Sport ConsTRUCKtion, Part Two: Extreme Makeover

In our last exciting episode, we began the transformation of our lifted 2003 Ford F-150 into a hip, with-it sport truck by installing a Ridetech airbag suspension setup. Now we have the ability to put the Ford on the pavement for shows and bring it up to ride height for cruising—about 8 inches of height adjustment at the touch of a button.

With the suspension dialed in, it was time to take care of the cosmetics. The Truck Shields camo rocker shields, cool as they are, don't really belong on a sport truck. Neither do the OEM wheels and tires. The factory sand paint job (aka "rental car gold’) wasn't doing anything for us, either. We found solutions to our problems in the Street Scene, Center Line, BFGoodrich, and Electric-Life catalogs.

Street Scene Body Kit
Street Scene knows sport trucks. They also know how to make easy-to-install components that look killer. Street Scene provided us with a front bumper cover, side skirts, and a rear roll pan. All except the rear roll pan are made from durable, flexible urethane, which resists bumps and dings better than rigid ABS plastic (the roll pan is fiberglass). Installation was nothing more than some sheetmetal screws and two-sided tape.

Street Scene Cal-Vu Signal Mirrors
These mirrors not only look flash, they literally flash too—they have LED turn signal indicators built right in. The Signal mirrors are direct replacements for the factory mirrors, and can be painted to match your truck if you so desire (which we did).

Electric-Life Shaved Door Handle and Power Tailgate Kits
The F-150’s door handles aren't all that bad-looking, but they’re still door handles. Shaving ’em really cleans up the look of the truck, and Electric-Life has the perfect kit to do that. A Summit Racing exclusive, the shaved door handle kit includes 50 pound solenoids, keyless remote control module and key fobs, built-in alarm system, door thrusters, emergency entry pull cable, and wiring.

Electric-Life’s Talegator tailgate kit is pretty trick. It uses an electric linear actuator that works like a hydraulic cylinder to raise and lower your tailgate. Plus, it can be wired into the remote control unit of Electric-Life's shaved door handle kit so you can control everything from the key fob. How cool is that?

Center Line Rapid Wheels and BFGoodrich g-Force T/A KDW Tires
Gotta have some bling if we want to show our faces at the local truck shows and hangouts. Center Line supplied us with a sweet set of 20 inch Rapid five-spoke aluminum rims. The rotary forged wheels as light as an OEM-style 17 inch wheel and have a three year warranty on the finish.

The g-Force T/As are some of the hottest tires on the sport truck scene. They come in sizes up to a whopping 23 inches, have a hip, with-it tread pattern, and provide the traction and handling the T/A line is famous for.

A Splash of Color
We trial-fit the Street Scene body kit components to make sure everything lined up properly, installed the Signal mirrors, then shipped the F-150 over to Remick Body and Paint in Akron, Ohio. Jim Remick has been laying down custom paint jobs since we were tots chewing on our Hot Wheels, so gave him carte blanche to design a paint scheme. As you'll see, Jim did not disappoint. Since he was gonna do the metal work on the door handles and tailgate handle, we had Jim install the Electric-Life remote stuff too.