2002 SportTrac 4x4

[Thelgord]

I currently have a 2002 SportTrac (White) 4x4. 4.0L V6. Automatic. I don’t have any pictures at the moment but I will be able to get some in a month or so when I get home. I am the second owner and it has just under 90k miles (81k when I purchased it). Previous owner garage kept it and was an older gentleman who who lightly used it.

It has been sitting in my driveway for the last year while I have been in Korea. It needs work, body mounts, rear window doesn’t roll down, needs a new battery (my wife didn’t start it while I have been away) and fluids. Motor is still very strong, but I will be going through it and changing such things as timing chain tensioners before they wear out and getting the aluminum thermostat housing.

Plans for the build:
New head unit with apple car play
A number if interior upgrades (beige is soooo boring)
Paint all the plastic bits
Rims (purchased)
35” General Grabber ATX
Lift 2.5-3” (add-a-leaf and tt lift / may or may not need a body lift to fit tires / some parts already purchased)
Custom rock sliders (will be selling my steps)
Custom winch bumper
Custom rear bumper with swing out
Custom bed rack (will probably sell my bed cover to get it to fit)
Custom roof rack
(It helps that I can weld)


Basically I am setting this up to be an overland rig. At present it is a very boring looking vehicle. I don’t normally purchase white vehicles and I really wasn’t excited to buy this one, because it is boring looking. I purchased it because 1) I really wanted a 1Gen SportTrac 2) the extremely low miles considering the age 3) it is completely rust free and 4) the leather interior is in perfect condition. Boring I can change easily enough, but if I had to recondition all the seats, if it had lot of rattley bits, that kind of stuff, I probably would have looked for a different one. I may even start a YouTube channel to document the build. Wouldn’t that be fun.

 

[JerryRigour]

Excited to see your progress! I’m kind of on the same track with a Gen1 overland build. I’ve done a loooot of work, and it just constantly seems like there’s more to do lol

 

[JC2008SportTrac]

I think I'm in the Gen2 ('08) group, and I'm going for a different approach, coming from the Mustang-side of the Ford crew. I'm looking to likely lower mine, as I use it as a daily driver, and only rarely need to hook up a trailer or throw a hot-water-tank in the back. Looking to upgrade the power, upgrade the audio, and upgrade the suspension as needed to put slightly bigger wheels on it (while maintaining decent sidewall!)

 

[curtis james]

sounds like a good project, mine was white when purchased but easy color to change, you in osan? my daughter was there and going back to kunsan for year in feb, finding a trac in good condition as yours sounds is getting harder and they are fun off road to. good luck.

 

[Thelgord]

sounds like a good project, mine was white when purchased but easy color to change, you in osan? my daughter was there and going back to kunsan for year in feb, finding a trac in good condition as yours sounds is getting harder and they are fun off road to. good luck.

I am actually way south, Camp Carroll. Only about an hour by train to Busan, about 20 minutes on the bullet train.

 

[curtis james]

bullet train sounds scary, thank you for your service and i will put a pic of my trac back in 04 stock mostly but i liked the white, it looked cleaner and thinking of going back to white. my daughter then and now.

 

[Longracing25]

Add a leaf wont raise it, the axle is mounted above the leafs. You need the shackle kit, or do what i did go to autozone and buy the basic long shackle kit for less than $30. If you want it beefier , once installed you or have someone box in the two shackles. Its alot cheaper than those pricy sport trac shackle kit.

 

["Risky Bizness"]

Good luck on your upgrading your Sport Trac, but most important, THANK-YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE !!!!!! Be safe !!!!!!!!

 

[JC2008SportTrac]

My GF found a really neat add-on until we put new head units into our trucks (hers is an '06 Explorer limited, mine's an '08 ST). Neither of us had had any luck finding a decently-priced head unit, that'll allow us to have what we want (navigation, blue-tooth, hands-free phone, etc). We FOUND what we want, but it's a $500 unit, and will cost a good $600 installed. We'll get them, soon, but that's more than I was wanting to spend on having hands-free-ability in the trucks right now.

So, instead, she found a $15 part at Wal-mart that plugs into our cigarette lighter, that's an FM transmitter, that really does what it says it does. I'd have not believed it if I didn't see it work; but it allows her to use her phone hands-free, and allows her to stream her phone-stuff. It takes over an unused-FM signal on her radio, and allows her all of the functions of the $500 radio we want to replace (except for the double-din navigation map). But, until she can save up for that, she gets all of the other benefits she wanted, for $15.00. I really didn't think it'd work (she didn't either), but it does. So, if you see those things, that plug into the cigarette lighter, they really do work. AND, they also serve to show you the output of your battery at rest.

 

[Doug Kaye]

I've had one of those Bluetooth-to-FM adapters since the day after I got my ST ;-)
work surprisingly well, mostly just plug in an old MP3 player for music, rather than the phone. The stock ST radio/CD sounds pretty good, haven't felt the need to replace it yet.

 

[parker_lansing]

A number if interior upgrades (beige is soooo boring)
Paint all the plastic bits

At present it is a very boring looking vehicle....wasn’t excited to buy this one, because it is boring looking....Boring I can change easily enough....I may even start a YouTube channel to document the build. Wouldn’t that be fun.

I am super curious about what changes you made, especially to the interior of this vehicle. Could you update us on this?

 

[donaldrudicel775]

Sounds like a very good project buddy