my "little" up date. hope you like pics!

once again, i made it to the 2011 All Ford Nationals, held in Carlisle, PA.

one of the many times i had to stop and feed evil. cost to just get there? $400, ONE WAY. yes, i'm hardcore!

went for Chinese food with explorersport77 (cause i hadn't eaten it two days) only for me to pull this from my fortune cookie. it was so fitting!



next day evil got to visit her best friend (and wake up) hotness. she was surprised to see evil

naturaly, evil wanted a hug. why else would her doors be open.

so after that, i let tara take evil for a rip.

while driving, we found out how well evil could hang with a 4runner. not going into details, but it was funny. after all, i do trust tara with evil, and there are very few people that i trust with her. that and she has been a big help over the years with me making evil what she is today.

next came the show. happy that SuRrEaLNJ was there to guard the trucks!

then Spas had a little surprise for me. she (as well as a few other people knew about this) gave me a award for the most miles traveled. it was a BIG TIME surprise for me.

and what was it? mini evil. she had to put a ton of work into this thing, and even painted the switches blue as well as the gauges. love it lindsy, thank you very much. that really made my day.

also wanted to get a group shot of everyone by evil.

evil once again, sitting pretty with her best friend hotness at the show

and the ef crew with there trucks

the result of the show? hotness placed 3rd, while evil came in second.

the next day, we headed up to lindsy's to go four wheeling. well, i also let her have the controls (and free will) of evil. she to has helped a lot with evil, as well as jack has been apart of evil for the last few years. she is also another person that i trust with evil.

look at that grin!

i think (and hope) that letting her take evil for a rip lit a fire under her to get blackjack whole again.

i even remember her saying this
"we might get a little airborne going around this bump"
i don't know if she heard me say,
"well if that's the cause, we BETTER get airborne going around this bump!"

(look at the angle of the keys, and air stinker hanging from the mirror)

hope that ride made your day lindsy, you earned it.

next came the photo shoot. i am only going to post a few because there are too many that are good. these stand out a little more then the others. once again, thank you tara for all the great pics of evil, and evil with hotness.

this one is my wall paper on both my computer and phone

then came the day i had to start the drive home. thank you goodspice for letting me stay there (the kennel was very comfy) and tara for being a good hoist.

but i had to make one stop on the way home to meet.......

THIS GUY!

that's right people, the man, the myth, the legend, mr. joedirt! and what did he have waiting for me??

chocodiles, and dirt sandwiches! if your ever near, you MUST stop in for a sample......just make sure you don't have to lock yourself in your truck for a 17 hour dive home the next day. you might want to get out and run laps around it while doing 80 down the interstate. was great to joe. thanks again for letting me crash at your place!

and so the drive home from a great 2 weeks was almost over. it was fun, have some real great story's (how the hell did that food fight start again???) and memories. see you all again next year

......but the story doesn't end there. when i got back i had to make one more road trip, and this followed me home.



everyone that was at the show i let them in on this, so i will let it out here. for the last 4 years, YES 4 YEARS i have been hunting for a 98 5L explorer. they are common down in the u.s., but up here in canada, they are kind of rare to come by. when ever one came up, i was either broke, or they wanted or went for waaaaay to much money. 2 days before i left, one was coming up for auction, but i wouldn't be there to bid on it. so, i placed a bid online and prayed. i prob scared the hell out of tara and her coworkers when i found out my hunt had finally came to a end!

thats right! its mine, all mine! well, evils i guess. evil will be now getting a 5L! just in time to, because if my ears are correct, she now has the death rattle. not sure when i will start doing it, but it will be in by next afn for sure. i will keep the posts coming as i start to dive into this........MAWAHAHAHA!

 

[GRNMACHINE]

Tim,

Those pics are AWESOME!! I like the Mini Evil. I have a Mini Greenmachine too. Cant wait to see the 5.0 installed. My dream someday... Wish I could have met up with you and the Dirster. And again, phenomenal paint work with the Blue Flames, they really shine in those pics.

 

[lynchy wa]

Marvelous post mate and great pic's. Look's like a damn fine time, awesome.

 

[ExplorerSport77]

awww i loved all ur captions...

 

[vroomzoomboom]

^^^haha, i think evil even misses hotness. weird.

 

[Joe Dirt]

Well done! Tim- next time I'll let you eat one of the Porterhouse's...


Tara- those pics are amazing!

This one is as good as it gets- great stuff!

 

[sport97]

Looks like you had a great time. You definitely got a few great pics.