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Not a build thread F-250

BillyBronco

Well-known member
Joined
May 22, 2020
Member Number
1138
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100
Well I have never chronicled one of my vehicles so bear with me.

Not a build thread. More of a refresh.

I had a 2017 F-150 V8 and it really did everything I needed to do for some reason I was board with it and wanted something else. I found this 2002 Ford F-250 7.3 diesel for what I thought was a good deal so I picked it up. I really only tow my 7k boat 15 miles to the lake a dozen times a summer. So the F-250 is overkill but I figure the 7.3 isn’t getting any younger so no better time than now. Plus the previous owner gave me $15k of receipts he spent in the last 2 years. I paid less than that for the truck.

Stats:
2002 F-250 7.3 diesel
4x4
164k miles
Lariat trim
Some power chip
Stock engine
2” lift

List of things to do:
Swap tires/rims - done
Remove fender flairs - done
Install double din radio and backup camera - done
Lower it down an inch - done
Install S&B intake
Insulate/sound deaden interior -done
Swap seats from a 2011-2016 - done
Recover new seats with Katzkin leather covers - done
Install seat heaters - done



First it came with some aweful dude-bro rims. Those needed to go. Sold the 1 year old Fuel rims and BFG tires for $1200. I traded the n-fab steps for a set of stock rims and tires. I put the factory steps back on the N-Fab steps didn’t have the steps in the right place and I was constantly searching for the step when getting out.
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I also removed the fender flairs. I will need to buff the paint a bit where the flairs rubbed. Below is a picture of how it currently sits with 20” rims off a 2012 F-250 lariat

Next I thought it was too tall for the tires. It came with an add a leaf in the front that had 5 extra leaves. I took the pack apart and removed 3 of them.
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On to sound deadening and insulating the interior. After much reading the proper way to do it is lay butyl rubber mats then a foam as a decoupled then mass loaded vinyl. Everyone says mass life’s vinyl is a pain to do so I plan to skip that.
I am laying NVX sound mat, some genric foil backed PE foam and then some 3m thinsulate to help with the insulation from temps and sound.

Started in the roof by removing the headliner.
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Next I moved to the doors. They got the same treatment. NVX mat then over that with the foil foam them put a layer of the 3m thinsulate between the door panel and the door. I did the first two doors this way. Since it was a lariat it already had some similar noise insulating stuff on the door panels. When it was doubled up with the 3m stuff it was really hard to get the panels back on. The 2nd 2 doors I skipped the extra layer of the 3m thinsulate.
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I noticed the front shafts were turning all the time. I took the hubs off and couldn’t figure out why. I bought a set of used OEM hubs to replace them with. The OEM hubs work properly. I then figured out the hubs on it (aftermarket) needed one of the pieces to go together correctly to allow them to fully unlock. I have no idea who monkeyed with them first to mess them up. I fixed those and will keep them as backup. I would have rather had factory hubs anyways.
 
Good buy for the money.

I dont believe 11+ seats are an improvement comfort wise.

Regarding the hubs, I removed and capped off the vacuum line. Then gutted the lockouts of the vacuum nonsense so they work like regular ol' locking hubs.

Those trucks are incredibly easy to tear down. Should've pulled the seats, headliner wouldve came out the passenger front door, and you could've sound/insulated treated the floor along with power wash carpet. My tunnel gets hot and need to treat mine as well.
 
TRINDU said:
Good buy for the money.

I dont believe 11+ seats are an improvement comfort wise.

Regarding the hubs, I removed and capped off the vacuum line. Then gutted the lockouts of the vacuum nonsense so they work like regular ol' locking hubs.

Those trucks are incredibly easy to tear down. Should've pulled the seats, headliner wouldve came out the passenger front door, and you could've sound/insulated treated the floor along with power wash carpet. My tunnel gets hot and need to treat mine as well.
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When I do the seat change I will pull the carpet and give it the same sound treatment. I didn’t have a T-55 plus socket to pull the seats originally. I am not swapping the seats for comfort. I want it to be a 6 seater (flip up center console seat) and with that in the 2011+ the bottom of the front center seat flips up for additional storage under it. That and I found new Katzkin leather covers for the 2011-2016 seats for $280. I should be picking up my seats tomorrow and start working on those.
 
BillyBronco said:
I noticed the front shafts were turning all the time. I took the hubs off and couldn’t figure out why. I bought a set of used OEM hubs to replace them with. The OEM hubs work properly. I then figured out the hubs on it (aftermarket) needed one of the pieces to go together correctly to allow them to fully unlock. I have no idea who monkeyed with them first to mess them up. I fixed those and will keep them as backup. I would have rather had factory hubs anyways.
Click to expand...

Diesel mileage should improve a bit now.🤔:smokin:
 
I got the seats picked up yesterday from the junk yard. I started to put the Katzkin covers on but after messing around for a bit I realized I am out of my element. Like drywall work for me I can really easily make it look bad. The covers will need the cutouts done for the headrests and such and rather than me screw it up I will just pay a professional. Hopefully I can drop the seats off this week and while they are getting reupholstered I will take the carpet out and sound deader and insulate the floor.

I also got some pics of the back up camera and radio install.
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Nice truck



Several years ago I bought a suburban with hammered seats, leather, but power, then a set of clean manual seats from a crew cab. I looked them over, tugged on the fabric, and took it to my upholstery guy, $200 and the leftovers for him, money well spent:laughing:
 
And more for my purposes keep a tally on what I have spent

Wheels/tires - traded for old steps
New windshield $300
Sold rims/tires ($1200) gain
Sound deadening $180
Sound foam insulation $90
3m thinsulate $100
Wheel spacers $240
Lug nuts and center caps $80
Used OEM hubs $50
Katzkin covers $265
Install Katzkin covers $400
2016 seats $900
Seat heaters $90
A/C resistor $16
Hood struts $50
Radio/backup camera $350
Sold old seats ($1000)
Misc repair parts $150
Sold old radio ($70)
————————-
Total $1531
 
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Projectjunkie said:
Nice truck



Several years ago I bought a suburban with hammered seats, leather, but power, then a set of clean manual seats from a crew cab. I looked them over, tugged on the fabric, and took it to my upholstery guy, $200 and the leftovers for him, money well spent:laughing:
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Yea I got a quote of $600 $750 and $400 to swap out the covers. The $400 guy got good reviews so I will likely go with him unless TRINDU has another local upholstery guy he likes. My old upholstery guy closed up shop. I figured that will be money well spent. Then sell the cloth seat covers which are still in good shape and the old seats in it to recoup some of my seat swap money.
 
Squamch said:
Very interested in following this one. Really into the sound deadening program... I can barely hear when my kid is talking while driving down the highway.
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I am far from an expert but I did a ton of reading on the matter. This is the first vehicle I have attempted. It is a lot of work. Tomorrow I should be able to do the floor. I pulled all the seats and carpet out today.

So the cliff notes on sound deadening and insulation.
1st layer butyl rubber mat aka “CLD” constraint layer dampening. It doesn’t stop sound but it stops panel vibration which causes some sound. The best stuff seems to be Resonix. I think it runs about $10-12 per sqft. The NVX stuff still seems
to do well in the tests and runs about $3 per sqft. The Resonix performs similarly to NVX at half the coverage compared to NVX. Some of the real cheap stuff Killmat and Siless perform horribly and aren’t worth the effort to lay down. Look up the group “the deadening” on Facebook all those nerds do is this stuff. They also have actual scientific tests rating the products. Other good brands out there too. For me I felt the NVX was a good mix of performance/price. I went with the silver foil stuff. Also have to worry about it taking the heat and peeling off or oozing like the cheap ones. You don’t need 100% coverage but the more coverage the better. I am probably doing 90% coverage because if I am this far into it I will spend a few more dollars to know if I am not happy it isn’t due to lack of product. I am not getting crazy anal to make sure every square inch is covered. Some think putting this on the floor is a waste since the floor has a lot of ridges and bends making the metal ridged and thus less susceptible to vibration noise.

2nd layer noise isolating foam. Lots of products out there. The audio guy on here (can’t remember his name) uses a foil backed jute. I went with some 5mm thick foil backed foam. It was about $1.25 a square foot. This should help with insulation and some noise blocking. Also works as a decoupling layer if you lay MLV Mass Loaded Vinyl.

3rd layer for most is MLV but you have apply it without any gaps or seams. If works like a window. When shut little noise comes in when barely cracked a good bit of noise gets in. MLV is the best from blocking road/wind noise but really time consuming to apply correctly with no gaps. MLV is applied to the doors and floor. It is too heavy to but above the headliner.

For ME my 3rd layer is 3m thinsulate somethingsomething600 automotive sound/insulation mat. Basically this is like regular insulation that blocks out heat and sound. Very popular in van to RV conversions. I figure for the relatively ease of application and lower cost ($1.40 sqft) it is worth doing since I am skipping MLV.

I am treating the roof with butyl mat, foam/foil and 3m thinsulate

Doors get Butyl may, Foam/foil and 3m thinsulate on 2 doors. I applied the first two directly to the door on the inside. I put the thinsulate between the outer shell and the inner panel. It was pretty bulky for me especially since the factory panels had some similar stuff already in them.

Floor and back wall is getting butyl mat, foam/foil and 3m thinsulate then factory carpet over it all.

Lots of reading as a lot of this stuff is done in the hardcore audio world (not me) and lots of YouTube videos.

I will hopefully get the floor and back wall done tomorrow as I am off with COVID anyways. Then hopefully my seats are done recovered by Thursday and I can have it all back together by the end of the week. The interior is really easy to remove in a Superduty but this is still lots of work.

I have close to $400 in the materials and that is a lot to me for this old truck. Going with a bigger name brand can easily get you to $1000+ in materials. Maybe worth it for a newer vehicle or if I were a car audio guy but I am not.

Also have to keep in mind the thicker the stuff you lay down the better but then it gets hard to fit the carpet or headliner over everything when it gets too thick.

Let me know if you have any questions. I will try to answer them as best I can.

I typed this on my phone so excuse any errors.
 
I am definitely going to follow this, my cab is loud as hell. 7.3 with 4.88s for an F550. Freeway is sustained 2500+ rpm. It’s too loud and I’m about ready for this as my next mod
 
Ok, I am finally done sound deadening/insulating the interior. That was a lot of work. The interdental said it would be but I thought they were being nancy boys. I was wrong. I did have some changes/extra things I did while I was doing this but it was a lot of work. Here are a few pictures of the rest of the floor. Seats are off being recovered with the Katzkin leather and I should pick them up Friday and install them. Until then I have ti wire up the seat heaters and tidy up a few things inside.

I did take it for a drive today once I got the rest of the butyl mat, sound foam, 3m thinsulate and carpet back on. I will say it is quieter. I wish I had a decibel meter to compare stock vs all the work. It is quieter for sure but you can still hear the road noise and engine. I am hoping once I get the rest of the seats back in it is be a touch quieter. Right now I just have the drivers seat.

I didn’t get pics of the 3m thinsulate over the top of the foam but just picture a black blanket on the floor you can see it on the back can wall in the last picture. I can say you will need 15ft at 5ft wide to do the floor, back cab wall and roof. To do the doors add another 4ft. I bought 15ft only did 2 doors that used 2ft of the roll so I came up a bit short in the back cab wall. No biggie. Good enough.

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This is all forum hearsay but I hear the “snowman” mod helps a ton for engine noise. It closes up the hole by the steering shaft and reduces engine noise.

Guys also put 5/16 tubing through the door seals to quiet down road noise.

Lastly, the big engine noise reducer is doing what you just did but on the firewall which requires pulling the dash :eek:
 
06h3 said:
This is all forum hearsay but I hear the “snowman” mod helps a ton for engine noise. It closes up the hole by the steering shaft and reduces engine noise.

Guys also put 5/16 tubing through the door seals to quiet down road noise.

Lastly, the big engine noise reducer is doing what you just did but on the firewall which requires pulling the dash :eek:
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Never heard of the snowman mod. I will look into it.

I have some of the tubing in hand but I just adjusted my door latches a bit and they all seem to close tight and firm now I am probably not going to mess with the tubing.

I have never pulled a dash completely before and don’t intend to start now. I am happy enough that I will leave the dash in place.
 
Nice work. I have the front floor and firewall to do yet and I am dreading it. You are not helping:flipoff2:

I did similar. My roof is killmat, or daynomat extreme, then I used contact adhesive to put gym foam up there. The sides all got that, plus thinsulate and MLV

Agree completely with the decibel meter. I wish I knew. That change is amazing.

Don't skip the door weather stripping or window channel weather stripping. That is huge.
I put surgical tubing inside my door weather stripping. Worked well, but I should have just bought new weather stripping. Really cut down on the wind noise.

We can have a decent conversation now in the cab. Music sounds great. Wish the glass was quieter.
 
I am done with the interior. This thing is really quiet now. I say about half the noise reduction was the interior deadening/insulation work I did. A few days ago I changed the oil, wrapped the oil pan in the butyl mat and foam mat. The oil pan was fairly new so it wasn’t too grimy. My logic was after seeing the company that makes the engine wraps/covers to quiet down diesels this will mimic some of their work just in a different manner. The mats are still stuck on a few days later. We will see if they stay. I also wrapped the steering column in a foam piece similar to the “snowball” mod. Ford stopped producing the updated cab grommet for the steering shaft so I just put a foam piece tight around the steering shaft at the grommet. I did all three at the same time it got really quiet on the inside. It seemed to me those three things was half the noise reduction I have had.
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And I got the seats back from the upholsterer. He did a good job. I think he could have done a couple spots better but for a low bid it is fine.
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Looking really good! How did you score the seat covers?



I love taking an old truck and giving it a 2nd life.

Usually it involves the dash pieces, console and seatbelts soaking in the bathtub for a few days:barf:
 
Projectjunkie said:
Looking really good! How did you score the seat covers?



I love taking an old truck and giving it a 2nd life.

Usually it involves the dash pieces, console and seatbelts soaking in the bathtub for a few days:barf:
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I got the seat covers on eBay. Usually the Katzkin covers retail for about $1,000. A audio shop had this set just sitting in the box for several years. They didn’t have the ad listed the best way. It was listed for at least 4 days best I could tell before I saw them. I paid $270 shipped for them brand new. Some of the wrinkles will relax once they are on the seats and go through some heat cycles. They were a little wrinkles in mostly the headrests from sitting the box for so long. Finding them as cheap as I did made the seat swap worthwhile.
 
Aggie06 said:
What are you doing to address potential theft? Seems like these trucks are prime candidates for being taken south of the border.
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I did the Jimmi-jammers and key hole delete plates in my '06. One of my delete plates has a scratch on it where someone tried to get into it once. Add in a fuel pump kill switch, and the only way someone is getting mine is with a wrecker. If they want it that bad they can have it.
 
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