New owner / member

[Dennis the Menace]

I took delivery of my 02 true blue on Good Friday! I now have about 800 miles on it. FANTASTIC! I can't wait to get in it and drive it each day.

My first mods were the installation of a snug lig and a bed rug (@ DFW camper corral in Arlington). I will be getting the windows tinted tomorrow. I have already taken out the plastic box behind the seat and am looking for a better place to locate the CD changer (any suggestions?).

I have a K&N panel filter on order and plan to cut holes in the bottom of the air box. This is my daily driver and have no plans to race it (yet). So far I have gotten a little over 13 mpg and have found the 93 octane at Costco to be very reasonably priced. I am nervous about chip and/or pulley mods and the warranty issues that may be involved with them. I have been reading the f150 online forum for over a year now, so I feel reasonably educated about these wonderful machines.

I bought it from North Central Ford in Richardson through their fleet department (quite a drive form my house). I am very satisfied with the experience and recommend them highly. They ordered if for me after a phone conversation with $0 money down and was quoted a price of $31,090 ($1500 below MSRP). When it came in, the sticker price had increased to $32,8__ and they still honored my original price.

I live in the south Grand Prairie area and look forward to attending a TALON outing and meeting other local owners.

[Silver_2000]

Welcome

Doug

[Moonshine]

Welcome, but consider your self a probationary member of TALON until you change your mind about racing it. ;)

[blueoval01]

Welcome .........

[L8 APEX]

I live in south Arlington next door so give me a holler some time and we can go raise some heck! Yeah I don't know about mods either I think I will leave my truck stock too, oops to late for that :d Let me know when you want to get Evil on it!

[David N]

North Central Ford is great :tu: i just got my 02 HD form them and my 02 L as well both on X -plan

[Sixpipes]

I'm not sure if TALON is big enough for two Dennis guys so I agree with Brian (Sargeant at Arms), you're automatically on probation. You must relate a story in which you have done something really dumb before you are an official member. Most of us would only have to go back a day or two to fulfill this requirement so there should be no pressure if you are truely TALON material. :cool:

[MadMax]

Congratulations. Just watch your speed through small urban areas...it has come to my attention that these trucks are "ticket magnets" :rolleyes:

ie. Irving Police don't #uck around :eek:

[Autothrottle]

Congratulations on the new L and welcome to the board.

If your nervous about warranty issues. Then I would think twice about cutting holes in the air box. I've read a few post about the dealers giving owners a hard time for the air box being modded.

[Dennis the Menace]

Here is a recent example of me being pretty @#$% dumb. I did not have to go back very far either ... how about last night? I bought my daughter (who just turned 16) her first car a few weeks ago. It is a '96 Mazda 626 in decent shape. So far, I have put on new tires, batteries and brakes. I am no major league mechanic, but I like to save $$ whenver I can and I also enjoy the work/challenge (usually).

Thursday night I replaced the front disc brake pads in about 45 minutes. Last night, I planned to tackle the rear drum brakes. After work I stopped off at one of downtown Fort Worth's seedier hangouts for some adult beverages after work (by the way, I work in downtown Fort Worth for a major electric/gas company ... rhymes with "tee-ex-you"). After a couple of hours, I left for home, much more prepared for the weekend and with the proper amount of attitude adjustment.

One home, I changed and started on the first drum brake. It was a little tough getting the drum off to begin with, but I tackled the myriad of springs and brake dust and finally got the drum back on. At this point, I noticed that the 4 new brake shoes that I had previously laid out on the garage floor were all still there. Surely, I was not so stupid as to take off the old shoes and then but them back on! With a generous amount of cursing (at myself) I proceeded to take everything back off and put the "new" shoes on this time.

Yes, there is more to this adventure. I took a well earned break for nourishment and another beverage. Afterwords, I went out to replace the other side. Having learned valuable lessons from the first side, I should have no problems and will have this job done in only a few minutes ... NOT! To make this long story somewhat shorter, I did the same @#$% thing again! This time when I got the drum back on, I still had one new brake shoe laying there on my garage floor taunting me.

I am sure that there is a moral to this story ... but I am just too dumb to figure it out. My next job in the next few weeks to replace her front CV joints ... should make for an interesting time.

(topic change)

I am considering in investing in a rader detector to help me avoid tickets from "the man". Since I have never owned one before (have mostly been driving slow pieces of @#%$), I don't know what features to get and how much to spend (seen them from $50 to over $400). Do any of you have any suggestions on particular makes/models to get? Also, how have you mounted them? Any help will be greatly appreciated.

(topic change again)

With your approval, I will try and attend one of the future TALON events to meet you guys (gals?). Until then ... I remain on "double secret probation".

[Autothrottle]

Most of the guys here prefer the Valentine One.

Heres a good place to get some info: http://www.radartest.com/

[blueoval01]

Here are a couple threads from the NLOC forum .....

Radar Instruction (http://www.nloc.net/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=15288&highlight=radar)

Radar Thread (http://users.ev1.net/~temurphy/Lightning/rdinstall/)

There are a whole bunch of links to F150 Online from Dougs Webpage at www.svtlightnings.com. Just do a search on "Radar".

[Sixpipes]

Thats pretty dumb. You're in. Actually, you might even be club officer material. :tongue:

BTW, I don't speed so I don't know anything about radar detectors.

[L8 APEX]

I can help you out there. I have a PhD in radar/lidar, speeding, and evasion:burnout: The V1 is the only one, I have it hard wired to the the console so it comes on with the key. I mount them above the tint strip so it is seen less by the public. I also run a LIDAR jammer because there is no beating laser with any detector. It is too narrow and fast. Of course I agree with Dennis what is speeding? They can't see my big brakes then :D
http://www.f150online.com/galleries/images/209-218-2394.jpg
Day & Night (On closed course crazy driver:d )
http://www.f150online.com/galleries/images/209-608-12911.jpg

[devildog92]

I just bought my '02 True Blue from Prestige (THEY ARE GREATNESS BRUTHA!) and, personally, I am gonna race the dog sh#t out of it (even with only 300 miles one it!). :d

I'm glad to be onboard. Anyone around Plano/Allen/McKinney area?

[Moonshine]

Oh yeah, the V1 is the big Kahuna of radar detectors. I don't know anyone who's gotten a ticket while using one. In fact, I don't know 6 L. driver's who got tickets while using one.;)

[Jojolite]

Welcome! But u may not be sure of what you are getting into:eek:

[Silver_2000]

I heard it was user error.....
:d :d :d
Doug

[Skank Dog]

Congrats on your new ride!! I also bought mine @ North Central last year. Great people to deal with. You MUST get that radar detector!! It has saved me on numerous occasions from a ticket. Some of those were 130+ mph blast!!:burnout:

[Mark #2]

Must have been two of us with V1's that had user errors then.

Instant on=web based drivers education.

I thought that someone was monitoring the CB?

[Silver_2000]

I have never been a big fan of the CB....

Now you know why
:burnout:
Doug

[Tex Arcana]

Welcome... nice DA story, I've had a few of those as well..:D

Valentine One is the best, hand-down, especially once you konw how to interpret it. Run it on "report all" mode, 'til you get an idea of what the difference between cop radar guns and door openers/motion detectors are, how they report, and where they are. V1's manual has a good section on how that works and why. Then switch to "Full logic" mode, which is very very good at filtering the crap (it still reports all contacts, but can differentiate between a motion detector and a cop gun).

As for laser: yep, instant on can get ya, but if you're LUCKY, even the laser has some scatter, and if they nail somone ahead of you, you might get lucky and pick up the scatter. The other bands have insane detection distances, as long as you use your head and interpret the info correctly, you'll be fine. :D

The *only* issue today is POP mode, where the cop has a gun that goes from off to on and back to off in 67 milliseconds--faster than a detector can detect. YES, they are meant to gun people with detectors. HOWEVER, they are also anywhere from 5 to 26 MPH off, per the manufacturer (even stated in their manuals, along with the disclaimer: "Not to be used for speed detection"). If you get hit by one of those, call a lawyer or take it to court yourself, becasue you have grounds for dismissal.

Good luck... and welcome again. :tu:

[Mark #2]

The *only* issue today is POP mode, where the cop has a gun that goes from off to on and back to off in 67 milliseconds--faster than a detector can detect. YES, they are meant to gun people with detectors. HOWEVER, they are also anywhere from 5 to 26 MPH off, per the manufacturer (even stated in their manuals, along with the disclaimer: "Not to be used for speed detection"). If you get hit by one of those, call a lawyer or take it to court yourself, becasue you have grounds for dismissal.

Maybe that is why the ticket only read 93 in a 70.:D You know who you are.;)
Mark #2

[Tex Arcana]

The *only* issue today is POP mode, where the cop has a gun that goes from off to on and back to off in 67 milliseconds--faster than a detector can detect. YES, they are meant to gun people with detectors. HOWEVER, they are also anywhere from 5 to 26 MPH off, per the manufacturer (even stated in their manuals, along with the disclaimer: "Not to be used for speed detection"). If you get hit by one of those, call a lawyer or take it to court yourself, becasue you have grounds for dismissal.

Maybe that is why the ticket only read 93 in a 70.:D You know who you are.;)
Mark #2

:rll: Actually, I got nailed one day by a Garland cop who *said* I was doing 83 in a 60, when my speedo was reading under 75, AND he was sitting WAY off the Bush in the median grass (past the Shiloh gates) and well below the road surface.

Steep gun angle + no V1 warning + waffling on mode usage + writing ticket for 74 in a 60 "so you won't get dinged by insurance" = POP mode. :nono: .

[03LightningRocks]

I feel like I just went through a time warp:(



Rocks:eek2:

[Silver_2000]

:rll: Actually, I got nailed one day by a Garland cop who *said* I was doing 83 in a 60, when my speedo was reading under 75, AND he was sitting WAY off the Bush in the median grass (past the Shiloh gates) and well below the road surface.

Steep gun angle + no V1 warning + waffling on mode usage + writing ticket for 74 in a 60 "so you won't get dinged by insurance" = POP mode. :nono: .
I think that Mark #2 MAY have been suggesting that the people in the fable he describes may have been going faster than 93.. Just maybe

[yalc]

:rll: he was sitting WAY off the Bush in the median grass (past the Shiloh gates)

i dont often see cops at all on bush, let alone looking for speeders...

[03LightningRocks]

i dont often see cops at all on bush, let alone looking for speeders...

Watch out...they have been all over that mutha the past week or so.


Rocks:nono:

[my2002lightning]

I think that Mark #2 MAY have been suggesting that the people in the fable he describes may have been going faster than 93.. Just maybeDOUG!
These trucks go faster than 93 ?!? :eek: I want my $$$ back!knana

FYI, watch the Toll-Way and 75, too. They're ALL over it.

Ronald

[yalc]

arlington and any city that has steak in 360 has cops out..

damn euless... 80 in a 50.. taken down to 65 in a 50.. so i could do defered.

[Tex Arcana]

arlington and any city that has steak in 360 has cops out..

damn euless... 80 in a 50.. taken down to 65 in a 50.. so i could do defered.

Yeah... that would be a cop running POP mode... deferred adjudication is okay, defensive driving is better (also nets you a 5% discount on your insurance). If you can't do both, tho, you'd best fight it, it's things like *THIS* stinkin' POP mode that has guys like Valentine and Escort in business, because they *know* how inaccurate they can be, and POP is so bad even the MANUFACTURER warns against using it for speed readings. :mad: