Upgrade from 4” to 8”

jbeckva said:

What you might be forgetting about is that the 2018's and above already come with the USB hub that the sync3 apims need.

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I did not know that. But again, I'm not sure that that's the entire story. Again, most certainly, the Sync1 APIM connector on the back is different on the Sync3 APIM connector. So if you're car was a 2015-17 and 'non-premium' it came with an OEM wiring plug that would plug into the Sync1 BUT NOT the Sync3 APIM. Hence, the harness. So that leaves us only with 2 possibilities:

1) Ford started manufacturing Sync1 APIM's after 2018 that had the thicker Sync3 connection. That would lead to a plug and play solution, as you state.
2) Or the Sync3 APIM provided by HHP had some sort of adapter on the back. If the USB connection is already accounted for, it would simply be an adapter that would take it from (guessing) 24 pins, to 16.

Did you do it yourself? Are you saying that your car's Sync1 OEM wiring plug, plugged right into the back of the Sync3APIM? There was no superficial adapter on it? If so, this kinda throws me for a loop, but that wouldn't be the first time. That could only lead me to believe that they Ford changed the Sync1 APIM, slightly, after 2018....which is a possibility that I never investigated.

Lastly, as I stated in my post on the thread I linked, all these 'full encompassing' kits are quite the pretty penny. I piece-mealed everything myself, and it came out to about half of the price of the HHP kit.

Here's my sync1 from the back, still attached to the old 4" screen. Looks the same as the sync 3's 2019 and up on ebay, in any case. I believe either 2018 or 2019 and up, and a new sync3 apim will go right in. What I see as interesting is if you put one of these side by side, then aside from the extra USB connector (which I believe WAS depecated in the latest sync3 apims) you have to wonder what the physical difference is inside.. I heard more memory / flash on the sync3's but I don't yet have the guts to go find a few to tear them apart, let alone the $$$'s..

As far as the rest of your replies (if I did it myself, more to the story?, etc ).. look carefully at the background with the hp analyzer, soldering station, and associated "tron geek" hardware and ask me again if you need to, LOL. Been doing this stuff for hell.. 30+ years. Let me know if you want an old vintage amp rebuilt, a TV repaired, or whatever's cost effective nowadays... (wink)

Would I do it all over again? Maybe not...

jbeckva said:

Here's my sync1 from the back, still attached to the old 4" screen. Looks the same as the sync 3's 2019 and up on ebay, in any case. I believe either 2018 or 2019 and up, and a new sync3 apim will go right in. What I see as interesting is if you put one of these side by side, then aside from the extra USB connector (which I believe WAS depecated in the latest sync3 apims) you have to wonder what the physical difference is inside.. I heard more memory / flash on the sync3's but I don't yet have the guts to go find a few to tear them apart, let alone the $$$'s..

As far as the rest of your replies (if I did it myself, more to the story?, etc ).. look carefully at the background with the hp analyzer, soldering station, and associated "tron geek" hardware and ask me again if you need to, LOL. Been doing this stuff for hell.. 30+ years. Let me know if you want an old vintage amp rebuilt, a TV repaired, or whatever's cost effective nowadays... (wink)

Would I do it all over again? Maybe not...

View attachment 38335

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I didn't mean to offend by asking if you did it yourself. Just trying to hash out the nuances in my mind.

That being said...that is not the Sync1 APIM. I BELIEVE that's either the Sync2 APIM or the MyFordTouch APIM. The OG Sync1 APIM looks like this:



I just checked a part number spreadhsheet that I used when I did my change to see if I can verify which module it is...however, it was a manually compiled spreadsheet, by @blade007 , that really only accounts for Sync3 APIM part numbers, but he does have a small list of Sync2 APIMs on it. I could not find your part number on it. He kept the tally of the Sync2 APIMs because they look exactly like the Sync3 APIMs so you're not fooled when you try and buy one off of eBay and it turns out not to be Sync3.

Maybe @blade007 will chime in, since what I learned, I learned from him.

All that being said, my thoughts are that the 2018's and up 4 inch screens were outfitted with the Sync2 APIM. My guess is, since there was no software version release of "Sync2" that the change in "Sync2" was the USB hub support being built in. So in the end, you are right. If you have a 2018+ 4 inch OEM radio, you DON'T NEED the harness....since the OEM wiring will plug right in to the Sync3 APIM also...since the sockets are the same.

Thoroughly enjoyed hashing this out. Thank you.

Hey Gator, no sweat and no offense taken LOL. I'm with you.. trying to figure all this out ever since I bought the 2019 in May of that year, new. I swapped and switched to sync3 just a few months later, since as far as what Ford offers stock it left a heck of a lot to be desired. On BOTH the radio and dash, I did a lot of research that ended up me scratching my head, looking at what I had versus the many pics and videos I reviewed to get an idea of how to do it.

LOL I also didn't mind rooting in the closet for all the old stock hardware in any case, as I also have a "sales query" out on a manual GT base Kona Blue "up the road". Been contemplating "the dark side" a little, and wondering if one angle is to keep the dash and sync kits to reinstall. Sync would likely be a no brainer. Dash not so much as it's already been set and overall the Eco's pushing 40K on the odometer. I'd have to get the dash corrected.. hmmmm... I think I'll stay away from "The Dark Side", for now..

I just recently did this swap on my 2018. I had to use a harness. Among all the research I had done, 2018 cars are treated just like 2015-2017 cars as far as needing a harness and whatnot. For those wanting to take the plunge, definitely seek out the parts separately. I don’t have the exact part numbers, but here’s exactly what parts you need if you have a 2015-2018

• 1 USB port replacement (the”media hub” for Apple CarPlay and android auto)
• 2 different USB cables to handle power and data to the new hub.
• plug and play conversion harness. This is a must, and I trusted my gut and spent the extra on the Hellhorse Performance one, I’ve seen reports of the backup camera not functioning properly on the cheap eBay harnesses, but I can attest that the hellhorse one is high quality and full functionality.
• radio bezel (I used a “recaro” one that didn’t have the heated/cooled seat buttons since I have base seats, but any bezel will work… the GT350/500 ones do NOT allow for drive modes)
• 8” screen (as long as it’s specifically a SYNC 3 screen, it can come out of any Ford or Lincoln vehicle)
• APIM, the actual SYNC 3 module that connects to the screen. This can be found with and without navigation. Without navigation, you’ll still have the CarPlay/android auto option to run navigation on the screen. This can also come from any Ford/Lincoln. 15-18 cars have a different module than 19+ due to lacking the 4G hotspot thing, I’m not sure of their compatability, but a 2017 module worked fine in my 2018.
• GPS antenna, I had to do this because my dash compass was going nuts until I got one (I think the specific connector it has is called FAKRA or something like that)

Optional for premium features:

• USB OBDII cable
• laptop with FORSCAN (to enable the drive mode toggle switch and correct the hazard light switch)
• Sirius antenna, if you want to enable sat radio.
• new radio deck that has sat radio functionality.
• radio bezel with heated/cooled seat buttons (those can be added)

As a good rule of thumb, it’s been said you don’t want to back date parts on a car; ie a 2015 part on a 2019 car… but in my instance, I don’t believe there was a difference in the 2017 navigation APIM and a 2018 with navigation so it worked fine.

I don’t have a lot of confidence ripping my car apart to do installs that are even this simple, but I did it all carefully in about an hour or two. If I can do it, anyone can.


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