[BUILD STILL IN PROGRESS]

So, this was the first truck my dad bought brand new. It was his pride and joy, he babied it year after year and took amazing care of it. For 11 years, he drove it. He took me to my first hockey game, first camping trip, and where ever I went in my childhood, it was mostly in this truck. In 2013, he decided it was time to move on and buy a new F-150. His old baby got one final tuneup before being stored on our acreage for 3 long years. It wasn't too long ago (December actually), when I turned 16 and got my licence, and I was lucky enough to get this truck. Its pretty damn cool that this is my first vehicle, and I am thankful for all the time and effort my dad put into keeping this truck running and looking nice. Anyways, in these few short months, ive done so much to this truck and just like my dad before me, put a lot of time and effort into it myself.

Now, I dont have a picture of what it looked like before I got it, but I do have a picture of it way back in its prime days when it was a brand new machine.


First, I started on the underbody/chassis. I put nearly 60 hours into restoring just the frame as best as I could. I grinded down all the rust and build up, down to bare metal. Then I sprayed an initial anti-rust layer, and then topped it with undercoat. (Its a thick, tar like spray) I had more pictures of the progress I was making but it was on one of my phones that no longer works anymore. But I have gone out and taken pictures of what it currently looks like underneath. (By the way, its a little dirty underneath, so im sorry about the picture quality)














After that, I decided to refurbish the stock rims due to some pitting/corrosion in the aluminum. Again, I spent many hours sanding, smoothing and spraying the rims. So far, the paint is holding up nicely.
Here is a before and after of the rims:



Then I bought some BF Goodrich mud tires for an amazing deal and put those on the rims:



Now after all that, here is what the truck looked like. (But that's not all! This isnt even half of what I have done!!)

 

After the tires, I went online and bought Spyder headlights and taillights. Easy to install, and they look great!





The headlights have LEDs along the bottom and nice LED halos around the lights themselves. Heres how the look at night:

 

Then I put in an aftermarket Pioneer stereo, and some nice Pioneer door speakers.



Along with the speakers, I bought two 1100 Watt 10" pioneer subs with an 800 Watt amp, and installed them in my custom built Sub Box.(I havent been able to go buy fabric to cover it yet) It is a very good system, I love the sound!! I had to build the sub box because all the ones I could buy had the subs facing upside down, and I didnt want that. I built it so it had space between the sub and the seat for movement when the seats are down!

 

A few days ago I installed a rear brake lightbar that runs across the bottom of the tailgate. It has brake, left and right signal, and reverse lights. Here is the lightbar at dusk.

 

That is all I have done so far. I should have an aftermarket grill, or maybe even a roll pan within the next few days. If you have any suggestions, I'd love to hear them!
I might as well throw in a before and after pic of the truck

 

I think it's cool how much you like getting your pops ol hand me down truck. It looks great. Fwiw I made my sub box down firing and love it. I didn't want stuff getting in there and ruining them. It looks as though you didn't use MDF for your box. I see the grain.

 

Thanks! And I've heard the subs sound nicer when they are facing down, but I was thinking the same as you. I didnt want anything getting shoved underneath the sub box and wrecking the subs if they were facing down. I dont know how yours is configured but the one I was looking at buying had the subs about 2.5" off the ground with little legs on all four sides and a slot underneath big enough for something to get shoved under there. And I did use MDF for the sub box, but the black coated MDF was on sale so I bought that instead. Thats why it has a fake grain on the top.

 

No, mine do face down. I have kids in the back so I didn't want their toys or pencils or whatever falling on the subs. There's less than 2" between the box and floor. All the prefab boxes were down firing so I figured they were on to something.