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Z7What
Member
- Joined
- Jul 30, 2010
- Messages
- 44
- Reaction score
- 1
- Points
- 8
- Location
- New Orleans, LA
- Vehicle Year
- 2001
- Make / Model
- Ford
- Engine Size
- 2.5L
- Transmission
- Automatic
When I bought this truck back in July it was in pretty bad shape. I bought it to use as a dailly driver so having it perfect wasnt a huge concern of mine but once i started playing around with it my OCD took over and now i cant stop
. Over the last three months I have taken care of a crap ton of issues she had, with a couple mods along the way. Here is a list of all the stuff that I have done.
*Replaced the dead battery with Motorcraft
*Changed the 3 different brand and gapped incorrectly spark plugs with correctly gapped Motorcraft plugs
*Replaced the coolant temp sensor with a Motorcraft sensor
*Flushed Coolant and Refilled
*Replaced the 02 Sensor with a Motorcraft 02 Sensor
*Replaced the spark plug wires
*Replaced the thermostat & o-ring
*Replaced the serpentine belt with a Gates belt
*Replaced the windshield wipers blades
*Replaced the fuel pump & fuel hat gasket
*Replaced the fuel filter and connector
*Replaced the clock spring & repaired the broken harness for it
*Replaced the front sway bar bushing & end links
*Front brake job, repacked bearings & replaced inner bearing seals
*Cleaned the MAF, IAC & Throttle Body
*Removed & Resealed the leaking rear window & 3rd Brake Light
*Swapped 3rd brake like harness from a F250(3 Bulb) & Installed LEDs
*Swapped the Cluster, Dome, Glove Box, Reverse & License Plate Bulbs with LEDs
*Repainted The Peeling Roof & Grill
*Installed HD style “Dynamat” throughout the cab & doors along with new flooring padding
*Replaced all the burnt out bulbs on the Exterior & Interior
*Repaired 5 leaking vacuum lines causing the A/C to blow out the defrost & idle to surge some
*Reattached the headlight reflectors that where bouncing around inside the housing
*Rewired rear speakers(The right was left and the left was right)
*Cleaned Seats & Interior
*Installed a tow hitch from a 2011 Ranger
*Swapped out the tiny XL mirrors to 2006+ Ranger mirrors
*Wrapped the rear bumper(Not perfect but looks much better, will paint when i paint the front bumper)
Installed a USB port on radio bezel since the back side of the bezel was broken causing the left cig lighter port to fall into the dash.
*Detailing the paint
*Polished the wheels
*Changed the ignition switch and door lock cylinders with Motorcraft units so all the keys are the same.
BOUGHT BUT NOT INSTALLED YET
Heater Core
Energy Suspension leafspring bushings
Now onto the part that everybody wants to see, PICTURES!
This is how it looked when I bought it!
Painted the roof that was in bad shape.
Fixing the leaking rear window & 3rd brake light. Removing the old Butyl Tape or whatever it is called was a complete MFer, but after plenty of shop rags and a lot of elbow grease I got it clean and ready for reinstalling the window.
When I was removing the interior pieces to allow me to get the rear window out I came across some water under the carpet so I decided to pull the entire interior to clean, dry and to lay down some Home Depot style “Dynamat”. While doing this I found a few things. One was the reason the rear window was leaking. It had been busted out at one point as you can see there is all kinds of glass that was under the carpet and the person that installed the new window must have not installed it correctly causing it to leak.
The padding on the flooring was soaking wet do to the rear window and 3rd brake light leaking as well as the heater core. I put it in the sun to dry but even after being in the sun all day the padding still wasnt dry so I said screw it and removed all the padding from the flooring and used some padded headliner material I had in the attic as padding. I plan to install carpet at some point to replace the plastic flooring so when i do that i order the carpet with the backing on it.
Since the cig lighter plug was pushed into the dash due to the bezel being cracked on the back side i installed a USB Port which popped right in after making the hole just a little larger. Changed one of the ends on the factory harness and it plugged right in.
Had to get rid of the tiny ass mirrors. My weekend driver is a 2013 F-150 so im used to larger mirrors so 06+ mirrors were a must!
I originally bough some wrap to wrap the roof but after recieving it and seeing that i bought it 3" to short i decided to wrap the rear bumper. The wrap wasnt as easy as i expected it to be. I have a new found respect for people who wrap vehicles for a living. Its far from perfect but looks much better than the chrome bumper if you ask me. Sooner or later i will remove the wrap and paint. I scored a factory tow hitch off a 2011 that i picked up for $50 and installed.
I started detailling it but the rain forced me to stop. Hard to tell in the picture but here is a before and after picture of the hood being detailed. I compounded and polished the hood only no wax had been applied at this point.
The Crager wheels appeared to be in horrible shape but its truely is amazing what some 0000 steel wool and a couple minutes will do with some elbow grease will do.
Finally gave her a bath. At this point i still needed to perform a full detail on the exterior but the transformation that had happened over the first 2 months i had her i think has improved it greatly.
Im hope to find someone to buy the Cragers and tires that are on the truck so i can use the money towards a new set of tires for the set of oem cobra wheels my buddy hooked me up with for FREE! If anyone is local to me, New Orleans area let me know if you want the Cragers and tires, the tires are basically brand new.
Last but not least, i finally got enough time to compound, polish and wax the entire truck which it needed dearly. Once i get some extra time on my hands im going to bring it to a friend that is a professional detailer work his magic on it to make it even better.
Plans in the near future are to replace the UCAs, LCAs, outer tie rod ends along with installing some Maxtrac 2” lift coils & new shocks, when doing that is when i plan to replace all the bushings on the leaf springs with the Energy Suspension bushings i already bought. I also plan to swap out the tail lights to 06+ and i may retrofit a set of projectors in a new set of headlights.
What yall think?
Wayne
. Over the last three months I have taken care of a crap ton of issues she had, with a couple mods along the way. Here is a list of all the stuff that I have done.*Replaced the dead battery with Motorcraft
*Changed the 3 different brand and gapped incorrectly spark plugs with correctly gapped Motorcraft plugs
*Replaced the coolant temp sensor with a Motorcraft sensor
*Flushed Coolant and Refilled
*Replaced the 02 Sensor with a Motorcraft 02 Sensor
*Replaced the spark plug wires
*Replaced the thermostat & o-ring
*Replaced the serpentine belt with a Gates belt
*Replaced the windshield wipers blades
*Replaced the fuel pump & fuel hat gasket
*Replaced the fuel filter and connector
*Replaced the clock spring & repaired the broken harness for it
*Replaced the front sway bar bushing & end links
*Front brake job, repacked bearings & replaced inner bearing seals
*Cleaned the MAF, IAC & Throttle Body
*Removed & Resealed the leaking rear window & 3rd Brake Light
*Swapped 3rd brake like harness from a F250(3 Bulb) & Installed LEDs
*Swapped the Cluster, Dome, Glove Box, Reverse & License Plate Bulbs with LEDs
*Repainted The Peeling Roof & Grill
*Installed HD style “Dynamat” throughout the cab & doors along with new flooring padding
*Replaced all the burnt out bulbs on the Exterior & Interior
*Repaired 5 leaking vacuum lines causing the A/C to blow out the defrost & idle to surge some
*Reattached the headlight reflectors that where bouncing around inside the housing
*Rewired rear speakers(The right was left and the left was right)
*Cleaned Seats & Interior
*Installed a tow hitch from a 2011 Ranger
*Swapped out the tiny XL mirrors to 2006+ Ranger mirrors
*Wrapped the rear bumper(Not perfect but looks much better, will paint when i paint the front bumper)
Installed a USB port on radio bezel since the back side of the bezel was broken causing the left cig lighter port to fall into the dash.
*Detailing the paint
*Polished the wheels
*Changed the ignition switch and door lock cylinders with Motorcraft units so all the keys are the same.
BOUGHT BUT NOT INSTALLED YET
Heater Core
Energy Suspension leafspring bushings
Now onto the part that everybody wants to see, PICTURES!
This is how it looked when I bought it!
Painted the roof that was in bad shape.
Fixing the leaking rear window & 3rd brake light. Removing the old Butyl Tape or whatever it is called was a complete MFer, but after plenty of shop rags and a lot of elbow grease I got it clean and ready for reinstalling the window.
When I was removing the interior pieces to allow me to get the rear window out I came across some water under the carpet so I decided to pull the entire interior to clean, dry and to lay down some Home Depot style “Dynamat”. While doing this I found a few things. One was the reason the rear window was leaking. It had been busted out at one point as you can see there is all kinds of glass that was under the carpet and the person that installed the new window must have not installed it correctly causing it to leak.
The padding on the flooring was soaking wet do to the rear window and 3rd brake light leaking as well as the heater core. I put it in the sun to dry but even after being in the sun all day the padding still wasnt dry so I said screw it and removed all the padding from the flooring and used some padded headliner material I had in the attic as padding. I plan to install carpet at some point to replace the plastic flooring so when i do that i order the carpet with the backing on it.
Since the cig lighter plug was pushed into the dash due to the bezel being cracked on the back side i installed a USB Port which popped right in after making the hole just a little larger. Changed one of the ends on the factory harness and it plugged right in.
Had to get rid of the tiny ass mirrors. My weekend driver is a 2013 F-150 so im used to larger mirrors so 06+ mirrors were a must!
I originally bough some wrap to wrap the roof but after recieving it and seeing that i bought it 3" to short i decided to wrap the rear bumper. The wrap wasnt as easy as i expected it to be. I have a new found respect for people who wrap vehicles for a living. Its far from perfect but looks much better than the chrome bumper if you ask me. Sooner or later i will remove the wrap and paint. I scored a factory tow hitch off a 2011 that i picked up for $50 and installed.
I started detailling it but the rain forced me to stop. Hard to tell in the picture but here is a before and after picture of the hood being detailed. I compounded and polished the hood only no wax had been applied at this point.
The Crager wheels appeared to be in horrible shape but its truely is amazing what some 0000 steel wool and a couple minutes will do with some elbow grease will do.
Finally gave her a bath. At this point i still needed to perform a full detail on the exterior but the transformation that had happened over the first 2 months i had her i think has improved it greatly.
Im hope to find someone to buy the Cragers and tires that are on the truck so i can use the money towards a new set of tires for the set of oem cobra wheels my buddy hooked me up with for FREE! If anyone is local to me, New Orleans area let me know if you want the Cragers and tires, the tires are basically brand new.
Last but not least, i finally got enough time to compound, polish and wax the entire truck which it needed dearly. Once i get some extra time on my hands im going to bring it to a friend that is a professional detailer work his magic on it to make it even better.
Plans in the near future are to replace the UCAs, LCAs, outer tie rod ends along with installing some Maxtrac 2” lift coils & new shocks, when doing that is when i plan to replace all the bushings on the leaf springs with the Energy Suspension bushings i already bought. I also plan to swap out the tail lights to 06+ and i may retrofit a set of projectors in a new set of headlights.
What yall think?
Wayne
