Home » Teenager Builds Single Cab Ford F-150 ‘Raptor,’ Becomes American Hero

Teenager Builds Single Cab Ford F-150 ‘Raptor,’ Becomes American Hero

Diy Single Cab Raptor Ts
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Ford is a company that sometimes goes against the grain. It’s the only muscle car builder to still produce V8s, it’s the only one to turn its muscle car into a $315,000+ Porsche GT3 competitor, and it’ll happily sell you a Ford F-150 with a supercharged V8 that makes over 710 horsepower (the Ram TRX is dead).

What it won’t do though is sell you a single-cab version of that F-150. In fact, it won’t even sell you a single-cab variant of the normal F-150 Raptor. If you happen to be a teenager in Patterson, California named Christian, though, none of that matters because you’ll just build it yourself.

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Throughout 2024 he’s been working on this project, and his attention to detail is outstanding.

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The F-150 before Raptorization

Let’s start at the beginning: This is a rear-wheel drive single-cab F-150 with a 5.0-liter Coyote V8 under the bonnet. The picture above shows what it looked like when Christian first picked it up. From the factory, it makes 400 horsepower and 415 lb-ft of torque. Those are healthy figures, but a little down on power compared to a genuine Raptor which produces 450 horsepower and 510 lb-ft of torque.

Having a rear-wheel drive platform also detracts from its Raptor-ness, but don’t let that get you down. Christian didn’t just throw some Alibaba Express body kit on his pickup and call it a day. Just as an example, in his first video ever on this subject (embedded below), he recommended fabricating a brake line for those interested in this conversion. How many 18-year-olds do you know who recommend fabricating anything on a project car?

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Things only get cooler from there. Above you’ll see that he has 37-inch tires on the truck, pretty much from the beginning of the project. His knowledge of the subject is deep; he has a comprehensive understanding of what one needs in order to go from everyday F-150 to Raptor.

He traveled several hours to pick up several of the parts he has now and it’s saved him thousands of dollars. Doing almost all of the work himself has also saved him a pretty penny, and he documents much of the transformation on his own YouTube channel which, as of this writing (and probably never again), has just 440 subscribers.

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Plenty of work still to do, but already looking very Raptor-y.

He’s refreshingly modest about his work; after initially installing the same FOX shocks found in the Raptor, he openly admitted that it drove “dangerously” off-road. Instead of just calling it good, he went back and fixed it. “I changed the angle of the shocks, had them rebuilt, and left them at mid-perch to get the truck riding great,” he tells The Autopian.

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Gotta have Fox shocks in a Raptor build.

Here’s the real kicker, though. Almost anyone with a bit of determination and a touch of skill could replace parts. Christian went further and made sure that this truck had the body of a Raptor too. Well, not the four-door short-bed part; that would negate all of this single-cab goodness.

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From the doors forward, this has a genuine Raptor front clip. That includes the fenders, the hood, and the grille, and again, he did all of the installation himself. This wasn’t a bolt-up job either. Some parts, like the fenders, required slight changes to the mounting holes, and the entire front end needed slight tweaking to get every panel to fit just right.

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Drilling body panels by the light of a DeWalt impact, as one does.
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The Raptor parts appear to bolt right up from a distance, but a lot of custom fitment is required for a proper factory look.

If that’s not tough enough for you, he also picked up a set of Raptor-style rear fenders (three inches wider than stock mind you) and then customized them to fit his truck. That included cutting, sanding, and then forming the final details in bondo. No, he’s not a master body-man this early in life, but his uncle is.

That uncle is the owner of Rapid-O’s Autobody in Patterson, California, a shop that specializes in performance vehicles. Evidently, Christian would turn to his uncle any time he happened upon something he couldn’t accomplish, but he otherwise did this work himself. To my eyes, it came out beautifully. Here’s a look at the paintwork process once the rear fenders were formed and ready for installation.

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Oh and don’t forget about the interior of the truck. A Raptor has a slightly unique aesthetic to it, and Christian didn’t want to forego adding it if he could. To that end, this F-150 sports the larger infotainment, digital climate control, and a drive mode selector even though that last bit doesn’t do much at the moment.

There are still a few pieces to go if he wants to push this even further into Raptor territory. He could add the appropriate steering wheel, dash, and even engine at some point. A conversion to 4WD would be the last step in taking this truck all the way. Where did all of this passion come from? “I got into cars originally due to my dad he always had nice cars when i was growing up,” he says. Clearly, he’s taking that torch and running with it.

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Here’s one more thing that really won me over about Christian. He’s not considering this some super-holy creation. He won’t even call it a real Raptor, but instead, he puts quotes around that term in most cases. He even responds to haters with calm admission that it’s not a “true Raptor.” That deserves just as much praise if not more than his genius fabrication skills.

For now, he’s spent around $11,000, not including his own labor, on the transformation. That’s quite good. Paxpower, a brand that specializes in this sort of thing used to list its conversion price for normal quad-cab trucks at over $25,000.

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This might not be his last build either. He’s currently taking offers on this one and he says “I’m looking into buying crashed single cabs and converting because the market is going crazy for these.” Who knows? Maybe Christian is the kind of fabricator we and others end up featuring for decades.

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Ariel E Jones
Ariel E Jones
23 days ago

Great job young man.

Turtle Racer
Turtle Racer
24 days ago

‘Murica.

Gene1969
Gene1969
24 days ago

The amount of detail and effort building this is amazing! I love it!

Icouldntfindaclevername
Icouldntfindaclevername
24 days ago

So it’s a Pre-runner since it’s 2 wheel drive?

NebraskaStig
NebraskaStig
24 days ago

Pre-Raptor is a better term for this one

Dogisbadob
Dogisbadob
25 days ago

This is awesome

Isis
Isis
25 days ago

The special sauce is the reinforced frame if you’re going to jump the sucker.

Samagon
Samagon
24 days ago
Reply to  Isis

just don’t jump too high.

Cloud Shouter
Cloud Shouter
25 days ago

About damn time someone did this. Hats off to you.

Hugh Crawford
Hugh Crawford
25 days ago

I was hoping that he had shortened a Raptor, and could shorten whatever they call the electric F truck. That would be cool.

Those four door pickup drivers insist on parking in the normal parking spots and are supreme pains in the ass.

Abe Froman
Abe Froman
24 days ago
Reply to  Hugh Crawford

I don’t disagree with your parking sentiment- the trucks are too big for normal parking spaces. I’m curious though- where do you want them to park? I don’t know of any lots aside from some specialty stores (tractor supply co, etc) that have different size parking spaces for different size vehicles.

JTilla
JTilla
24 days ago
Reply to  Abe Froman

I don’t want them to park anywhere. Get a realistic car and leave the baja truck at home for when you can go play with the toy. We should stop catering to these giant bullshit vehicles.

Anchor
Anchor
23 days ago
Reply to  JTilla

is a raptor a longer wheelbase than a crew f150? Also it’s like 6 inches longer than a toyota sienna, does the minivan need left at home too?

JTilla
JTilla
23 days ago
Reply to  Anchor

It’s width and length. Also it is 6 inches longer. That is not short and f150s are stupid huge now. Compare them to an old truck.

Anchor
Anchor
23 days ago
Reply to  JTilla

The F150 is about an inch wider than a sienna. A 1989 F150 is about 210 inches long and 79 inches wide, so almost the exact same width as the new truck. So what’s so much bigger about it?

Hugh Crawford
Hugh Crawford
23 days ago
Reply to  Abe Froman

Well if the lot isn’t full, away from the cars. Not hanging with one end in traffic and preventing nearby cars from getting out of where they are parked. If you don’t fit in a space that’s your problem, not everyone else’s. Also, don’t get all pissy when someone scratches your truck because there is only a few inches left to open a door. I am so tired of entitled snowflakes in pretend trucks.

Arch Duke Maxyenko
Arch Duke Maxyenko
25 days ago

Hell yeah

Ford Magnet
Ford Magnet
25 days ago

This is really well done, but man the original street truck looked good!

Scoutdude
Scoutdude
24 days ago
Reply to  Ford Magnet

I’d rather have it in its original form. Raptors are relatively common while street trucks have all but disappeared from the streets.

Anchor
Anchor
23 days ago
Reply to  Scoutdude

The newest F150 in single cab shortbed 4WD are huge right now, the aluminum trucks only weigh about 600 pounds more than a mustang and it runs mid 13s stock, so its basically an AWD mustang. Look at Midnight Performance in Houston, they’re doing some insane stuff.

4jim
4jim
25 days ago

When he is tired of it someone on bring a trailer will make him some money.

TOSSABL
TOSSABL
25 days ago

This warms my heart: some of these kids are alright, it seems

Mechjaz
Mechjaz
25 days ago

Damn that looks good. Well done Christian! Love the gold over black.

Andrew Wyman
Andrew Wyman
25 days ago

Thank you for posting for me to find. I love to see the hard work that people do to get the exact vehicle they want, and Christian has put in a lot of thought and heart into this build. Plus single cabs are definitely a missing segment in the truck world.

JDE
JDE
25 days ago

Cleetus did the Shorty TRX. Seems like Chevrolet is the odd man out here. and to be honest with their lack of Jeep/Bronco competition, wouldn’t it be sweet to have a shortbed 2 door AT4 with say the 6.6 Gasser available?

LastStandard
LastStandard
25 days ago
Reply to  JDE

GM doing GM things. Not like they have a supercharged 6.2 capable of 650+ hp that would just drop into their full size trucks or anything..

Musicman27
Musicman27
25 days ago
Reply to  LastStandard

Yeah, who would do something that awesome?

Ben Siegel
Ben Siegel
24 days ago
Reply to  LastStandard

There have to be some scrapyard Escalade Vs out there, right?

Ramaswamy Narayanaswamy
Ramaswamy Narayanaswamy
22 days ago
Reply to  LastStandard

In the future, I probably will have to import a regular cab Trail Boss/ GMC AT4 which is beyond the 25 year point….and most SHOPS should be able to deal with it.

Wolfpack57
Wolfpack57
24 days ago
Reply to  JDE

GM should on-up everyone with the Corvette twin-turbo mill

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