New England B.S. Thread

Well, that was a long day. I had baby duty this morning then FF'd the truck. I have so many heavy coats on that I basically fogged the box sections and gave all the other areas a once over. I swapped the BBS off the Vette and put it on my junk storage wheels, organized 99% of the garage for the winter, got the tonneau back on my truck and that's about it. Not terrible for the amount of time I had to work with.

I'm hoping that I can get both car and truck washed as well as my Mom's tomorrow and get the truck and my Mom's sealed for the winter, but we will see.

Now the pressing question is, bling or no bling for the winter. Old man F-150 or base model goodness...

IMG_5543 by Mike M, on Flickr
IMG_5539 by Mike M, on Flickr

I like the plain steel look.

 

I can't see the pics!

 

Yeah yeah...updated.

 

Definitely regular silver steel wheel, the chrome cover .

 

I'd have to see how the hill looks lol

 

I keep meaning to use my phone to measure the slope, maybe next week I’ll get at it!

@DrFunker
Might have to skin up in the winter and sneak over to Brodie! Have the whole mountain to yourself.

 

Definitely plain silver, those chrome ones are hideous!

 

Took the big bike out today for a hit. Couldnt really get the Pirellis sticky though, so, it is time... MIGHT take it out again, tomorrow, and burn as much gas out as possible before I remove the tank, and start teardown, but... its fking cold....
The SM.... I will keep ready for any half-decent days.... as i did snag it to be abused....

 

Good morning
Darkness early this afternoon

 

Morning peoples. Time to go into hibernation.

 

One last truck mod for the weekend, blacked out the 3rd brake light using VHT. I rushed it, it looks decent from far away but is a little blotchy and has some imperfections up close. I didn’t clear coat it, i’ll wet sand it, redo it and then clear coat it.


I’d love to do the same to the tail lights but the look isn’t as important as function in that case (at least as far as I’m concerned)

 

Where does MA inspectors come down on things like this? I have very lightly played with the idea, but always been worried about 2 things.

1) Inspectors failing me
2) I don't love the idea of darkening lights that keep people from smashing into me.

I understand you are leaving the brake lights along to avoid #2. Just curious if you expect any comments from inspectors next year?

 

I did give that some consideration but here’s where I landed on it. There are so many ‘special edition’ vehicles with darkened head and tail lights that I highly doubt the inspectors know what’s OEM and what’s aftermarket. It still reflects red and light shines through it pretty well. I will also replace the bulbs with LEDs to help with that as well. So, in short, I don’t anticipate any issues with inspection. There’s a Stage 3 third brake light that’s black with LEDs in it and I early wanted that look. It’s also well over $100 so I figured if I can pass inspection with that, this should also at a fraction of the cost. Worst case, if it fails, I’ll sand it off and clear coat it but i’m really thinking i’ll be ok.

I’m not in love with the idea of darkening tail lights and I won’t darken the main ones. I will swap LEDs to make it a little brighter but the stock bulb still shines through red pretty clearly. I have toyed with adding the Putco strip under the tailgate (not because of this mod, but because it’s just another big ass red light on the back of the truck). We’ll see. I’m good at least until next October

 

Check your heat shield, passenger side but it bolts to the underside of the floorpan. My frame wasn't replaced but I just had the same rattle. Just pull it out if so..

 

Damn, we could have moved that into my house easy..

 

I ain't too far if you need help..

 

While you're right about the inspectors not knowing, they'll just fail you if they're not 100% certain. I was queried about my OEM tails being LED a couple of years ago stating that they couldn't be factory, to the point that they were going to fail me until I showed them pics of other 09-11's with the same tails.

 

I feel like this may depend on the shop a little bit. It’s a relatively minor and subtle change from stock, especially since it blends in but still shows bright red. Next October will tell!

You guys are making me nervous and thinking I may keep my eyes out for a stock replacement if I can find one cheap on EBay. Might be good to have on hand I suppose and I have a year to find one I guess...

 

Don't worry about it. Just don't say anything