Project List:
*Remove Valance
-Remove front license plate mount
-Clean up mounts + plastic/chrome
-Prep/Sand/Paint for a color-match on the flares
-Hide bumper mounts
*Clean Up/Scrub Front IFS/Frame + Paint
*Modify Bull Bar
-Color Match to Valance/Vlares
-Create some brackets to make it more rigid

(Will probably add more at a later point, whatever I can do I will do!)

A couple before poses.. note the gray plastic on the valance, its also scratched up a bit, and the very visible bumper mounts/frame visible through the front.








Success! And a burnt middle finger! Used the dremel to knock out the backs of the pins holding in the license plate mount... stuck my finger on the end of one accidentally an slightly burned my finger.. no battle wound though, doesn't even hurt anymore.





Scrubbed the chrome nice and well, got the plastic valance well scrubbed and any chemicals off of it, onto the sanding/prepping part! A nice shot showing my 'work area'.. I opted to park in the sun this time, get some sun on my back.. I have such a farmers tan going on thanks to work *sigh* Naturally, the shade won out.. and now my area is all shade.. poo!






Got all the chrome taped up and covered on the bumper, began sanding with a 150 grit, followed by a 220 grit to smooth it down a bit.. deep gouges will always be there, the same thing happened on my flares when I painted those too.









Got the bumper mount and lower IFS area scrubbed clean with soem purple cleaner and a scrub brush.. then began the light prepping (involving a cardboard and my hand holding it up!) got it all looking good down there!

















Lots more going on.. will update from time to time throughout the day/evening :-D

 

looking good! i wish i had the time to do some cleanin and paintin right now.

 

I like where you painted. It looks really good.

Is your wanna be westin bull bar custom? If so its bad ***.

 

haha.. Westin's are expensive pieces of jewlery... Not custom, you can find them on ebay, search up 'hunter bull bar' and it should pull up.. I 'think' they are pretty new to the scene, as I hadn't ever seen it anywhere before.



And D, yeah.. I've got some gnarly scrapes from offroading and whatnot.. lots of spots here and there several inches wide.. I usually just paint over them and call them my 'love scars'

 

I agree on the jewelry part. Yours looks bad ***.

Great looking ride.

 

thank you for giving me a good idea...i think i might try to make a bull bar for my truck lol

 

what type of paint did you use? looks soo smooth!

 

I honestly would have to go out and read the can.. its a special type for frame's... prevents rust, all that fancy stuff, I figured it came in flat black so I would pick up 3 cans of it.. Actually, if you look at the picture where you can see what I painted, I decided to tape up and paint 'everything' on the front black with the paint... including the radiator tabs on the bottom (didnt hit the actual radiator for obvious reasons) and it looks WAY better now.

Lightning storm is just east of me, and the wind started blowing pretty good, plus it smelled moist in the air, so I had to pack up just now and put things away.. was JUST into the good part of wiring up my electrical and switch and such for my lights.. but I will probably have to continue that tomorrow.. or tonight if the rain comes and goes and it dries out a little bit



For an update - I pulled out the entire front end, including the front grill, the black plastic 'air channel' in front of the radiator, and pretty much anythign that was gray plastic, I am repainting as a krylon fusion flat black with 3 coats o fit. Making things look awful good now

 

looks great mike! don't forget to pull off those PA bumper backets, skuff them up to get rid of the zinc coating, and spray those too.

 

done and done They are atually still connected to the bumper, I left it all as one piece, took some sandpaper to them, and got them good.. front and back 3 coats krylon, 3 coats matte clearcoat.. and yes, the bumper does look fantastic :-D I wont be putting it on until late tomorrow.. I want it to harden up properly before I go driving aroudn tomorrow, and I -should-0 have everythign finished up by tomorrow :-D

 

You're color matching the flares and valance? That's gonna be wicked cool lol

 

I'm pretty much color matching the entire front view of the truck All the way down to the plastic air-channel behind the grill

 

that plastic air channel that some rigs got and some didn't......retarded ford. i still gotta make a thread about that weird thing.

 

It really is odd.. honestly, it cleans the front up a bit, I -think- it may have to do with vehicle color; only for reasons that when I test fit my grill back on, it looked "interesting" with a white pole going down the middle of the grill .. one of those radiator supports..


Its on jacks in the barn, along with my valance/bumper setup, all of it jsut sitting there curing a bit till tomorrow :-D

 

I think you're on to something there mike with the color..

Mine has it as well... It looks stupid with it not on the truck... same thing with the radiator support cept in silver... I think you're right!

I don't think you should paint that thing white.. too much going on! lol

 

Somebody wanna do a photoshop of mikes truck w/ body colored flares and valence w/ chrome bumper???

 

Oh, by color matching, I mean matching my crap stock gray to the black flares I had painted up earlier, I'm going on a black/white setup on this rig.. with small bit of chrome here and there (rear + front bumper, wheels n such...



Although, if someone was avialable and good enough and could color match my flares and the front end to my truck.. I think that would look pretty sick actually.. maybe make a nice next summer project

 

Update: Its looking darn good now Bull bar is literally hanging right now, getting it hit with some matching black...







So... hows this? Good, Bad? hah.. and yes, I know what the answer is.. I have them sitting there waiting on my bull bar to dry, and waiting on Shane to get out here lol..






My neato wiring skillz yo! Will provide shots of the switch once I get its little LED working.. for some reason it just isnt wanting to go on, even though full power is working just fine to the lights on and off -shrugs- oh well.. dud switch maybe?

 

That's a sexy looking truck.

 

Nice work! The truck is looking great!

 

Thank ya kindly.. its sort of wierd not having my front license plate on.. every time I pass a cop I check the rear view window to make sure they wont pull me over for not having it on... -laughs- Unsuually, I-14 was REALLY heavy on the cops today.. but meh, Im just used to always having it on I suppose


Shoudl be about another 15-20 minutes before I'm ready to mount my bull bar back on adn set the lights.. Im looking into making some brackets to get the bar itself more ridgid.. might have enough laying around to get 'er done

 

whats this "plastic air channel" thing? im kinda lost here. lol

 

I'll go take a picture of it.. it sits behind the grill, in front of the radiator and sort of 'channels air' I suppose, or it coudl just be as stated above, based on a vehicles color to block a beam from showing.. You might be able to see off these photo's.. brb with a few shots!

 

i dont have anything between the grill and radiator on my truck