Life Story of a Lowered Explorer....

I've been on here a few weeks, and I just found you guys in this sub-forum.

I bought my White 1992 Explorer a few years ago from my sister. She inherited it from my aunt when she passed away. My aunt was the 2nd owner. When I was a teenager she used to drive me and my friends EVERYWHERE in the Explorer...My sister blew a HG, and overheated it. She bought another X, and parked this one at my moms house. It sat for 2 years while I asked her eveytime I saw her if I could have it. Finally she sold me THIS for $200:


Some time before I was finally able to buy it from her, the back window of her new Explorer was broken, and instead of buying a new one, she took the one from her old one, and just put a tarp over it. I took that pic before I started it up for the first time in 2 years. It started up after 20 seconds of cranking. Even with a blown head gasket, and cracked heads, I drove it home 1 mile away.

The wife and I cleaned the 2 years of moss, and nasty rain slime off the X. It took us about 3 hours to get it looking like this:


It was a BASE model 1992 Ford Explorer XL. Manual Transmission, Manual Windows, Manual Locks, No rear wiper, no rear window defrost, Cloth Seats, AM/FM radio, 3.27 Open Rear-end.

First things first, so I replaced the motor with a Junkyard motor with 70k on it.

Slowly I changed just about every single component on the Explorer...

In no particular order, here is rundown of what was done the Explorer over the next 3 years:

3" drop I-beams
2" Drop Coils
3" Drop Leafs
3" Drop Block
4" C-notch
Explorer Sport Gas Tank
Explorer Express Bumper Cover/Airdam
Shaved all 4 doors
Flipped T-handle & Shaved Rear Hatch
3.73 Posi Rear-end
Rear Disc Brake
Overhead Compass/Temp. Console
Power Windows
Sunroof
Suede Headliner
Leather Limited Explorer Bucket Seats
Leather Limited Explorer Rear Sears
Leather Limited Explorer Door Panels
Leather Limited Explorer Console Armrest
Limited Explorer Dash
Limited Explorer Headlight Trim
Limited Explorer Grille
Limited Fog Lamps
Diamond Headlamps
Diamond Corner Lamps
Diamond Turn Signals
Tinted Windows
Cal-Vue Mirrors
CanDo RollPan
Altezza Tail lights
Saleen Wheels F: 18x9, R: 18x10
New Clutch
New Flywheel
New Slave/TO Bearing
Hurst Shifter
iFab intake
5.0L MAF sensor
Intake Spacer
BBK ThrottleBody
2.5" Edelbrock RPM Muffler
ASP UnderDrive Pulley
200A Alternator
13" Cobra Front Brakes
Custom Hood (built by me)

And this is how it looked a few months back:


After putting down some decent numbers, I found the weakness in the set-up. Transmission. I went through 3 transmissions in 2.5 years. So I bought a 1997 Explorer w/ 5.0L...so I got rid of the 4.0L, and performance parts associated with it.

So the X is in the garage in the process of getting:
5.0L Motor
Tremec 5 Speed Transmission (haven't decided on T-5/3550/500/600)
2nd Gen Explorer Dash
2nd Gen Explorer Door Panels
2nd Gen Explorer Full Length Console
Full 2nd Gen Explorer Wiring Harness
Independant Rear Suspension

Ryan

i have allways loved your X, its very clean..i've gotton some ideas from you over the years...keep up the great work man! its sick and will be sicker soon

i plan to keep updated with your swap as its very interesting and much harder then the one i have ahead of me.

1badx

I love your truck!I have a 1994 that Im thinking of lowering and doing the saleen wheels on.What size tires are you running???

Front: 255/55-18 (Stock size on Saleen Explorers)
Rear: 285/50-18 (yeah...it's ALOT of rubber!)

285mm of rubber + 300 ft. lbs @ Crank + 4500lb SUV = 3 broken M5OD's in 2.5 years...


Ryan

Do you have any more pics of it??

I honestly have about 500+ pics of it. I am very good at documenting EVERYTHING I have done to it...



Ryan

Funny story about that last pic...

My wife took that pic of me while I was cutting the frame, and welding in the new C-notch...She made some comment like 'Let me get one last picture of you with all your fingers'....or something along those lines...

Well a couple years later, I was at home, working on the Explorer alone....And I ended up cutting off my thumb right at the nail with the Window Regulator...They sewed it back on. Now it looks, and works like normal again. I still have the regulator in the garage, hanging up on the wall...for now though...here are the X-rays from my thumb..



Ryan

And here are more pics of the hood, and me laying it out...





All my posted pics are hosted through ImageShack, and they are clickable thumbnails. Clicking on them will open the fullsize picture in a new window.

Ryan

That is one cool truck!I have three explorers at the moment.A 2000 2 wheel drive that I work out of,A 1991 4X4 with a straight axle sitting on 38.5s,and a 1994 2 wheel drive that I want to customize kinda like you did.Ive never seen a slammed explorer in my parts and Im all about being different and bucking the norm.Any advice??

Tub it....That's my advise!...I COULD go lower, but the body is the way....

I am also doing an Independant Rear Suspension.....That way I don't have to hack up the transmission tunnel.

Ryan

I have to admit I dont really like the idea of a lowered truck, but this one looks really sick!! Its cool because its not too lowered and everything else looks sick too!