Interestingly a laptop and scan tools are now a required part of my car building tool kit.



One procedure that you will need to perform is changing your fuel tank size as your F150 likely had a 36 gallon.


By changing the fuel tank size, you will update the trucks ability to calculate the distance to empty. Ford leave an extra margin of fuel in the tank so you can drive pretty far even after zero miles to empty, however I plan on testing the accuracy with a 5 gallon jug of fuel In the back.


It's a simple process to update the fuel tank size through a software tool called Forscan. Of course messing around with the modules in your truck requires some understanding of what you are doing and how to backup your work before you make changes. I would suggest fully understanding your goal and the procedure before you dive in.



The other thing I have gained an appreciation for is how sensitive the CAN network is in this truck.
Driving the truck around with lots of things disconnected (even in the driveway) can cause unexpected behavior. Id say that ideally you turn the truck off. do your whole build adding everything back where you found it and turn it back on. Evervthing will be fine.


IF you are like me. You start it up as soon as the engine is back in the truck and powered up. Brake lines are not attached. no lights are attached. no cameras are attached. the grill shutters are not attached the radar and blind spot sensors are not attached. Sure the engine might be fine, but now I might need to re calibrate the 6 cameras on the truck and sort out other phantom DTCs. Not the end of the world, but it’s just a new experience.


Here Is a good tutorial on Forscan.


https://docs.google.com/document/d/1...gF1wxIqxY/edit


Lucky for us the F150 forum has very active users who are amazingly helpful.


If you get yourself in deep, even us DIY people can use the dealer FORD software called FRDS. A great link on that is found here.

https://www.f150gen14.com/forum/thre...ing-fdrs.8249/



The gen 14 is a rolling computer. I have been reading the Ford documentation prepared for fleet truck builders that modify F 150s for Police service etc. Lots of warnings about messing with bits that are connected to the CAN network. That tells you something. Thankfully we have help.