paintballdude05

Last weekend I did an oil change with a Motocraft filter and some Castrol EDGE oil. I also changed out the o-ring on the overflow bottle hose so that's now all sealed up. Finally, I changed the left rear parking brake cable so now that's working perfectly. Now I've finally got an appointment for Wednesday to get the alignment as well as the safety inspection done which is one of that last hurdles to get the truck on the road!

I still have a bunch of small things to do like the fender emblems, the rear door secondary door seal, getting fluid film sprayed, installing the rear wheel well liners, extending the front wheel well liners, installing the fender flares, and getting some paint protection film applied. This stuff can be done once I'm driving the truck though so I'm not loosing sleep!

andrewdod

it looks really good man, you'd never think it was in a wreck.

paintballdude05

I've been meaning to get an update in for a little bit here. Two weeks ago I finally got my alignment and safety inspection done. That allowed me to get plates for the truck so I can start driving it. There are still a bunch of odds and ends that need to be completed on the truck but since the water pump on my car crapped out I've been driving the truck daily since last week.

Once I started driving it more I noticed a drag in the driveline that seemed out of place. It turns out I ruined my drivers side IWE when I installed the Bilstein shocks. I got a killer deal on one from Amazon and got it swapped out pretty quick. While I was at it I swapped out the stock 18" chrome wheels for the 2010 20" FX4 wheels I had on my 2008 F150.







Some time ago I pulled the factory running boards off the truck and now it's time to replace them. I've had these Hoop II's for a while now, I had gotten them powder coated a year or so back for the '08 but never actually installed them. I think they'll look better than the factory boards but the primary reason for changing them out is to prevent rust. The factory boards hold snow and ice accumulations through the winder which rust out the bottom of the doors. These Hoop II's should help a lot with that as well as giving the truck a unique look (vs. all other Super Crews with factory boards). Oh and yes I got 4 of them so there will be one for every door.





While prepping my 2008 for sale, I pulled the center console out of it for a future install in the '12. It'll take a new paint job but this will be better than ridiculous price that the factory console goes for and I can finally get rid of that damn jump seat that's in there now.



Last weekend I went and seen my favorite part guy to show him the truck as well as see what new trucks he's gotten in. Turns out he had a set of 20" FX4 appearance package wheels for sale. I already had 3 extra sets of wheels for these trucks but I've been wanting to change up the rubber and get the 20's I had reconditioned. The wheels need to be reconditioned but they are my favorite factory wheels for this generation of F150. I hummed and hawed about but we finally struck a deal. The plan is to get them cleaned up and powder coated silver like the Hoop side steps. I'm now in the market for some new tires so I'm torn between going with a 275/60/20 (33") or 275/65/60 (34") tire. I'm leaning towards a moderately aggressive tire but I'm not willing to sacrifice street manners. While on a spending spree I also found a good deal on some 1.5" hub-centric wheel spacers so I picked those up. Once I got my fender flares on along with the new rims and bigger tires, the spacers should give me the exact look I'm going for.





Oh and I also got a funnel from the parts guy since mine was missing when I got the truck!



As mentioned previously I still have have a lot of things left to do. I want to get my hood painted now so that the front of the truck is mint. I'm going to install the PTM grille surround and get some 3M PPF applied to protect the front end. Flares will follow shortly after as well as some PDR for the box and tailgate. Now that I'm driving the truck I want to try and accelerate the projector retrofit I have planned because these factory lights suck. It's the same story with the stereo, the factory one is annoying me so I'd like to get it and the speakers replaced with some aftermarket parts. Long story short I have a laundry list of things and not enough time to do it!

johnday in BFE

iTrader: (1)

Hey Stephen, what kind of acid did you use to strip the chrome, muriatic? What % ?

paintballdude05

Muriatic/ Hydrochloric acid is what I used. If you're talking just the handles, I went full strength there. For the grill (which didn't work out all that well), I was at about 25:1. Bellow is a link the exact stuff I used. As you know it's pretty terrible to work with and I wouldn't really suggest using it unless you knew what you were doing. When I was done with it I neutralized it with baking soda and let the water that was left evaporate.

http://www.canadiantire.ca/en/pdp/ro...-0491064p.html

johnday in BFE

iTrader: (1)

Ya, that stuff can be nasty if you're not careful. I used to work with very high concentrations of sulfuric acid, and caustic soda, to regenerate cation and anion resins for water treatment in power plants.
Thanks, I'm going to get some to see how it works for possibly future use.

paintballdude05

Good luck! For the grille I was going to dunk it again to strip the chrome but I've decided to just peel the plating off using a razor blade. I started on a small section and it worked surprisingly well.

Johnny_bravo00

Any update on the truck?
Expectations > Completed truck