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I managed to pick up a smooth running 1998 Ford Explorer Limited with a 302 V8 with under 160,000 miles for free! The bones are good! But she needs a lot of love.
INTERIOR:
The biggest problem that I need to tackle is that the interior has an ANT problem! It's been parked for roughly 2 to 3 years and sometime during that time, ants have taken advantage of food items left behind. For now I'm going to totally empty project "Exploder" out and throw some ant bait traps in there. But do you guys have any suggestions (and/or specific products) to recommend for an ant problem?
The second thing I need advice with are the leather seats. They are in relatively okay shape but need TLC. There is some red paint on the drivers seat (about a 4"x4" spot) and grime. The driver seat has a little of that cracking you see in older leather seats but it's not too awful. What can I do to clean these things up?
There are some of those fake wood apliques on various parts of the interior; on a vehicle this old, can they be removed and the surface underneath cleaned up?
I also plan on shampooing the carpet, cleaning every surface of the dash and center console, and repairing a broken driver door handle lock.
EXTERIOR:
It has 2 to 3 years of Georgia pollen and other miscellaneous grime caked onto the exterior. The paint seems to be okay under the nastiness as far as I can tell. I'm thinking a good wash followed by a compound, polish, and wax. My neighbor has a pressure washer; will this be okay for blasting the grime off the wheels and body? I'll be replacing the driver side-view mirror, and painting the faded "B" pillar. Any recommendations on how to freshen up some of the exterior trim?
I want to get this thing looking very nice, but with-in reason. I have a 2014 Mustang GT that takes up one half of my garage and my wife's car takes up the other side. So at the end of the day, this Exploder will be a run-around vehicle for the rainy days my Mustang show-car stays in the garage. So after all of the hard work, it's going to be stored in the driveway.
She's ugly, but she can be saved; and the way the motor runs, she's definitely worth the sweat equity! Thank you and wish me good luck!
INTERIOR:
The biggest problem that I need to tackle is that the interior has an ANT problem! It's been parked for roughly 2 to 3 years and sometime during that time, ants have taken advantage of food items left behind. For now I'm going to totally empty project "Exploder" out and throw some ant bait traps in there. But do you guys have any suggestions (and/or specific products) to recommend for an ant problem?
The second thing I need advice with are the leather seats. They are in relatively okay shape but need TLC. There is some red paint on the drivers seat (about a 4"x4" spot) and grime. The driver seat has a little of that cracking you see in older leather seats but it's not too awful. What can I do to clean these things up?
There are some of those fake wood apliques on various parts of the interior; on a vehicle this old, can they be removed and the surface underneath cleaned up?
I also plan on shampooing the carpet, cleaning every surface of the dash and center console, and repairing a broken driver door handle lock.
EXTERIOR:
It has 2 to 3 years of Georgia pollen and other miscellaneous grime caked onto the exterior. The paint seems to be okay under the nastiness as far as I can tell. I'm thinking a good wash followed by a compound, polish, and wax. My neighbor has a pressure washer; will this be okay for blasting the grime off the wheels and body? I'll be replacing the driver side-view mirror, and painting the faded "B" pillar. Any recommendations on how to freshen up some of the exterior trim?
I want to get this thing looking very nice, but with-in reason. I have a 2014 Mustang GT that takes up one half of my garage and my wife's car takes up the other side. So at the end of the day, this Exploder will be a run-around vehicle for the rainy days my Mustang show-car stays in the garage. So after all of the hard work, it's going to be stored in the driveway.
She's ugly, but she can be saved; and the way the motor runs, she's definitely worth the sweat equity! Thank you and wish me good luck!
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