, probably the hottest one this year, but great for some cosmetic work. I painted the grille to match the primary color of the truck, leaving the chrome surrounds as is. Pics in the gallery. Since I moved I don't have a shop to work in, so I did everything via rattle can from Wally World. Masked off argent painted areas, scotchbrited same, sprayed adhesion promoter for plastic substrate, and then color and clear coats. Plan to do upper deck area of hood next in either flat black or gloss black. I like the idea of the flat hood, ala late '60's Mustangs, but waxing is a bi%^h with flat black paint adjacent to gloss paint. Any tips for cleaning the wax from the flat areas? If there are good ones, maybe I'll still go that route. I'd love to do a 4" lift, but that would hamper my ability to tow the 5er. Hope the guys in Danville had a good get together. Sorry I missed it

 

Grille looks sharp

 

Wow, I'd love to do something like that with mine. My truck is white also. Could you post the paint and the steps you took to make it look so clean? After looking at that, I might want to try something similar. Thanks a lot for putting the bug in me...

 

Nice job Smitty....
been meaning to put the fiberglass screen behind my grill for over a month... but things just keep getting escalated above it !

Saw a superduty that was ALL white - basically the good guy of my monochrome black Ex and really looked sharp - much like yours!

 

I have thought about doing that to my truck. Only problem is that my truck is dark teal, and I doubt I could match the paint up close enough to suit me. The white sure is an eye-catcher. As a matter of fact, the only one I ever saw that would grab attention more was an identical job done on a wrecker, the color of which was bright yellow. Can you imagine?

 

It's no problem to do. Four screws at the top of the grille, then push up on the lower part of the four clips at the bottom to release them. Grill comes right off. I masked off the chrome portions, scotchbrighted the argent part that was left exposed, wiped down with acetone lightly, then sparayed it, first with a product called "Bulldog" in an aerosol can that is an adhesion promoter for painting plastic parts, then the color and clear from aerosol cans as well. Wally World has Plasticote paints in factory colors. If you have the chrome surround like this, I don't think a slight shade in color would be real noticible with the chrome seperating the colored parts. Check the gallery for the back end of the truck. I'm posting a picture of that in a minute.

 

Picture's up. Next is to a install roll up tonneau cover (should be here Tuesday) and the 5er hitch. Then a Shelf-It to hold all the clutter from camping trips. That will pretty much blow the budget for a while. Also I need to lose the dealer emblem from the tailgate and paint the door and tailgate handles and escutchions to match the truck. Anyone have a line on a Ford Motorsports decal that would give me the correct size of the "Motorsports" logo to place below the Ford emblem on the tailgate?

 

Your truck is looking fine. It seems that you have a handle on the process and know it works. However, if you have any doubts about painting the door handles, you might consider finding some Excursion handles, which come in factory colors already.........