First the update on my car -

As most know, I was involved in a little hit & run along with a chase down. Stupid kid thought he'd out run a Maxima..

Gave the car to my brother last Saturday, he's opening a new body shop, Proline Body & Chassis in Elmwood Park, NJ 201-398-1512

********************* FREE PLUG ************************

Well as a new business all the reps are coming in to demo all kinds of stuff to him. He's been doing body work for over 15 years. He also builds custom Chassis for drag cars. He knows his $hit.

He just finished putting in a new spray booth along with a complete Sherwin Williams paint matching system. So Sherwin Williams now sends a rep over to demo some new paint products along with a new Clear Coat thats supposed to be "The best on the market"

Anyhow, my brother decides to let them use my car as the demo model. So Sherwin Williams will be painting my car TODAY with the newest materials they have on the market. I'm a bit nervous, but these guys are the pro's right? Can't wait to pick my baby up tomorrow morning. I'll have pics of the before and after to post up here.

Now for the fun -

I was at the shop last night and one of my brothers friends comes in with a brand new 2002 Ford Lightning. I'm like wow, nice truck! Next thing I know he pulls out a lowering kit. I don't remember the name of the springs, but I was like lets get this baby up on the lift. The rear of this truck is leaf springs, so lowering it was simply adding a bracket which made one side of the leaf up closer to the body. Pretty simple stuff. Same leaf springs, only mounted in a different location.
The fronts however were indeed coil springs. So we took the suspension apart, removed the coil springs. PITA on a regular coil spring setup. You need a special internal spring compressor to get the spring out from the lower control arm. I noticed that the Lightning comes from the factory with Billstein Shocks so we use the OEM stuff. The drop was about 2" in the rear and 1" in the front. This made the truck sit level because the truck is raked forward stock. (rear higher then the front)

Now for the test drive. The first thing I notice is that this thing rides awsome! I would never guess we had just lowered it. Completely smooth, rides like a car. Handling with 295/40/18 tires was amazing. Has anybody ever driven a Ford Lightning? 5.4 Liter Supercharged V8 HELLO something like 340HP stock? This thing flys!!!! I couldn't believe the power this truck has.

Maxima's beware, this is one puppy you do not want to race. He WILL hand you your A$$!

 

Good stuff man,

I've seen those Lightings around before, and I think they're pretty sweet looking trucks. Tom with your know-how and your brother's body work expereince you should consider getting into the business with a combo body shop / performance shop.

 

Keep your eyes open.

 

Wait so they're just going to repaint the damaged area with the clearcoat? Won't it stand out a lot then?
-Cyrus

 

so your brother will only be using sherman williams paint?

 

Cyrus - No there blending everything together.

Nick - Yes he's been using their paints for a long time, now's he's under contract with them and has the complete paint matching system installed at his new shop.

 

You have a brother who owns a body shop????
Life ain't fair!! hehe j/k.

And the lightning rides on 295's??? wow... didnt know that.

And yeah your story about chasing down the punk kid, him crying, and taking him to an all nighter diner was a funny and cool story.

 

Can I get a link to that post? I must have missed it...

 

Several friends of mine have Lightnings.... very nice truck. One ran 13.7 1/4 with exhaust (1999) and another 13.6 stock (2001). The power in those things is just so smooth... that supercharger kicks in and you're flying!

 

Dont f*** with that truck...380hp and 450 lb-ft of torque will rip the pavement out below it.

 

Lightnings have a DOHC 5.4L V8 and the 2k2's come with 360hp/450lb-ft. torque. IMHO they are beautiful. Interior is sweet, sound system BLOWS. I drove my buddies 2k2 and I fell in love. Mid 5's 0-60, a supercharged Maxima w/bolt ons should be able to take a stock one out or keep up at least. Lightnings are RWD, but their rear is very light so they get lots of spin. They are hard to launch right.

The 5spd Minima is still the ultimate sleeper though.

 

Im positive its 380hp/450lb-ft...but who is really counting anyways

 

I believe the newest generation (2000+?) has 380hp while the previous has 360hp (?-1999). I think you can differentiate by taillights (new are clear) and rims (new are thicker 5 spokes).

 

That's what I thought too before some broad with a lightning swore it was different. She said 00 and below lightnings had 340HP, and 2k1+ got 20HP more. Her name is SVTlightninggirl or something like that here on the org.

Either way it's a friggen rocket...my friend gets 10mpg though so it's downside: MPG