Ford Superduty Upgrade

[ErikShallbetter]

Awesome, thanks! I will keep watch.

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[Chris Tobin]

I wrote this up for the April 2011 issue of Diesel World magazine which should be on the newsstand in a week or so. I followed along with the conversion/update from a 99-04 truck to the 05-07 grille, bumper, headlights and mounts... It looked very good and was pretty simple. The body shop took longer on it 'cause he filled the fender badge holes and repainted the fenders too... The truck was a 2000 2WD F-350 dually.

[cusico]

I have started the front end and bed conversion to 2012 from the 1999-2007 style.

I have seen 10 or so 2011-2012 upgrades online but none show good photos or parts list. I will document it.

With what is needed I could only imagine a body shop welding stacks of washers together to make shims and brackets. As race car/fab guys were better off taking it to a fab shop first to do the cut/fab/weld portion then off to the body shop for the lipstick.

Mods needed:

Cut out the frame rails with a notch cut at the very front to make the grille and bumper fit.
Trim the front areas of the inner fender structure/apron to allow room for the newer headlights.
Open up the large headlight holes at the header panel to allow the headlight plugs to fit.
Make tabs for the top fender bolts, fender bolts at the front door hinge area, fender bolt at the low area of the headlight, headlight top screw, headlight radiator side screws, gas strut for the hood, wiper assembly, grill upper screw mounts, grill lower tab mounts, etc.
Trim the air intake on the inner fender structure-1999 model has it.

Parts needed- I will update with ford part numbers.

Hood
Fenders
Headlights
Gas struts
Hinges
Emblems-door/fender
Grille parts and/or billet grille
Bumper
Cowl plastic
Wiper motor and linkage
Hood latch "rod"-mounts to hood
Headlight plug pigtails

More Im forgetting now Im sure. Pics to follow today.

[Mark Newhan]

Here is my 2001 with the '05 front grill assembly on it. The headlight plugs are different and when I did my conversion there wasn't any service plugs available. I was able to find a wiring harness that used one of the existing plugs to power the new harness through a relay. I also upgraded the front axle to the '05 as well as the rear brakes and steering box (the early sector shafts tend to shear off).

This truck is for sale... it is very clean with 108,XXX miles on it. 7.3 diesel... if anyone is interested...

I bought an '08 and it suits my needs much better.

After working on both truck, converting a '99-'05 to the '08 and up would be a ton of work... but worth it in my opinion.

[cusico]

I have had very bad luck with the 6.0l and 6.4l trucks, even with the mega mods to "fix" them. I have a 2011 f350 and it is nice, but the chase trucks and daily drivers that will see tons of use and abuse I rather get a 7.3l cheap from someone and drive it forever. Putting 50k-80k miles a year on a $6,500 truck is way better for me than those miles being placed on a $65,000 truck, Im a cheap skate. And the 7.3l will run forever if maintained. Sold a 2000 f450 7.3l to a guy that quit and started his own company in 2004 with 325k miles, and it now has almost 900k miles on the factory block and heads. 2 turbos, 4 injectors, 2 trans, rear diff. Not bad for 900k miles in a loaded work truck.

I just want the daily driver to look a bit newer/nicer with the new body style and fresh paint.

[Chris Tobin]

The august 2012 issue of Diesel World is on the newsstand now and it has an early 99 on the cover that was converted to the 05-07 style. I shot and wrote the feature. They built the truck themselves including swapping the 7.3L for a 6.7L Cummins and backing it with an Allison transmission. They also installed 08 F450 suspension and axles under the truck. Check it out, it's a pretty cool truck.

[cusico]

These poor pics do not give justice to the fab work Kyle Jackson did to make these parts.

It has turned out great. Now at EKAUTOWORX.COM for the paint. If you need the best, talk to Josh over there. He really does the best paint and body work of anyone in the country. 300 plus trophies for his paint work, and I'm glad he is willing to take on a daily driver project since he is a friend. Same deal with Kyle Jackson, he has no time to deal with super duty body conversions, but did it as a friend.

[cusico]

Back from paint. Not gloss black, it's glass black.

Go to the guy that has won damn near every award, and this is what you get. Done ahead of schedule by a week, and not one excuse for anything!

Wheels/tires are temp's so it's not eleventeen feet in the air.

Final assembly and wiring the front lights.