2016 Lariat Sport Supercrew!
01-30-2017, 01:33 PM
#1
2016 Lariat Sport Supercrew!
First two posts are just going to be a repost of my "into" and then I'll get into changes and additions as time goes along. So here goes:
************************************************** ****
I've just committed to purchasing a 2016 F150 Lariat (502A) Sport, 3.5 Ecoboost Max tow truck.
A little background on me:
High school lead to trade school and into a licensed auto mechanic. Then I decided university was for me where I finished a double major BA in Psyc and Soc (as if that was a challenge! LOL!).
Then it was into the military for me.
I'm currently RCAF and fly Search and Rescue.
My office:
But 27 years of SAR has broken me up pretty good. At just a touch over 50, I'm being "retired". Can't really complain, the benefit package is very good since the job broke me up and I'm in a position where I don't have to work any more if I don't want to.
My current truck is a 1998 K2500 ECLB Turbo diesel. It's the full boat 8600lb truck which means (for the year) it got all the good stuff. HO engine (for the year), 14 bolt full floater, 4L80E, etc. Essentially, it's all 1 ton running gear with 3/4 ton springs.
Pic:
It was a good truck at one point and I only paid 5 grand for it as a rust free Vancouver Island truck. I bought the tuning hardware/software to do my own programming, water meth, exhaust, interior, etc. A lot of money went into upgrading the truck over the years to keep it capable with our changing needs.
But then things started going wrong. Small stuff at first that was just a bit annoying.
Then, towing our travel trailer over Snoqualmie pass resulted in this:
And just like that 10 grand was gone installing a new engine.
It blew up about and 2 hours away from a guy named Bill Heath who specializes in performance parts for the 6.5 diesels. I had dealt with him before and gave him a call to let him know I was going to be showing up on his doorstep.
I went full boat and ordered a new engine from AMG/GEP. Same one that was going into the up armored HMMWV at the time.
But the experience had taken what little like I had left for the truck and pretty much stomped it flat. From that point forward, even little things seemed to drive me batty. That was seven years ago and with 468,000 kms on the truck, the little things are really piling up. Both on the truck and in my mind. The final straw was last week when we got a big dump of snow and the wiper drive down in the cowl popped the driver's side arm off and stuck the wiper halfway up. Then without notice it swiped over, popped of the windshield and blocked the driver door shut. One complete **** fit and one horribly bent wiper arm later I had finally had enough.
The truck had to go!
We still had/have our travel trailer (just under 9,000 lbs GVWR):
So whatever I bought had to be able to pull it.
I also have a 1983 Mustang (owned since 1983!) I'm building up as a cruiser and just for fun autocrosser, a Yamaha Venture 1300 (with a VMax engine), an FJ1200 and a VF750F interceptor. So I also needed something that would be able to pull an enclosed trailer at least big enough to move the Mustang around in (tow it to autocross/track days so if I blow it up I don't have to worry about getting home).
Since I'm being "retired", I was also planning to buy my last vehicle for a good 15-20 years. If I was doing that, I wanted a Ford. I'm a ford guy originally, but won't turn up a good deal on a vehicle if it's not a Ford.
But this was going to be a "live with it" vehicle so I wanted what I wanted in order to maximize my satisfaction with it.
We looked at used Ecoboost trucks and Powerstroke 250/350's but couldn't find anything with the options I wanted in the price I wanted.
Used didn't have the option combinations I wanted, Powerstrokes were waaaaay overpriced used.
So we figured we'd start looking at new because it was year end, Dec is reaaaallllly slow around here for car sales and figured good deals would be found. New Powerstroke Lariat's were out of the question as the MSRP's on every single one we saw made my balloon knot go loose (80G's plus). No way a dealer was going to drop enough to make me able to stomach the payments. The $15-20,000 I had to put down would barely dent that price.
So Ecoboost truck it was!
First local dealer we just walked out on as they were stupid foolish on prices both used and new. We got the feeling the salesman would rather someone just pick the car over the internet (kept talking about internet sales and referring us to the pictures on the web when we were standing right there). Seemed like he couldn't wait to get us out of there so he could go home. Good bye Bruce Ford in Middleton, we won't be back. For anything. Ever.
Second dealer salesman was nice and worked really hard to find the truck we wanted. He even stayed and hour and a half past closing time. They had one close on the lot, but it was Caribou colored and not max tow.
Yeah, wife and I weren't that impressed with the color, it barely had the rated capacity for our trailer (3.31, standard trailer tow package) and once I offhandedly called it "Caripoo" after seeing it in failing light, it was over. The "Caripoo" name stuck in our heads and we couldn't own a truck we would always be calling that.
The salesman then searched their online dealer app for what I wanted. Since I was buying new and was going to get hosed on depreciation, I was going to be fussy about what I wanted. I wanted (as a minimum) a 2016, 3.5 Ecoboost, Lariat 502A, crew cab, 6.5 box, max tow and in Magnetic. None to be found east of Montreal. There was 1 White with a 5.5 box, 1 Ruby Red and one Shadow Black. The White was an actual "0" km truck but the 5.5' box was a deal killer. The Ruby Red and Shadow Black had 25,000 Km and 17,000 Km respectively (demo's). Only he didn't know the Black and the Red were demo's and we worked out a price on the black as if it was new. We finished up with a price and he was going to bring the truck in the next morning. I went home that night and found the Black truck online by it's vin number and emailed the dealer who had it. They were only about an hour drive away. Next morning salesman #2 called and informed us he found out it was a demo when he went to have it brought out. Well, the price we were going to pay went right out the window at that point as far as I was concerned. 17,000 kms does not get you the same price as "0" kms. The dealer who had the truck (salesman #3) also emailed me right about that time. After a lot of back and forth, there was no way dealer #2 was going to be able to beat dealer #3 on price. We ended up 20G under MSRP and some goodies thrown in. Not a great deal, but good enough on a truck that was buy this one or none at all. I felt bad salesman #2 wasn't going to get the sale, but thousands of dollars can't be ignored. It is a business deal and money out of my pocket after all.
We just got back from town today after a test drive and it's a keeper. Dealer is doing the clear coat, paint protection and interior treatment. I usually don't go for the dealer ad on stuff, but they offered lifetime on the undercoat and the leather seats are lifetime against cracking/splitting with the treatment. I know they don't plan for the original owner to have a vehicle that long, but I'll test their warranty 10-15 years out if the seats crack or split!
So far I've ordered a 3m clear protector kit for it (full bumper, grill surround, hood fenders, lights and mirrors) and the dealer is going to have the Ford accessories "tri-fold" hard tonneau cover on it when we pick it up.
I also just ordered an OBDlink MX Wifi since I can't have a vehicle that I can't at least pull the fault codes from if something goes wrong. Hold over form the old days for me.
I ordered the new usb ports since I'm an iPhone user.
So it was more than what I wanted to originally spend, but it's bang on for everything that I wanted. I even prefer the sport trim this one is over the other trims (IE: fx4, etc).
I really prefer the interior trim on the sport besides the fake wood on the other Lariat's we looked at. Same with the Sport trim rims vice the other lariat's we looked at.
I can't image much more (options wise) a truck could have. Tow mirrors is about all I could use. very hard to find a truck with them though. I can do without since it is 95-99% a daily driver.
I would have preferred it to be a "0" km truck, but then we wouldn't have gotten 20 G off. As it was, we still ended up 6G under their demo asking price.
Overall, very happy.
************************************************** ****
I've just committed to purchasing a 2016 F150 Lariat (502A) Sport, 3.5 Ecoboost Max tow truck.
A little background on me:
High school lead to trade school and into a licensed auto mechanic. Then I decided university was for me where I finished a double major BA in Psyc and Soc (as if that was a challenge! LOL!).
Then it was into the military for me.
I'm currently RCAF and fly Search and Rescue.
My office:
But 27 years of SAR has broken me up pretty good. At just a touch over 50, I'm being "retired". Can't really complain, the benefit package is very good since the job broke me up and I'm in a position where I don't have to work any more if I don't want to.
My current truck is a 1998 K2500 ECLB Turbo diesel. It's the full boat 8600lb truck which means (for the year) it got all the good stuff. HO engine (for the year), 14 bolt full floater, 4L80E, etc. Essentially, it's all 1 ton running gear with 3/4 ton springs.
Pic:
It was a good truck at one point and I only paid 5 grand for it as a rust free Vancouver Island truck. I bought the tuning hardware/software to do my own programming, water meth, exhaust, interior, etc. A lot of money went into upgrading the truck over the years to keep it capable with our changing needs.
But then things started going wrong. Small stuff at first that was just a bit annoying.
Then, towing our travel trailer over Snoqualmie pass resulted in this:
And just like that 10 grand was gone installing a new engine.
It blew up about and 2 hours away from a guy named Bill Heath who specializes in performance parts for the 6.5 diesels. I had dealt with him before and gave him a call to let him know I was going to be showing up on his doorstep.
I went full boat and ordered a new engine from AMG/GEP. Same one that was going into the up armored HMMWV at the time.
But the experience had taken what little like I had left for the truck and pretty much stomped it flat. From that point forward, even little things seemed to drive me batty. That was seven years ago and with 468,000 kms on the truck, the little things are really piling up. Both on the truck and in my mind. The final straw was last week when we got a big dump of snow and the wiper drive down in the cowl popped the driver's side arm off and stuck the wiper halfway up. Then without notice it swiped over, popped of the windshield and blocked the driver door shut. One complete **** fit and one horribly bent wiper arm later I had finally had enough.
The truck had to go!
We still had/have our travel trailer (just under 9,000 lbs GVWR):
So whatever I bought had to be able to pull it.
I also have a 1983 Mustang (owned since 1983!) I'm building up as a cruiser and just for fun autocrosser, a Yamaha Venture 1300 (with a VMax engine), an FJ1200 and a VF750F interceptor. So I also needed something that would be able to pull an enclosed trailer at least big enough to move the Mustang around in (tow it to autocross/track days so if I blow it up I don't have to worry about getting home).
Since I'm being "retired", I was also planning to buy my last vehicle for a good 15-20 years. If I was doing that, I wanted a Ford. I'm a ford guy originally, but won't turn up a good deal on a vehicle if it's not a Ford.
But this was going to be a "live with it" vehicle so I wanted what I wanted in order to maximize my satisfaction with it.
We looked at used Ecoboost trucks and Powerstroke 250/350's but couldn't find anything with the options I wanted in the price I wanted.
Used didn't have the option combinations I wanted, Powerstrokes were waaaaay overpriced used.
So we figured we'd start looking at new because it was year end, Dec is reaaaallllly slow around here for car sales and figured good deals would be found. New Powerstroke Lariat's were out of the question as the MSRP's on every single one we saw made my balloon knot go loose (80G's plus). No way a dealer was going to drop enough to make me able to stomach the payments. The $15-20,000 I had to put down would barely dent that price.
So Ecoboost truck it was!
First local dealer we just walked out on as they were stupid foolish on prices both used and new. We got the feeling the salesman would rather someone just pick the car over the internet (kept talking about internet sales and referring us to the pictures on the web when we were standing right there). Seemed like he couldn't wait to get us out of there so he could go home. Good bye Bruce Ford in Middleton, we won't be back. For anything. Ever.
Second dealer salesman was nice and worked really hard to find the truck we wanted. He even stayed and hour and a half past closing time. They had one close on the lot, but it was Caribou colored and not max tow.
Yeah, wife and I weren't that impressed with the color, it barely had the rated capacity for our trailer (3.31, standard trailer tow package) and once I offhandedly called it "Caripoo" after seeing it in failing light, it was over. The "Caripoo" name stuck in our heads and we couldn't own a truck we would always be calling that.
The salesman then searched their online dealer app for what I wanted. Since I was buying new and was going to get hosed on depreciation, I was going to be fussy about what I wanted. I wanted (as a minimum) a 2016, 3.5 Ecoboost, Lariat 502A, crew cab, 6.5 box, max tow and in Magnetic. None to be found east of Montreal. There was 1 White with a 5.5 box, 1 Ruby Red and one Shadow Black. The White was an actual "0" km truck but the 5.5' box was a deal killer. The Ruby Red and Shadow Black had 25,000 Km and 17,000 Km respectively (demo's). Only he didn't know the Black and the Red were demo's and we worked out a price on the black as if it was new. We finished up with a price and he was going to bring the truck in the next morning. I went home that night and found the Black truck online by it's vin number and emailed the dealer who had it. They were only about an hour drive away. Next morning salesman #2 called and informed us he found out it was a demo when he went to have it brought out. Well, the price we were going to pay went right out the window at that point as far as I was concerned. 17,000 kms does not get you the same price as "0" kms. The dealer who had the truck (salesman #3) also emailed me right about that time. After a lot of back and forth, there was no way dealer #2 was going to be able to beat dealer #3 on price. We ended up 20G under MSRP and some goodies thrown in. Not a great deal, but good enough on a truck that was buy this one or none at all. I felt bad salesman #2 wasn't going to get the sale, but thousands of dollars can't be ignored. It is a business deal and money out of my pocket after all.
We just got back from town today after a test drive and it's a keeper. Dealer is doing the clear coat, paint protection and interior treatment. I usually don't go for the dealer ad on stuff, but they offered lifetime on the undercoat and the leather seats are lifetime against cracking/splitting with the treatment. I know they don't plan for the original owner to have a vehicle that long, but I'll test their warranty 10-15 years out if the seats crack or split!
So far I've ordered a 3m clear protector kit for it (full bumper, grill surround, hood fenders, lights and mirrors) and the dealer is going to have the Ford accessories "tri-fold" hard tonneau cover on it when we pick it up.
I also just ordered an OBDlink MX Wifi since I can't have a vehicle that I can't at least pull the fault codes from if something goes wrong. Hold over form the old days for me.
I ordered the new usb ports since I'm an iPhone user.
So it was more than what I wanted to originally spend, but it's bang on for everything that I wanted. I even prefer the sport trim this one is over the other trims (IE: fx4, etc).
I really prefer the interior trim on the sport besides the fake wood on the other Lariat's we looked at. Same with the Sport trim rims vice the other lariat's we looked at.
I can't image much more (options wise) a truck could have. Tow mirrors is about all I could use. very hard to find a truck with them though. I can do without since it is 95-99% a daily driver.
I would have preferred it to be a "0" km truck, but then we wouldn't have gotten 20 G off. As it was, we still ended up 6G under their demo asking price.
Overall, very happy.
Last edited by Great white; 01-30-2017 at 01:37 PM.
01-30-2017, 01:33 PM
#2
(Con't)
We picked up the truck today.
(Keep in mind the following prices are CAD, if you're working in USD, multiply them by .75 to get what you would have paid in USD)
Purchase price was what we expected. Turns out the salesman misquoted their cost on the tonneau cover. He said 1100, parts guy said cost was 12 and change. we got it for 1100. Still ridiculously high IMHO. Price you pay for a little round Ford sticker I guess. Because they installed it, it's covered under the vehicle warranty so that's a plus.
Then we started talking extended warranty plans.
After lots of back and forth and price haggling, we ended up with premium plan/0 deductible for 8 years/150,000kms, the maintenance plan for 8/150,000 and the tire and rim for 5 years straight up.
It was still more than I wanted to pay for the truck, but the missus is much happier with that coverage. Basically, all we have to do to the truck over the next 8 years is tires. Suspension, brakes, Sync 3, bulbs, filters, etc....all covered. It's not free because we are paying for the plan, but I'm actually kind of happy with the thought of just dropping off the keys when anything needs to be fixed or scheduled maint instead of lying in the driveway and doing it myself.
That 8 year premium plan also kicked the roadside assistance, rental car if it has to be in the shop overnight, etc, out to 8 years also.
Standard Ford ESP honoring anywhere in Canada or US.
I tried one last trick when she (business manager) tried to sell us the rim plan. I said throw in a set of mud flaps and I'd sign the whole smash.
She popped out to check and about 10 minutes later she came back in with the owner. I know the guy (casually) so I know he's really the owner.
He stuck out his hand and I stood up and gave him a firm handshake. As we shook he said " I just wanted to shake the hand of the guy who got my sales team to sell him a truck 1300 dollars under what it's costing me and if he woudl sign the deal without the mud flaps".
We exchanged pleasantries, joked a little and discussed it a bit. Seems I squeezed them so hard they were dropping the price on the truck, accessories and packages trying to make the deal go that they weren't always cross checking with each other. Of course, once someone quoted me a price working on the deal, they were stuck with it. The owner caught it when they tried for the mud flaps I had requested as a "perk".
He honored the deal, I suspect mostly because his new car manager put the 17,000 kms on the vehicle and their storage lot across the road was fence to fence with 2017 models. I figure the few 16's they had left had to go or they might get even more hosed on them.
The owner also has a local reputation as a straight shooter and will honor a deal to his detriment for the sake of customer service and business reputation. One of the few car dealers left around here with that rep. I will certainly send my friends his way if they go new car shopping and I guess that really was the point of it all.
Whether or not he actually was -1300 bucks or not I don't really know. It could have been a ploy to get me to sign without trying to squeeze more out of them or maybe just to make me feel good about the deal. What was clear was that I had hit the very bottom number and I wasn't getting another dime out of them.
With one exception: the shop filled the tank before I rolled it out.
Lol! Managed to squeeze a few last bucks out of them!
On the drive home, I reset the MPG calc and it got a solid 19 Mpg highway on cruise at 100-120 kph (approx 62-74 mph). Roughly 5 odd mpg better than my old GMC Turbo Diesel. That's about 1.5 hrs driving on with a combination of light rolling grades and flat sections with light traffic. Passing was effortless. Cruising at 100 Kph, 130-140 was a simple stab of the loud pedal away. I actually had to watch it as it accelerated so quickly and was so composed at those speeds I didn't know it was going that fast be feel, only when I looked at the speedo.
It's also clear that "EcoBoost" is appropriately written with capital "E" and "B" in the name.
It's either "Eco" or "Boost", never both. If you're on the pedal and into the boost, the MPG nose dives with surprising authority. Keep out of the boost and the MPG goes up. Reasonable power, but still loafing along.
Still, very "gucci" truck. Comfy, loaded to the gills and just damned nice all around.
Price still hurt, but that sting will fade and all that will be left is me driving a the truck I really wanted.
And nothing to do to it but spoon on tires when worn out and put fuel in it.
We picked up the truck today.
(Keep in mind the following prices are CAD, if you're working in USD, multiply them by .75 to get what you would have paid in USD)
Purchase price was what we expected. Turns out the salesman misquoted their cost on the tonneau cover. He said 1100, parts guy said cost was 12 and change. we got it for 1100. Still ridiculously high IMHO. Price you pay for a little round Ford sticker I guess. Because they installed it, it's covered under the vehicle warranty so that's a plus.
Then we started talking extended warranty plans.
After lots of back and forth and price haggling, we ended up with premium plan/0 deductible for 8 years/150,000kms, the maintenance plan for 8/150,000 and the tire and rim for 5 years straight up.
It was still more than I wanted to pay for the truck, but the missus is much happier with that coverage. Basically, all we have to do to the truck over the next 8 years is tires. Suspension, brakes, Sync 3, bulbs, filters, etc....all covered. It's not free because we are paying for the plan, but I'm actually kind of happy with the thought of just dropping off the keys when anything needs to be fixed or scheduled maint instead of lying in the driveway and doing it myself.
That 8 year premium plan also kicked the roadside assistance, rental car if it has to be in the shop overnight, etc, out to 8 years also.
Standard Ford ESP honoring anywhere in Canada or US.
I tried one last trick when she (business manager) tried to sell us the rim plan. I said throw in a set of mud flaps and I'd sign the whole smash.
She popped out to check and about 10 minutes later she came back in with the owner. I know the guy (casually) so I know he's really the owner.
He stuck out his hand and I stood up and gave him a firm handshake. As we shook he said " I just wanted to shake the hand of the guy who got my sales team to sell him a truck 1300 dollars under what it's costing me and if he woudl sign the deal without the mud flaps".
We exchanged pleasantries, joked a little and discussed it a bit. Seems I squeezed them so hard they were dropping the price on the truck, accessories and packages trying to make the deal go that they weren't always cross checking with each other. Of course, once someone quoted me a price working on the deal, they were stuck with it. The owner caught it when they tried for the mud flaps I had requested as a "perk".
He honored the deal, I suspect mostly because his new car manager put the 17,000 kms on the vehicle and their storage lot across the road was fence to fence with 2017 models. I figure the few 16's they had left had to go or they might get even more hosed on them.
The owner also has a local reputation as a straight shooter and will honor a deal to his detriment for the sake of customer service and business reputation. One of the few car dealers left around here with that rep. I will certainly send my friends his way if they go new car shopping and I guess that really was the point of it all.
Whether or not he actually was -1300 bucks or not I don't really know. It could have been a ploy to get me to sign without trying to squeeze more out of them or maybe just to make me feel good about the deal. What was clear was that I had hit the very bottom number and I wasn't getting another dime out of them.
With one exception: the shop filled the tank before I rolled it out.
Lol! Managed to squeeze a few last bucks out of them!
On the drive home, I reset the MPG calc and it got a solid 19 Mpg highway on cruise at 100-120 kph (approx 62-74 mph). Roughly 5 odd mpg better than my old GMC Turbo Diesel. That's about 1.5 hrs driving on with a combination of light rolling grades and flat sections with light traffic. Passing was effortless. Cruising at 100 Kph, 130-140 was a simple stab of the loud pedal away. I actually had to watch it as it accelerated so quickly and was so composed at those speeds I didn't know it was going that fast be feel, only when I looked at the speedo.
It's also clear that "EcoBoost" is appropriately written with capital "E" and "B" in the name.
It's either "Eco" or "Boost", never both. If you're on the pedal and into the boost, the MPG nose dives with surprising authority. Keep out of the boost and the MPG goes up. Reasonable power, but still loafing along.
Still, very "gucci" truck. Comfy, loaded to the gills and just damned nice all around.
Price still hurt, but that sting will fade and all that will be left is me driving a the truck I really wanted.
And nothing to do to it but spoon on tires when worn out and put fuel in it.
01-30-2017, 01:41 PM
#3
So the first thing I did was to upgrade sync to ver 2.2
Went flawlessly. Up and running with no troubles.
Getting the new hub in was a PITA, but I got it done with no blood and no marks.
I tried carplay for almost a week in order to give it a fair chance. I couldn't stand it! What a piece of crap! I turned it off and haven't tried it since. Perfectly happy with the stock Sync system.
The 3m "clear bra" is still in it's shipping tube. The weather just hasn't been good enough to clean the truck and put it on. The truck only goes back and forth to work, so no real worries on stone chips for now. The hard wire kit has battery protection, so it won't run the car down. This is important as I intend to use the time lapse feature (when in a safe area). what it does is take time lapse pictures when the car is off. This lets you catch someone if they hit your car and take off. Or get at least a face if someone runs a key over it.
I have toyed on and off with putting in the 2017 superduty overhead console, but that sucker is near 500 bucks CAD! that's an awful lot for 6 switches.
I've also added the ford mudflaps. The front wheels toss so much crap on the running boards (due to the design) and I've got engouh mobility issues that I need to use the boards and grab handles getting in and out. I couldn't do with out the front flaps to keep the boards as clean as possible. I installed the rear flaps to balance off the front once visually.
The wifi MX didn't work when it showed up. I contacted the seller and after trying a few things, they refunded my payment. After a week or so of friggin with it, I manged to get it to "mostly" work. So I can read the codes and most of the modules. I don't think I'll ever be messing with programming anything through forscan, so no worries there.
Next I ordered up a cabinet lock:
Nice and small and I'll use that to make a small steel box that I will put over the OBDII port. It will get bolted to the metal dash supports so no one will have access to the OBDII port unless I unlock it. May slow a "plug in " key reprogrammer thief enough to make him not want to bother. I'm also going to drop a little slip of black paper over the vin just for good measure.
Paranoid? Maybe. Illegal to cover the vin?I have no idea, don't really care. No one is getting in to my trucks OS through the OBDII port unless I let them and I'm not going to make it any easier to steal than I have to.
I'm also a big fan of dash cams. I've got a couple, but they are older and pretty low on the options lists. They're all true 1080p recorders, but I ordered up a new one to go with the new truck. I generally follow "techmoan" recommendations as he's never steered me wrong, so I ordered a DDPAI M6 with a CPL filter and a "hard wire" kit:
http://www.ebay.ca/itm/282092445908?...%3AMEBIDX%3AIT
Has a lot of fetures I really like. Not having a screen on it makes it nice and small. The magnetic mount was also a selling point for me: pop it off and nothing but a mount left. No hanging wires, just a post. Nice.
The hardwire kit was needed as I intend to make use of hte time lapse feature it has. When parked, it takes time lapsed photo's so you can "catch" someone if they hit your car and take off or at least catch a face if someone keys your car.
I also grabbed a silly vanity plate:
Mostly because I didn't want to remove the plate holder and I didn't want it hanging there with nothing in it. This seems nice a plain and at the same time appropriate to the "little" twin turbo V6.
Went flawlessly. Up and running with no troubles.
Getting the new hub in was a PITA, but I got it done with no blood and no marks.
I tried carplay for almost a week in order to give it a fair chance. I couldn't stand it! What a piece of crap! I turned it off and haven't tried it since. Perfectly happy with the stock Sync system.
The 3m "clear bra" is still in it's shipping tube. The weather just hasn't been good enough to clean the truck and put it on. The truck only goes back and forth to work, so no real worries on stone chips for now. The hard wire kit has battery protection, so it won't run the car down. This is important as I intend to use the time lapse feature (when in a safe area). what it does is take time lapse pictures when the car is off. This lets you catch someone if they hit your car and take off. Or get at least a face if someone runs a key over it.
I have toyed on and off with putting in the 2017 superduty overhead console, but that sucker is near 500 bucks CAD! that's an awful lot for 6 switches.
I've also added the ford mudflaps. The front wheels toss so much crap on the running boards (due to the design) and I've got engouh mobility issues that I need to use the boards and grab handles getting in and out. I couldn't do with out the front flaps to keep the boards as clean as possible. I installed the rear flaps to balance off the front once visually.
The wifi MX didn't work when it showed up. I contacted the seller and after trying a few things, they refunded my payment. After a week or so of friggin with it, I manged to get it to "mostly" work. So I can read the codes and most of the modules. I don't think I'll ever be messing with programming anything through forscan, so no worries there.
Next I ordered up a cabinet lock:
Nice and small and I'll use that to make a small steel box that I will put over the OBDII port. It will get bolted to the metal dash supports so no one will have access to the OBDII port unless I unlock it. May slow a "plug in " key reprogrammer thief enough to make him not want to bother. I'm also going to drop a little slip of black paper over the vin just for good measure.
Paranoid? Maybe. Illegal to cover the vin?I have no idea, don't really care. No one is getting in to my trucks OS through the OBDII port unless I let them and I'm not going to make it any easier to steal than I have to.
I'm also a big fan of dash cams. I've got a couple, but they are older and pretty low on the options lists. They're all true 1080p recorders, but I ordered up a new one to go with the new truck. I generally follow "techmoan" recommendations as he's never steered me wrong, so I ordered a DDPAI M6 with a CPL filter and a "hard wire" kit:
http://www.ebay.ca/itm/282092445908?...%3AMEBIDX%3AIT
Has a lot of fetures I really like. Not having a screen on it makes it nice and small. The magnetic mount was also a selling point for me: pop it off and nothing but a mount left. No hanging wires, just a post. Nice.
The hardwire kit was needed as I intend to make use of hte time lapse feature it has. When parked, it takes time lapsed photo's so you can "catch" someone if they hit your car and take off or at least catch a face if someone keys your car.
I also grabbed a silly vanity plate:
Mostly because I didn't want to remove the plate holder and I didn't want it hanging there with nothing in it. This seems nice a plain and at the same time appropriate to the "little" twin turbo V6.
Last edited by Great white; 01-30-2017 at 02:08 PM.
01-31-2017, 06:34 PM
#5
Member
Sweet!
That is one great read! You've served our country well 
. Me, RCD just had my 25th anniversary in the forces. Now I feel like going shopping 
. Me, RCD just had my 25th anniversary in the forces. Now I feel like going shopping
Last edited by Cavalry67; 01-31-2017 at 06:38 PM. Reason: Add
02-02-2017, 02:26 PM
#7
Well, now that I've had the truck a month, "mod-itis" is setting in.
I'm toying with the possibility of adding lane assist, then 360 camera and maybe adaptive cruise control.
I'm not a "pioneer" anymore though. There was a time where I would have already been a couple grand deep into scanners, readers, programmers, etc by now. But I'm getting past that point in my life.
I'll just keep and eye on the others already attempting it on the forum and move on it when it seems like a viable option.
I'm toying with the possibility of adding lane assist, then 360 camera and maybe adaptive cruise control.
I'm not a "pioneer" anymore though. There was a time where I would have already been a couple grand deep into scanners, readers, programmers, etc by now. But I'm getting past that point in my life.
I'll just keep and eye on the others already attempting it on the forum and move on it when it seems like a viable option.
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02-02-2017, 03:03 PM
#8
Texas A&M Aggie
Well, now that I've had the truck a month, "mod-itis" is setting in.
I'm toying with the possibility of adding lane assist, then 360 camera and maybe adaptive cruise control.
I'm not a "pioneer" anymore though. There was a time where I would have already been a couple grand deep into scanners, readers, programmers, etc by now. But I'm getting past that point in my life.
I'll just keep and eye on the others already attempting it on the forum and move on it when it seems like a viable option.
I'm toying with the possibility of adding lane assist, then 360 camera and maybe adaptive cruise control.
I'm not a "pioneer" anymore though. There was a time where I would have already been a couple grand deep into scanners, readers, programmers, etc by now. But I'm getting past that point in my life.
I'll just keep and eye on the others already attempting it on the forum and move on it when it seems like a viable option.
02-03-2017, 02:17 PM
#10
I'm wanting to add the first two, but the issues people have had with adaptive cruise... No thanks. Plus you can install everything for adaptive cruise, but the dealer has to align and calibrate the sensor that is behind the bumper (I looked into it a little). 360 camera, you'd have to replace your mirrors, which isn't cheap at all. Plus I think some have mentioned they didn't have the plugs on the back of the radio module to allow the 360 cameras, bringing up the question if different FCIM's (I think that's the acronym) have different ports. Lane assist I'm not sure about.
360 seems a little bit harder. New grill, some doubt if the front wiring harness is there in a 502A. Replacing the mirrors isn't needed, mine have the opening so I just need the cameras and the little trim/mount. the module I believe the 502A has, but need to dig into it more.
Lane assist looks to be easy peasy. Switch, a harness and some programming. 502A has the rest of the bits already. I will likely get the "double switch" and do the park assist just because.
Those are all long term projects though. I'm not rushing out to buy parts for a while. I have no problems buying the harnesses now (while ford still sells them) and maybe picking up the switches an sensors used as these trucks start showing up in wrecking yards.....