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Member
- Joined
- Nov 9, 2010
- Messages
- 6
- Vehicle Year
- 1998
- Transmission
- Manual
This is the build page for my 98 B3000 4x4. I've had it for 4 years and over the last year I've done some tasteful mods and figured I would share. Here is what I have done:
Turned Torsions
2" shackles
electric fan swap
cold air intake
gutted cats
17x7.5 2010 escape rims
treadwright 285/70r17 tires
2" billet spacers
explorer leather buckets
2002 mazda b clear headlights
hid ballasts
2002 mazda b grill (not yet installed)
Of all the things I have done the best function is the combo of fan, intake, and gutted cats improved my mpg from 18 to 22! The biggest look difference goes to the wheel and tire combo.
WARNING: Problems I ran into during the swaps:
Seats: Those who say explorer seats swap directly into the trucks are full of it. I had to do some pretty serious mod'ing including cutting the explorer seat brackets off and welding my old seat brackets in place.
Suspension: The shackles stiffened the rear a bit causing slight axle hop on rough bumps especially in the rain. Turning your torsions is the most you want to do in the front of your truck. At full turn with stock keys it leaves only an inch of travel between the lower control arm and the frame. If you were to buy the lift keys you would have no travel for bound. Plus there is plenty of room for 33's with just TT's.
Wheels: The hub bore of the escape wheels are not large enough to clear the hubs of the truck so spacers were required but would have been needed for offset anyway because the tires would have hit the spindles.
HIDs: The kits are awesomely bright and cheap but are single stage. I get brighted all the time by other drivers but have no brights to flashback so I just look like an a-hole.
Electric Fan: This thing really freed up my engine! I got a kit with a thermostat sensor set up that only kicks the fan on when the fluid in the radiator reaches 190 degrees. Problem is the a/c compressor was made with intended constant cooling from the crank fan so by not having my fan running all the time, my a/c compressor burned up. I have since direct wired the fan to an accessory and it comes on with the truck and I haven't had anymore problems.
Cold Air Intake: I don't see how some of these kits are beneficial because there is not enough room to run a large tube over the top of the crank fan so some have compressed tubes which defeats the purpose of the intake because it restricts flow. The others, like the cheap ebay kit I got, won't fit with the crank fan. Luckily I had already replaced the fan but still had to mod the intake but due to the cost it wasn't an issue with me.
Gutting Cats: if you live in a state where there are emission tests for inspection then don't do this. Also you will kick a check engine code that is telling you that your cats aren't working. I tried the trick of the non-fouler screwed onto the o2 sensor but it didn't work. I'm going to try a o2 simulator next, but haven't thus far because they are over priced.
Headlights: Those who say you can't swap newer headlights into your older model are dead wrong. It's a straight swap from the 2002 I got my headlights out of. The clears are much brighter and really update the trucks look. Go to a u-pull-it near you and get a set!
Tires: I've only had the treadwright tires for a couple of days but they are freaking awesome! It's extremely hard to tell they are retreads and they look and feel great. They are super quiet, super cheap, super firm...I can't say enough good things about them. If they hold up, and all the research I've done says they will, I will be a customer for life!
Sorry that I don't have pics of all of these mods, my old phone died and I lost all my build pics but I will go back and showcase the mods. Here are some pics I have from the new phone.
Here is the only pic I have of the truck from close to when I got it 4 years ago. It had Maxxis Mudder 31x10.50's which were the worst tires I've ever owned! They measured 29x11.50 and were loud and heavy and just junk. Don't buy them.
Here is the grill I picked up from the u-pull-it place. The headlights and grill combo were higher than I wanted to pay at $120 total but still cheaper than new online and in like new shape.
The old lights were grungy and buffing them out didn't help. Even clean the etched glass just looked dated.
Big big difference!
Looking like a newer truck. I think I'm going to paint the new grill and try it since I paid so much for it but the chrome one is growing on me with the new wheels.
Let there be light! I see why I get flashed now.
Rims in. $220 shipped for all four!
Rims on. Had to take the vaccum hub off to get them to fit. Also found a potential issue where the tires might rub the spindle because the rim had little offset so billet spacers were ordered to clear the hubs and solve the possible rubbing issue.
Tire comparison. The tire next to it is a 265/70r15.
The scale is a little off because the tire is closer to the camera than the truck. They don't quite fill the well like that
Scale off again the rim is just sitting on top of the tire. Looks like 20s haha
Installed. I'm so happy. It looks insanely good in person and the tires are freaking huge. 33.3x11 with a 9" tread width
bad angle. tires look small and wide
Here are the treadwright 285/70/r17 next to bfg 285/70r17. the TW's are a good inch taller and inch more narrow.
That's a long post but full of info. More to come!
Turned Torsions
2" shackles
electric fan swap
cold air intake
gutted cats
17x7.5 2010 escape rims
treadwright 285/70r17 tires
2" billet spacers
explorer leather buckets
2002 mazda b clear headlights
hid ballasts
2002 mazda b grill (not yet installed)
Of all the things I have done the best function is the combo of fan, intake, and gutted cats improved my mpg from 18 to 22! The biggest look difference goes to the wheel and tire combo.
WARNING: Problems I ran into during the swaps:
Seats: Those who say explorer seats swap directly into the trucks are full of it. I had to do some pretty serious mod'ing including cutting the explorer seat brackets off and welding my old seat brackets in place.
Suspension: The shackles stiffened the rear a bit causing slight axle hop on rough bumps especially in the rain. Turning your torsions is the most you want to do in the front of your truck. At full turn with stock keys it leaves only an inch of travel between the lower control arm and the frame. If you were to buy the lift keys you would have no travel for bound. Plus there is plenty of room for 33's with just TT's.
Wheels: The hub bore of the escape wheels are not large enough to clear the hubs of the truck so spacers were required but would have been needed for offset anyway because the tires would have hit the spindles.
HIDs: The kits are awesomely bright and cheap but are single stage. I get brighted all the time by other drivers but have no brights to flashback so I just look like an a-hole.
Electric Fan: This thing really freed up my engine! I got a kit with a thermostat sensor set up that only kicks the fan on when the fluid in the radiator reaches 190 degrees. Problem is the a/c compressor was made with intended constant cooling from the crank fan so by not having my fan running all the time, my a/c compressor burned up. I have since direct wired the fan to an accessory and it comes on with the truck and I haven't had anymore problems.
Cold Air Intake: I don't see how some of these kits are beneficial because there is not enough room to run a large tube over the top of the crank fan so some have compressed tubes which defeats the purpose of the intake because it restricts flow. The others, like the cheap ebay kit I got, won't fit with the crank fan. Luckily I had already replaced the fan but still had to mod the intake but due to the cost it wasn't an issue with me.
Gutting Cats: if you live in a state where there are emission tests for inspection then don't do this. Also you will kick a check engine code that is telling you that your cats aren't working. I tried the trick of the non-fouler screwed onto the o2 sensor but it didn't work. I'm going to try a o2 simulator next, but haven't thus far because they are over priced.
Headlights: Those who say you can't swap newer headlights into your older model are dead wrong. It's a straight swap from the 2002 I got my headlights out of. The clears are much brighter and really update the trucks look. Go to a u-pull-it near you and get a set!
Tires: I've only had the treadwright tires for a couple of days but they are freaking awesome! It's extremely hard to tell they are retreads and they look and feel great. They are super quiet, super cheap, super firm...I can't say enough good things about them. If they hold up, and all the research I've done says they will, I will be a customer for life!
Sorry that I don't have pics of all of these mods, my old phone died and I lost all my build pics but I will go back and showcase the mods. Here are some pics I have from the new phone.
Here is the only pic I have of the truck from close to when I got it 4 years ago. It had Maxxis Mudder 31x10.50's which were the worst tires I've ever owned! They measured 29x11.50 and were loud and heavy and just junk. Don't buy them.
Here is the grill I picked up from the u-pull-it place. The headlights and grill combo were higher than I wanted to pay at $120 total but still cheaper than new online and in like new shape.
The old lights were grungy and buffing them out didn't help. Even clean the etched glass just looked dated.
Big big difference!
Looking like a newer truck. I think I'm going to paint the new grill and try it since I paid so much for it but the chrome one is growing on me with the new wheels.
Let there be light! I see why I get flashed now.
Rims in. $220 shipped for all four!
Rims on. Had to take the vaccum hub off to get them to fit. Also found a potential issue where the tires might rub the spindle because the rim had little offset so billet spacers were ordered to clear the hubs and solve the possible rubbing issue.
Tire comparison. The tire next to it is a 265/70r15.
The scale is a little off because the tire is closer to the camera than the truck. They don't quite fill the well like that
Scale off again the rim is just sitting on top of the tire. Looks like 20s haha
Installed. I'm so happy. It looks insanely good in person and the tires are freaking huge. 33.3x11 with a 9" tread width
bad angle. tires look small and wide
Here are the treadwright 285/70/r17 next to bfg 285/70r17. the TW's are a good inch taller and inch more narrow.
That's a long post but full of info. More to come!
