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Exhaust is on. It was quite a feat and definitely isn't pretty but it's hidden by the frame so I don't care. We did it in a driveway with 9.5' of 2.5" pipe, the existing bends from my old exhaust, and bends from my buddy's exhaust off of his Chevy (He's running long tube headers now turned down off the collectors). I forgot to get a before video so I'll have to post one from when the truck was making an odd sound.
I believe I've figured out my headlight issues as well. They've been flickering and randomly shutting off. When they shut off I couldn't hear the ballasts anymore so I assumed faulty ballasts. E-mailed Kensun about a warranty claim and they noticed that I ordered DC bulbs, and that their ballasts I had ordered were AC. I didn't know there was a difference, so since they're incompatible I'm ordering some AC Kensun bulbs to see if that fixes my issue.
Haven't done anything to the truck recently but here's a list of what I hope to do over the summer. Exhaust leaks like no other. My friend couldn't really reach the top of the pipe so he just didn't weld it, and left a large gap by one of the mufflers. I went back and tried to fix the leaks, I got a few fixed, and amplified the sound from the gap by welding a patch over the hole but only tack welding the ends because it started raining. I'm giving up and paying someone to do it right. It's not worth my time to keep trying to weld it myself.
1. Clean headlight lenses
2. Fix oil leak
3. Change differential fluid
4. Get exhaust estimates
5. Order tuner w/3-tunes from MPT
6. Paint interior
7. Paint exterior
8. Finish LED project
9. Make mount for jack
10. Finish arrow antenna (maybe)
Interior paint:
Color match radio bezel
Match radio surround with bezel color
Inner air vents red
Rear air vents red w/chrome surround
Door handle surround color match
Finish all with gloss clear
Exterior paint:
Grill satin black
Door handles smoothed and color matched
Mirrors satin black with a color match cap
Touch up fender flare paint
Satin black bed rails
Differential cover red engine enamel
Finish all with satin clear except color match which will be gloss
Alright, so I got the exhaust fixed, and got my vents painted. I'm currently on the road and my computer is about to die so I'll post pictures later. Local shop ran 2.5" pipe from cats to muffler for $65 per side for custom bent pipe. The vents got a quick sand/scuff, one coat of primer, two coats of color, and two coats of clear to avoid it getting too thick and wanting to stick when they were installed. I used rustoleum red paint, rustoleum automotive primer, and krylon gloss clear coat. I've stopped projects for a bit on account of realizing my limited summer income and the things the money is already spent on/money to live on through school this coming year. (Almost time for graduation, should be graduating in May. Whoop!) I'll likely finish my interior painting but that'll likely be the only changes this summer.
Got the headlights cleaned up and reinstalled this weekend, cleaned up the wiring, and fixed the high beams (they'd stick on if I used them). I also sanded my KC covers (the chrome was fading off bad) and sprayed them with primer. I'll be getting gloss black paint to cover them in, then cover them in chrome paint. Won't be as shiny as original but should look good enough. Actually getting them re chromed is expensive. On the covers where it says "KC" the letters will be done in red.
Next weekend I will be pulling the oil pan to fix the leak, changing my differential oil, and replacing all my windshield washer reservoir components because they've developed a leak that I can't trace.
Well, summer projects got substantially reduced as I was starting to remember how much everything costs and the fact that I will be out of work for the school year, and the fact that my new girlfriend lives in San Antonio while I'm in the Houston area. I don't exactly drive a fuel efficient vehicle so trips ain't cheap. Haha. Then I got mono so any outside activity has been shut down until that gets better so I'm done with projects. Managed to get my doors color matched, and my dash color matched. Also got my oil leak fixed. No scoring on the cylinder walls that I could feel from the bottom, and looks pretty clean for having 165,000 miles. EZ-Up with a tarp and a fan makes working on your truck pretty nice.
During the process of removing the door handle surround, I drilled through one... There's 4 plastic welded studs, 2 clips, and 4 or 5 alignment pins making sure they don't move. Used a bit of bondo and you can hardly tell that there's anything there.
After the mudding trip I decided I should strip the old "seal" or what was left of it off the air box and seal all the way around the opening.
Wired speaker jacks in to the back doors that are spliced off of the rear speakers. Put my stock speakers in a set of speaker boxes so I have music outside the truck when at the beach or bonfires.
Before the mudding trip I put my front tow hooks on the rear hitch. They were mounted by taking some flat bar steel, drilling two holes in each bar, and putting 1/2" Grade 8 bolts through them. The bolts didn't bend, only issue was the hooks would pigeon toe towards each other under load. They have since been welded in to place, and still have the bolts through them for added strength.
I really like this idea. Not sure if you notice but the 2017 Raptor has a similar rear tow hook setup. Maybe the ford engineers got the idea from you!
Out with Duracrap, and in with OEM. Firestone informed me the other day that I have a lot of play in my front end and that I need new upper ball joints (replaced once), lower ball joints (replaced twice), and a new outer tie rod on the passenger side (replaced 4-5 times). I was ready to claim warranty on all this (lifetime warranty through AutoZone), when my parents told me they would pay to switch all of the Duralast out to OEM since they had told me to run Duralast. They've never paid for mods on my truck except for a gift, so don't start with the "spoiled brat" talk. Anyway, the front end should be stripped and rebuilt this weekend. When my tax return comes in I plan to buy a SCT X4 with 3 custom tunes from MPT. I'm looking at getting an 87 perf with street shifting, 91 perf street, and 87 towing with street.
Well... I got the front end done on Friday. Then Saturday night my power steering pump decided to start going out. So I've now got a new power steering pump to install this week. I was hoping it was the steering shaft like I've seen online, but when I was greasing the joints and working the steering back and forth I noticed the pump making a grinding noise. The pumps on these trucks aren't very easy to get to as I'm sure some of you have noticed. I'm still ordering my SCT when my income tax return comes in but my friend talked me into 87 performance street, 93 performance street, and 87 towing street. On the grounds of if I'm choosing a tune for pure performance why not go with the one that will give the best performance. Hoping to get that ordered this week.
03-30-2015, 11:52 AM
