What did YOU do to your Explorer today?

[rgjusa]

Well I didn't really do anything myself apart from sending a few emails, and paying for something online - but I cannot tell you how pleased I am.

Given the current reality, I am about 5368 miles away from my 92 EB with 246,000 on the clock. It lives in CA, I am currently unable to travel to the US of course and I am in England. So, sod's law says that this is the year of the smog test. I don't like having to ask favours of people even though I have a bunch of good friends over there and we would all do almost anything for each other (no Alan, I'm not doing that! ) but there was something in me that did not want to pay DMV an extra cent - mainly because it never seems to improve the DMV experience in the 20 years I have been donating to that particular charity.

So, smog test is a stressful time for me anyway (nowhere near as stressful as the yearly MOT test cars > 3 years old have to endure here I might add!) but that whole experience from the moment I turn up and see the other anxious faces there, from the moment the form is thrust into my hand to fill in, until they take it away to be tested, I can feel my blood pressure visibly rising. I pace about as I cannot sit still and keep thinking "is this the year, how much will it cost to fix it, shall I just donate it, will it be mad at me if I scrap it?" and all those other logical thoughts! I think of all the fun times I had/have with it, all the adventures we have had with it, and even the fixing that I had to do on it. It really would be like losing an old friend. Heck, I have known her longer than my daughter!

Well this time I had to go through all of that from afar and I thought that it would be easier because I had asked a mate to go and do it, had arranged the spare key (when it was eventually found in the safe place they had put it and the last place they looked after 3 days of searching) and DMV renewal form to be ready for him so he could take it. Job jobbed. Then the thought dawned on me that I did not know when it would be taken to be smogged but knew that it would be done before June 8th, D-Day for her. Now my friend that I got to take is probably one of the nicest people on the planet and is so laid back he is almost horizontal, and I have never known anything faze him so he really was the ideal person to ask. Plus I said I will take him for sushi next time I am in town. Sorted.

And then I realized a teensy weensy little flaw in my plan - the radio silence he maintained up until he had got back from the test left me in a worse state! I did not want to ask him "have you taken it yet, when are you taking it, call me" because he was doing me a favour and has a life to lead too. It was more bloody stressful than taking the thing myself I realised!

You really can't make this up I thought. I do not know why I get like this because in all other aspects of dealing with, ahem, adversity aka life, I am absolutely fine. It's bloody cars where I get like this, and only cars. There are some deep rooted psychological flaws there I am sure. That or I am just weird. They say if you look around and can't see a weirdo then it must be you, well I had a good look around and could not see one so I guess it is me.

And then I got a WhatsApp from him. I thought shall I open it or not, shall I have a beer or more before I do to prepare myself, or shall I just leap in? Ok, deep breath, can't stand the suspense any longer and.....PASSED. The weight of the world was off of me. Never before have I been so happy to donate my hard-earned to DMV and I trust they will use it wisely. I didn't even moan about the service fee for having the temerity to use a credit card for the transaction! Well, not as much as normal anyway.

So, that's that. Put a date in your diary for about this time in 2022! Rinse and repeat.

 

[Flashflood]

Got my 4 wheel drive working again with a nicer 94 style push button I also had to change out some bulbs in her to because wonderful rear abs light went out while out to store. Also finally got my 4x4 dummy lights working correctly.

 

[allmyEXes]

Wednesday the 17th I slid up under my zero rust, oil preserved 329,923 miles plum colored '94 Explorer "Betsy". The old original starter had gotten so bad that the hammer tap trick would no longer work. I found a starter out of the red '91 laying on the floor board that PO had put there as he dismantled it. I was glad to find it because new ones aren't cheap at all. Between the oil the leaky valve covers and PS fluid leaking and coating the bottom, no rust can form. I wish that the dollar spray carwash had a lift to pick it up with and clean the bottom some. The replacement used starter has worked about 12 healthy times now. At first I thought that I was having battery issues!
Valve cover gaskets install is in the near future.

 

[Danil_Siberia]

Last to weeks a have to overhaul the drop box BW4405, and now it working). Next time I think transmission and engine is on the line !

 

[kmack]

I rebuilt my front suspension this past weekend...

Went from this...

To this...

Replaced with new:
- front springs
- radius arm bushings
- shocks
- sway bar end link bushings
- rear shocks

Also installed a budget boost to help level the front end some (because of the heavy replacement bumper).
3/4" x 4" diameter solid brass rings (happened to have these laying around the garage - balance weights from some engine testing decades ago)

The suspension still needs to settle a bit and then a full alignment. But initial measurements said the springs and spacers raised the front up almost 2". Springs alone helped with the difference in sag from passenger to driver sides (almost 5/8").

Front shocks were completely shot and looked original. Rear shocks had definitely been replaced at some point. Radius arm bushings were bad and allowing a bit of metal-to-metal contact (although you could not hear it). Wasn't too bad getting the radius arm-to-axle beam bolts out. Total time was about 5 hrs, including a slight learning curve.

 

[massacre]

Those locking collars are a great idea
nice work everything looks great

 

[1sicbronconut]

Swapped in a manual transfer case and power sport seats last Saturday.

 

[kmack]

Those locking collars are a great idea nice work everything looks great

Thanks!
The brass collars were an "at-the-moment" kind of thing. I was going to use just regular washers, which I have, but they ended up with too small of an ID. Then I remembered the collars. I have 6 of them (well, 4 left). ID on the collars was 1.5" so that allows them to center on the spring stud pretty easily. Allen head cap screw bolts hold the two halves together, each from the opposite side (balance thing...).

They were from a 3.1L Chevy V6 engine that was being used for torque-loss testing way back in the early 90's (my part-time job during college). They were balance weights used to simulate the weight of pistons, rings, wrist-pins, rods while spinning just the crankshaft in the engine. In case anybody was wondering...

 

[Exploring XLT]

Installed a second stock trans cooler in parallel!

 

[Travisfab]

Sound Deadener!

 

[BKennedy]

I did the entire floor, cargo area and inside the rear quarters with Kilmat and Silles, both 50mil. It dropped the volume of road noise and the sound of my 35" Maxxis Razr's down about 50%. If you open the box and let it sit a few days the tar like smell goes away.

 

[CreepingNet]

Repainted my hubcaps (chrome was peeling off big time) matte black and gave er' a wash.

 

[kmack]

Replaced my old yellowing headlights this past weekend with some clean/clear ones from RockAuto. Made a pretty significant difference.
Also polished up my turn signal lenses and plastic chrome trim/grill while I had it all apart.

Old look on the left, new look on the right...

Funny how the only "nice and shiny" bits on the truck are hidden behind that big bumper!

FYI, I love this bumper, but it is a royal PITA to get the headlights out with it in place. The lower turn signal/trim will pop off like it's supposed to, but you can't pull it all the way out and off. So it sits in the way of the two outer-most bolts that hold the headlight housing in. Gives you only about 1.5" of room to get at those bolts. And no I won't sell the bumper to make it easier to get the lights out!
Such is my life...

 

[damnford]

eve

Replaced my old yellowing headlights this past weekend with some clean/clear ones from RockAuto. Made a pretty significant difference.
Also polished up my turn signal lenses and plastic chrome trim/grill while I had it all apart.

Old look on the left, new look on the right...

View attachment 319735

Funny how the only "nice and shiny" bits on the truck are hidden behind that big bumper!

View attachment 319736

FYI, I love this bumper, but it is a royal PITA to get the headlights out with it in place. The lower turn signal/trim will pop off like it's supposed to, but you can't pull it all the way out and off. So it sits in the way of the two outer-most bolts that hold the headlight housing in. Gives you only about 1.5" of room to get at those bolts. And no I won't sell the bumper to make it easier to get the lights out!
Such is my life...

everything works now except the fuel pump and the rear wiper

 

[Entropy]

Replaced the front shocks ... Nut seized on the threads so I had to hacksaw it off, proud of myself.
I started to do the rear shocks, but the lower rear mount bolts are rusted to the inner sleeve of the current shocks. I ordered new mounting plates because I think that will be easier than trying to cut those bolts out, going to replace them with Grade 8's.

I also did the throttle cable mod and Oh. My. God. The difference is night and day - I used to have to push the accelerator all the way to the floor to get it to go past 70, I can hit 75 and still have room to go.

Next up is building a custom snorkel with an in-line filter to make a true CAI. I would absolutely love it if someone has pictures of their snorkel set up and where they cut through the body. Debating on routing it to the driver's side (there's a ton of real estate there) and after eliminating the air box, adding in a second battery.

 

[dcgerard]

I got a farm jack about a month ago. Took it apart and painted it up over the next few weeks when I had time. Paited it to match my 92. Finally got it back together and mounted on the roof.

 

[BKennedy]

I like the jack. One thing to keep an eye on with the way its mounted. Those roof railings seem to want to pull away from the sheet metal with a heavy object like a Hi-Lift up there for a long time. The jarring causes the roof sheet metal to wiggle, which loosens the screws, which causes the nut inserts to pull out or the roof sheet metal.

That is a very clean Explorer

 

[dcgerard]

To be honest the rails running front to back seem great. I'm more worried about the track beams. The rear one can flex a little after being in the sun heating up. But I'm definitely keeping a close eye on all of it.

 

[dcgerard]

Been busy. Just threw a second trans cooler on the truck today with nylon spacers so they have a nice gap between them. I put one right in front of the other with longer bolts. I know how sensitive these a4ld trannys can be, so I want to keep them as cool as possible. I'm in norcal so our summers are 110F degrees plus every year.

 

[Travisfab]

Been busy. Just threw a second trans cooler on the truck today with nylon spacers so they have a nice gap between them. I put one right in front of the other with longer bolts. I know how sensitive these a4ld trannys can be, so I want to keep them as cool as possible. I'm in norcal so our summers are 110F degrees plus every year.

Did you do a second stock cooler? Post some pics.