I would be interested in this intercooler cooling feedback as well. I have my skid plate sitting here waiting to go on. Bad enough the gas mileage dropped without the air dams on....
How much did your mileage drop?
Granted the temp outside also dropped just after the air dams came off.. But, I have seen an average of +- 2-2.5mpg
I got no mileage drop at all. My truck was leveled on 33s and that did cause about 2mpg drop, but adding the skid plate didn't change a thing. I suspect the air damn doesn't even help once the truck is leveled.
I did this recently too and had that plastic bumper trim piece painted that goes above the skid plate. On another thread on here people have been finding out that piece is silver under some black paint that can be wiped off. Just thought I’d post that in case anyone sees this and wants to try it.Early model 2021 Lariat (job 1 with the wrong frame holes) Really no big deal to drill new holes for the mounting bracket and cut the tabs off the mounting bracket that would go through the square holes. I was going to cut out the new square holes but decided to cut the tabs off the bracket because it was 10x easier. Normally the square hole would serve as a place for the clip bolt to slide into but I just cut the clip side off and reached in through the front of the frame to get the bolt in place for mounting the bracket. So yes it can be done solidly and easily.
I didn't lose any gas mileage. The mileage was lost long ago on leveling and 33s. I tested a round trip freeway road trip right before the swap and did the same trip a week later. Same exact mileage within a tenth.
Most tedious part of the install was unbolting the air damn from the bumper. I ended up removing the fog lights from the bumper to get at some of the nuts which wasn't in the PDF instructions. It's too bad they send the lower bumper cover unpainted. Cost me 175 to have it paint matched to the plate. Doesn't exactly match my iconic silver but still looks great. So don't let your job 1 hold you back. If you can drill holes, use an angle grinder (bracket tabs) and a pair of tin snips (clip bolt to just bolt) you are in business.
The other thing that is different on the job 1, at least mine compared to the PDF instructions, is the existing skid plate that mates up the the back side of the tremor plate. The plate on my truck when all the way across the back of the tremor plate. The pdf shows a narrower existing plate that doesn't touch the tremor plate. I just used 3 washers on each side to space the back of the tremor plate from my existing plate. And didn't need the clip bolts for that part as they were already existing in place.
I kept the original bumper covers and had them gloss blacked as well as painted the lower grill in gloss black. Not a fan of the matte grey. Blacked out tremor lights and gloss black aftermarket grille face installed. The aftermarket gloss grille is nice and only 200 on ebay. Fits great.
Next week the headlights and fog lights are getting light smoke vinyl and them I am done. The original bumper covers have a tab in a slightly different place than the ones that come with the skid plate kit. These tabs mate up to the lower bumper cover. So I just broke them off. They really aren't needed as there are tons of clips holding them in place and I like the details on the original ones vs the smooth ones that come in the kit.
Light smoked OEM tremor lights on the rear and smoked the 3rd brake as well. The aftermarket applique, was a huge pain in the ass to properly install. If you want to do that it, ask me and I will give you the details.
Mine seemed to be and I couldn’t imagine it being painted black, but on the other thread a few people have found silver under some black paint.
I think the picture in the pdf shows a truck without the FX4 package.Early model 2021 Lariat (job 1 with the wrong frame holes) Really no big deal to drill new holes for the mounting bracket and cut the tabs off the mounting bracket that would go through the square holes. I was going to cut out the new square holes but decided to cut the tabs off the bracket because it was 10x easier. Normally the square hole would serve as a place for the clip bolt to slide into but I just cut the clip side off and reached in through the front of the frame to get the bolt in place for mounting the bracket. So yes it can be done solidly and easily.
I didn't lose any gas mileage. The mileage was lost long ago on leveling and 33s. I tested a round trip freeway road trip right before the swap and did the same trip a week later. Same exact mileage within a tenth.
Most tedious part of the install was unbolting the air damn from the bumper. I ended up removing the fog lights from the bumper to get at some of the nuts which wasn't in the PDF instructions. It's too bad they send the lower bumper cover unpainted. Cost me 175 to have it paint matched to the plate. Doesn't exactly match my iconic silver but still looks great. So don't let your job 1 hold you back. If you can drill holes, use an angle grinder (bracket tabs) and a pair of tin snips (clip bolt to just bolt) you are in business.
The other thing that is different on the job 1, at least mine compared to the PDF instructions, is the existing skid plate that mates up the the back side of the tremor plate. The plate on my truck when all the way across the back of the tremor plate. The pdf shows a narrower existing plate that doesn't touch the tremor plate. I just used 3 washers on each side to space the back of the tremor plate from my existing plate. And didn't need the clip bolts for that part as they were already existing in place.
I kept the original bumper covers and had them gloss blacked as well as painted the lower grill in gloss black. Not a fan of the matte grey. Blacked out tremor lights and gloss black aftermarket grille face installed. The aftermarket gloss grille is nice and only 200 on ebay. Fits great.
Next week the headlights and fog lights are getting light smoke vinyl and them I am done. The original bumper covers have a tab in a slightly different place than the ones that come with the skid plate kit. These tabs mate up to the lower bumper cover. So I just broke them off. They really aren't needed as there are tons of clips holding them in place and I like the details on the original ones vs the smooth ones that come in the kit.
Light smoked OEM tremor lights on the rear and smoked the 3rd brake as well. The aftermarket applique, was a huge pain in the ass to properly install. If you want to do that it, ask me and I will give you the details.
I wonder if this has to do with ordering from different places.
3.5 eco
Got mine from Levittown Ford
