Mods for cheap or free

[Ridgerunner]

Personally I wouldn't gut all 4, otherwise you will have a check engine light. Gut the two big ones (regular looking ones), or even better cut them out and place straight pipe in their place. They are worth about 150 bucks apiece due to the precious metals inside.

However that is comparable to just cutting out your muffler...

So what is considered cheap in your book? To me cheap is anything under 100 bucks, but that might not be to you. My grille LED's are pretty sweet and cost me about 40 bucks all said and done. I replaced my grille with an all black one ($65 shipped). Plasti-dipped all chrome pieces for about $20 total. Gott's was about 10 bucks. Mud flaps were about 40 bucks. Rubber floor mats were about 30, but those are well worth the money. Nice to just be able to hose them off when they get dirty, and if you live where there is snow, no more wet carpet! You can lift it 3 inches (roughly) with some spacer and a torsion bar twist for about 100 bucks depending where you buy the spacers. Pull the running boards (free!) to create the illusion of a lift. That is what I did...

Hopefully that gives you a place to start anyways. Also depends on your style too.

I'm in the less than a $100 range for mods. Raising my Expedition is not a option being disabled.

 

[Ridgerunner]

i agree with fordandpolaris.. depends on you.. i cut out my rear cats and added a diff muffler then the stock , bought harley headlights for less then $100... fog lights $75 .. new harley grill 2 set for $80... mossy oak seat covers mats, steering wheel cover $40... added hood scoops $20 at the junk yard...

Crank up the torsion bars, Do the 4" flang homemade spring spacers for the rear and you have a almost free lift kit. $40 dollar inverter at Harbor Freight and hard wire it to battery for on board 110v power. X2 on the Plasti dip all the chrome (I love the way it looks especially the rims!). There is lots of free or cheap mods to do just use your imagination. Decide what your rig is going to be for and start making mods to reach your goal! GL!

Find a used cold air intake, should be able to get one cheap. Or built your own...

Thanks for the idea's I will be searching for some of the stuff needed talked about here like LED lights and such.

 

[IMINYOURCHAIR]

depending on what state you live in. messing with the cats can be illegal. unless they are clogged I wouldn't mess with them unless they are inherently inefficient. as far as a cold air intake...just do gotts mod and you've already got one. it pulls air from the fender well which is already cooler than the air in the engine bay. also, IIRC scrap yards here are no longer allowed to buy cat converters... something about people cutting them off of other cars and trying to sell them so you'd wast your time by trying.

you could get a remote jump start terminal so that if you need to jump someone you don't even have to pop your hood.

you could install a block heater for about $70 and an hour of your time.

for about 110 I got a radio and install kit with harness that sounds about the same as factory but has usb and dual aux inputs. took me a but to solder it together but then again I took my time to do it properly.

I imagine there are tons of other little mods to be done.

 

[Pedition2000]

Crank up the torsion bars, Do the 4" flang homemade spring spacers for the rear and you have a almost free lift kit. $40 dollar inverter at Harbor Freight and hard wire it to battery for on board 110v power. X2 on the Plasti dip all the chrome (I love the way it looks especially the rims!). There is lots of free or cheap mods to do just use your imagination. Decide what your rig is going to be for and start making mods to reach your goal! GL!

Where can I find the "how-to" for these?


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[Lightnig]

...

you could install a block heater for about $70 and an hour of your time.

...

I'll bet there's a lot of people in the Eastern U.S. that wish they'd done that one now...

 

[ghstwlker]

I can tell you that being in the southeast with it being 4 degrees on my way to work with a failed thermostat in the open position... I wish I had a block heater this past week.... However I did learn that by blocking off my grill with a big piece of cardboard did net me another 3 miles to a gallon fuel economy. Wish i had blocked that big hole off before now.. I see a new mod coming up in the near future, will post pictures and results soon!!!

 

[bedrck46]

I can tell you that being in the southeast with it being 4 degrees on my way to work with a failed thermostat in the open position... I wish I had a block heater this past week.... However I did learn that by blocking off my grill with a big piece of cardboard did net me another 3 miles to a gallon fuel economy. Wish i had blocked that big hole off before now.. I see a new mod coming up in the near future, will post pictures and results soon!!!

Don't you think it would be less expensive and less time consuming to install a new t/stat and still use the cardboard

 

[ghstwlker]

Will be doing that Sunday, by the time i get home after work its dark so it makes it difficult to fix it during the week and with it being so cold it makes it difficult to work due to side effects of chemo ,so i have to wait for the warmer weather this weekend.

So temporary fix was the cardboard, then Sunday i will replace the fan clutch and Tstat. Coming up with plans on how to fab covers that I can install on the back side of the grill that will allow me to remove if needed for Georgia summers so I can keep the MPG gains i have seen this week.

 

[71Rcode]

I taped scuffed up and washed my rear black trim (bumper plastic, etc.) as wel as the running boards, plastic cowl under the windshield, and the black plastic cover over the radiator, taped everying off and shot it with rattle can Krylon 1613 semi gloss black paint. Secret is with this stuff is to dust it on (first 5 coats). It will never chip. Made the truck pop.

Still need to do to the front bumper plastic.

Another thing you can do is to sand and buff your faded headlight bezels. It's a PITA to pull the grille out and replace the lenses (like I did).

Another fun thing to do, if you're nuts like me, is to detail out the front suspension a bit and the undercarriage that shows (4x4s mostly - are higher) with cast rattle can paint, rattle can undercoat and semi-gloss black. Of course I wire brushed a lot of it first.

What can I say....I'm a former restoration addict

 

[Pedition2000]

Crank up the torsion bars, Do the 4" flang homemade spring spacers for the rear and you have a almost free lift kit. $40 dollar inverter at Harbor Freight and hard wire it to battery for on board 110v power. X2 on the Plasti dip all the chrome (I love the way it looks especially the rims!). There is lots of free or cheap mods to do just use your imagination. Decide what your rig is going to be for and start making mods to reach your goal! GL!

What is the 4" flang spacers?


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