Drago77

So this is my first truck...ever. I've been a sports car guy all 38 yrs of my life, but trying something different... I ordered my truck April 4, order went through April 8 and I took delivery May 22. I waited until I got to "Stage-1" before posting anything major whereas there's soooo many killer builds on here, just another stock truck is, well, just another stock truck.

Here's the list of mods for Stage-1:

Tint-45% on entire windshield, 10% on front, 20% on back sides/rear
Fowmaster American Thunder 40 series Cat-Back
Auto Springs 2" leveling kit
Bora 1.5" wheel spacers
Silverstar headlight bulbs, Putco Fogs
Sony subwoofer poly fill
Lexar screen protector (stereo)
Stubby antenna
Air damn delete

...and I'm outta cash for now... Stage-2 will address the wheels, tires and fender flares, possibly grill, skid plates, tanneu etc... Stage-3 will be the audio...

I'll post pics in the ensuing posts... so without further ado...

sircolby45

Pics or it didn't happen. I am going to assume until you prove to me otherwise that you drive a Prius.

Drago77

ix I took this weekend at a local construction site...

Drago77

lol... was in the process of uploading, didn't expect anyone to jump in so quickly!

sircolby45

My my! That Prius is right perdy!

BoozeDaily

iTrader: (2)

Very nice truck! How much did the Autospring 2" run you if you don't mind me asking and did you have someone do the work or did you do it yourself? Inquiring mind(s) would like to know. Thanks and keep the pics coming!

Drago77

Paid around $90 for the kit from Stage 3 Motorsports (love that company, btw) but $225 to install and align. Everyone says it's easy until they realize they changed the 15's from previous years... Truck was literally on the lift at Goodyear for 6 hours!!!!

Drago77

So here's the skeleton I had built in the garage prior to her arrival... then delivery day, "Larry" was born!!! (named for the combination of Larry from Impractical Jokers- my daughters favorite character and the Lariat Sport...)

Order to delivery was 4/4-5/22.

Drago77

Got home from the dealer at 8pm and started that night by installing the Lexard screen protector on the touch screen... Not sure if I took a before/after or not, but definitely made a difference. Made it look more like glass than a dull LCD screen.

Next day Larry was at Good Year all day for the leveling kit... as previously mentioned, not quite the piece of cake the previous years were. But it came out well.

Once she was lifted a little, the stock exhaust came off and I put on a Flowmaster American Thunder cat-back. LOVE that sound on a Ford 5.0!!!!

Tried the wheel spacers, but the brand I ordered didn't account for the change in bolt thread on the 15's... practically stripped 2 nuts before my "overly eager to help" neighbor listened to be and stopped trying to force it... Those got returned and I ordered Bora, which I shoulda done from the start. 'Teach me for going cheap.

Last but not least for this post is the lighting. I was very angry when I realized my 501 package didn't come with the LED lights as my dealer had said (his excuse- well it's got LED taillights...) so I tried finding a whiter/cleaner bulb. I bought the Silverstar ZXE (I think that's the model letters...) a bit whiter but not nearly what I had hoped for. I also bought the Putco fog's to match... as you can see, the original pair I had here were too blue, after trial and error x 3, I settled on the Ion Spark White (which is what you see in the original pics I posted earlier...) They're still a little more yellow than the headlights, but closer than the next color level which was more blue... You can see a little difference in the light color shining on my garage wall... (Yes, I'm a huge Chiefs fan... living in Florida...)

Drago77

next up came the sony subwoofer polly fill... I really didn't notice a difference, the sub sux regardless.

Had to go to the "Stubby" antenna, I keep ole' Larry in the garage, antenna hit against the garage door too much

Then the controversial window tint... it's Florida,it's hot and bright! Yes it's probably not "allowed" but it helps, anyway,if I recall correctly, they went 45% on the whole windshield, 10%on the front windows (1 step up from full limo) and 20 or 25% over the rear sides and back. Came out looking pretty uniform all across! Can only see through the front at all if the moon roof is open!