Grafix Ink.

After being a long show scene competitor in the import world and coming off of just selling my show car, I decided to move onto bigger and better things... Trucks.

Recently purchased my first truck in December of .07

1998 Ford F150 XL | Extended Cab / Long Box | Oxford White

Prior to buying I did notice that the 97-98's had that god forsaken gasket issue so I was sure to check the motor etc, and sure enough I was pleased to hear that the issue was already taken care of prior to m buying it. Also the entire front end was rebuilt... suspension wise, balljoints, etc...

I also know i have the less popular body style being a 97-98 but that was purposely done as I prefer having something more unique.

Photo of Truck when purchased (Stock):




Being a past modifier I know there will be several 'clean' changes made to this truck... so i'll post my progression in this thread.

comments are welcome...

Grafix Ink.

(these mods have already been done to the truck in late december / january but as I'm new to the site i'll post them in order of which I did them up to now.)

first thing first was some rubber for winter coming up since the truck came with pretty much bald tires lol...

new dunlop LT 245/75 16s... believe stock is 235/60 16s...


also music.. in actuality the stock ford deck i loved, but with no option for easy subwoofer and proper audio adjustments, options etc it was time to upgrade the deck as well.. nothing too fancy, friend was selling a deck he recently bought then upgraded from so yanked a deal.. deck sells for $200 retail, he sold it to me for 40$ installed.


The next big mod I had to take care of was headlights as they are oxidized and the stock halogen light output i find to be horrible as hell... decided to get my hands on some ford lightning headlight/corner combo. I now wish I had waited and did more research as I have recently fallen in love with the Harley Davidson edition headlights with the amber across the bottom. (anyone willing to trade or sell let me know lmao)


I am also a big HID fan, I personally think once you go HID you'll never want to go stock again and imo its the best bang for the buck mod anyone can get. Having 2 separate HID kits from my previous car I sold i decided to put them to use on the truck and purchased some 8000k bulbs for new headlights. I don't suggest just putting in an HID kit into any vehicle as aiming and glare can be horrible to others, but I found with the lightning headlights and factory aim/height the HIDS put out if any/no glare and had a distinctive although uneven cutoff line... so I was happy with that.

Grafix Ink.

Storage I found to be a huge issue with these f150's... pretty much no storage what so ever. The smallest glovebox and no centerconsole made me want more.

I had searched and fond a few different overhead oem consols for f150 but wan't impressed much and wanted somthing more unique and larger... thus I found and ordered an expedition upper console (which also came with an unexpected bonus of compass and temperature computer).


First thing was removing all the extra mounting hardware, rear climate controls etc that I couldn't use on the f150 due to space, and mounting options. I decided to backfill the climate controls with a custom carbon fiber plate I made... the space isn't a total loss as it can later be used for gauges or something else.


Main issue was fitment and installation. The unit is fairly heavy for what it is and the truck only has 1 cross beam so mounting would be fairly difficult as just mounting to the headliner was def not sufficient and or I wasn't looking forward to screwing through my roof lol. I had to re-enforce the entire roof section... how i'm not saying.. but it got done. lol. The console received minor trimming to get it to sit pretty much flush with the roof liner.



Finally installed... was a pain in the *** and def not worth it for time or whats its given me in return lol.
It looks different but offers me no storage other then for my sunglass' (which i knew when buying it and can't complain).
The compass / computer still has to be wired, I just need to find the proper wiring schematic or the f150s as i know they come prewired for it. (if anyone has it feel free to pm me)

Grafix Ink.

Onto more cosmetics... my current stock bar style grill is horrible (shown in post #2) its faded, cracked and was / is badly needed to be replaced. I was hoping to simply just get an insert to replace the barstyle only to realize (not researching doh!) that the bar style grill/surround are one piece... and I didn't want to cut the center portion.

I had found a grill off the net... XLT 2 piece grill + grill surround for an amazing price...so I ordered it.


I must say I love the honeycomb look available for the 99+ models but this was close enough and I found looked pretty cleanline compared to billet etc available on the market.


Onto install... first thing was removing the radiator trim cover and corner headlights to gain access to the screws along the top of the grill and under the cornerlights. There was also a piece of black trim that is attached to the bottom of the grill which needed to be unclipped from the fenders.. then simply lift out te grill and surround.


EWW, come spring this truck is getting a complete detail...
I found i was easier to install with the headlights completely out as well (which i removed after taking pic) due to the way you have to put the grill surround back in. Its best to do that to avoid scratching your headlights etc... and considering these babies are new I avoided that with every step lol.


Install is same but in reverse order obviously...
Much cleaner look imo. of course many are against the chrome surround.. i find it looks good... but of course debate painting it on a weekly basis, we see as money has its priorities and things can always be painted if I want to later. I am however looking to either create or buy a black / chrome emblem overlay... the blue although stock doesn't compliment the truck and stands out too much.

Grafix Ink.

Truck has come out of the exhaust shop yest after a day of work. A custom dual exhaust was bent out with a magnaflow muffler to compliment the long box.

Def love it, I find no loss of torque which I was worried about with an exhaust.. and in actuality I find a boost of hp/tq in my mid and high range bands.

The sound imo is very nice and smooth, a bit loud i find but is expected with the less restriction... but def has some nice rumble to it. I can't believe people find the magnaflows to the the more quiet mufflers out on the market.

finally had time to get a vid clip of the exhaust.

Very happy with it, no loss of torque for the v6 - in fact i notice a nice noticeable gain in mid / high. Sounds better in person - guessing its a **** cam but best I could do. But as stated above and from what I have heard - the exhaust will open up more with break in and sounds throatier.

video:
[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5AsAC6PQLLw[/YOUTUBE]
*exhaust has broken in since vid created... much throatier now.

Grafix Ink.

Ordered a new front lower valance. I wasn't going to order it at first as its disgustingly expensive for what it is ($380) but with a recent store credit due to a return I figured I might as well as I wouldn't have bought it straight out. The valance imo is pretty rare as not many have it, and I personally havn't seen a 'Canadian' truck with it. Just finding it took some heavy research on my part to find/get a local dealer who knew where to get it.

Package came in for me on friday, and decided to do an install over the weekend.


Stock is well.. stock.



Pretty simple just a bunch of bolts, of course my arm looked like I went through barbed wire due to location of some of the bolts, but meh.. what can you do.

I was def wanting to get some foglights put onto the truck, but I really hated the look of the oem foglights.


Install wasn't as easy as removal but not hard at the same time.
The difficulty was the awkwardness of doing this on my own as the valance is not plastic or another light material - but actual metal.. thus heavy lol.

This bumper valance came with 2-4" foglight holes in which I had to purchase a foglight kit for (additional $80). Not that I need the extra lighting as I have HIDS, I just love the look. Might go HID fogs later down the road. Just wish damn Ontario laws didn't require a front plate.

I love the look, its lower then the stock valance and gives the front end a truly nice stance imo and will def compliment step bars I plan on installing in the future. I know many will think too much chrome but I think it flows well with the front end... and obviously to each their own.

Grafix Ink.

FedEx payed a visit - 2 recent shipments came in..

These came in last week - 2004-2008 Badges/Emblems.
My current badges are dirty, worn, and torn to ****... found a st of 3 badges on ebay for only 8$ for the set - and bought them right away as they sell for 30$ EA at the dealer.

I could have replaced them with the same style badges as original but find these to look much much better and should flow nicely with what i have once installed. Just waiting on some warmer weather to get'er done.


mmm nice.


Another shipment came in yest.
Have been searching for a cluster for several months. Found one before Christmas but when shipped the local postal service decided to scam me and keep the package. Contacted several scrap yards and found one in northern Ontario and bought it asap. These 97-98 w/t tach are def hard to come by esp in km/h.

Out with the old...
What a pain removing these things without a tilt steering wheel. geeze


In with the new...
Much much better, I can see where my rpms are when cruising on the hwy etc. Also modified it to show my current kms as well..
How tachs are not installed on every vehicle is beyond me, WTF manufacturers lol

GMan

nice write up

94'snap

Looks great! What was your show car before?

Grafix Ink.

http://img265.imageshack.us/img265/278/39552557oh8.jpg
just wasn't into it anymore... too small

trucks been good, much better. parts are def more expensive though lol... waiting on a few more parts still in transit.