Opus-n-Bill

I bought the non-chrome primed Ford OEM bumpers from Tasca and had a body shop paint them for me, then swapped them out.

Not the cheapest way to go, but didn't like the idea of trying to paint over chrome, and this gave me a backout plan.

For the handles, I got covers off ebay and had them painted as well (they went over the chrome handles and affix with 3m tape securely).

Opus-n-Bill

Here's the underhood light in the dark:


On the plus side, it's very bright, and the activation sensor works fine to only come on when the hood is open.
On the down side:
- the underside of the hood is a mat/rough paint that the tape just doesn't stick well to. High temp clear caulk is a must to make the light stick and stay.
- The wiring is very fragile, esp where it connects to the battery. The connectors that go on the battery screw posts are too small, and both broke when I tried to tighten it down, so had to resolder them and be more careful.

Opus-n-Bill

Also, added 1.5" borla spacers. Don't have any pics, but it does give it a more aggressive stance and brings it more even with the side of the truck.

I'm leaning toward swapping to the Raptor beadlock capable rims, and removing the spacers when I do. Something like this:


(If anyone is selling some Raptor beadlock takeoffs at a reasonable price, feel free to PM me ).

T-Locster

Opus-n-Bill, on you're Borla exhaust, is it just the split exit or the true dual exhaust? I want to go with the true dual from Borla (I think that's the only one available for the 3.5's) and I was curious if that's what you did how different it sounds from stock. Thanks.

R/
Travis

Opus-n-Bill

I love the bedside steps, but it's always bothered me how big and obvious they are when closed, so I swapped the OEM steps out with the AMP ones. The AMP ones tuck up much tighter, and are even with the AMP retractable side step to create a nice clean line together.

OEM:


AMP:


Sorry for the poor pics. When we're not in the middle of a snow storm, I'll get some better before and after pics of the entire truck outside - makes the difference much more obvious.

KillinTime

The AMP does look better and my h cleaner install. How does the little step come down? Is there a motor?

Opus-n-Bill

I went with this, which is the split Touring exhaust. Hard to describe - If I had to say what my goals were, in order:
1. Looks of the rear dual exhaust
2. Performance gains (not a lot, but did seem to give a little extra umph)
3. Ease of installation - wanted a simple bolt on without having to do a lot of work in the engine compartment or cutting pipes, etc.
4. Sound

I actually liked how quiet the stock exhaust was, and went with the Touring to minimize the change, but it does give it a more throaty growl without being obnoxiously loud. Not anything like a true V8 growl, but that wasn't my goal.

If you google the borla exhaust options, you can find youtube videos to get a better idea of the sound.

Opus-n-Bill

The small bed step is just spring loaded. Step on it the right way and it pops out, push it and it goes back in. (The OEM has a button to push to pop it out, and takes a lot more effort to push back in).

Randall1111

Opus-n-Bill

They were about $255 each side off amazon. (Actually, I had enough Amazon points that it didn't cost me anything - love my Amazon card).

As I understand it, Ford gets their retractable side steps from AMP, don't know why they didn't source these from AMP also.