Since it's spring, I'm unemployed and tapped out from renovating our basement I'm having to get creative when it comes to my wish to improve the old Excursion's front end. It's a 2002 Limited with a body coloured egg crate grille and all chrome bumper.

So your thoughts on these two "budget" upgrade ideas please:


One, the front bumper:

Give it a semi, faux '05 bumper vinyl-cap-effect by simply painting only the top edge of the bumper leaving chrome on the vertical surface and then, maybe, adding very thin pinstripe below the paint for a shadowing effect.


Two, the grille:

Give it a faux '05 grille effect by epoxying on two heavy plastic 'cross bars' in front of the egg crate grille then repainting it. (The '05s have a squared / less rounded perimeter but I'm guessing that this might not look too bad anyway. Slightly newer looking than the older 2000 grilles with the wedge shaped cross bars).


Note: I've seen a number of Excursion photos where the entire front bumper has been painted but never just the top portion (with maybe a 1/8 - 1/4 painted lip). Has anyone done anything like this?

 

I'd personally leave it alone and wait until I had the funds to do it with the correct 05 upgrade or even going to the 08 front end if that is your thing. This is just an opinion though...

 

On a budget, the paint idea sounds like it would work. If nothing else it is custom. As for the grill idea: I just think about the vibrations on the front end that would rattle the cross bars loose over time. If nothing else.... again it is custom. Sounds like both ideas would work with the right amount of effort put into the preparation.

Make sure you document it with pictures if you do it. May help out other unemployed adventurers.

 

I don't think the funds will ever be available. I have a very young daughter so spending hundreds of dollars on cosmetics for an old truck that sits parked 90% of the year vs. a university fund, trust fund, etc. can't be justified.

Plus I quit my job to take a year off and change careers, and I've spent thousands of dollars in the interim on renos.

Ahhh, BUT, those '05s, 06s... do look so much better!!! :-)

I think painting the top of the bumper would be a fairly fast, low key way to colour match the rest of the body.

The grille is a challenge as I don't exactly know what I could use for the cross bars. It would have to be something that I could sand and finish and smooth into the existing grill. Properly affixed, it should never budge.



As for appearance/look between years and upgrading to 2008...

My view was that 2000s looked poor and drab. The '02 look I have was a minor improvement but that egg crate grille sucks. Then the 2005/6/7 look is actually quite amazing for a truck. That said, I was saddened to see it all undone with the bulky, blocky and add-on-ish 2008 look.



NOTE / REQUEST I think a lot of people on this forum would really value this... merged photos with side-by-side front-ends of each of the changes over the past 10-12 years.

If anyone is skilled with photoshop - it would be fantastic to see. I can't find anything like that via Google image searches.




Hey would one of those newer squared off REAR Expedition bumpers fit and Excursion?



.

 

You can get an 05 grill for $80 that you trim the bottom on. How much is paint and plastic bars etc. gonna cost. I'd save a bit and do it right.

Here's mine.

 

Where can you get an 05 grille for $80??? I want to upgrade my 2001 with an 05 but I haven't seen grille's that cheap.

 

Looks absolutely great doesn't it!!!

Oh but those headlights. :-)

The domino effect. Our house started with one room... ten years later it seems that only the studs are original. hahaha


Actually with just the newer grille - it really does look great!!!

 

I got mine from a local crash replacement place called Jerry Johnson Motors of Winston-Salem NC Auto Parts
jerryjohnsonmotors.com/

Don't know if they ship but you can call and see.

 

Another $180 and you get the head lights haha.

 

Now would that look great if you painted the top portion of your bumper white. ;-)

If not paint some other coating?... Some kind of white rock guard coating?


maybe cover it with a piece of this kind of stuff and then spray paint the urethane film with a plastic formulated spray paint.

http://www.stoneguard.ca/
http://3mcollision.com/products/deco...rotection-film
http://3mcollision.com/products/deco...gnwriter-films

 

Another $125 and you can get the header panel. A hack saw and some paint and the bumper can be made to fit.

 

I will have to check with my local junk yards. Hopefully I can find one there cheap.

 

A real coincidence here.... Got a flyer just last night from a local company site: customtruckparts.com. $78 Cdn. reg $261 if you believe that! My wife has already nixed my request. If these are $78 then they should be even cheaper at the junk yards! :-)

The above site sucks. But a search brought up this link - note that it links to a different site at $50.34! US pricing maybe?

http://www.carid.com/2007-ford-f-250-grill/


Well, something for a future where I'm working and making excess income.

 

I bought something from CarID. I would buy from them again. No worries there.

 

$10 for some krylon fusion. I just painted the grill inserts, radiator face and other supports behind the grill. I'm just too cheap the spend $$$ on a new grill and stuff.