I have never been a truck person, but just recently I have taken much interest in the F-150 for some reason. In addition, I could really use a truck for moving from here to there (being in the military).
I also need another form of transportation when I pull the engine out of the Cat and really start powering it up.
My limit is around $18 grand, but I would much rather like to spend $15 grand or less. I know for a fact I can get a decent lightning from Carmax with 70k miles for about $15.5 grand or one with 29k miles for $18 grand. I was also considering a lariat supercab which would come with all the luxury and cab space.
but the Lightning is no more, and I would really love to have one now, because they are going to be worth something someday.
Thoughts? Suggestions?
Several friends have Lightnings. They are very fun. BUY IT. ;)
I would buy a STOCK one, they run well but the motors are weak espically the rods and if they have beaten on you are @ risk more so.
Just my 2 cents
Before I bought my supercrew, I test drove a dark blue metallic lightning with 11,000 miles. It was an awesome truck and I really wanted it but the prospect of having to use super unleaded in an already thirsty truck didn't appeal to me. The fact that I do still have one of my kids living at home kinda sealed it. I wanted to be able to take trips comfortably with the three of us and the supercrew is perfect for that. If its just one or two people going to ride in it regularly, then go for it.
My opinion is if you're just looking for a "here to there" truck go with a regular F-150, but if you're looking for a "get into trouble" truck, go for the Lightning. I watched a slightly modified Lightning run 13's and low 14's in the 1/4 mile at a local track. If I had the money and liked fords, I'd buy one.
Yeah, don't waste the coin on a Lightning. If you're serious about building the Cougar, then get a truck as a driver/mover, but not a toy.
get a diesel f250 4x4, u can have plenty of fun with that, it wount die, and its very usefull. pluss around hear diesel is cheaper than regular.
Well for MD/PA, diesel is higher than premium. Go figure. When I went on my trip to NM in May, I did notice that diesel was cheaper in the mid-west.
I personally have seriously considered a newer Lightning, but later decided against it. If you do get one, make sure it is mostly stock(no pulley, tune, etc) and make sure its an Nov 02 built date and later. Ford added threads to the spark plugs to eliminate the dreaded blow outs. Listen for ticks also, they are common among beat on L's. Other than that, good luck and I think you would be happy with one.
Once you get used to driving a truck, you will never go back to a car. :D
(http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a280/chrome302jr/tempsig.jpg)
I dunno about that. I drive a 78 econoline extended lenght van, its the same as a truck so shut up. I get sick of that thing so fast. But I have been driving it more then the cougar.
Oh, i suppose I'd rather be driving my my '89 or '92 F-150 trucks than my Thunderbird...but since I'm not driving any of the three right now...:mad:
Rather have the car for a little bit of fun, tearing up the road, or whatnot, and it's kinda hard to carry 300 pounds of tools and gear in a Tbird ;)
Guess I should specify, once you drive a NICE truck than you wont want to drive a car. And a van dont count, I dont care what you say.
Dont get me wrong, a car is great to play around in, but for DD purposes, the room and height of a truck is great.
If you expect to use a Lightning as a DD, then you need to redo a budget for gas. I owned a 00 Lightning for a year and a half and absolutely loved the truck, it was my DD. When I bought truck, premium was 'only' ~1.95 here locally. When it shot up, it was costing about 75-80 bucks in gas a week. If you got the money, then sure.
As for the rods being weak, beat on, etc. The stock motors are good til about 450rwhp, after that, well, you are asking for trouble. For the price range you have in mind you are going to get a higher mileage one, and well, as they say, you get what you pay for. A 'nice' L is going to be 19-22k IMO. I don't get what everyone has against a pullied truck, etc. You need to do your homework first before purchasing the truck obviously. Check out http://www.nloc.org and read up on them. You can safely run a 4lb lower pulley with no issues. My truck only had a 2lber on it.
Stock the 99/00 run high 13s with the 01+ running mid 13s.
If you have any questions let me nkow.
If you expect to use a Lightning as a DD, then you need to redo a budget for gas. I owned a 00 Lightning for a year and a half and absolutely loved the truck, it was my DD. When I bought truck, premium was 'only' ~1.95 here locally. When it shot up, it was costing about 75-80 bucks in gas a week. If you got the money, then sure.
As for the rods being weak, beat on, etc. The stock motors are good til about 450rwhp, after that, well, you are asking for trouble. For the price range you have in mind you are going to get a higher mileage one, and well, as they say, you get what you pay for. A 'nice' L is going to be 19-22k IMO. I don't get what everyone has against a pullied truck, etc. You need to do your homework first before purchasing the truck obviously. Check out http://www.nloc.org and read up on them. You can safely run a 4lb lower pulley with no issues. My truck only had a 2lber on it.
Stock the 99/00 run high 13s with the 01+ running mid 13s.
If you have any questions let me nkow.
If you expect to use a Lightning as a DD, then you need to redo a budget for gas. I owned a 00 Lightning for a year and a half and absolutely loved the truck, it was my DD. When I bought truck, premium was 'only' ~1.95 here locally. When it shot up, it was costing about 75-80 bucks in gas a week. If you got the money, then sure.
As for the rods being weak, beat on, etc. The stock motors are good til about 450rwhp, after that, well, you are asking for trouble. For the price range you have in mind you are going to get a higher mileage one, and well, as they say, you get what you pay for. A 'nice' L is going to be 19-22k IMO. I don't get what everyone has against a pullied truck, etc. You need to do your homework first before purchasing the truck obviously. Check out http://www.nloc.org and read up on them. You can safely run a 4lb lower pulley with no issues. My truck only had a 2lber on it.
Stock the 99/00 run high 13s with the 01+ running mid 13s.
If you have any questions let me nkow.
If you expect to use a Lightning as a DD, then you need to redo a budget for gas. I owned a 00 Lightning for a year and a half and absolutely loved the truck, it was my DD. When I bought truck, premium was 'only' ~1.95 here locally. When it shot up, it was costing about 75-80 bucks in gas a week. If you got the money, then sure.
As for the rods being weak, beat on, etc. The stock motors are good til about 450rwhp, after that, well, you are asking for trouble. For the price range you have in mind you are going to get a higher mileage one, and well, as they say, you get what you pay for. A 'nice' L is going to be 19-22k IMO. I don't get what everyone has against a pullied truck, etc. You need to do your homework first before purchasing the truck obviously. Check out http://www.nloc.org and read up on them. You can safely run a 4lb lower pulley with no issues. My truck only had a 2lber on it.
Stock the 99/00 run high 13s with the 01+ running mid 13s.
If you have any questions let me nkow.
Holy quadruple post!!!
I don't know what your talking about! Site was a little slow :-)
If I had any sort of money I'd get a diesel truck so fast. I've watched Trucks on Spike often enough to know how easy it can be to sup up a diesel. You can get monstrous power out of them just with a computer tuner and maybe open up the exhaust a bit. Not to mention the legendary reliability of diesels and also the fact that if you have the time and inclination you can brew up some cheap bio fuel for it to run on.
\
ever price up some of that stuff?
http://store.summitracing.com/partdetail.asp?autofilter=1&part=BLY%2D40500&N=700+400057+115&autoview=sku
Not bad at all for what you get from it.
Its funny how a lot of people see what those diesel trucks can do with the upgrades like bullydog etc thanks due to shows that promote all that stuff...I have many freinds that have diesel trucks that they have poured money into them with all these performance programming upgrades then Blammo they have literally Thousands of dollars in repairs! Where I am i see so many trucks that have these upgrades and blow smoke at a ridiculous rates after only a year or so, not to mention these trucks are all 2003 and newer. You give anyone that kind of power in a truck and it is going to be abused to the point of no return. Case in point...A good buddy of mine bought a brand new 2005 Ford F350 diesel and added some unit called a 6 shot power upgrader or something like that and couldn't keep it off the highest horsepower rating to save his life and 8 months into a new $55000 truck and the motor was toast. He made the 1100 a month payments on it for almost a year watching sit in his driveway untill he could afford the new turbo and whatever the hell else went wrong with the engine( obviously no warranty due to with it). Diesels trucks are not meant to be race cars. I always hear...i just bought the upgrade so i could pull more, Ya OK!!?
Hmm. Darkside. I see what you mean about people overdoing it with those things. Incidently I think you mean the Banks 6 Gun system. It was featured on Trucks one time :o
http://powerbypoole.com/Gus%20kills%20viper.wmv (http://"http://powerbypoole.com/Gus%20kills%20viper.wmv")
http://powerbypoole.com/karl%20Mireter%2011.80s..wmv (http://"http://powerbypoole.com/karl%20Mireter%2011.80s..wmv")
Diesels ****ing rock
I cant deny the power and speed but...if you raced that same viper and dodge diesel against each other 20 30 times full out tell me which one will still be driving home at the end of it, i assure you the diesel wouldn't be drivin home and to be quite honest I know the diesel would be WAY WAY more expensive to repair after that many races and the Viper would probably show no serious problems in the least. I have nothing against diesels at all hell i own an 06 3/4 ton GMC diesel and i love it. I recall a Pinks episode where the suped up Dodge diesel ran that Chev S-10 and after I believe 5 races was TOASTED! now perhaps it ran some races before that Pinks episode but from the first through fifth race it deteriated big time. Now If you have money falling out of your ass the diesel would be the way to go.