1992 Ford F150-Abigail P.

I bought my stock ‘92 extended cab flareside when I was 15 years old. It was in need of a lot of work. It needed all new cab corners, body mounts, body panels, doors, fenders and a new interior. I started by doing a 3 inch body and 6 inch suspension lift with bigger tires and wheels. It now has 37 pro comp tires with fuel rims. My dad and I also did a complete motor swap. It originally had the 302 but now has a 4bt cummins. I kept the stock e4od automatic transmission which makes it different and more complicated than all the other swaps. The biggest difference between the 302 and 4bt other than insane fuel mileage is the power curve. The 4bt has much more low end power and when the turbo kicks in it really puts you back in the seat. Although the 4bt doesn’t get up as high in the rpm range, it makes all of its power much sooner than the 302, making it a blast to drive around town, and also a great highway cruiser. Plus you can’t beat the sound of a turbo at 25 psi of boost! It was definitely the best decision I’ve made. There was a lot of planning that had to go into my swap. It wasn’t as cut and clean as most people think. I needed to figure out a new brake system, get custom adapters and computers made, complete new wiring, custom mounts and brackets, etc. The next toughest part was working out all the little bugs and making sure everything was working properly. I ran into a lot of issues but was lucky they were a pretty simple fix. I am now currently waiting on a custom turbo and injectors to be made to build up the motor a little bit. I also just did a complete new paint job with a custom blue. I love being a girl in the “truck world.” However there’s a lot of downs as well as the ups. There aren’t too many fellow female followers. It’s mostly men in this industry and the stereotypes make it hard for us females who are mechanically inclined and different than the norm be involved. I get a lot of hassle about doing a 4bt swap in the first place and constantly have to defend my decision along with defending my working on my own build. It makes it tough to post on truck pages when a lot of people only comment on looks and guess I don’t do my own work. It’s definitely made me a tougher person and I now see why there aren’t many females involved in this industry. I’m hoping to be a girl that can change how people view us. I’d love to see females get the same respect for their hard work on their build like a man gets for his.