What should I do to my mountaineer? | Ford Explorer Forums

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What should I do to my mountaineer?

Mowens

Member
Joined
May 9, 2010
Messages
29
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City, State
Columbus, Ohio
Year, Model & Trim Level
1998 Mountaineer AWD 5.0
Hey guys, new to the forum. Long time reader first time poster. I have a 98 Mountaineer. I love it. I want to make it more off-roady/ cool looking. Lightbar, possibly change the headlights, but basically I just want to turn heads. Thoughts? When I figure out how to attach the pictures, I will.
 



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1 vote for taking the crappy looking fender flares and definitely the side steps, if you have them, off.

To warn you, you'd be left with some body holes to plug... a lot of them. :rolleyes:
 






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one of the easiest things if you have the money is a body lift, and some bigger tires with nice looking wheels.
tinted/ euro style tail lights can also make a big difference.
also you could remove the running boards and get your front windows tinted (if its legal where you live).
 






Theres the upload.

What is a fender flare? :)

How do you fill the holes?

Does anyone know a good way to get brighter, nicer looking headlights?

Also, I accidentally broke the cigarette lighter, pushed it to far in. I dont even smoke!!! But it looks stupid. Is that an easy fix? The metal casing is just inside the dash!
 






How much is a lift kit? I read that was pretty stressful on older vehicles... I do want it to last a good long time. Is that true?
 






Your car doesn't have the fender flairs.

I suggest painting the chrome headlight panel thingy body color, but that's because I hate chrome :D
 






Good deal! Where does one buy everything mentioned above? Ebay?
 












How do you fill the holes?

You've got a lot of questions, the search option is going to be a good friend of yours. There's more info on this site than you could ever hope to read. :D

I think the best way to fill the holes you're asking about is with that expanding, hardening body foam, then sand flat and paint over with a strip of herculiner. User "MountaineerGreen" has done this perfectly (along with others). iI you run a search, you'll find a step-by-step.


Does anyone know a good way to get brighter, nicer looking headlights?

Brighter headlights - yours don't look fogged or anything, so I'm assuming you just want better bulbs. You can go with Sylvania Silverstar bulbs - which a lot of people have on the site - to give you a brighter, whiter light. If you're really looking for superbright, you may want to invest in an HID kit. Otherwise, there are diamond clear headlight housings you can buy on eBay that make a big difference.

Also, I accidentally broke the cigarette lighter, pushed it to far in. I dont even smoke!!! But it looks stupid. Is that an easy fix? The metal casing is just inside the dash!

The cig lighter should be an easy fix, you can pull the trim around the radio out and take a look to see what's wrong with it. Not hard to pop it back into place or order a replacement and solder it up.

How much is a lift kit? I read that was pretty stressful on older vehicles... I do want it to last a good long time. Is that true?

Lift kit will run ya about $200-300. I don't think it's a big deal on older vehicles. Plenty of guys have done it on their Explorers, myself included, and had no issues. I lifted mine when it was 9 years old and have had no issues in the 3-4 years since.
 






200- 300 dollars?! Thats it?! I was thinking by the way everyone was talking about it it would be several thousand.

I like. :) This is going to be fun. How does the car look lifted without bigger tires? The tires I have a brand new, it seems wasteful to but larger tires before they go out. What Gen is my truck? and what is TT?
 






Tortion Twist. :) I figured it out.
 






200- 300 dollars?! Thats it?! I was thinking by the way everyone was talking about it it would be several thousand.
Yep, body lifts are dirt cheap, but keep in mind that they're ONLY lifting the body. So the only clearance you're gaining is the clearance the larger tires give you. A lot of guys think they look ugly as hell as well. I can see that point, but I did not have the cash for a suspension lift kit (you're talking $1,000+ for THAT) and I went with a 3'' body lift with a TT and warrior shackles for mine.

I like. :) This is going to be fun. How does the car look lifted without bigger tires?

Goofy as hell.

The tires I have a brand new, it seems wasteful to but larger tires before they go out.

Sell 'em. :D

What Gen is my truck? and what is TT?

Your truck would be Generation II. Gen I would be 1991-1994, Gen II 1995-2001. You may also see Gen II broken down into Gen II A and Gen II B, A being 1995-1997 and B being 1998-2001, because of slight cosmetic changes.

Wikipedia actually breaks it down really well:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Explorer

Tortion Twist. :) I figured it out.

You're gettin' the hang of this search thing. :D
 






Thanks for all the help man, PS, love your truck. :)
 






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