paintballdude05

I had some time Sunday to work on the truck before I once again got snowed-out. I pulled the front bumper mounts off the frame rails along with the "splash guard" and the tow hooks, that went really smooth. I then started to pull the fender and inner fender off which wasn't too bad either, but the damn foam makes it a pain to get things apart without bending metal. I was planning on getting two new fenders anyways so it's not a huge deal.

Once that was done, I tried straitening part of the lower rad support with the winch on my ATV. That didn't go as planned though since 3500lbs wasn't enough to move it. I guess I'll have to use a come-along attached to my 2008 in order to get things moving. I figured I would have enough pulling power with the ATV since that part is pretty thin metal but I was wrong!

I also put my scanner tool on the truck to see if I can track down what was going on with my brake light being on. I got B1676 (Battery Pack Voltage Out Of Range) and C1250 (Yaw Rate Sensor Signal Fault). The B1676 seems to be related to the brake light issue, I'll have to take a closer look at the ABS module wiring connector to see if there is if sustained any damage in the collision. Part of the upper frame was pushed into the module but I haven't taken much time to inspect it.

The next step will be to bypass and remove the radiator so that the truck can be moved to the frame shop. The lower rad hose has a nick in it from contacting the serpentine belt so it's leaking a bit. I'm going to rig up the upper rad hose so that it feeds right back into the lower rad hose. The engine should stay cold enough for the trip and I'll use the cabin heater to help cool it down. I think that I'll also be pulling the condenser out in order to make some more room up front.









A picture of the passenger side frame horn, it's bent pretty badly but I have hope that once both sides are straitened out the rest of the frame will go back into spec. If that happens, I can go ahead and just replace the horns instead of the whole frame.

paintballdude05

A bit of progress, but things are going slow. In the last few weeks I got the truck nearly ready to go to the body shop to get the frame inspected. The last thing left to do is to give the whole truck a good wash. I have removed the radiator cross-member/ support, the radiator and the condenser. I then bypassed the radiator so that the engine could run without it installed.

I used parts of the original damaged lower rad hose, an old rad hose from a Chrysler 300M, an elbow, a coupling and some hose clamps to make the following contraption.



You can see the transmission cooler that had to be reconnected after the radiator was gone. I lost a bi of fluid so that will be addressed once the truck is done. These transmissions are sealed and seem to be a pain to check the fluid level and refill.



And pretty much ready to go!



I'm still waiting for my vehicle title (ownership's/ pink slip) to arrive and this is my hold up right now. Apparently they ship out within 30 days of the vehicle being purchased, it's been over a month now. Even if that's 30 working days that will be up by the end of this week. I have contacted AutoBidMaster and they keep telling me it should arrive soon. It's just something else to look out for if you want to attempt something similar.

Yesterday I went and checked out a 2010 F150 King Ranch that was being parted out locally. Somebody took the whole front end before I got there though, minus the front fenders. The engine is blown and it only has 60k miles on it, it looks pretty rough. The seats would need some TLC and would need to be redyed. I asked him how much he wants for what's left of the truck and he said $4k without the box and tailgate. If I went this route, it would get me a good frame and the front frame/aprons that I need to repair my truck (and the fenders of course). On the plus side I could also get the interior to swap into my truck with the heated/cooled seats, but I'm not sold on the King Ranch leather look. Anyways I'm thinking it over, but it probably makes more sense to just buy the parts I need vs. a whole truck. I'm running out of space and my place is starting to look a bit junk yard like.

Here's a comparison:

2010 F150 King Ranch Interior





Now if I mix and match my black interior with some of the 2010 KR accents I could get the look of a 2013 KR.





I like this look a lot more than the Sandstone based interior but I think it still looks a bit gaudy. The other option would be to dye the seats a completely different color but I'm taking the risk of ruining them doing that.

Anyways, that's all I have for now!

Erollin150

Nice looking rebuild thread. That King Ranch interior by itself or with the black look really nice.
You could also get seat covers. I like the Clazzio seat covers, checkout truckleather or maybe ebay.

paintballdude05

The KR leather is growing on me but the guy wants too much for the truck IMO. I'm going to concentrate on getting the truck on the road so I can sell my '08. The interior mods can come later on. Thanks for the line on the Clazzio's, I've looked quickly at them and they look good and the price is reasonable. It's definitely an option.

hashamhk

Good job on the build so far really interested to see what total investment comes out to vs buying a pre-owned one. I have been wanting to do this type of build on a car rather than a truck, just wish I could commit the time and quit being lazy about it. Is it frustrating the amount time its taking because it seems like the weather and having the free time is slowing your progress. But overall great build will be following to see your progress.

paintballdude05

I think I might try a car next for my GF. She's been eyeing a Civic or a diesel Jetta.

Yes it is definitely frustrating. The weather has gotten much better but the tittle/ownership issue is what's slowing me down now. According to the tracking info I received that info should be showing up at the brokers today. From there, they have promised to overnight it to me. I've got plenty of other things to do though including an engine swap on a 300M and some major house reno's that I just started.

Thanks for following the thread!

paintballdude05

No real material progress on the truck, everything is basically on hold until I can get the truck registered here in Ontario. The truck was sold with a Bill of Sale only, no tittle or registration. I have tried to register it with only this information but it's proving to be very difficult since the ministry is reluctant to do so. I have to provide a paper trail showing the ownership of the vehicle from the insurance company, to my broker, and then to me. The problem is they want to see a Consignment Agreement between COPART and the Insurance Company saying that they were authorized to auction the vehicle. I've been trying to get this letter from COPART through my broker but they don't seem to want to give it up. On top of that, I had to get a weight slip from a scale which showed the total weight of the truck (since Alberta doesn't indicate the weight of a vehicle when it's registered) and a Vehicle Information Report from the Alberta Government to prove that it was actually registered there. If I don't get anything by tomorrow, I'm going to try a different government office in hopes that they'll work with me on this. I'm hoping to have the tittle in hand by the end of the week so I can get this thing to the body shop once and for all!

Over the weekend I hand washed the exterior of the truck and got it cleaned up. I also rinsed out the seams and hidden areas under the box to rid it of all the sand that was trapped under there. Moisture gets trapped up there and that's where a lot of the rust issues with these trucks come from. I also notice some stone chip damage on the rear quarters of the box so those will have to be touched up too.

I got a good deal on a pair of 2014 XLT chrome grills over the weekend. The one with the blue oval has some really bad chrome bubbling issues on the outside trim while the other one without the badge has one very small spot. My plan is to strip the chrome off the surround, and paint it body color (Flame Blue) to give it a custom look and reduce the amount of chrome on the truck. I'm not sure what I'll do with the second grille, I'll probably keep it as a backup for now.



Looking around last night I was able to find a picture of a guy with a Flame Blue truck that did what I'm looking to do with the same style grille.

Johnny_bravo00

Great write up so far, read through the whole thread. Look forward to seeing the truck completed. I laughed when I saw you were from Sudbury, in most of your work pics its snowing or snow covered. I'm originally from lively and know the struggle. Keep up the good work.

paintballdude05

It's nice to see somebody from the area, thanks for following along!

I've got my ownerships! After a bit of back and forth with a different office I finally got an Ontario tittle issued in my name. I had to pay taxes once again but I'm not really bothered by it after all I've been through to get this far. The next step will be to pick a shop that can do the major body repairs as well as perform a salvage vehicle inspection on behalf of the government. I have one in mind, I just got to go see them to make sure they'll play ball with me and that they do good work. Stay tuned!

paintballdude05

So I had a good talk with the body shop that was my first choice, they seem reasonable and knowledgeable when it comes to the rebuild process. My next obstacle will now be getting the original damage estimate from the Insurance company that declared the truck a total loss. This estimate must be included in the rebuild file, there's no way around it apparently. I called up the insurance company and the adjuster was able to track it down but he won't release it to me citing confidentiality reasons. He was going to escalate the matter to his manager to see what they could do but they still haven't gotten back to me about it. I'm giving them until Monday to get back to me before I bug them. If that doesn't work, I'll try my local insurance representative to see if he could help. Hopefully I can leverage my position as a new customer (I just switched car insurance to the same company) to get what I need, fingers crossed!

After talking to the body shop, they explained that they will probably blend into the front doors and the hood in order to get a good paint match. With that in mind, I decided to remove all the door handles to make it easier for them and I will also be prepping them so they can be painted body colored. I'm also going to be removing the tailgate handle as well as the mirror caps to get those color matched as too. Lastly, I'm contemplating on buying a set of factory style fender flares and getting those painted body colored before installation.

The interior panels were removed to get the exterior handles off and I have decided to leave them off for now and give them a good cleaning outside the truck. In doing so, I discovered that the drivers door window was replaced at some point in time since it's no longer Ford glass. The installers did a number on the splash shield so I'm going to look into replacing that. The seats and floor carpet will be making their way out of the truck for a thorough cleaning. I'm an interior clean freak so this is the most effective way of getting things really clean. Also, if I have the time I'll try some sound deadening tricks on the doors and other parts of the interior to quite things down a bit.