I have just completed adding power door locks, power windows, keyless entry and a vacuum gauge.

I got such a good deal on my STX that I never considered not buying the truck, even though it lacked these essentials.

Now that most of my mods are done I thought I would offer to answer any questions that I can on the minor details of adding these last four items. I am referring to the details about where to mount things, how to take things apart, etc. Many of these questions can be answered with a simple search, but some details were not included when I looked.

So if anyone is working on this today or in the near future, please ask.

Chris

 

did you do it yourself? how long did it take? was it really difficult? i really want to do this on my stx. what kits did you use?

 

A normal healthy person would have no trouble doing it in one day. If your fast, an afternoon.

It wasn’t difficult, but you have to be careful.

Colibri Plus kit.

Crimestopper CS-865RKE.II keyless entry.<O

Tesor power door locks.<O

The wiring was not hard, there is plenty of room under the dash. I would advise taking off the two corner inspection body pieces, one over the parking brake, the other over the fuse box. they pop off, pulling up the front couple of pop pins on the sill strips, and setting them, with the fuse box cover out of the way. I would also remove the kick panel under the steering wheel. Two 8 mm bolts at the bottom, just above the diagnostic port, then unsnap and set somewhere clean and safe.

I decided not to cut holes in my door panels for the switches . I’m not that talented. So I put the switches, one on each side of the cigarette lighter. Works fine. My wife and I can easily reach either window switch from our seats. I can lower her window while she’s driving, or vice verse.

With the switches mounted sideways, they fit well. It looks good, I may post a picture in my gallery tomorrow. And you could switch back to stock by just replacing one small piece.
To mount the keyless entry I decided to use the ‘dead space’ under the junk tray on center of the dash. A little industrial strength Velcro did the trick. Carefully pry up the cover that surrounds the radio, climate control and cigarette lighter. The black thing in the middle of the dash. Once you get it started it comes off fairly easy. I used a bungee cord to suspend it without removing the wire at the top for the airbag light, or the climate control wires. I did disconnect the lighter wire. The panel hung from the mirror the whole time I was working on the job. No problem. You can carefully unsnap the plastic panel with the lighter (small and large hooks), then take it in to work on at your leisure. I cut off the strange mounting parts on the back (looks like you could put a couple of round things back there) then cut small rectangular holes using my mototool and small files. I skipped the mounting brackets that came with the switches, and just installed the switches straight into the holes. Then snapped the lighter panel back in, hooked up the wires and the switches. Because of the way the center panel is constructed, this is much sturdier than I expected.

Routing the wires, inside plastic flex tubing, was easy. Plenty of room under the dash, both sides. Four steel supports to lace the wire over, two on each side.
more to follow

 

On the STX to remove the window crank, pop the outer skin of the window crank up not removing the round ****, to expose the central torx screw that holds the crank on. You just push the covering to one side and remove the screw.

I taped up a very small screwdriver to pry the speaker grill off. Carefully unsnap it and put it aside. 4 8 mm bolts and you can pull out the speaker, carefully unclip the wire harness. You have to remove the two bottom white ‘press in’ nuts. After much fiddling, I finally used a pair pliers and pulled them straight out.
First two took thirty minutes. Second two on the other side, took thirty seconds. There’s a black seal there you also remove. Remove the two 8 mm bolts at the bottom of the door. Using a taped screwdriver remove the little panels inside the door handles. Remove the two bolts.
The door skin is lifted away, NOT pulled away from the door. Slid it up and it will pop off in your hands. It’s very light, but bulky. Have a towel or blanket standing by to lay it on.

You now see the sheet of plastic covering the inside of the door. I used a razor knife to cut the black glue and slowly, gently pealed the skin back. I only pulled it back part way. Since you can put your hands in the speaker window to route your wires, you only have to do about half the black stuff. Putting it back is easy. It likes sticking to anything.


Now to the door locks. I mounted my passenger side one straight up, in the top rear corner of the biggest hole in the door. I put the wire to the front of the wire that is the door lock ****, made sure it was clear and drilled a small hole in the door metal for the bottom screw on the lock. I used the provided metal strap to mount the top screw. Drilled two more holes to mount the metal strap. After I clamped the wire to the door lock I clipped off the excess, about three inches, with bolt cutters. I wasn’t sure this was the best way to mount it, but when I opened the other side, there was already a Ford lock installed. In exactly the same place, just with sloppier holes and metal strap.

Ford used two wires, which works fine. I used five wire motors, and only connected the two wires.
Back to the window kit;
At the bottom of this biggest hole is where I mounted the Colibri motor. It is more bent than I wanted, but it is 34 centimeters from center to center of the driver. They require 30 centimeters minimum. I mounted it with the provided metal straps. I cut all eight of the provided mounting straps down about 1-2 inches. Worked better shorter. I had to drill about 14 holes in the metal skin for the metal screws, but nothing came anywhere near interfering with the mechanism. The directions with the Colibri kit are very light, but adequate.

Lacing the wires through the factory door boot was pretty easy. First pull the boot loose on both ends, hanging in the door frame. Route your wires through the conveniently placed holes, one behind the fuse box, the other behind the parking brake. I had to push the brake on to get room on the drivers side, and pull loose two harness on the fuse box for working clearance on the passenger side.

I used a number of wire ties to keep the wires away from the brake. There are a huge number of wires there already, so you have lots to tie to.
You can push the wires through the boot with one hand, and snag them with the other. The boot has plenty of room. My 4 wires made little difference.

<O
A couple of small notes. I used the original screws to help hold the adaptors in place on the window cranks. They show you using some supplied bolts, but they aren’t even close. I used some beveled washers with the original bolts.

They supply a set of 2 inch black disks that you are supposed to use to cover the old holes. The plan is to cut the hole out much bigger, put a rim inside the hole, and a screw on cap to cover the big hole.
I cheated. My adaptors didn’t touch the inside of the door, so I put a couple of 1 ¼ inch gray disks over the holes. They look great, and I didn’t have to chew up the door.

The power windows are a little slow I think that’s because the original F-150 cranks are geared so low. 8 turns to open instead of 6.

Tools 8 millimeter socket.
7/32 socket.
Razor knife/ box opener.
Taped up small screwdriver
15 torx screwdriver
For mounting switches;
Mototool
Small files.
14 mm Metric wrench to loosen nut for ground


If anyone asks, I will post details about wiring.
Chris

 

On my STX, the rubber wire boot from the door to the cab is not a pass through boot. Mine has a large, sealed connector on the cab side with male and female pins and no place to pass wires through. Sounds like mine is different from yours. I had to drill a 1/2" hole under the large connector at the cab side to pass the loomed wires through into the cab.

 

Hi, Biggziff;

on mine the boot looked sealed, but after pulling it into the space between the door and the jam, well, I could put the wires through it. There was already one wire in the passenger one, door ajar sensor I think. The drivers side had three wires in it. It did seem like it had been glued shut at the ends, but it was no problem putting my new wires through. Did your truck have one or more door locks?
Still puzzleing over the one lock motor, and I noticed two solinoids under the drivers side sill cover that I don't believe belong there. A couple of loose wires there too.
Chris

 

Hope no lock motors and it sounds like mine is setup different than yours. On the door side, the rubber boot is removable and I did begin to run the wires through. At the cab side the boot is terminated with a large white wire connector..like a huge plug..no holes. The cab has the other side of the white "plug" and it's attached to the cab with bolts...not easily removed. No pass through there at all. There's a big latching mechanism that holds the door side of the plug into the cab side.


Weird....

 

Weird is right;
Several things lead me to think they haven't finished designing these trucks.
I think us 2004 owners are beta testing for Ford. Oh well.
Chris

 

Chris - Awesome info! Thank you. I too have an STX, and am wanting to put power windows and locks in.

Whats the vaccuum thingy?
Also, did you do your front windows only, or did you get the back windows to go down?
Can you post where you got parts? Pricing? Part #'s?

PLEASE, I BEG FOR PICS!

 

I didn’t take pictures during the job, (sorry) but here are some useful links
http://www.accesscnc.com/colibri1.htm
This site shows a great step by step of an install of the Colibri.
Some differences
First picture;
Not the way our window crank comes off;
See this site;
http://www.a1electric.com/install/f150/f150-3.htm
for a great picture of removing window crank.

Back to first site.
Second picture;
Our doors are bolted on, and lifted off vertically, no clips to pop off.
Pictures 7-10;
I found that shortening the metal brackets by an inch or two made them fit much better.
You use an 1/8 inch drill bit to start the holes for the sheet metal screws.
Note, there is a heck of a lot more empty space on our doors than on this sample vehicle
Last picture on first page;
On my truck, the distance between the center of the big end and the center of the little end is about 34 centimeters. More arc than I like, but within their specifications.

Page two
Picture 1;
I didn’t need any of the foam rings.
Picture 2;
Note the bend in the brackets used to secure the gear end to the door. I bent mine about half and inch, then back flat using pliers and my vice. This step makes it hook up well.
The rest of these pictures are on mounting the switches. I skipped that, mounting instead to the cigarette lighter plate.

I am posting a few pictures of the finished result in my gallery.

Here is a good link to get a Colibri kit. I installed the second one, but with illuminated switches. Price is about 120-140 all over the internet.
http://www.a1electric.com/colibri.htm

I think the Spal kit would be just as easy to install.
you can find them for 106-130 with switches. Be sure you get switches with the kit, as they are about 40-50 just for the switch kit by itself.

Front windows only, I have the standard cab, my rear windows are just big enough to check the blind spots. I have thought of putting power on the beer window (sliding rear window) but probably wont, as it’s within arm reach.

Side note;
A vacuum gauge is used to determine the manifold vacuum in real time. It used to be standard equipment on many cars, and no shop was without one. Few people will take the five minutes it takes to understand one nowadays. I have always found it the most valuable gauge to add. Especially if you want good mileage. By learning how your throttle affects the manifold vacuum (which is in a direct proportion to your gas mileage) you learn to put the pedal to the exact best place for your driving. A good instant mileage meter that you can watch as you drive, gives you much of the same info.

Chris

 

just ordered the window kit! gonaa try to put it together on saturday with a little help from my uncle let you guys know howw it comes out.

 

I am really interested in getting this done on my truck myself. My truck is an STX flareside model. Do you have any pictures of how your truck looks with the switches and where you mounted the switches? Please let me know. Also I would really appreciate if you could provide me with the list of hardware that you need...I want to purchase everything that is needed and then take my truck to a friend who works at the Ford dealership so that he can install it for me. Please any help is greatly appreciated...Thank you.

 

Hi means104; hope this helps;

The ‘hardware’ comes with a Colibri or Spal kit, provided you get one with switches. I used the two switch model, as I mounted the switches in the center. It works well, as either seat can reach the either switch. Very handy.
The only things not in the kit that I added were some wire ties, about a $1.00 worth, some plastic wire sheathing/tubing (to keep the wires from rubbing) about three feet worth $1.50 available at Home Depot Radio shack, or any auto parts store. I also used some solder and shrink wrap, since I shortened a several of the wires. Totally optional, and if I was in a hurry I would have just left the excess wire.

When you use the kits, from either company, they expect you to cut the holes for the window cranks larger, (a template is provided), and you use a removable cap on each door. This is black, but you can paint to match. This is so you can unscrew the cap and get at the end of the window crank with an optional tool to manually crank the window up and down if it fails.
I figure if it fails, ten minutes to remove and replace a panel would be better than cutting holes is my door panels, since on my truck the mechanism fits within the panel with no need to enlarge the hole. Your situation may vary.
If your good at cutting plastic, this could add twenty minutes work to the job, if you do add the caps.

I bought $1.10 buttons at a fabric store, and glued them in place. My pictures make it look sloppy, but in reality it looks good.
The most time consuming part of the job was working on the cigarette lighter plate, cutting neat rectangular holes for the switches. About an hour with a mototool, a set of number two files and a single regular file. Someone who builds models would do it faster. I’m not terribly good at working on plastic.

Remember, you detach the lighter plate from the dash to work on it.

Pictures of the finished job are in my gallery. Just click on my ‘handle’ and then 'view gallery'.
Hope you have fun and it works great,
Chris

p.s. I think I like the keyless entry, power door locks that I installed at the same time more than any other mod. Funny, because that cost 60 bucks, out of the 1600 I’ve invested in mods…so far.

 

just installed my power window kit! its great man. it wasnt as difficult as i thought it would be. its not bad for less than 180 bucks. chris did you use the colibri kit?

 

Hi,Sukonds, yes I did. Is that what you used? The SPAL kit looks about as easy. Did you cut the holes in the doors? My driver door was very close, but it's working great.
Where did you mount the switches?
Chris