Lex Talionis

Here you go.. my latest project - another first of it's kind. It has irked me for some time that when I open the center console, anything below the top inch is invisible in pitch black. Similar with the glove box, impossible to see into at night. So, I solved it by wiring up cool LED lights into my center console AND the glove box. Pretty sweet mod that worked out exactly as I planned. Should have been stock in my opinion. But hey, solved the Vista roof light issue, so solved this one as well. PRODUCTS USED In searching for little LED lights, I found some awesome ones - in black - for motorcycles on ebay. Very affordable. came as a pair. I also got some plunger pin style courtesy dome/door light activation switches off ebay. They came as white, I primed and painted those black. I also dremmeled down the one for the center console as the lip was too round and I just cut off extra material for a better ft. In total, this is about $34 in parts and 1-1.5 hour of time. Results seem to be well worth it. CENTER CONSOLE I mounted the light in the drivers side corner of the center console so it aims into the console. could do it either side, but this worked for me. means I can never put the little moveable change holder nearest me, but that is fine for me. I keep it on the pass side anyway so I can look into the center console. I drilled a hole for it and slid the wires down. I accessed the wires by pulling off the rear passenger vent panel and viola, right there is ground and power with the rear cig lighter port! perfect! I then drilled the hold for the plunger on the opposite side up at the lip of the console so the plunger is activated as the door closes. I had to dremmel this hole wider as the light in switch is wider than the bit I had an dremmel allowed for more precision. I then wired up ground to switch from ground at cig lighter, ground out of switch to LED light, power back to cig lighter. this way, the switch brakes the connection when console shuts. GLOVE BOX On this one, I mounted the LED light in the upper left corner aiming down. it moves in and out with the door open/close as it is mounted to door. I put the plunger switch on the opposite side (pass) and placed it right in line with the rubber foot so the rubber foot would reach the plunger and push it closed. as above, used dremmel to get perfect tight fit. I ran ground from switch to the frame rail you can see right inside the glove box where the glove box wire spool is attached that allows the box to open slow and smooth. as a matter of fact, perfect hole right there to bolt wire into to get ground. then ran ground out from switch to the LED and I tapped power into the cig lighter near the front cubby hole. to access it, I pulled the center NAV/climate control panel away and wired right into the cig lighter power wire. Enjoy the photos....

in all my CAI research, I have not seen a CAI that 'requires' a tune either.. yeah yeah I can see both sides of the argument why it makes sense and then again why it does not. so it is hard to believe either way. not sure how all of the other CAI systems out there for all the other cars work fine and get all the benefits, and with no tune... but this one needs a tune.. a rather expensive proposition that stops me cold on this mod

nice write up for a first post. others have done this also, so between yours and theirs, people should have no problem pulling this off. also, good catch on the cash savings.. I would have done exact same thing.

this was something I really wanted to do and had high hopes... but in these economic times, it is really so hard to justify this. $300 is not so bad for the CAI and certainly in ballpark.. but the whole tuner requirement just blows my desires out of the water to be honest. maybe I will just spend the $50 and drop in a K&N

what year, 2009? because 2007-2008 did not have this unless factory installed hitch. if you read the numerous and long threads on hitch installs here, we have to add a harness system into the cars wiring after-market.. which you can get off the internets.

but 'technically' real audio buff would say that just cut and twist still leaves an arching gap between wires and is not a 'clean' connection.... not that you or I could tell the diff

if you feel comfortable going wire to wire.. no harness needed. just clip the end of the harness from the head unit at the speaker and expose the wires and solder them up. viola.. no harness needed. no way I would pay for a 'harness' when what I just said could be done free and fast and easy and get just as good a connection.

sorry.. custom made. can't buy those. but there are a few guys here who have achieved similar DIY effects with (1) vinyl layovers or (2) paint search site on 'grills'.. you will see

interesting... of all the things to change.. I wonder why they changed those. still think it would be possible, but maybe new pin setup has to be figured out for 2009. FWIW.. the picture above of "your switches" are actually MKX switched, not Edges.

bingo.. splice it into the reverse wire back at the tail light. this way, when the car is shifted into reverse, it sends power to the camera. read my install post here where I talk about that

ha ha.. I am working on a little something new right now that is keeping me busy.. parts are on the way as you read this I see no reason why the 'idea' would not work. not sure what you mean by "different switches"? what, they look different? have you actually followed that thread and pulled down the switches and flipped them over, pulled them apart, to see the pins and motherboard with the little LEDs, etc? That is how to determine if this mod will work for you. I would be hard pressed to believe they would change MBs, pins and pigtail attachments - the real key to this mod - but then again, I am surprised to hear you say "completely different switches". either way, the theory is still sound, it just may require a different set of pins to turn on the feature. so I would suspect it would work, but you need to look a the guts of your switches, not the outside look of them, to find out.

exactly I am working on 1 right now that is equally as useful, if I can pull it off like I think/hope... it will be a cool new mod

old news my man... we did it here first http://www.fordedgeforum.com/index.php?showtopic=2786

only 'custom' Edge grills I have seen here have been 1 one you saw here that was self done. might be best you just pull the grill - to save money - and take to auto body shop and have it painted if paint/color is all you want done. a year ago I Googled for grill options and really saw nothing of interest, about same today still.

try this one and this one - it is not about radar detector wiring, but it does cover tapping into wires at the mirror for a different project.

search 'radar detector' - there are about 2-3 topics on this IIRC

no? are you serious? and to think for 30 years I thought they were ribbets. even worse, I got a top notch ribbet gun for placing ribbets.

I am thinking 100% coincidence there. the 2 system are not even connected. 2 different fuses, they do not interact, programing is different methods.. I say not related. I lost my garage door connection once - turned out to be a bad fuse.

yep.. I used the ribbets. they are black and so look nice. I would not screw into the sheet metal, as you said, not enough purchase. and ribbets are easy to remove if really needed - so see no issue with using them.

I like them so far. pretty inexpensive mod. not under the hood much, but not having a prop rod right in the line of work area is nice. and they function just as they claim.

search forums (HID lighting, LED lights) .. all of what you ask for has been covered in depth - often with part numbers and websites to buy from - in 1 form or another already here in many threads, and it would be to much to re-list all that data again. what you seek is all here, you just need to search it out as it is in many threads already hashed out.

They sell the same product on eBay.. same company, same product... and on their auction it says "07-09 Ford Edge", so I am extrapolating that for the exact same product on their website, it should be fine. but I agree it does not say it on their site - so I would say you are good to go. plus, body style did not change, so again, I would say good to go. but, you could always call or email em and, as far as I know, I am the only one here who has installed these - unless someone else did, but never posted up. they should be fine for you I would say

they claim they will.. "07-09 Ford Edge"

word... know how hard it is for me to find affordable .223 frangible ammo right now in mass quantity? brizzzutal

Yet another mod for ya... Redlines QuickLIFT PLUS system Always have hated the prop rods, kinda cheesy, so despite not being under the hood a whole lot, Santa gave me the hook up on the QuickLIFT PLUS system (middle model of the 3). Install was cake. Maybe 45 minutes. Works like a charm. All the directions you need come with the struts, and you can see videos of them in action and photos at the below link, so I will not do my normal photo gallery of the install as they cover it all for you step-by-step. But I included the stock photo of the model I got. I even took out the prop rod, which ironically, you need to install this hood strut system see them here