My New Trac, Additions and ideas

[Bigvic42]

I am in the process of buying a 2003 Sport Trac XLT! I will be the third owner, the first two were older couples and treated it pretty well, for the most part. I live in northern Michigan so with a truck being 13 years old i would expect some rust! There is some underneath the rockers, along the bottom of the tail gate and small specs starting along the fenders! Does anyone have any good recommendations for taking care of the rust? There are scratches along the rear 1/4 panel, and on the doors from dogs jumping on the truck. Its Silver, and the plastic on the rockers and the bumpers is very faded, i really want to paint them black or something that will match the truck! While i'm at it i might as well paint the grill too. I have test drove it twice and there is a vibration in the front end, especially when you get on the brakes. This truck is in desperate need of tires so i am going to start with 255/70r16's and go with a Hankook DynaPro Atm tire! If the tires do not solve the problem i will let you all know! At some point i want to lift it, nothing huge, from the reading ive done 3-4 inches is about normal! There will definitely be a new radio installed, and maybe a sound system. The previous owner just had a new muffler put on and had a patch done on the exhaust up by the engine. Is a cold air intake a good idea? Would it improve MPG at all? This is the first Vehicle that will be in my name CRAZY! I am excited to make it my own!

Thanks,
Big Vic

 

[429CJ-3X2]

Rust - no good advice here, but open the doors and check the seams for rust.

Painting the plastic on the rocker panels - lots of advice on here about that. It's usually called cladding, so use that term to search.

Cold air intake - almost everything I've read says this is a waste of $$, doesn't help aside from sounding meaner, and often causes problems that don't exist without it.

 

[01STrunner]

Congrats on the new purchase!

Fixing rust isn't the easiest to do correctly. I moved from VA to SC so I have no real experience with it though.

If you are going to buy tires now with the anticipation of lifting it, I would suggest getting a set of 265/70/16s. This is the largest size you can run stock without any issues. If you don't mind a little bit of trimming to the inner fender well behind the tires, 265/75-16s will work as well. You can do a 2" lift for $40 plus the cost of a front end alignment. Don't waste your money on aftermarket torsion keys. You can see pictures of my truck at different lift heights for reference by clicking on my signature linked below.

The stock air box is plenty good and is routed to the best location under the hood. No real gains when switching to a CAI. Just get a quality drop in filter and be done.