My F150 FX4 to Raptor Conversion
04-29-2015, 07:23 AM
#31
Excellent information! Good call on the angle for added strength. Are you planning to do the full upgrade including suspension? And lastly, are you going back with the Tuxedo Black paint?
05-24-2015, 10:35 PM
#32
F150 To Raptor
To Albert Jr. Just getting back around to working on truck and looking at Forum. '
To answer your question my Raptor Body Parts are aftermarket parts by Fiberwerx.
Not to bash Fiberwerx, but if I had to do it again, I would search Craigslist and salvage yards and purchase FORD OEM parts. It definitely would cost a lot more, but I would have made up for it in terms of time doing the conversion.
Using an aftermarket kit, leaves too many details and fit an finish items to be resolved.
To answer your question my Raptor Body Parts are aftermarket parts by Fiberwerx.
Not to bash Fiberwerx, but if I had to do it again, I would search Craigslist and salvage yards and purchase FORD OEM parts. It definitely would cost a lot more, but I would have made up for it in terms of time doing the conversion.
Using an aftermarket kit, leaves too many details and fit an finish items to be resolved.
05-24-2015, 10:41 PM
#33
F150 to Raptor Conversion
To Kommander,
Right now I am planning on just putting a 4" lift kit under it, and will use offset wheels and/or spacers to get the tire width to match the bulging body.
In terms of color, my plan is to attempt to body wrap the vehicle in a brushed metal and carbon fiber wrap.
I plan on doing the roof top, the flares and part of the hood in carbon fiber. Then wrap the rest in either a bold blue, or brush Al or brushed black. I like the bold blue.
I plan on posting some color samples on line to see what you all think.
Right now I am planning on just putting a 4" lift kit under it, and will use offset wheels and/or spacers to get the tire width to match the bulging body.
In terms of color, my plan is to attempt to body wrap the vehicle in a brushed metal and carbon fiber wrap.
I plan on doing the roof top, the flares and part of the hood in carbon fiber. Then wrap the rest in either a bold blue, or brush Al or brushed black. I like the bold blue.
I plan on posting some color samples on line to see what you all think.
05-24-2015, 11:04 PM
#34
F150 to Raptor Conversion.
Got to tinker on the truck some more today. Attempted to mount fuel door and filler neck to truck.
This is one of these things that is not really discussed but is a challenge.
The thickness of the gelcoat and fiberglass does not allow the filler clips to lock in like in the sheetmetal version.
Ended up working the glass so that the hinge side locks in on the fiberglass and used a screw and flatbar arrangement to create a pinch arrangement to hold the fuel door in place.
If I did this work again, I think I would cut out the fuel door sheet metal opening from the original bed side and epoxy it to the fiberglass bed so that all the clips on the fuel door would work as originally designed. Might still go back and do this.
After that effort, I came to understand that the filler neck will not work due to the fact that the mounting point on the fuel door is no longer in its standard position. Thus the filler neck is pointing at an angle to the frame vs 90 degree to the frame and the connecting rubber hoses are too short.
My solution was to carefully reshape the bends of the filler neck and order some longer hose that is fuel rated.
I will try to post some pictures of what I am talking about here. Not sure if the fuel door assembly or the filler neck (or maybe both) for a Raptor has a different part no. from the standard truck. But somehow Ford accounted for the flared out body.
This is one of these things that is not really discussed but is a challenge.
The thickness of the gelcoat and fiberglass does not allow the filler clips to lock in like in the sheetmetal version.
Ended up working the glass so that the hinge side locks in on the fiberglass and used a screw and flatbar arrangement to create a pinch arrangement to hold the fuel door in place.
If I did this work again, I think I would cut out the fuel door sheet metal opening from the original bed side and epoxy it to the fiberglass bed so that all the clips on the fuel door would work as originally designed. Might still go back and do this.
After that effort, I came to understand that the filler neck will not work due to the fact that the mounting point on the fuel door is no longer in its standard position. Thus the filler neck is pointing at an angle to the frame vs 90 degree to the frame and the connecting rubber hoses are too short.
My solution was to carefully reshape the bends of the filler neck and order some longer hose that is fuel rated.
I will try to post some pictures of what I am talking about here. Not sure if the fuel door assembly or the filler neck (or maybe both) for a Raptor has a different part no. from the standard truck. But somehow Ford accounted for the flared out body.
05-25-2015, 07:20 AM
#35
Interesting. I would have thought the bed panel makers would have had to have all that figured out. Is it the self sealing door that makes it such a pain? I know I was surprised to not have a gas cap the first time I fueled up. Upon closer inspect I was mildly impressed by the fuel door assembly.
Looking forward to the color samples. I love projects like this.
Looking forward to the color samples. I love projects like this.
03-12-2016, 09:03 PM
#40
My F150 FX4 to Raptor Conversion
These picture shows the details of how the edged of the fender had to be reworked to match the body lines of the truck. The greenish color is the fiberglass that had to be added to make the hood and fender line up properly and match into the door.
This pictures shows the work that had to be done on the front of the fender to make the body shape match the headlamp. Had to do that on both front fenders.
The picture below gives and ideas of what had to be done with the body curve of the front fender. Basically cut a wedge in the fender and pulled the curve down to match the headlamp.
The big item I have been working on lately is the hood. I didn't like the standard Raptor hood with the molded in hood vents, so I did some major surgery on the hood to give it the look of a 1970 Mustang Hood with NASA vents.
I made a mold from an old hood and then inverted the mold to graft into my hood. The basic fiberglass graft part didn't come out too good for various reason but I made it work in the end.
Cut out basic vents from original hood.
Filled void area with spray-in household foam.
Applied layer of fiberglass to provide base for future graft part.
Here a shot of the based mold I made from the old Mustang Hood.
My mold with GelCoat getting ready to make the graft part.
Getting hood prepped for the new graft.
Other items I worked on are the rear inner fenders. This is another area where a kit part does not serve well. The original truck inner fender won't work with the bed sides, and fiberwerx does not offer and inner fender. Might could order OEM parts but not sure how well they would fit either, so between modifying the original OEM parts, and grafting in new metal I now have real nice rear inner fenders. Will upload pics in the next few days.
Enjoy. Feel free to ask questions. Glad to share my experience of making this FX4 into a Raptor wannabe.
This pictures shows the work that had to be done on the front of the fender to make the body shape match the headlamp. Had to do that on both front fenders.
The picture below gives and ideas of what had to be done with the body curve of the front fender. Basically cut a wedge in the fender and pulled the curve down to match the headlamp.
The big item I have been working on lately is the hood. I didn't like the standard Raptor hood with the molded in hood vents, so I did some major surgery on the hood to give it the look of a 1970 Mustang Hood with NASA vents.
I made a mold from an old hood and then inverted the mold to graft into my hood. The basic fiberglass graft part didn't come out too good for various reason but I made it work in the end.
Cut out basic vents from original hood.
Filled void area with spray-in household foam.
Applied layer of fiberglass to provide base for future graft part.
Here a shot of the based mold I made from the old Mustang Hood.
My mold with GelCoat getting ready to make the graft part.
Getting hood prepped for the new graft.
Other items I worked on are the rear inner fenders. This is another area where a kit part does not serve well. The original truck inner fender won't work with the bed sides, and fiberwerx does not offer and inner fender. Might could order OEM parts but not sure how well they would fit either, so between modifying the original OEM parts, and grafting in new metal I now have real nice rear inner fenders. Will upload pics in the next few days.
Enjoy. Feel free to ask questions. Glad to share my experience of making this FX4 into a Raptor wannabe.