New to the Edge, Old Ford Man ready to customize!

[12Edge]

Hello everyone. I am new to the Ford Edge/crossover/SUV platform of vehicle. It generally takes me a year or so from seeing a vehicle for the first time to deciding I really do want one. My first car was actually a used 1982 Ford F100 pickup. I drove that until I bought a brand new 1994 Mustang. I kept the pickup for several years (rarely driving it.. I mean who would when you have to choose from a pony or a rusty old PU) before having to have it towed off. From there I bought a year old 2002 Explorer Sport Trac. The end of Sept. I purchased slightly used blue 2012 Ford Edge SE.

 

One of the first things I do when I purchase a car is look for ways to add features I want that it didn't or wouldn't have come with and customize it. That quest brought me to this fine forum brimming with information and how to's. I am definitely not someone who is afraid to take things apart and get dirty. As an example my wife's Chrysler van didn't come with a backup camera but it has one now integrated in to the rear view Ford Sync mirror that has a built in LCD I bought for it. I ran an auto service center for 8 years and dabble a lot in electronics and building custom one of a kind things to fill a specific need.

 

When I got the Edge one of the first things I noticed were nicks on the wide flat part at the front of the hood. I bought an AVS Chrome Aeroskin Hood Protector from AutoAnything. I like it but the chromes reflective surface doesn't quite match factory chrome. If not for the sharp difference in the angles on the hood where it attaches to the rest of the chrome on the front of the hood I would have been much less happy with the look. See for yourselves:

 

 

 

After that I installed the Home-link garage opener remote in my visor (it was in some ways easier than I thought and in others harder...) I looked at lighting and replaced all interior lamps with LED's and now the exterior lamps as well. I found DRL's online (sorry Dan, not from you but they look like yours) and lastly bought and installed HID lights and ended up with a "near as I could get" factory HID installation.

 

I plan on doing some write-ups with pics on the HID upgrade and post some before/after shots of the LED lighting along with info on cost and where it came from. For everything I have done I have spent $500 or less and lots of elbow grease.

 

My next projects are cracking the front entertainment display to wire in a backup camera and then going from there to puddle lighting/mirror turn signal indicators and possibly a rain sensor since a lot of it's circuitry is already present. I am also seriously looking at opening the front headlights and putting in HALO rings as well as the strip LED's.

 

I have factory wiring and service manuals so I am doing things as close to factory as I can.

 

I hope to be a valued contributor before long and long time Edge member!

Edited November 21, 2013 by 12Edge

[WWWPerfA_ZN0W]

Welcome & congrats! The blue really shows well on the Edge. Nice mods on your Edge, you can add a post to this thread if you like: http://www.fordedgeforum.com/topic/13442-comprehensive-mod-lists/

 

Looks like you are well on your way to having a cockpit installed in your vehicle, any info you can share along the way would be cool

 

Good luck!

[unxpctd]

Welcome 12Edge!

 

First off I'll say I admire you...I don't have the same ability to do stuff like you're talking about on vehicles. I do wish you the best and I'm sure it will come out well. Take some pics and let us know how it turns out!

 

Mark

[Edgieguy]

Congratualations and welcome. There are a lot of great members here and lots of information and ideas. Somehow this board never seems to lose activity.