‼️ UPDATE FORD E-RAPTOR grille swap and install tutorial

[Telemachus]

The recent F-150 Lightning cancellation announcement finally got me to act on this project - I figure with no more trucks coming, a camera-friendly option isn't likely to show up. That means I better do it myself - it's good to see so many successes in this thread. Any of you who did the 3D-printing method - will you please share your designs? I'd love to be able to "stand on the shoulders of giants," so to speak. Thanks!

I don't think anybody's 3D printed solutions were really helpful. The honeycomb is deep enough to create issues with the camera, and you're never going to quite get the original angle.

Personally I recommend cutting as small of a hole as you can, and then angling the camera and tacking it on with hot glue. See how you like it.

If you get to the point where you're comfortable where it is, cover the camera with some saran wrap, and making epoxy harness to hold it in place.

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[hb.sagen]

Check this thread: https://www.f150lightningforum.com/forum/threads/dirty-pro-gets-a-lightbar-and-raptor-grill.33737/

 

[kvasiir]

I don't think anybody's 3D printed solutions were really helpful. The honeycomb is deep enough to create issues with the camera, and you're never going to quite get the original angle.

Personally I recommend cutting as small of a hole as you can, and then angling the camera and tacking it on with hot glue. See how you like it.

If you get to the point where you're comfortable where it is, cover the camera with some saran wrap, and making epoxy harness to hold it in place.

Makes sense, I can always cut a bigger hole later.

 

[kvasiir]

Check this thread: https://www.f150lightningforum.com/forum/threads/dirty-pro-gets-a-lightbar-and-raptor-grill.33737/

Thanks, that looks neat. No links there either as far as I can tell though. I'll DM this guy.

 

[Telemachus]

Check this thread: https://www.f150lightningforum.com/forum/threads/dirty-pro-gets-a-lightbar-and-raptor-grill.33737/

Best solution I have seen, take two honeycombs...

 

[kvasiir]

OK I did mine. Camera isn't great; might have to take it apart and try again at some point. Things I didn't notice and/or remember in other discussions:

- had to move the frunk-opening button from the old grille to the new one
- sprayer delete - the hose junction is easily removable near the fuse box

Some hiccups:

- camera connector - there's a little clip that fell off of it, and I have no idea how it's supposed to go back together. No big deal, I guess, I'll just glue it all or something if it seems like it's prone to falling apart. Maybe just some electrical tape actually. Another reason to go back in and fix the camera angle I guess.
- wire for the marker lights was kinda short; just barely reached the fuse box after fishing it through under the hood trim. I had some fuse taps left over from my dashcam installation, so that covered me to give enough extra length. Fuse 22 for those who care - I just dremeled a notch out of the side of the fuse box to fit it - CA weather doesn't give me any worries.
- over-tightened one of the screws attaching the F and broke off the mount point, super glue fixed it no problem
- broke off (or maybe it came that way - I didn't find it anywhere) one of the locator posts, doesn't seem to matter, though. I did cut one off the old grille and try to glue it on the new one, but it didn't hold when installing, nbd, the screw holes still lined up
- one of the mounting bolts stripped out completely when trying to reinstall. I guess I'll get a thicker one and see if it works out if/when I take it back off to try again on the camera

Looks pretty great, though!

 

[Telemachus]

Agreed, looks awesome. Good job.

Looks pretty much like how I installed my camera. You're never going to get the exact angle. I find that backing into the garage the reverse camera is much more important.

 

[kvasiir]

Exact? Almost certainly not. Better than I did? Almost certainly so. I'll think about it, at least. For sure I'll definitely run a calibration on the 360° camera and see how that shakes out.

 

[Telemachus]

Calibration? Is this done with forscan?

 

[kvasiir]

Calibration? Is this done with forscan?

Yeah, one of the service procedures is a 360 camera stitching thing. It won’t fix angle, but it might make the corners line up better in the overhead view.

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