2006 model 2350 Restoration and Modification

(Yes, this was done earlier before the grill was done)

Ah, the front bumper cover. Designed to have NOTHING to do style-wise with the front wheel arch flares.    It has always been loose, gonna see whats behind.

Removed BOTH pop rivets, and the cover came right off.  No wonder it was flopping around. It has the 4X4 look now!   

It is chrome, but unfortunately rust set in during the past decade or so. Note the 'wiggle' of white silicone... and paint all over the unprepped black filler piece. Nice over spray, paint guys... either 'paint it all or not at all'.



Another angle. Note the 'Squirt' of white silicone goes all the way across, it must have been to try to keep the cover from flopping. See the  shiny spot on the top center of the bumper, maybe 1/2" by 1 foot? I think that was the area of the stock attachment, along with TWO ( I tell ya...twice as good as one, right?) rivets. It was a piece of double sided tape.    No wonder someone put the squirt of white silicone in..



Bumper cover inside view, showing the silicone 'fix' and the double sided tape. You can see the hole on the end that was for 1/2 of the rivets.  I thought the square below the silicone was more double sided tape, but it was the part sticker. Not much tape there...



Closeup showing all 11 inches of double sided tape. That, and two rivets, I think were all that held the cover on from the factory. Not sure if the white silicone was a QC thing at the factory, or added later on. Hard to say.  No wonder it flopped around. (And yes, that is one old tape measure.)



Now it pops on and off. Easy to see where I might be modifying things... but I better NOT go anywhere like that. There is a note on the steering wheel to remind me... 

I would like to get a frame mounted brace made for a REAL pushbar and airdam support.

Considering adding leveling jacks under there also. Time for some measuring and dreaming. 

The chrome bumper is starting to grow on me. I have been looking at all sorts of aftermarket bumpers, and there isnt much for this odd duck. I guess street performing RV isnt a class...yet. 

Cleaned it off, and had tucked the cover under the front. We have had gusty showers coming through.



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The 2003(?)  E550 bumper looks cool. I didnt even know there WAS a E550. Evidently pretty rare.

Wikipedia - ""For 2002, a heavy-duty E-550 variant was introduced. Sharing chassis components with the Super Duty, the E-550 was distinguished by a grille styled in line with Super Duty pickup trucks (with a three horizontal slots between two vertical openings). In addition, the heavier-duty front axle required the use of a larger front bumper and plastic fender flares (shared with the F-550 truck). Depending on trim, E-550s were fitted with either chrome grilles, chrome bumpers, and flush headlamps, or gray plastic grilles, bumpers, and sealed-beam headlamps. After the 2003 model year, the E-550 was discontinued.""

 Read down in this link - https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1369566-ford-e550-production-years.html   Someone wants to beef up their C class to 19K GVWR   

I am not sure if the bumper is TOO wide... but would look SO factory awesome. The PC flares are pretty wide, so might mate up well.  Looking for the bumper now, the flares are shared with the F550 of that era. The bumper appears to be unique... 



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For now, was doing a little bit of dreaming...and Mrs V said she liked the race look..    I wont have it that long, the stock I had was 16". Prolly trim it to 12, with the drop it still gives 4" of clearance. Be easy to make support brackets that attach to the stock holes in the bumper.  I will pursue this look for now, and keep looking for that other bumper.

Volkemon,

Sorry my friend but you won't get my vote.  I LOVE the front bumper cover that Phoenix installed on both your LBP rig and our FBP rig.  It sets the van apart it from the typical stock look.  Maybe if you didn't have it, you'd be thinking of getting one. 


I did wonder about the front bumper cover's solid oval flat blank space under the center cut-out, if cut-open carefully would it look good?  Would it be rigid enough?  Would it provide more air flow for radiator cooling?  It is too low for direct cooling but maybe it would create a negative pressure air flow under the rig for more dog-house hot-air draw-down.  Keeping in-mind that there has never any such over-heating concern with our bumper cover......just wondering if better air flow could be had to support the "More Is Better" principle.

BTW: The E550 front bumper appears to protrude much further out the sides to align with larger E550 fender flairs.  Then you'll be replacing your fender flairs with E550s, then your wheels to match the fender flairs.....seemingly no end to that one.

BTW: The E550 front bumper appears to protrude much further out the sides to align with larger E550 fender flairs.  Then you'll be replacing your fender flairs with E550s, then your wheels to match the fender flairs.....seemingly no end to that one.

And indeed, I finally found a 'head on' pic of the E550, and those flares stick out about 4" per side, compared to the ~2" of the flares that are on there. No biggie, as it looks like that bumper is made of 'Unobtanium' anyway... I have yet to find a listing for it 'in stock'. MANY just say that the E150-E550 share the same bumper.     
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I LOVE the front bumper cover that Phoenix installed on both your LBP rig and our FBP rig.  It sets the van apart it from the typical stock look.  Maybe if you didn't have it, you'd be thinking of getting one.

Maybe...  but I have commented many times as to how the cover and flares do not go/flow together at all.  I was pleasantly surprised to see how nice the transition from the stock bumper to the flare is....like the designer of the flare made them to compliment the stock bumper. 

I think I am well away from 'the typical stock look'    And I had forgotten how prominent those mirrors were.. I do not miss that look.

LBP/FBP rig... I no understand.    Google gave me pics of miniature tractor trailer rigs when I searched it.    REALLY.
https://www.wideopencountry.com/lil-big-rigs/

 ( EDIT*** finally came to me... Lower Body Paint / Full Body Paint.    )



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RE:  better radiator airflow with the bottom cut out - not easily. The 'in the bumper' opening is vented to the radiator, and there is duct work to make sure the air does not slip out the bottom, but does go through the radiator. This shrouding would also block off any air flow from that bottom slot to the radiator, unless you did some fabrication to change that.  You could make ductwork for the front brake cooling...    

(And if opened, without ducts, it would generate POSITIVE pressure below, not negative. The 'air dam' on front does exactly that...dams the air and directs it around, creating a lower pressure area underneath. )


See what happens this week. The bumper I have on there, with the slots for the lower valence, may work very well for making air dam supports. And it is easily replaceable. Interesting though, there seems to be many 'grades' of chrome available, with the best being 'remanufactured stock'. I have a local chrome shop....and the 'medium' grade bumper was $275 plus shipping. Be interesting to see how much re-chroming the stock bumper locally is...

( EDIT*** finally came to me... Lower Body Paint / Full Body Paint.    )

Stop googling pictures of Amazonian  women before you get yourself busted haha.

Check out Sarona.com if you like the chrome bumper with chin spoiler look (no tall women)

Ordering parts from Ford without a VIN would be iffy. I recently replaced the faded oem grey  plastic valance. You would need that too with some of the Sarona lip spoilers.

Stop googling pictures of Amazonian  women before you get yourself busted haha.

Check out Sarona.com if you like the chrome bumper with chin spoiler look (no tall women)

Ordering parts from Ford without a VIN would be iffy. I recently replaced the faded oem grey  plastic valance. You would need that too with some of the Sarona lip spoilers.

Whoa!      NICE link!

This is pretty cool...and at $400 pretty reasonable.  Little 'busy' style-wise for my taste, be ideal with the bottom vent deleted.



LOVE the 'vintage' look on this one, dont like it lost the lower vent opening.  and it seems the lower 1/2 is all you get, it says 'upper bumper trim not included'   





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And just to demonstrate 'Kitty got CLAWS'  Mrs V has found her favorite. Sorta shifts it back over to the 'mad max' or 'WTF is that in the rear view mirror?!?!?' side... it is growing on me, however.  $1300, but certainly robust. Shipping weight of 175#. 





Its steel, so I could weld tabs on the bottom for air dam mounting.  Still mulling it over... but it certainly would give it a 'Move or be moved' look when overtaking people.    I could see adding polished stainless panels to it, I really like the 'strip of chrome' look across the front. Cover up that IRON CROSS logo too.... kinda 'bad boy biker' looking there. ..   
I am glad I dont have the hood mounted emblem also... sorta gives it that 'third eye' look,    and it would be hidden behind the bug shield anyway. I do still have the tinted turn/markers, if I add other turn signals below the headlights I might rethink using them.


I am working on the air dam over stock chrome for now, see how that pans out. Have most of the parts on hand, and save me a grand and weight.

Hey Randy,

Check out the hood and front bumper skin on this one, and the wheels too.  I remember them back in the day when shopping around.  New or used back then, they were untouchable for us with our budget.  I remember back in 2006 or 2007 considering a 1999 model year with a rebuilt title that was still too expensive.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFIwS18BWnw

Thanks Ron! 

Yes, that is one classy looking ride.

I have seen hoods available like that, but BOY are they proud of them. And with the bug shield, I am just going with the stock hood.

That is a nice cover, but I am leaning towards two choices now... stock bumper with airdam,.  I love that 'strip of chrome look', it is a design feature that seems to be prominent in many new designs, and ties in the older theme also, so it helps a bit to 'update' the old girl. 

The second choice is the Iron Cross bumper, with polished stainless panels on top for sparkle. Lowering the front 2" (which some would consider foolish....) it might be prudent to have a 'bulletproof' bumper setup. And if I can get the 'shiny strip' look incorporated with the panels, I will be happy with the look, It is definitely a distinct strong look, so I am giving it much thought before commiting. Not to mention it is the priciest option... 

Thanks for the idea, though, you and CalCruser have both been helpful in looking at different designs.


 

OK, it is a little bit staged. 

There is a lump in the driveway under the RR wheel. Country life. I was moving the camper, and this was out of the way. I looked back and went    and grabbed the camera.

New springs did lower it about 2 1/2" or so.

I will get a level pavement shot, but I was getting photos from the last gig and found this. I remember thinking it looked *so* cool.

Except for that front bumper/fender flare transition.  Makes me want to poke my eyes out.    I will fix that... pretty sure I am keeping the PC cover on front and modifying it. Lowered down, it is MUCH better looking. I can see taking those top strakes on the bumper, and widening the ends to flow into the flares. Add an air dam and real foglights.

Will you need to use leveling blocks on a level site ?

Will you need to use leveling blocks on a level site ?

Not at all.  ""There is a lump in the driveway under the RR wheel. ""  Thats Right Rear... and it makes the front left lower. Staged pic.

If you look at the bug deflector on the front you can see the right side is higher.  I had to move around a bit to get the right perspective to hide it the best. The off-vertical of the seam behind the cab also shows it. I dont do photoshop, so I have to use the old standby of perspective. 

Right now I use the 12 ton bottle jack and a jack stand to level it.  I really want Hydraulic levelers, but have sorta hit a snag with rear mounting. I would LOVE to see a pic of a pre-2008 2350 rear jack setup. With all the tanks, seems to be no room for a left rear jack.  Not within the 60" of the rear axle it wants.

About levelers... I had a pair of these givin to me. So glad i didnt buy them. Might work on dry pavement, but on sand/dirt/plywood they are nothing but 'ice skates' and slide around. DONT waste your money.

These work well. I evenly distribute them  in the storage compartment to save space.

https://www.amazon.com/Camco-Leveling-Interlocking-Stacking-44515/dp/B00T36J7ZQ

These work well. I evenly distribute them  in the storage compartment to save space.

https://www.amazon.com/Camco-Leveling-Interlocking-Stacking-44515/dp/B00T36J7ZQ

Well hey!  I had not seen that style, only square. The specs say 8.5 x 17 x 1  - so wide enough for duallies when sideways!  Very cool. I can see getting a couple sets for short term parking. (Convenient, but adding ~33 pounds.. Jack and stand are on board already for tire emergencies )

Only issue for us with the blocks is the camper still rocks as you move, where with the jack stand there is a lot more stability. When we have the side tent on, the side to side rocking of the camper messes up the sealing to ground and camper. When we have the side tent on here in hot Florida, we open up the side door and bed window of the coach. A fan at the base of the slide out pushes air out the door, the bed window is the return, and air conditions the tent. At 94* day/80* night ambient, the side tent stayed very comfortable, and was where the grandson slept on a cot. During the day the cot folds and we use the area for dining, visiting, etc.

Raining here today, and it is needed. May still go out and get 'level ground' pics so people dont think I am a low rider member.