Spiffing up my 08 Supa' Dookie for DD duty.

[GoMopar440]

I picked up this truck at the beginning of last month, and a few issues were noticed with it right off the bat.

First, the fuel gauge keeps reading whatever it wants to, whenever it wants to. The dealer took a look at it and said the fuel level sender and wiring all checked out good on it. Apparently something inside the gauge cluster is at fault, so I'm still using the truck while I wait for them to get the new gauge cluster in. For now I just use the trip meter to keep track of my mileage, and I don't let it fall below half a tank.

Second, I was also getting the regen cycle popping up constantly. It would even occasionally go into limp mode for a few seconds at a time causing a dead gas pedal for a few seconds. The dead pedal scared the dookie out of my wife when she drove it for the first time. The dealer checked out this problem as well, but didn't really explain very well what they did and what exactly they replaced while they were in there. The dead pedal issue hasn't happened since I got the truck back, but the regen cycle is still happening constantly.

That led me here to see if I could find out for myself what might be going on. Whooo boy, did I ever get a wake up call I wasn't expecting...:doh: I now have a basic idea of what went on regarding the problems with Ford and the engine MFG, as well as the related "Dirty Pickle Filter" and "Eggs & Gravy Recipie" systems (I'd like to see the auto correct word filter try to figure that one out. ). I have no qualms about doing what needs to be done to fix those two systems, and already have a tuner (H&S Mini Maxx) to keep the ECU happy.

I've heard quite a few good reviews about the tuner, but the same can't be said for the suction mount that comes with it. Rather than dealing with that, I'm making a semi-permanent mount to fit in an empty space in the center of the dash. My truck is a XL model, so there are lots of unused spots in the dash to put it. I chose the little insert panel just above the 12V socket on the left for it's new home. A few minutes of quality Dremel time later and I had a Mini Maxx sized hole in the panel. To hold it in there I had to make a mount for the back of the panel. I started out by cutting the end off the suction cup mount and sanding the back side of it smooth. Today I brought those two pieces to work (machine shop) and fabbed up an aluminum bracket to mate the parts together. The bracket has a little window in the middle of it to clear the HDMI plug. I just need to drill and tap the aluminum in a few places to attach the bracket to the panel, and also attach the mount I cut off the suction cup to the bracket. I set the height of the bracket so the seam in the MM housing is lined up with the front face of the panel insert.

I'll be working on wiring the tuner in this weekend after the mount is finished. I probably won't set it up yet, because I still need to deal with that big restriction in the exhaust system. Currently I'm looking at getting a full stainless turbo back kit, with a muffler, most likely a Flo-Pro 4" setup to keep it somewhat civilized noise wise.

 

[Connor M]

That’s a clean panel. Post pics of it installed when it’s done.

 

[GoMopar440]

Will do on the pics.:toast:

The truck is a plain jane looking white work truck right now, except for the headache rack. It's got a few miles on it (125k-ish) but seems like it's still got a lot of life left in it. The tuner and uncorking of the exhaust should help with the reliability of the engine if I don't get stupid with it. :lookaround: :tree:

Other planned upgrades are relatively minor stuff like a set of nerf bars with steps (for my 5' 3" wife) and replacing the plastic bed liner with a spray in liner. Pretty much going to keep it low key for the most part. I might splurge and put a double-DIN touch screen head unit with GPS so I can get my Garmin off the windshield.

Oh yea, I just remembered I'm also going to put a set of headlights and tail lights on it soon too. It has the sealed beam bulb headlights and they're all cross-eyed for some reason. The tail lights aren't too bad, but they're both missing some plastic around the edges near the tail gate.
Headlights: https://www.ebay.com/itm/202374630948?_trksid=p2380057.m570.l5999&_trkparms=gh1g%3DI202374630948.N36.S1.R1.TR1
Tail lights: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Fits-2008-2016-Ford-F-250-F-350-F-450-Super-Duty-LED-Light-Bar-Tail-Lights-Red/173302338070?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649

BTW: I'm not sure if this the right place for this kind of post/thread or not. I hadn't seen any other similar posts for DIY mounting of a Mini Maxx on the forum. All the mounting options I found so far were the commercially available ones I've seen on the interwebs. :shrug:

 

[GoMopar440]

Got the tuner mount finished up today. A few of the screw ends had to be shortened, as well as one of the screw heads needed ground down for clearance. Different screws would have been better, but it was what I had on hand. I'll still need to trim some reliefs in the dash opening to clear the aluminum bracket tabs on the left and right sides. All in all it looks like it has turned out well so far.

And, as promised, here's a few new pics from today. The first pic shows a straight on view of the hole in the dash that this tuner and mount will be filling. The shifter is in Park in this pic. In the second pic I put the shifter in Drive and took a pic from the perspective of how I would see it while driving. The other two pics show the tuner mounted in the now assembled dash insert with my custom mount. I used three screws in the middle to hold the T-slot part from the window mount. Since those screws were just a tiny bit too long to sit flush in the T-slot thingy, I was able to use those same screws to allow me to aim the tuner upwards a little bit. They also dig into the plastic back of the tuner and act as a lock of sorts. It's VERY solidly mounted now.

I'll get on hooking up the power wire and routing the other wires under the dash tomorrow.

 

[Connor M]

I think that's gonna look sweet installed.

 

[GoMopar440]

I didn't get to doing the wiring and cable routing yesterday, and now I really wish I had. I ended up getting hurt at work, splitting my thumb wide open to the bone, and then going to the ER and getting stitches. So, after work today I had to get the job done without the use of my left thumb. Procrastination doesn't pay folks...:thumbup::doh:

Anyway, that's enough self pity for one post. On to the pics! (I'll try to list the pic descriptions in the same order as the pics)

1) I started routing the HDMI cable from the tuner end first. It went over and behind this metal bracket. I ran it there since the metal edge was rounded over nicely and wouldn't be likely to cut the HDMI cable.

2) I pulled the 12V power outlet panel out and passed the cable straight on down behind the inner plastic bracket.

3) The ash tray and it's holder came out next. There the cable went down and then made a 90* turn towards the steering column.

4) I removed the panel under the steering column to access that area next. The cable was fished through the inner dash a bit more until it poked out below the steering column.

5) Next I had to find the infamous purple wire. I had to move the remnants of an old alarm system out of the way before I spotted it on the left.

To be continued...

 

[GoMopar440]

With the power wire located, I crimped a spade connector on it, and put the mating connector onto the red power wire. Then it was just plug in the OBD adapter box, plug in the power and HDMI cables, and finally, snap all the removed panels back into place.

6, 7 & 8) Here's the end results.

 

[Connor M]

Well worth the effort, that install is clean as hell

 

[GoMopar440]

Thanks for the compliment. I hope this info can be useful for anyone wanting to install their tuner without having to stick it on the windshield or buy an expensive add on panel. I've put less than $5 into this install from start to finish.

Making the aluminum bracket was the hardest part of the whole project, and the 1/8" aluminum (thickness overkill, but it was what I had handy) was formed just using simple tools. A drill, angle grinder, files, vise and a hammer was all I used to shape it. To mate the bracket to the plastic panel, I used a drill and a tap to thread it. All the panels I removed were snap in and required no tools to remove or reinstall.

The only thing I don't like about it is how glossy the screen is in bright daylight. You can see what I mean in the last two pics I posted. I may look at sticking a cell phone screen protector on it if it bugs me too much. Some of those usually have a matte finish to the surface.

 

[Connor M]

Thanks for the compliment. I hope this info can be useful for anyone wanting to install their tuner without having to stick it on the windshield or buy an expensive add on panel. I've put less than $5 into this install from start to finish.

Making the aluminum bracket was the hardest part of the whole project, and the 1/8" aluminum (thickness overkill, but it was what I had handy) was formed just using simple tools. A drill, angle grinder, files, vise and a hammer was all I used to shape it. To mate the bracket to the plastic panel, I used a drill and a tap to thread it. All the panels I removed were snap in and required no tools to remove or reinstall.

The only thing I don't like about it is how glossy the screen is in bright daylight. You can see what I mean in the last two pics I posted. I may look at sticking a cell phone screen protector on it if it bugs me too much. Some of those usually have a matte finish to the surface.

Tinted windows will help with that. Even a light tint will cut down the glare big time.

 

[GoMopar440]

That might be an option worth looking into. The trade off with using the matte screen protector is you loose a bit of sharpness from the displayed images and lettering. Some of the stuff I was reading on the display is pretty tiny.