My '11 EL

[Thunderbirdsport]

Owned 'er just a week, and already had to put my hands all over her. Gotta have her dressed up when we go out LOL.

First up was some LED foglights. I have to say that I was impressed with the whiteness of these. Light output is a little more than the stock H13s that were in there, but I opted for the 6000K, as I just wanted some clean white light.


Then I moved up to the headlights. Again, LEDs here, though this pic is just a comparison. I'll get back to the LED headlights in a minute..


Then I flipped her over and put my hands on her ass.
Back here I swapped in some LED tails. I also threw some Wal mart LED backup lights just to round out it out. Also, the whiter light makes it a little easier to see when backing. (no backup camera...YET.)
I also did the rear wiper conversion, and as well, added in an LED third brake light. They had chrome and black..obviously I went with the black.




By then I was hungry so I loaded up the kids and went to grab some grub.
Before I got too far down the road, I took these. The high beam pic is probably about 25-30 feet past where I took the low beam shot. Needless to say, these babies throw some light. While I was out getting supper, nobody high beamed me or flashed me (not even the ladies...which is a shame...I figured my Expy is now a ***** dropper. Apparently not...damn...
Low beam:


High beam:


Also waiting in the wings are strut spacers, some 295/70/18 on black wheels, and some 4600 struts. They ought to be here first of the week. I'll get those on, and after christmas get the front glass tinted, and then start on some electronics upgrades. I really want to get the Pioneer 4600....looks to be a pretty nice unit. Maybe I am on santa's nice list....(yeah right. If I want the 4600 I'll have to get it myself LOL)

I'm not so thin skinned that I can't take constructive criticism, this isn't gonna be a hugely lifted monster, it's still gotta haul kids, pull boats, and otherwise at least pretend to be a functional daily ride.

Oh yeah, almost forgot. I put a Magnaflow catback under it as well. Still breaking in, but it sounds alright. It's not super loud, which is fine, just has a nice mellow tone. I was told by another member here that with a little more driving time the tone would deepen some. Hell yeah. Wish I'd gotten into an Expy a couple years ago. Just outgrew the Explorers at last, I suppose. Still, I will keep my '06 Exploder, I'm pretty attached to it.

 

[Thunderbirdsport]

I also added LED puddle lamps, brighter LED reverse lamps, am currently installing a Pioneer stereo with backup camera, then it's going back up in the air for the Bilsteins and then bigger rubber. The weathertech mats are also installed now, but I had totrim some on third row floorboard to fit around the center seat's base (second row).

They ought to keep snow and moisture off of the floor better than the stock stuff.

The LED headlights continue to amaze. I highly recommend them. I can throw in a link for them (got 'em on amazon, along with the fogs) if anyone wants....

 

[sjwelds]

Hey yeah, I'd like the link for the heads and fogs. Looks good.

 

[Kjhawkeye1]

Also interested in the headlights. I have an '11 EL and tried led bulbs but the light was scattered everywhere. I'm also not interested in blinding everyone coming at me either.

 

[Thunderbirdsport]

Ahhh, here ya guys go.
headlight LEDs:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07XRC7TL4/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

foglight LEDs:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01BDBZW3E/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

smoked LED 3rd brakelight:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07YKL9WB3/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Dorman rear wiper (conversion to run any standard 16", 17" blade:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0010DPB00/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

(note that if you spec this out for an '11 Expedition (as I did for mine), it will say it will not fit this vehicle. All one needs to do is remove the 14mm nut, carefully pry the old arm off and install the new one, reinstall the nut, and align the arm properly before tightening. I found this "mod" on this forum with some searching. thanks to those who paved the way!)

LED tailights (aftermarket housings, DOT legal):
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07TP5LHTH/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

LED puddle lamps:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08L784HFM/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Readylift 3"/2" leveling set:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002HXZ02Q/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

There's more to come, have to order a set of CoPs as well, starting to get a little miss on the highway when I get on it, such as I did a couple of days ago while passing on a long hill..

Edit; throwing the fog light link in too. I suppose I ought to go back and put links for some of the stuff I added...
I was going to put on a set of aftermarket projector style headlight housings with DRLs and LED strips, but it just looked a little too import-ish for my taste. I decided to try the LED headlights and was expecting to be underwhelmed.
They make a hell of a difference and there's no blue hue to them at all. I hate that crap, but these are just right...bright white light. Really makes a difference. My '06 Explorer had the original housings and the lights themselves were yellowish and compared to the Expy, I couldn't see a damned thing. That prompted me to get a new set of housings and the same LED lights for it too. It's not as impressive as the Expy, but since I still need to aim the housings a little on it (Explorer), I'm happy, overall. At east I can see with the damned thing now at night. I also ran the same foglight LEDs in it too, more for the match rather than a gain in noticeable light output, though that was also a result.

I haven't been driving the Exp the past few days as I'm waiting on the alignment shop (next week, owner had covid and is taking another 2 weeks off to get back to normal-his words, lol) and while I'm not scared to drive it, there's no need to risk anything.

The only other thing on my radar right now is finding a factory sub enclosure from a so-equipped JY Expy and refurbing it to work in mine as a standalone powered sub with an aftermarket unit and it's own amp. Still need to tuck the wiring for the backup camera and do a little adjustment to the 7 pin trailer connector..it's a little floppy and I want to whip up something that's a little more beefy.

 

[ExplorerTom]

Looks good. I need to do LEDs for mine as well.

 

[Thunderbirdsport]

Last night and today.






It goes in tomorrow for an alignment, by the way it drives, there's toe that's out or in. Can't tell by looking, in any case, it'll be fixed tomorrow. Forgot to add that when I did the fronts, the upper ball joint nut wouldn't come off, so I replaced the upper control arms/ball joints with greaseable units. The lowers are good, as are the rears.

 

[Thunderbirdsport]

Current shot. Damned mud...


Bad news....making a front end noise. Gonna get under it tonight after supper and see what I can find out. Has a "scraping" sound that increases with speed. Does it regardless of 4x2, 4x4, or 4 low. I'm hoping it's something as simple as the dust shield slightly grazing the rotor, as it only started doing it after I put the new stuff on the front. It's highly possible I might've bent it into the rotor just a tad pushing down on the spindle to get the strut in. I'm hoping it is something simple, the only things changed were struts, lift spacers, UCA/ball joints, and of course the wheels/tires. Its rotational noise, not "up and down" as per suspension. I'll dig into it, see what I can uncover..

 

[Thunderbirdsport]

I just got in a set of Moog rear springs, I'm about to go put them on. I think with the shocks "settling in", the rear springs (not stock, they were the springs from a quick strut, unknown brand) are saggy/not as stiff/tall as the stock types, so I decided to get some Moog units. They were certainly cheap enough, 140 to the back door, so...

I'm about to go out and throw them in. I'll take measurements and pics before and after to see what the differences amount to. The rear feels like it's still a lot less sprung than the front, of course there's more weight up front too, though. It feels like a long bed truck..just rather lightly sprung. Hoping these Moogs take that out, and put that inch or so of missing height back in at the same time.

 

[Thunderbirdsport]

Forgot about my own thread..smh.

Some stuff has changed. I broke a wheel spacer, and ruined a wheel. Thankfully it was head across the farm to get to the tractor to bring wood in. Had it been on the highway...would've been a real bad deal.





Awhile back, I changed the rear springs to Moog units as the rears that were in were some quickstrut units that I reused when i did the Bilesteins and the spacers. They were saggy and rode like ass.
Here's the new vs the old:


and before vs after, installed, same side, no driving in between:





So now, I need new wheels. The wheels off of the '21 Sport package that I am in love with:


Today I bought a set of takeoffs, minus the tires. Since I want bigger than stock size tires anyway this works for me.
They will be here next week, now I've got to decide what size rubber to put on.
I had the 295/70 on the King Ranch wheels and they fit pretty good, and I was thinking of a bit wider tire, not much, just a half inch, maybe one inch but nothing wider than that.

The incoming wheels are the same offset as my stock wheels, so I think I'll be ok. I am fine with a slight bit of rub, too.

I'm considering 305/65 for the tire, the wheels are 18x8.5...

This is how it sits right now, back on the stock wheels and Hankooks as I broke the spacer and one wheel.
I want tint!