Can't see at night, when driving your 20 year old technology headlights down the road.
Turn on the high beams, only to realize they are barely equivalent to a tractor light, on the highway, at night.
Mine were so aged (yellowed) and cracked, that I was better off driving with them off and hanging a stinger flashlight out the window to illuminate the way.

Anyway, I digress.
I ordered some cool (to me) stuff that should outperform the current set up, as well as look a little nicer.
So out with the old...



Yes, some modifications were necessary (if you look closely, you can see the cracked housing for the lights by the right front tire). But sometimes you gotta lose some length to gain girth...or something like that...

 

You want some nice bright headlight bulbs, go Stark Lights on amazon, they are very powerful LED, make the factory headlights seem like birthday candles, but without that HID style super intensity.

 

I think its too late for now, as these are installed and working great. I will check to see what I can run on these once they burn out (as all headlights do) and will look at the Stark Lights for sure.

 

So, more installation to complete this. Low beams working...


High beams next...



wash, rinse, repeat for the other side...



Yea, they are a smidge brighter...


Now...time to rob Peter to pay Paul...




Now I know, not everyone like the grill "booby" lights, but they look better with this headlight set than they do with my Harley Headlights on War Dog (IMO).

Speaking of War Dog, I put the factory grill back on.

 

I kinda like the grill with the incorporated lights. I posted this before, it reminds me of the lights on the older Town Cars.

 

Agreed. Its not everyone's cup of tea, but for the added lumens, I will take it.

 

I like the grill with the lights in it.
I might consider one for my 2005

 

For me its a necessity. Once I get the front receiver hitch installed, and the winch in the cradle put up there, my factory fog lights will be useless.

 

So I feel bad, as I did not have the time to do half of this myself.
But it was things that needed (ISH) to be done, so pride be damned.

First up, got the front receiver hooked up so I can mount my winch up front.


Massive downside to this is there is no room for the factory fog lights, let alone the somewhat more pricey Spyder fog lights.
Also had quick connects front and rear set up, so no matter what and where I get stuck, I can at least winch myself out.



New warn winch cover ordered, so save your condemnations. lol.

Tires, oh so many choices. I think I chose well, only time will tell for sure. But they sure look sexy.



Mickey Thompson Trail Boss if you're curious.



And although not completely necessary, some spikes to fight off the zombies, should the time arise....




I have a couple of things I need to fix before I can put on the new (used, but new to me) amp research steps. Namely, figuring out which of my doors is giving off the false door ajar.
I think next after that is all the cleaning and wiring of the Navigator console, so I can run all my s$!# with the flick of a switch.

 

hey there! I PM’d you but I couldn’t attach the pics of The Bus. Also random doggo (Recon the Black GSD) photo

 

What a happy looking Doggo!

 

Expensive. That's what.

So much to report on. But not much to show.

Captain Tripps experienced a bit of unnecessary compression leakage. So much so that I am now the new owner of a Ford replacement block...and a lighter wallet.
Thankfully, War Dog never got sold (yet), cause I still got places to go and people to see.
So now, we carry on.
Time to transfer some goodies over from one to the other...

 

Got Capt Tripps back. Was in the driveway minding my own business when a random person pulled in and asked if the red one (War Dog) was for sale.
Now typically I'm leery of rando's showing up unannounced. But this dude had positive vibe's, so its all good.

Long story short, I replenished my wallet from Capt. Tripps expensive fix.
Dude's happy, wallet's happy. driveway is one less vehicle down.

 

Hello fellow ford people.
I am not dead.
The rona did not get me.

Please follow the linked signature for where I've been (and no, its not tijuana, or prison in tijuana).

I will be doing updates on Sundays for my current 3 (soon to be 4) various states of projectry, Including Captain Tripp's.

 

did you have any issues with installation of the aftermarket headlight assembly? Both were working fine and now the left thinks the front blinker is out and I have no power to the power mirror (maybe the issue is the aftermarket mirror now that I say that out loud…)

also here’s my rig (since the last post I acquired a second Ex and completed a bunch of work to it)