All of our projects in the past were mainly focused on the audio and video portions of the car. This project was not much different. Thus far not much work had gone into the engine of the Explorer. Now in saying that Jeff and Reuben both laugh as there is still more work done to this engine then most people will do in a lifetime to theirs. The first modification we did to the engine was to help it breath a bit better. We installed a K&N Cold Air Filter Charger.
From there it only seemed logical to tear out the factory exhaust system and replace it with a new custom system. Hot Rod Scotts from Mississauga, Ontario helped us out with this task. This custom system started at the mouth with two JBA Silver Ceramic Coated headers. From there we created a true duel exhaust system by using 3” stainless steel piping all the back to 2 mufflers at the rear of the car. We finished off the exhaust system by adding two 6” oval chromed tips.
Jet Performance supplied us with a performance chip to help us gain easy bolt on horse power. 5 Batteries were added to the charging system to help accommodate all the new electronics that were scheduled to be installed.
To give the engine a little extra horse power we decided to add in a Sneaky Pete NOS single shot kit. The bottle is conveniently mounted underneath the dash for easy access.
The engine hood was modified so that it could be motorized with a wireless remote. Operators can now control the opening and closing of the engine hood from afar. The underside of the hood was dressed up with an 1/8” aluminum cut of “Project Gotham” that is back lit with blue neon.
Stock rims were upgraded to Rozzi Switch 24” Chrome Rims. These rims very generously donated by Complete Wheel Source. The rims were mounted with Pirelli P Zero Nero tires 275 / 25/ 24 tires. Automotive Import Mart did a great job installing this package on the truck.
We wanted to modify the rims and make them light up with a blue accent to match the rest of the truck. We contacted Unique Visions to handle this project. Together we came up with a Plexiglas and LED solution that truly sets these rims apart from anything else on the market.
To dress up the wheels cross drilled and slotted rotors were added from Amico and installed by Simply Automotive in Markham, Ontario.
BODY MODIFCATIONS:
We knew it was time to start dressing up the outside of the Explorer. From the factory The Explorer was a two tone blue and silver. Although we really liked the color combo and lines of the vehicle we knew in order for it to stand out we had to change it. The first area that was addressed was the orange corner turn signals. Jeff felt that the orange indicators just weren’t working with the design of the car. He replaced them with aftermarket clear corners with super white bulbs to better match the front headlights. We then installed an HID conversion kit from xeondepot to improve visibility and the appearance of the vehicle at night. A signature item on the Ford Explorer is the front grill. Trendz provided us with an impressive billet grill to replace the factory plastic one from Ford. This really helped give it a mean look when staring at the vehicle head on.
The side of the vehicle was looking a little naked. Jeff commented that he always liked the side markers on the BMW’s but wanted to be different. Everyone seemed to be adding those to their car. A light bulb went off when BMW released the Mini Cooper S. Jeff went to look at one in the show room and was immediately drawn to the flashy side markers that come stock on the S model. Jeff called up Reuben to ask his opinion. Reuben thought he was nuts. That didn’t stop Jeff and sure enough the next day they were ordered. Who would of ever thought .. Mini Cooper S side markers on a Ford Explorer… Jeff! To this day those are one of the most questioned items on the car.
What would body modifications be without a little shaving. Ford Explorers come stock with the AM/FM radio on the front passenger aluminum fender. It is quite the eye sore to look at. We removed the antenna, filled the hole with aluminum, smoothed it out and presto.. antenna gone. The next item to shave was the rear door handles. Shaving the rear door handles was done for two reasons. First off they protruded so far from the vehicle that it took away from the fluid lines of the car. Secondly they were right in the middle of our canvas that we were going to airbrush on. At the same time we cleaned up the roof by removing the roof racks that came with the vehicles. Once the racks were removed we had to fill the holes with bondo, sand and prep for paint. Removing the roof racks helped give the car a sleeker more low profile appearance.
Now that the easy stuff was done it was time for the hard stuff. Jeff realized that in order to really make a statement the car needed a beefy body kit. After many hours researching we found out that there were no bolt on kits for the truck. This could only mean were were stuck doing one thing… custom. Jeff and Reuben contacted John Paul of Klear Customs to help out with this part of the project. We decided to tackle the front bumper first. After sitting down and going over numerous designs we came to the conclusion that the final design had to have 3 key design elements. First off due to the Explorer being a truck we wanted a really big over powering spot for 7” fog light. Secondly we wanted a big opening in the lower grill which would later be the home for 4 6” Innovatek IN-600A TV’s. Thirdly we wanted to give the front of the car a nice low profile, sleek design. We passed on these requirements to John Paul… it was now time for him to work his magic. The template for the front bumper was inspired by the Mitsubishi Evo designs. We used this as a starting point as this design already had the big fog lights and opening in the lower grill. The bumper had to be sliced in half both horizontally and vertically to stretch it to fit the contour of the Explorer. John Paul filled in all the gaps with fiberglass, reinforced it, moulded and shaped the bumper to fit the frame of the truck. Bondo and many sheets of sand paper were used to smooth out the bumper until it sat just perfect on the front of the car. We were well on our way…
The rear bumper was much easier then the front, yet not without its own challenges. The rear bumper had to follow the low profile sleek design of the front and be contoured around the duel 4” each tips of the exhaust. We went back to the Evo for inspiration and used design concepts off of their car. We stretched and moulded the rear bumper until it fit the contour of the car and matched the design of the front bumper. An Innovatek CAM-07 Back-up Infared Night Vision camera was moulded into the rear bumper which would later be used as the backup camera.
One of the biggest conversation pieces on the car is the rear tail lights. We took a mould of the factory tail lights so then could be put back in when we drive on the road. From that mould we customized the tail light area. We added a 2.5” PM-25NP Pustom TV and a Kicker 525 co-ax speaker to each. When walking by the car it certainly gets people to stop. It isn’t something you see everyday ..speakers and TV’s in the tail lights of the car. This panel came out so nice that it almost looks like a stock panel.
The side skirts started off as a set from a Xenon body kit. We really liked the overall shape of the side skirts. The only problem is that they were about 2 feet short. John Paul cut the skirts and lengthened them building them up with fiberglass and bondo. We mounted them to the car using custom brackets that John made for the skirts. We accented the side skirts with blue LED’s to help make them stand out.
Once the front and rear bumpers were on it was time to take a step back and look at the new body. Jeff and Reuben stood back and smiled as they were very happy with the progress thus far. You could barley tell what car it was. People that were walking into the body shop couldn’t tell it was an explorer. As good as things were looking … something was missing. The hood of the car was looking way too stock. This was unacceptable.. it just didn’t fit in with everything else on the outside of car. We added a custom duel RAM air intake with a 3” cowl. This gave the truck the aggressive mean look that we were after.
To truly make this car stand out at night we added an under car blue neon kit. We went with the 6 piece truck series kit from street glow as we found it to be the brightest. We also added several strobe tubes under the car to help attract attention.
Once the first phase of the project was completed we stood back and re-evaluated the truck as a whole. As impressive as the head lights and front grill were we knew we could do more. We started out by created custom enclosures where the headlights were located. Each headlight got 2 Kicker KS 65 speakers and 2 Pustom 2.5” TV’s. The speakers were powered with a Kicker KX 350.4. The center grill portion was replaced by a custom blue bubble wall which has a batman cut out trim panel over it. To add to the excitement we added a 15” TV behind the bubble wall so you can watch movies through the water. This grill is now one of the highlights of the install.
The stock side view mirrors were also a bit of an eye sore. We decided to make functional custom side mirrors. We create a unique shape out of fiberglass and painted them the same color as the truck. We incorporated a 6” TV and camera into the mirror portion so that the driver could still see what was beside him. We also incorporate a 2” TV and fog light facing forward to add to the unique design of the mirror.
The last body modification to be done was to the sunroof area. Jeff and Reuben came up with the idea of adding a Optoma H31 Home Theatre DLP projector to the install. The only problem at this point in the install was space. Clearly we were running out of it. It took a while to find a spot but when we did it was perfect. With the glass open on the rear hatch it doubled as the perfect area to mount a screen. With the glass open it stood nearly 10ft in the air ensuring that it would attract spectators from hundreds of feet away. To create the screen we cut and mounted a piece of white vinyl to the outer glass. Vinyl was used as it was easy to mount and easy to replace in the event of damage. If the glass was used as the screen then it would only be logical where the projector would sit… right?.. maybe not. We removed the glass sunroof and made a mould of the opening. We created a panel that would hold the DLP projector and 7 4” Pustom TV’s. This panel integrated into the car so well that you would think it was a stock panel. To put the icing on the cake we added a yellow light up bat symbol which sits high on the roof for everyone to see.
