Since there are no readymade parts or mounts available either from any other ford car or in the aftermarket, I had to go with custom made mounts, wiring harness, and parts salvaged from other compatible ford cars which are not available India.
BHPian jhenu recently shared this with other enthusiasts.
Background: I have some knowledge of Ford’s platform and architectures. Most of my work experience came from Ford projects. When a need came for a car, I purchase a ford Ecosport 2013 – a first batch Ecosport. As I was working in the same infotainment and cluster platforms, it was indeed a proud moment for me to use what I was in the part of the development.
Back to topic, I was pretty sure Sync3 can be upgraded from the existing Sync1 system so started procuring parts. I am always inclined towards stock system as I have tested and used the Sync3 setups during my job. It was actually a fun doing this conversion.
Since there are no readymade parts or mounts available either from any other ford car or in the aftermarket, I had to go with custom made mounts, wiring harness, and parts salvaged from other compatible ford cars which are not available India. Sync3 was not introduced in India as well during that time.
Summary of this upgrade
- Sync1 non touch screen system to Sync3 Touch screen with apple car play and Android Auto ( the one comes in latest sports Variant)
- It can display all the existing vehicle related warnings and notifications.
- Ford’s build in Navigation.
- Reverse camera
- Emergency call assist, it will continue to work same
- 8 inch touch screen
- Built-in Video Player
On top of it, I had my own build hardware Arduino board that’s completely work with the vehicle system inputs via CAN. i had to spend lot of my night times to bring up the hardware and write the software to test it single handedly, purely from my work experience and interest.
I initially used an Arduino Uno, but the processing power was insufficient so revised the hardware to Due as it has faster clock and Dual CAN capabilities.Going forward, I will be using Teensy as its so compact yet very capable.
- 360 View camera: Rear, Front, two side cameras in the mirror.
- Cheap Ambient light with 7 colors. integrated and colors can be chosen from the sync3 settings itself.
Since it took more time, poured in a lot of efforts, I couldn’t make this post with complete details to make this as a Detailed DIY guide for others please bear with that.
How it looks after installation:
Some photos from the conversion
Customized Harness:
Some pics from 360 Degree view camera
The camera control module on CAN: Built by me from scratch. Same module handles the ambient lighting so its another processing unit capable of doing multiple operations.
Ambient lighting:
The same controller is used to integrate the ambient lighting into the Sync3 system. The colors can be controlled from the settings itself.
And this is presence outside.
All mods by done by myself including the Paint jobs, Bronco Logo and the Grill.
As the parts were procured from various countries and the panel and harness were made by me, I am not sure of the exact cost.
I have done lot of mods very long back from 2013 to 2021 models. due to my profession and personal commitments could post it here. below are
Pre-Face lift model 2013- 2017
- UK ford 4.2 infotainment display with Reverse camera
- Cruise Control
- Morimoto Headlight upgrade with Matrix DRL.
- Auto folding mirror
- Shark fin antenna from Ford Edge
Below mods were left on the air as I sold my preface lift and switched to Facelift model later
- Adaptive headlamps , LED arrays that shifts based on the steering angle.
- On demand camera view
- TPMS on Sync3 display
Facelift model: 2017-2021
Facelift model’s architecture gives more opportunities for the upgrade the preface lift due its nature of compatibility and availability of parts from other Ford’s market. below are the mode done and to be planed.
- Fly Audio to Sync3 upgrade
- Sync 3 software mods, and F-Mods(was part of this team from the start)
- Cruise Control and Speed limiter
- Tire pressure monitoring.
- Blind Spot System
- Fully digital Cockpit from Escape/Kuga/Focus/Puma
- Focus Flat bottom Steering
- St line cluster from UK
- Shark fine antenna from Escape
- Sync4 ( almost done, working on custom gateway with teensy)
Below are currently in the works, Modules Procurements done already, and finding my sweet time for implementing them.
- Front camera for ADAS, TSR,
- Adaptive Cruise control
- Lane keep assist and Lane departure warning.
- B&O sound system.
- 12 channel parking assistance with auto park assist
- Auto Stop Start.
- Adaptive LED light. have to leverage from some other siblings
I will try to make separate detailed post as and when I get time for the above said mods and to make them as DIY as possible.
My works and passion is not just limited to Ecosport. I also did possible mods on other models such as Figo and aspire family and Endeavour as well. will be posting as and when i get time. Thank you for spending your time checking my post.
Keyword: DIY: SYNC1 to SYNC3 upgrade in my 2013 Ford Ecosport