Slowly making progress - 2014 F-150

[Kitzy]

Didn't you put wheels on it already before?

Patiently waiting for more progress...

[Blown F-150]

Yeah, but I came across these super cheap and needed to put AT's on the Raptor wheels anyway. I keep both sets and sell my stock 18" wheels. I think I'll put some Nitto 420's on the 20" wheels and Toyo AT II's on the Raptor Wheels. I just have to sell some of my extra crap first.

Made a bunch of progress today. The wiring took forever.
 
 - Took door panels off, pulled them apart and painted some of the pieces.
 - Installed Recon tail lights
 - Installed LED light strip
 - Roughed in all the wiring for the LED bed lights
 - Installed the power tailgate lock
 - Ran a 8ga power wire from the tail lights (coiled up behind the light for now) and all the way up to the power distribution box

Some teaser pics

Panels before


Close enough for me


Panels after I painted the speaker grills black

[Blown F-150]

I was able to get much more done today (currently typing this as I wait for epoxy to dry, lol).

Today:
 - Hydro Dipped the panel inserts
 - Finished up LED bed lights
 - Started re-assembly of door panels

The Hydro Dipping took a long time, way longer than I expected. I started at 10am and finished around 2pm just getting the pieces dipped. There is definitely a learning curve to the process. I had the water to warm to start with, then I was using too much activator...

After testing on a few random pieces, I started with the actual parts. Went pretty smooth, but had to do one piece at a time for the larger bits, but I was able to do both sets of the smaller pieces in pairs.

From the top!

So here is the speaker grills after paint. They just pop out of the panels really easy


Then I started on painting the panel inserts.

Scuffed up


Primer


After a couple coats of paint (6 coats total)


I set up the bathroom in the basement as an oven. I put a ceramic heater in it with the parts to "bake" them a bit and speed up the drying process.

While I waited for paint to dry I did some other stuff
Installed auto tailgate lock


Installed LED light Bar strip, I hardwired it right to the tail lights.


I ran the wires for the bed lights, auto lock and 12v power




I just left the 12v wire right by the power box for easy hook-up. It's coiled up behind the tail light in the back.


Today was onto the dipping!
Here is my hillbilly "dip tank" (that is a fish tank heater to maintain temps)


Why you need to wear gloves


After the dip




While waiting for the dip to dry, I finished up the LED bed lights. They have adhesive on them, but I added clear adhesive silicone and held them in place with some duck tape till it drys


I soldered, heat shrunk, wrapped and ran the wires into the stake pockets

[Blown F-150]

Bed lights turned on


Once the dipped pieces were dry, I hit them with a few coats of clear.

After the clear



They sat in the bathroom with the heater to cure a bit and now I am onto re-installing them. I had to drill out all the melted plastic rivets that held them in place, so I am using epoxy to re-install.



I'll post up the finished goods after I'm all done, so close!

[Blown F-150]

I was able to get things all wrapped up. pretty happy with the outcome. I think I'll pull the trigger on doing the stereo surround and console around the shifter. I will need to order more film though. I though I ordered plenty extra, but didn't account enough for the learning curve...

Epoxy used to re-install panels.


Pieces back in




Door panels back on



LED tails and light strip

[Kitzy]

Annnnnnnd he's at the coin-op.  Haha

It's looking good.  The dip is more subtle than I expected.  It looks good though. 

Tails lok good.  I've never been a fan of the tailgat bars though.  Mostly because they seem to always lose a couple lights so they leave a bad impression on me.

[Blown F-150]

Lol, I needed to use the pressure washer to rinse out the wheel wells and underneath instead of pulling mine out. I promise NO brushes touched the paint

It got a quick wash once I got back home last night. I here ya on the light strip, but so many around here don't pay attention, it's actually more for safety than looks. I will just rip it out if LED's start failing, it was cheap enough.

You can see much more contrast in the daylight. I like how you need to look at them to really see what the pattern is.





Washed up, but nothing dressed yet. I think the tires look a little small, but I will run them for a while.

[Rollingrock]

"Like"

Oh wait, sorry that was a FB moment.   LOL

[Blown F-150]

I am still waiting for the local vendor to bring in Liquid Red, so I haven't touched the paint yet. I did however get a Hellwig Sway bar installed on the rear. WOW, what a difference! I only took it for a quick rip around the block and it is soooooo much better. Corners much flatter and with better traction. I am curios to see if it will help with towing too.

Black lug nuts arrived, so hopefully I will get them on this weekend. Then it's paint and getting rid of the rest of the exterior chrome by painting the Ford emblems.

[Blown F-150]

Really liking the sway bar!

I was able to wash up the truck this weekend, but not much else. I have the black lugs, puddle lights and marker lights yet to go on. Fox 2.0 shocks ordered for the rear, but they will be a long time coming.

For the paint correction, I think I am going to have to tackle it piece meal. Just don't have a full day to sit and knock it out.
If the local supplier doesn't have Natty's red Liquid by next week, I am just going to place an order without it.

I have also decided that I like the Raptor wheels better. So the plan is to put some nice tires on them and sell the 20's.

[Kitzy]

I still haven't bought the red.  Or the black for that matter.  These days I'm lucky if I can wash it let alone polish or wax it. 

[Blown F-150]

Apparently the local vendor should have the Natty's liquid red by next week. I'll put in my order early August when I'm back from vacay.

I made a little more progress in the last few days
 - ceramic tint on front windows done 50%. any tint is illegal here
 - Recon Puddle lights, WAY brighter than OEM
 - ANZO LED marker lights. I recently found out they are junk, so we will see how long they last
 - Ordered Morimoto LED fog lights. Found a killer deal and couldn't pass them up
 - Bought a used stereo trim piece that I can hydro-dip to match the door panel inserts. Since there are buttons and stuff, I wanted to have a back-up in case I messed it up.

Once all that is done, I think the truck will just be getting a full detail this summer. I'll cool it on the mods for the next little while. I will keep an eye out for a deal on tires to put on the raptor wheels and then sell the 20's. At least that will be a wash.

I'll try and get some pics up this weekend!

[Kitzy]

Never heard of ceramic tint.  Have to say though I've never had a problem with tint on any of my vehicles.  Never scratched and never been stopped for it.  Any tint on front doors is illegal here.  I have 15%. 

I have a pair of diode dynamics in my stock fog location.  I love them.  My girlfriend has them in her Impreza and they're even more noticeable but they do exactly what they're supposed to.  Low and wide. 

[Blown F-150]

Since I went with a lighter tint, I went Ceramic for it's improved heat blocking. I was already going for it, but the dude showed me the difference with a spotlight and temp gun. Same sales pitch crap as this, lol.
https://youtu.be/8lkLTsRA8I4

http://solutions.3m.com/wps/portal/3M/en_US/Window_Film/Solutions/Markets-Products/Automotive/Ceramic-Series/

[Kitzy]

Well that's interesting.