New to the forum / New Fullsize Ford

[Poohbair]

Hi

My name is Poohbair (hope the attached pics work)

I am new to the forum (well, been lurking for a while). I have had multiple different vehicles over the years. Isold my built 4Runner last summer, so I didn't really have a huge use for my 91 K2500HD w/ a 454/4spd... so I recently sold that and was looking for something that I could tow my boat with, my trailer w/ stuff on it, haul my wife and 3 kids and a dog, get reasonable fuel mileage, be comfortable, and be a good camping / adventure vehicle. I was looking an several suburbans, but most of them were beat to ****.

A few days ago I found this 97 Expo w/ a 5.4. I picked it up CHEAP.. it has a miss, and needs tires.. pulling codes for missfire on cyl 3 and cyl 5. I figure it needs plugs, and maybe a few coil packs... no biggie... less than $400 to have the shop do it all (I am not doing plugs on a 5.4:costumed-smiley-007)

Anyways, I would like to find a winch mount, some more aggressive tires (maybe a touch bigger), loose the runningboards and add some sliders, and maybe a different rear bumper, and potentially a roof rack. Nothing hard core, I had that, and am more just looking for a nice family drive in the hills exploring some new areas.


This is me.... Yes, golfing barefoot in bibs...

Here is the Expo...

This is my injected 5.0 5spd Cougar

This was my last wheelin rig / play toy...

Anyways, that is my introduction to this forum :gunt:

 

[Saiyan66]

Welcome. Looks like you are no stranger to wheeling, so I look forward to seeing what you do with the Expedition. How far did you guys end up going on that snow trip in the pictures?

 

[98dango]

Howdy

 

[Poohbair]

Welcome. Looks like you are no stranger to wheeling, so I look forward to seeing what you do with the Expedition. How far did you guys end up going on that snow trip in the pictures?

I cant remember EVER having to stop in the Runner because the snow was too deep... between the Pitbulls and the winch it pretty much went where I wanted it to... it was wayyyyy over the hood multiple times. On that trip, we didn't go much furhter than the pic because the Jeep with us kept breaking.

 

[Poohbair]

Hoping to not do TOOOOO much w/ the Expo so that it can still be a very street friendly rig... and my wife already asked "Honey, please don't fawk with it... "

We will see...

:costumed-smiley-007

 

[Poohbair]

Here is a few other pics of the Runner in various stages of her life with me

Back when she was on 35's and VERY straight

And I found one of the 5.0 in the Cougar

I figure other gear heads always like to look at pics of other peoples stuff... Hoping to get the Cougar out of storage soon if the weather gets better, then she is getting new rear suspension, and a disc break 8.8 w/ a factory trac-loc and 4.10s... should be a hell of an upgrade from the current 2.73 1 legger



:costumed-smiley-007

 

[lllateralus]

Welcome to the forum. The Expedition is a good truck to take the family and all your crap to some very remote places. We had a 99 5.4 4X4, and it took my kids and I all over northern Arizona chasing freight trains. I took great care of it, and it took great care of us. It never broke, Never ever left us stranded, never got stuck with the 8.8 Limited slip working very well, and always got us home. Sold it with 120K miles and the original engine and tranny were in GREAT condition. (changed plugs, serpentine belt, fuel filter, tranny fluid every 20K miles, etc)
Ours was all leather, we put in a DVD/Nav system to keep the kids happy with movies traveling from CA to AZ and vise versa, and that thing worked its ***** off for us often. It was a GREAT truck.

 

[Poohbair]

I like yours w/ that little lift and bigger tires! Are those a 315/70R17?

 

[BCHauler]

I think that generation of Expedition is a very overlooked platform. I have one on my list for a family adventure truck.

 

[lllateralus]

It was an excellent platform for what we did with it. Those tires were 305-70/17's. Here (below) are a couple pictures from when I did run the 315's. They just robbed too much power.

 

[Poohbair]

I wish my Expo was ANY color other than black... I had a beautiful black 95 Bronco for a while... what a nightmare. Oh well, when a deal is a deal, I cant be picky about the color.

I was going to take it to the shop and have the plugs/boots/and a few coil packs done...

Today I was at NAPA and I can get 2 coil packs, 8 NGK plugs, and 8 plug boots for ~$170 bucks... I think I will give it a whirl and save myself the $250 that the shop wants for labor. Shouldn't take more than a few hours

 

[Poohbair]

Worked on the Expo for an hour or 2 tonight with TJ... got it all torn apart.. not nearly as bad as everyone makes it out to be. Hope to get all new plugs, boots, and 2 coil packs in town tomorrow and get it put back together.

Oh, and found 1 broken injector on cyl #1... so I hope to find a new injector too... The broken one still works (apparently) but I am not putting this back together with a broken injector

 

[Poohbair]

She is all buttoned up and seems to run just fine.. makes me feel better about bringing a rig home that runs like ****! Replaced all plugs w/ NGK Iridium units, all new plug boots, 2 new coil packs, 1 new injector, and a fresh oil change and air filter. Then she got a rub job, and a fresh wax job. Big thanks to TJMP111 for coming and helping me with working on this...!!!

Not sure what the big deal is... doing plugs on this isn't THAT big of a deal. Its not a party by any means, but it isn't as nightmarish as people make it out to be. That said, I would be perfectly happy if I don't have to do it again

 

[joecrotch]

Nice expy! I was the same read al the info about the supposed plug nightmare. But it wasn't half as bad as I thought it was gonna be. Are you planning on bumpers? I still cant find any designs I like( was gonna copy a design). As soon as I take out a second mortgage for the price of metal these days I will start fabbing something up. Good luck with the build!

 

[Poohbair]

I don't see ******** out there for these for bumpers ... One for $2000 bucks ... That is more that I paid for the vehicle! I may eventually fab a rear bumper with some storage options. It looks like warn makes a hidden winch mount for the front ... Might leave the bumper stock and add one of those with an M8000 down the road?