New owner from WA State (98 XLT 4WD)

Hello all, just checking in bought this truck for my son. It needs a little TLC but the motor and tranny seem to be good. Gonna comb through all the kinks and hope he will have a sweet reliable ride. It currently sits a 164,***, paint is rough but have a workaround for that, needs new wheels as one of the rim lips are broken off and is currently using the spare as the fourth wheel. Had some cheap faux vent on front fender which came off immediately after arriving home. Will need a new passenger front fender and door as it looks like someone pried at it with a crow bar. Surprisingly all of the glass is intact, but the molding on the rear passenger window see to have been pinched somehow. I constantly hear what seems like a motor cycling (maybe transfer case), I also don't have any heat up front but I do in the rear, so I will have to pull dash apart to figure that out. Dome light doesn't work, center front console is held on by electrical tape so going to need a replacement for that. and a thorough cleaning.

A few questions I have are:

-How well does this beast take to water in the engine bay? (I like dressing the engine bay)
-What websites are available for miscellaneous parts? (i.e. LMC Truck sites of that nature where factory parts are available)
-Any gremlins that are common with this particular vehicle? I read about the cruise control recall, I'm going to get the truck down to the dealer as soon as I get her through the basics.

Things to do are:

-Figure out all the electrical issues
-All fluids
-Brakes
-Gaskets
-Plugs and Wires/Coils
-Vaccum Lines
-Filters
-Used set of factory wheels to replace the broken set that is currently on there.

Future things I would like to do:

-Headlamp Face Lift
-Fog Lamps
-Sideview Mirror Refresh
-Brush Guard
-Different Running Board (Tube Style)
-Exhaust
-Wheels and Tires
-Third Row Seating
-Dark Interior Swap
-Paint (going for the Murdered-Out Look)
-Tint

Aside from all that it seems to be a solid vehicle, once all is done I'm sure my son will enjoy it.

I will try and get a few pictures up today and then update when some or all of this list is done.

Thanks,

Rabid

Welcome to the Forum

For cleaning up the engine bay I pressure washed mine covering my cold air intake filter un hooked battery just incase rinsed it off purple power on everything let it sit for about 10 mins in the shade then rinsed off really good and faced it toward the sun with hood open for about 4 hours to let every thing dry then used my tire shine and sprayed all the black it clean it up nicely good luck