styles_888

My 3 week old, newly adopted 98 4.2 - Waiting patiently out in the parking lot for me to get done work.

You guys saved me a **** ton of cash for my safety with your wealth of knowledge...

And Thanks for the sticker... Time to mod this Beeeeiatch!

bigbadvlad

Styles, mine looks almost the same. I found a used front grill online for $50 (the grill on these wraps around the headlights and is all one piece). I hated the column style grill that was on it (like yours), imo one of the worst truck grills in history. The one I bought was a from a 1997 4x4 and has a inset cross hatch grill, looks a million times better.

Also, I found that new rims and tires made a huge difference.

What are you planning to do?

styles_888

Hey Vlad,

I was thinking of an updating the grill - Do you have a pic of your replacement style and are you running the same color scheme?

I'm happy with the rims, however the previous owner painted the center caps black which I don't like and looking for factory chrome replacements.

My current plan is to level the front, chrome center caps, replace the hanging headliner and restore faded headlights.. small but affective haha

bigbadvlad

I'll be posting pics hopefully this week, I'll send you one. No, I'm rocking a silver/black theme.

Yeah, the chrome center caps shouldn't be too hard to find, just make sure they have enough tabs left on the back (the caps are plastic but look chrome, and have little tabs that hug the wheel bolts to stay on) as that is a very common problem. You might even have the best chance ordering them from Ford directly since it's a OEM part. Otherwise, you can always clear silicone some on that have bad tabs.

I used the MacGuires headlight kit, it's better than the turtle wax, etc... because it has a drill buffer attachment. The results though I would give a 6/10. I think I'm going to be ordering black headlights just to swap out with the originals. If you do try a kit get one that has multi sandpaper steps, I wish I did.

Keep in touch!

pickupsrule

Looks like my truck. The first thing I did was paint that faded gray rear window trim semi-flat black. While my seats are fine, I could not resist the woodlands camo bench seat cover. Looks great. Like the guy at the ford dealership told me about the 4.2, a great engine but KEEP THE OIL CHANGED! Those black modern style tailights and headlights are really cheap on Ebay (no I mean REALLY CHEAP) same for grilles. I got a set of four of those center caps (Ford OE) for $20.00 off Ebay so when I lose one again I will simply pop another one on. The best tires I found for the price was a set of AT tires at Sears (made by Goodyear) 255 X 70 X 16 for 479.00 including mounting, balancing, tax etc. Ford stopped making the manual transmission F series so I will keep my 5 speed until it falls apart which based on the way it runs now should be about 2050. Nice truck you got there, have fun.

styles_888

Thanks "pickupsrule" Added to the list - I was wondering how that trim is removed and thought I would "re-post" the following image I found in the forum.. how to unbolt trim from the inside.

pickupsrule

My understanding is removing that rear window trim piece is messy since you have to remove the entire rear window and the trim breaks a lot of the times and window removal and causes leaks. I would mask everything and spray the trim piece while it is on the truck. That is what I did.
By the way, how do you folks add pictures?
When I click on add image it asks for a website URL

pickupsrule

Hope this picture shows up.

david350

My dad had a 97 XLT version of your truck with the 4.6. I grew up in that thing. It also had the column grille. If I were you I would mod it into an XLT, and get it back to original as far as the items you listed and were said.

bigbadvlad

i used a trim enhancing product for my back window frame and it brought my 98 back to new (ie darkened it a ton), its great stuff to have as I also use it on my front bumper, rear bumper cover, mirrors, the wiper blade hoood cove thing and exterior body trim. you could also use it for the column part of your grill (if you want to darken the color, most of them suffer from fading). i even use it on my rubber floors to give it a brand new black look. *****DO NOT***** use it on rubber window seals or any other softer seal type rubber, it will cause black streaks to rub off. I recommend a terry towel or something that will not shed, spray your applicator and then apply to the areas. Its awesome stuff, wont give you a total black look but a very deep grey that will match your bed rail covers (oh yeah, works great on those too).