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Hi everyone, I was tired of the black hole that is our console and decided to tame it. Used 2 plastic cutting boards and foam board for a template. Also added a pouch for an ipod since my Avic had ipod controls. And a flashlight holder on the lid. That's about it. Well, there is an amp under the console too, but that is a whole other story. Check out the pics. Notes: I would use nylon next time instead of poly as nylon can be bought or dyed black. I might would rearrange the configuration a little different if I had to do it again. Was very time consuming to make. Surely there is an easier way than cutting up plastic. Vacuum forming, maybe? Molds and pouring plastic? Anyway, worked out well for what I need and hope the pics give you some good ideas. What do y'all think? Chad GRRRR, pics not working right for me today. Here is a link to pics: https://picasaweb.google.com/chadeco...eat=directlink

I have found a product called PermaShine by Urethane Product Company. It is supposedly some sort of clear coat that brings our gray plastic back permanently! Well, I am sure permanent is a relative term but does anyone have any experience with this stuff? It is only available from a body shop supply company. Thanks, Chad

Hey, thanks but I have tried almost every product available to no avail. They turn again in a few days to weeks depending on the product. I have tried Back to Black, pure silicone, tire shine, armorall, STP, Meguires, you name it, I have tried almost all of it. I have even tried products that come from some chemical distributors that sell to the clean up shops. Once upon a time I worked in detail and still had a few cards from old contacts. I have even tried heating up the worst panel with a heat gun. Just like all the chemicals, it looked new for a short period of time then went light gray again. Although, for that panel that is almost completely white, the heat trick worked better than chemicals, but it just didn't last very long at all. Thanks, Chad

So I have one of the Expy's with one or 2 faded lower body cladding on the doors. It is an XLT model. My truck is blue with gray leather. I would really love to have some black or gray factory painted moldings with the wheel lip bits from a sport or bauer or whatever. However, it is really hard to find them in black or gray and they are pretty expensive. I have been advised by many people and it has been my personal experience that painting the panels I have now with a base/clear system just won't work for many different reasons. BUT what about spraying them with some of the new bedliner type materials available today. I know some of that stuff will actually stick with pretty good adhesion to almost any surface but they won't be smooth painted panels like the factory ones. Has anyone done this yet? Do you have pics? What do you think about doing this? How are yours holding up? Got any factory painted pieces you want to sell? Please help me out before I go off the deep end and pull the panels and shoot 'em! I can't stand looking at my pretty truck with those white panels! Thanks, Chad

Hello everyone. Just wanted to post up a couple of pics showing how I adjusted out some gaps around my double din head unit using the Scosche Ford dash kit. The AVIC I am using has a poorly designed volume knob and with the expedition dash making the radio sit so far in a hole it was really hard to adjust the knob. It is hard to tell from the pics but it pulled out he radio maybe a 1/8th inch or so, just enough to really make it fill up the hole and make it a little easier to grab the knob. I also installed an amp under the center console while I was in there. OMG, there must be 2 acres of room under there. And, as a bonus, the wires are all right there above the amp for the install. It is literally like 12 inches away from the HU. Easy smeeshy install. Hardest part was pulling power from the battery through the firewall. There is even a blank OEM grounding bolt right there next to the amp! There is enough room to install my 4 channel amp towards the front of the console and my 2 channel towards to rear of the console. This all came about because I installed some PYLE 6.5 component speakers in the doors and they SUCKED, so I installed the Pioneer, then the amp, turns out nothing could help those speakers. I know, I know, I am a little backwards building a system around the speakers first but, oh well. The PYLEs are going back to the store and I think I am just going to get some regular old 2 or 3 way speakers that actually fit in the holes. The component speakers just aren't as rich sounding as the factory ones. Well, at least the cheap ones like the Pyles. I think the passive crossovers clip too much low end out of them so they just sound to thin. I am also not using a sub yet to make up for the lack of door bass. So for the mean while I THINK I am going to get some regular speakers to use until I get a sub behind that panel back there. I tried everything to get them to sound better. I sealed the doors as well as I could. Sound deadener everywhere. I built a custom basket behind the speakers to make like a little enclosure for them. I even ran full sound to them skipping the crossover and they still weren't as loud as the factory speakers or as full sounding on the low end. I removed the speaker adapters (whata pain it was to make them too) and re-installed the oem 5x7 or whatever it is and bam, it sounded good again. I just don't get it. I had like almost no low end from those Pyles. Anyway, they are history but it almost makes me scared to try components again. Total PITA to install and if they sound like crap again I might jump off a bridge. Advice appreciated! My goal is to be (except for the HU) completely hidden. Needs to look factory for me to like it. So I mounted the amp under the console. I am going to mount the sub amp under there as well later on and install a bass tube or a 12" in a custom box behind the drivers side rear panel. I really do not need a lot of bass just a good rich sound. Hope someone can use this info for their install! Thanks, Chad

Hello, I have a 2004 XLT with 30K miles and the rear rotors are pretty torn up even though the pads are still in really good shape? Weird. Anyway I do pull a bigger atv trailer with 4-7 atv's at a time when we go out. I know that it is only about 2-3000 pounds and I do use the trailer brakes but maybe that is the cause. Anyway, I was reading that the newer expy's have a bigger master, calipers and thicker rotors. Does anyone know if our older Expy's can be retro fitted? Like bolt on or somehting? I was hoping since they say it has thicker rotors but not larger rotors that everything might bolt up to the previous year models? What do you think? I mean, other than a stiffer frame, a rear end redesign, some interior pieces, and some body cladding, they are pretty much the same trucks, right? Let me preface all this by saying that I bought this truck as a stolen/recovered unit that was empty on the inside and was missing some exterior and engine components too. So I bought a same year roll over and installed all the parts from it. I even installed power 3rd row in the XLT. Talk about a pain. But I installed the right wires in the oem wire looms and all. Even if Ford took it apart they wouldn't be able to tell that they didn't install it at the factory. So I am familiar with buying junk yard parts or salvage vehicles or whatever and doing swaps, just so you know. Thanks, Chad