When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
Frankentruck and other oddities from Firerunner's World
I am finally starting to do visible changes to my truck after a little over One year of ownership, so now I feel is the time to start keeping up with the changes...
here is the truck on the day I bought it beside my old F150..
It is a 2015 XLT Chrome edition 2.7eb 4x2
Right from the start I knew I wanted to personalize it, but keep it as OEM as possible..
First up - tonneau cover - I went with a RetraxOne MX, That's the most I have ever spent on a bed cover but I gotta admit it's worth every penny!
Edit: If you want to skip to my current build, it starts HERE
Last edited by Firerunner; 11-01-2020 at 03:47 PM.
Nice! Do you think in the end you will have regretted not buying a Lariat from the beginning?
When I bought this truck I honestly never even considered a Lariat... I had searched my dealer on the internet and picked 4 trucks that I thought would be a good fit for me. This truck was the first (and only) that I test drove, it had been on the lot the longest... but had the most "gadgets" for the cheapest price of all of them.
Originally Posted by speeddemon0712
How was installing the center console or did you already have it? I have a 302A with column shift, but I have that jump seat and I want to add the center console. I read it's quite the job, which you'd think it wouldn't be. I want my interior to look like this (except mine has the 8" touch screen)...
That was another thing I loved about this truck... the console was already in it exactly as the picture you showed. Coming from an '04 FX4 I would have been lost without a console... and that's why I want the floor shift back.. after so long with one it doesn't feel right to reach on the column.
Originally Posted by AricsFX
I mean its cool and all, and I absolutely respect your DIY. But honestly I do wanna know how much $$ youve spent after you "saved" buying an XLT.
Me personally it's not about the money. Now don't get me wrong I know some of the things I do are expensive, and could have been achieved with alot less headache if I would have just bought a more expensive truck in the beginning.
But this is my personal "Frankentruck".... outside of this little group of Ford fanatics my truck will appear to be just another XLT, but to me It's the perfect expression of who I am and what I like. And that's really my whole purpose of this journey...I want it personalized...but Factory...and I love having a truck that while it's just an XLT there is not another one that rolled off the line like mine because I made it that way
Now comes the cause for the greatest expense....THIS SITE
I have been a member here for awhile, but never had it persuaded me to spend money on mods like it is doing now..
FORScan.... how can something so simple be so addictive? I've added Factory Nav to the SYNC 2 as well as adding Hill Descent Control, and making several other changes to the modules...
One of the first visible changes was the addition of a Platinum 8" Instrument cluster
I was like a kid in a candy store when I got this installed.
After being able to change the cluster I was hooked! As I read through the different threads I could see others were to - and they were pulling me in deeper and deeper
Next up I had to have the factory LED taillights that TB15XLT had started a thread detailing his install So I found a pair on eBay with the adapters already made up.
Next Livnitup figured out how to get Hill Descent Control to work on trucks not equipped, and I figured "Why not"
That brings me up to Thanksgiving, when I find a 2015 Lariat Tailgate with built-in step on eBay...again GOTTA HAVE IT!!
Of Course with my truck being an XLT the electronic handle had to be swapped out, which meant I lost the trailer hook-up light as mine didn't have it - that is until I found another thread on how to add that little gem too
The tailgate turned out to be more than pull and switch, I didn't know it at the time but tailgates with the step in them use a different bracket on the Left side than regular tailgates do - So that had to be ordered delaying my install until right before Christmas
(New bracket installed with old bracket on bumper)
The Tailgate set me back a little bit, so I laid off the mods for the most part and just watched everyone else's builds for a while - Then I saw a thread detailing how to change out the roof mounted brake lights (which overheat and discolor) to factory LED's...DONE
That bring's me to now.... Today I cleaned the truck real good
and installed a Platinum grille I got off of eBay
and installed some OEM Fender Flares I bought from (you guessed it) eBay..
This has to be one of the hardest mods I have done to date simply because I decided to use the factory clips to mount them
First I stood there for almost 30 minutes with the drill in hand trying to talk myself out of it, but the desire to have the flares won out.
The method I used to locate a drilling point was to put Vaseline on the end of the clips, then put the flares in place so that the Vaseline would leave an impression to go by
Using this method I marked each hole one by one (starting top center) until I had them all drilled
I then painted the bare metal (screaming yellow of all things) to protect it and pushed the flares into place. This is the end result...
03-25-2017, 07:43 PM
Frankentruck and other oddities from Firerunner's World
