Well it looks like I'll be dressing up my '97 Ford F150, but now the question is how and with what products? I'm employeed with Street Customs Magazine as one of their photographers and writers. I plan to build this daily driven truck in hopes with sponsorship from manufacturers and/or shops. I'll be displaying the vehicle at car shows at our booth and I usually offer them an exchange, like a feature article in "Special Tech" or "Shop Stop". But my question to all you Ford lovers is: What products are hot for trucks right now? I'm looking to drop it and/or bag it; put a sliding rag top; enhance the exhaust system; put new wheels and tires; add a roll pan and new front bumper with grill inserts; new paint with graphics and sponsorship decals; new sound system; and more horsepower.

Now wheels, tires and paint job I have covered but what products could I put on my list? Now bear in mind that no 4x4 products are useful to me since our magazine is designed mainly to lowriders, but with the new age customization we do like to feature anything that is custom.

To make a long story short, I'd appreciate some feedback from you guys since I'm not quite up to speed on customizing a full size truck.

Thanks in advance!

Fernando Deanda Jr.
Street Customs Magazine FEATURE EDITOR
STCUSTOMS@AOL.COM

 

I would stay away from the sliding ragtop but thst just me in my opinion those went out with the ratical convertable top (chop your roof off kill your truck) kits but hey thats just me. What about some custom mirrors and either a painted 4x4 bumper with the lights or a new bumper cover. how about some ground effects something similar to the new lightings maybe. if money is no object than 20" wheels are a must. No custom anything is really custom with out some nice shaving f150 emblems gotta go maybe the door handles too. shave the tailgate handle and move to inside the tailgate. I think the speed screen grille inserts are pretty cool for the front end. If its an XLT the body side molding must go along with emblems. To me the cleaner looking the truck the sweeter it is. How about a Snuglid hard bed cover. Heyt and maybe some white gauge faces and maybe a new MOMO steering wheel. OH MAN WHERE IS MY TRUCKIN OR OH SORRY STREET CUSTOMS MAG I GOTTA GO ORDER SOME NEW STUFF FOR MY TRUCK!!!

 

Street Customs

Welcome aboard!! You've definitely come to the right place to ask for some advice on how to "customize" your truck. This site is full of knowledgeable guys & gals that will give you feedback regarding this matter. There are so many ways that you can customize your truck, i also have a 97 F150 truck and show my truck at various shows here in Southern California, My sponsors are: Boston Acoustics,Momo,Eibach Suspension,Cord Design. As far as mods to my truck just look at my signature and you can see what i've done to my truck. I do have one question for you, when you say lowrider do you mean by hydraulics? air bag suspension? or supension components (springs,spindles,rear shackles...). As far putting a rag top on your truck, i wouldn't really recommend it, unless money is no object, otherwise you would have to worry about leaks,wind noise, the rag top eventually getting loose and most of all safety, by chopping or removing the top of your truck, you weaken the structural integrity of the truck. That's just my opinion on that matter. In any case if you would like to see pictures of my truck, give me your e-mail and i'll be glad to send you some pictures so you can get some ideas on customizing!! Good luck to ya!!

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97 F-150: 5.4 with Jet chip for engine & tranny,Jet intake system, Jardine catback, Momo Vantage rims (18 x 8.5) on BFG 295 x 45 x ZR 18's, 2/4" drop via Eibach suspension, Cord Design flares, Stull billet grille, Boston Acoustics Pro Series speakers (subs,mids,tweets), Crossfire dual amplifier (700 watts) & Eq, *******'s hard toneau cover w/ marine bedliner, 9007 headlight bulbs, white face gauges, magnesium alloy sport pedals.

Future mods: Paxton Supercharger,Superchip, HID headlight system, Alpine/Macintosh audio video & Navigational System, 4.10 rear gears

 

Thanks alot guys! I'm glad I found this site yesterday. Punched in F150 on the search engine and presto! Anyhow I appreciate the feedback. The ideas that ya'll gave me will get me off on the right foot. Don't get me wrong, I know plenty about the automotive industry but I still need to gain a little inside knowledge to things like adding a Superchip or so. I noticed that there were a few links to various aftermarket suppliers, but does anyone have any favorites? Like I said before, my plan is to write up the proposals for sponsorship and send them out to the companies, then sit and wait for the "Maybe" and "HELL No" replies.

When I said lowriding...I was just referring to the magazine's main topic. We feature plenty of rides that are dropped with Belltech spindles, bagged and etc.
Our magazine honestly caters to automotive enthusiasts of any kind...full size Trucks, min-trucks and Euros. Today's market offers way too many options for custom builders. But for this project, no hydraulics here...maybe bagging it! That would be a cool "HOW TO" feature.

The only reason I thought about a sliding ragtop is because I recently flew out to Hartfort, CT to cover a car show and saw a full size with one....it was KILLER! Ah well, I guess you guys are right though. How about a plain sunroof? It's not that I'm axious to cut the roof but just trying to gather new ideas for "how to" articles.

I should be able to pull this off with the help from the magazine and car club buddies.
The president of our club is actually the owner of "Pure Insanity" ..yes it is a Chevy but its totally awesome..I guarantee that you'd drool over it. He's ranked number one across the United States..heck number one in the world. Check out this picture I found on the web...http://www.lowrider.com/pictures/hotrides.html
I'll scan pics of it soon for you guys.

CAF150 I'd love to see that truck of yours.
Email address at the bottom.
Can I borrow a few of your sponsors too? =)

Enough for now...
Thanks again!!!! And keep them coming!

Fernando Deanda
Street Customs Magazine FEATURE EDITOR
StCustoms@aol.com
http://www.streetcustoms.com

 

Welcome to the site, Street Customs. I have a moonlight blue 97 f150. Some things I have done:
aim upper and lower control arms, eibach springs, doetch tech shocks, rear axle flip, 2" drop hangers, air lift helper bags and controls for rear. I have firestones with 1/2" lines, solenoids, etc. for front, will be installing in the next couple of months.
I have painted all handles (mine came black), ditched stock front end in favor of Expedition grill and bumper with painted cover and fog lamps. I have installed a smooth wiper cowl to replace ugly black one, tossed rear bumper for a roll pan, put on Cal-Vu mirrors. I have added 17" Centerline cobras with 255/50 Nittos (want 20's but you know about budget constraints). I also put on a Innovative Industries fiberglass tonneau and clear lenses all around. Inside I have added a carbon fiber dash kit, installed Eclipse CD player, Eclipse 6 disc changer, Eclipse 1/2 DIN EQ, Crossfire 404 amp, 4- Eclipse Point Source 5X7's, and a Pheonix Gold Xmax 10. I am currently saving for a new seat.
Up until several weeks ago, this truck was my only source of transportation. So it was never out of commission for more than a weekend during all modification and I drove it every day to work.
I have no sponsorship of any kind, nor am a member of any club, but some friends of mine have helped greatly in building a head-turning street truck.

Ideas:
Moonroof
Rear 4 link with bags
Shave all emblems
20's
Supercharger
SuperChip
Tranny shift improver
Body drop

 

LowDownFord,

Man all those mods and accessories sound too cool. Gives me more ideas. Where did you get the new hood cowl? I was actually looking at mine yesterday and thinking about that but I just didn't know if there was an aftermarket one made. You've just gotta send me a pic sometime. I'm sure alot of you guys have potential feature rides that could appear in our magazine. Well thanks for the info.

Fernando Deanda
Street Customs Magazine FEATURE EDITOR
StCustoms@aol.com
http://www.streetcustoms.com

 

Fernando
Take the time look at all the pictures in the owners gallery. You can see alot of different looks and ideas.
I can't beleive that you haven't had more responses so far, must be because of the last long weekend of summer, and everybody is out playing. I know that there are many people who come here who have their own web pages to show off their trucks. These are some of the ones that I have bookmarked:
www.geocities.com/MotorCity/Speedway/5089/
www.mindspring.com/~acbradley/index.html
www.aol.com/whtstuff/myweb.html
www.geocities.com/MotorCity/Show/7936/
These are all links from members of F150online who are regular contributors to either the "Discussion list" or the "Message boards".
Paul

 

Go with the Gibson Super Truck exhaust for this one. And take a look at wynjammer's F-1 hood under the computer chips thread section. That's the one for you!

 

Street Custom:

Welcome! You have come to the right place. Personally I'm a 4x4 guy, but I thought I would put in my $.02. I don't know how much you are willing to spend, but Like everyone else I'm sure you want to have a truck a little different than everyone else. there is a company(I forget the name)that makes a IRS for the F150. It is really trick.There used to be a link here. Maybe some of the other members could help. It maybe worth looking into. Good luck with your project. And don't forget to post your pictures here.

Found it! http://www.constantvelocity.com/

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1997 F150 XLT 4.6L Auto 4x4 ORP SC 3.55LS Oxford white, Med. Graphite Int. Bed Cap,Superchip,AirRaid,Bug Deflector. 3" Flowmaster 40 series,Bassani Nascar Tip.




[This message has been edited by 97F150 (edited 09-07-1999).]

 

Ok, I'll bite. What is IRS? (Not Internal Revenue Service, Raoul)


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keith@myf150.com
http://www.myf150.com
Rocky Mount, NC

1999 F-150 XLT Styleside, Black On Black, SuperCab, Short Bed, 4x4, ORP, 4.6L Auto, 3.55LS

Mods: DrawTite Class III Hitch, Smittybilt Outland Grill Guard/Brush Guards, KC Daylighters, Custom Dual Exhaust-Straight Out The Back, Airaid FIPK, SuperChips Chip, Bug Deflector, Pace-Edwards Roll-Top Bed Cover

 

(Independent Rear Suspension)

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1997 F150 XLT 4.6L Auto 4x4 ORP SC 3.55LS Oxford white, Med. Graphite Int. Bed Cap,Superchip,AirRaid,Bug Deflector. 3" Flowmaster 40 series,Bassani Nascar Tip.

 

I purchased my smooth cowl from Stylin' Concepts. The only complaint I have is that mine was a bit hard to get paint to stick to, I ended up sanding and painting it twice.

 

Street Customs Mag Photog,

That's one big handle. Well you found the place for opinions. My opinion is too search for the mods that make the truck customized to your vision and personality. Checkout everyone's signature and links here on the pages and I'm sure you will find plenty of ideas.

Take it easy.

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<B>Black 1999 Roush F-150 Super Cab Flairside</B> Roush package includes the Roush Suspension, 18"x 9.5 Chrome Wheels, B. F. Goodrich Z295/45, Full Ground Effects, Leather Signatured Interior (Front and Back), Flowmaster with Side Exit Infront of the Wheel, Embroidered Floor Mats, and Roush Eyebrow Logo. Extras are the Superchip, F1 Cobra Hood, ******* Hard Tonneau, Bedrug, Slide Window and lots of other little odds and ends

Pics can be seen at the following
http://members.aol.com/polokid54/fpic.html


[This message has been edited by Mumbly (edited 09-07-1999).]

 

Don't forget to mention the site in the article! :-)

Steve

 

Hey LowDownFord,

A question about your cowl cover. How does the ventilation and air conditioning system get fresh air? Does the new cowl make provisions for an alternate inlet? What is it made from?
TIA//Tom

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99 White Lightning, nothin new but the payments.