I've been meaning to do one of these just never had the time to go through hundreds of pics

I bought this 2003 F-150 Flareside in March of 2008 with 61K on it. I had been looking for either a flareside (always liked the look on this generation) or a supercrew. This truck had been sitting on the lot for months and I had watched the price keep coming down. Finally decided to pounce on it. The original owner had kept it in awsome shape and it had the American Racing wheels and Cabela's step bars already installed.

Here's the pics from the first weekend I had it..first wash













Of course being a college students funds were tight so the mods would come slowly.
The clear corner lenses were still kind of popular back a few years ago so this was my first mod. I put these in in May







In June I painted some of the plastics under the hood





I was really getting sick of the stock taillights so I bought these at the end of July







Again, with school taking priority I had to wait until late winter of 2009 to start buying up things

I started focusing on the interior. I was tired of all the grey plastic and wanted to do something a little different. I played with the idea of one of the wood grain kits but ended up deciding on doing a PTM project. I hadn't seen too much of it done and thought it would stand out. I researched the steps on how to do it properly and bought the factory paint off of automotivetouchup.com. Most of this work took a few months to complete. I could only take so much of the truck apart at once.

 

Looking good!

 

 

 

I finally was able to get the dual exhaust put on in April 2009..thank you tax return! I went with the Cherry Bomb Extreme, split side duals with 3.5 inch tips. The Cherry Bomb gives the 5.4 a definite growl without being overly obnoxious, plus no highway drone. I took the time to paint the "F-150" logo on my diff cover as well

 

In June I picked up a billet grille on Ebay. Just the insert, I didn't do the full replacement. I know the honeycomb shows through more in the pics, its not real noticeable in person. Those are my new BFG K/Os on the truck as well. The company that does the tires for our fleet at work was able to hook me up pretty well with them.

 

In August I added my initials to the doors.



In September I picked up one of those Line of Fire LED tailgate bars. I taped the connection up real well and fortunately have never had a problem with it.





I placed an order in the middle of October for my new heads and corners. I knew I wanted a smoked look, but went back and forth between the projectors and the smoked crystal. Clearly I went the the smoked crystal and glad I did. While those lights were on order I painted that ugly grey lower valance to match and tinted the fogs to match the new heads better.

 

I got a couple things done in the winter of 2010. I made my emblem overlays for the tailgate and steering wheel and also finally attempted the GOTTs mod. GOTTs mod definately gave more throttle response.

 

I had wanted to do tint for awhile but didn't really want to pay to have just 2 windows done and while the truck was in Delaware while I was in school they were really strict about their tint laws...none whatsoever unless for medical reasons. So I decided to tackle the process during Easter weekend in April and didn't come out bad at all for the first time doing it. Took me about 3 hours. The tint is 35%

 

The open bed had been bugging me for awhile. I like to be able to keep things in the bed without it getting wet or being seen by people. I bought the Lund Genesis Roll-up from JCWhitney in July.

 

I had been wanting a dual action polisher for awhile and got one in August. I do detailing side jobs so it would make my life easier and be able to do better work. I tried it out on my truck first...

 

I had been undecided for awhile on what I was going to do with the airbag cover. I didn't really want to paint it, so thats when I got the idea for a mural. I found a pic of the Cape Cod Canal in Massachusetts and had a sign company blow it up on a piece of vinyl. I was able to lay it on and trim it to fit the shape.

 

Oddly enough this truck did not come with a trailer hitch. There were times I needed a trailer and couldn't plus just for other future uses so I bought the complete package off of Etrailer.com. Ford had quoted me over $500 just to install the hitch and the 7-way plug. I got everything off etrailer, including fuses, wiring, AND the brake controller for under $400. I took the truck home with me on my Thanksgiving break so my Dad and I could install it

 

Here's some fresh detail pics from March 2011

 

Ruby got some Husky Floor Mats in May