Check out this link about an "access door" on 2004 reg cab F-150

http://www.autoweek.com/cat_content...._code=06915572

 

That wont be so bad...more room for subs LOL

 

They ain't doors and they ain't access panels!

Hey Ford! I got a name for 'em...Blind Spots!

 

I dont think it will be a blind spot. The cabs will be alot like the Doge reg cab (more room behind the seat) So instead of shifting the seat every time you want to get back there you just open the "access door"
Sounds like a nice feature to me...

 

ah well, you're right, it won't be a blind spot, what was I thinkin'...

IT WILL BE A FRIGGIN' HUGE BLIND SPOT!

 

Not if they put the same dumbo looking mirrors on them, like the ones on the new Expedition.

 

That is going to suck no more 2 door trucks anymore not only that the little doors will weaken the truck just like the supercabs are now when they have a offset frontal crash.

 

The structural aspects will most likely have worked them selves out by now. In 97 when the 3rd and then 99 when the 4 doors came out, it was a first shot. I'd expect that the learning curve has increased since then. Ford has consistently upgraded its automobiles to reach 5 stars. I'd expect the next F150 in all iterations to be close, if not at 5 stars.

As for the functionality, I will wait and see. A extra space is nice behind the seat, for tools, audio equipment, etc. I think easier access can only help. I expect its will be great to keep the athletic proportions of a 2-door, with the added capacity and access.

 

I'm all for an easier way to get behind the seat of my truck, for all the stuff I stow back there.

 

Here is an article on 2004 Regular Cab Access Panels and another article about Ford using Magnesium.


Ford adding small cabin-doors to regular cab 2004 F-150

DETROIT -- Ford Motor Co. is adding small rear-cabin doors to the regular cab model of the redesigned 2004 Ford F-150. As a result, the standard two-door pickup, an automotive staple for decades, will be no more at Ford. The standard feature will add production costs to the redesigned F series, at a time when the company is trying desperately to shave costs from new vehicles. But it will be a part of the company's effort to offer much-needed fresh products to aid its turnaround. Ford will call the feature an "access panel," according to a Ford source familiar with the model. The panels, which Ford will tout as an industry first, are designed to make it easier to stow items behind the seats "It opens like a door, but we are not calling it a door," the source said. The access panels will be about half the size of the doors used on F-150 SuperCab models and will open in the same manner - hinged at the rear, the source said. But the access panel will not have glass. "It looks like a regular cab," the source said. Ford decided to add the panels because the cabin is slightly larger in the redesigned regular-cab models, the source said. Ford is redesigning the F-150 for the first time since the 1997 model year. The 2004 F series will offer five interiors, Ford President Nick Scheele confirmed last week. The features are designed to appeal to a range of consumers from tradesmen to luxury buyers. The assembly-line complexity of the redesigned pickup makes the unit more costly to assemble than its predecessor, Scheele said. In April, Michael Bruynesteyn, auto analyst with Prudential Securities, criticized Ford for plans to deliver redesigned F-series models whose cost exceeds current models. In contrast, General Motors reduced costs by $2,000 per unit in a 1999 redesign of its large pickups, Bruynesteyn said. GM's cost advantage could lead the automaker to drive up the incentive race in the pickup segment, he said, forcing Ford to spend to defend its new model.


Ford marks 1st for magnesium in '04 pickup

Article Document ID: 6721

For the first time in the North American auto industry, large multipurpose front-end supports made as single-piece magnesium Ford marks 1st for magnesium in 2004 pickup
die castings will be put into use next year when Ford brings out its redesigned standard-size F150 pickup trucks for 2004. The magnesium units will replace multipiece assemblies of steel stampings fabricated on presses and welding equipment.

Ford sources here said that the new front-end supports, known as carriers, would be big and strong enough to serve as the supports for several components--including the radiator fans, headlamps and turn signals--while also reinforcing the front grille opening on the pickup.
The magnesium supports will provide a number of benefits in the areas of component-integration, weight-savings and vibration dampening, these sources said. The one-piece die castings reportedly will replace as many as 15 separate steel stampings used for the same purpose in current F150 trucks, which the automaker builds in volumes as high as 700,000 a year.

Ford declined to give details on the amount of magnesium and actual dimensions of the new parts, but sources said the magnesium parts would stretch from the left fender to the right fender behind the grille, reportedly putting the die castings at or near the top of the list of the biggest magnesium parts employed by Ford in its vehicles.

The supports reportedly will be made of magnesium alloy AM50 by an outside supplier, Magnesium Products of America Inc. (MPA), an Eaton Rapids, Mich., unit of Meridian Technologies Inc. Meridian is the biggest producer of magnesium automotive die castings in the world in terms of annual tonnage and manufacturing space. MPA has at least 17 die casting cells--including seven 3,000-ton units--in operation.

Ford, which currently is the second-largest consumer of magnesium die-casting alloys and components in the North American auto industry behind General Motors Corp., recently started increasing its magnesium applications after cutting back in the late 1990s. Despite the increase, however, Ford is reviewing its plans for magnesium parts in the future from a cost-effectiveness standpoint, with the possibility of limiting such use to volumes considerably short of current projections, company sources said. The high price of magnesium casting alloys is the main reason for the review, they said.

 

I dont know if I like the mahnesium thing. When I launch my boat and everything, salt water gets on my truck. and If you put a piece of magnesium in salt water, it will eat right through it.

 

Beastie, you can relax regarding the use of magnesium. Ford made the housings of their transfer cases out of magnesium for years without any problems along the coast or even in the snow belt where salt is used extensively.

 

I like the idea of these access doors. Its different and I have a feeling that a larger window on the driver side will eliminate any blind spots that might occur as a result. Plus, there is already quite a bit of sheet metal between the back of the driver's side window and the back of the cab on single cab trucks. Not a lot, but an inch or 2 more wont make that big of a difference. Sounds good to me, as long as nothing breaks on it...aka. door cracks

 

My Hoyt Magnatec bow has a cast magnesium riser, and it has made it through 2 years of extreme temperature and weather. It's actually an alloy since under the right conditions pure magnesium could leave a nice hole in the asphalt under where your front bumper used to be.

The thing that caught my attention was the blurb about hanging radiator fans on it bracket. Sounds like dual electric fans will be cooling that 3V 5.4L

 

You want to talk about blind spots? How about the VERY wide A-pillars on the current trucks? I have almost hit people in downtown areas simply because I could not see them crossing the street!! Add some vent visors and it's pretty dismal. That's the only thing that bothers me about the 97-03's. I have to lean both ways to see around those blinders, lol,,,,98 Hey, this means I could finally fit in a regular cab, though!! No regular cab has ever adjusted back far enough.,,,,98