Yeppers…that’s a big moon alright!!!

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Hey folks, been busy around these parts as usual but I wanted to take a second to put up some pics from the Mint 400.  I made a quick road trip to the desert and back to put Ironhide through the paces and boy can this truck groove in the dirt.  Here’s the highlights from the 2012 General Tire Mint 400…

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Heading out on our CA Adventure

Ahhh, the long awaited follow-up to part 1 is finally here. Lets just dive right in. The rear suspension…man, was this a disappointment. I simply didn’t account for the weight I typically carry back there which is usually at least a good 500+ pounds. As I mentioned in the previous post, this left me with no option but to add 3″ blocks to bring the rear up until I figured out what to do. I looked at several options, one of them being replacing the rear shocks with some long-travel ones. Although this approach would work just fine, I still had the concern with the weight and if the shocks would blow-out over time. In order to do it right, I really needed to beef up the rear springs. A good friend of mine had just recently purchased a Ford Raptor and while going over my dilemma, he suggested I have a chat with some folks he knew. I left my last post talking about some new friends in CA, the folks I’m referring to is Raptor Performance Group (RPG).

I first spoke with the lead engineer at RPG. He’s one heck of a cool dude.  I discussed my problem with him and he had some suggestions on how to not only solve my problem, but improve the performance and ride qualities at the same time.  The first recommendation was to replace the factory leaf springs.  RPG has worked with National Springs (down in the San Diego area) to co-develop a leaf spring for the F-150 that can not only handle the kind of load I carry, but to give owners a truly progressive spring that makes the truck ride like an entirely new vehicle. These leafs come in a Standard Duty (SD) version for folks that don’t require the load capability I need, as well as the Heavy Duty (HD) version for guys like me.  My springs were tuned to carry a constant load of about 700 pounds while still providing a kick-ass ride and bringing the rear end of the truck up to level without the use of the blocks.  Sounded like a plan to me.  Then he had to go open his mouth about this “Stage 3 Kit” that he has for the Raptor.  The Stage 3 Kit is basically made up of a frame support, Fox 2.5″ Air Bumps and the National Springs leafs.  Now up to this point I had heard of frames on Raptor being bent by guys in the desert going all Rambo over some big ass whoops, but I figured that was a Raptor.  Why would I possibly need such a thing on an F-150?  Well friends, lets hold that thought for a few and I’ll come back to that.  The next thing were these air bumps.  WTF is that you ask?  Good question, I didn’t have a clue either since I haven’t been a huge off road fan until now.  Basically, in a nutshell, these air bumps replace the stock piece of rubber that keeps the axle from plowing through your frame when your suspension compresses.  By utilizing these air bumps, you replace those OEM rubber bump stops and can eliminate running a stiffer shock and provide much better bottom-out control, which helps maximize your suspensions travel.  Sounded pretty good to me.  So now what?

Lucky for me I had just recently planned a holiday vacation to southern CA to take the wife and kids down to Disney Land.  Flying is just stupid these days and not wanting to get groped by the TSA, I figured I may as well make a killer road trip out of it and take the girls on an adventure.  It also gave me a good opportunity to test the “Eco” in the EcoBoost and see what kind of real fuel economy I would get with the big meats I had just put on the truck.  More on that later.  I told the guys from RPG that I would be in town during the break and they offered to meet me at my hotel, pick up the truck to do the install and drop it back off.  I thought, DAMN…now THAT is customer service!  Sure enough, the day came that I expected them and there they were, ready to transform the beast.  I looked at them with a raised eyebrow knowing this is my BABY and I am handing over to the keys to complete strangers.  Hell, my WIFE hasn’t even driven Ironhide!  But something told me these guys were legit and I was in good hands.  Secretly I was jonsing and having a complete internal meltdown because I really just wanted to be there with the guys doing the install and taking pics or helping wrench on the rig.  But daddy duties came first and I had to take the girls to see Mickey.  This was going to be one hell of a long day I tell you.

So as I watched Ironhide drive off into the distance, I sat there thinking…”Damn thats a good looking rig.  I hope it comes back…”  :P  No – but seriously, I was going out of my mind wondering what the kit would do to the truck when they were done.  As I’m sitting there at Disney in line for Space Mountain, the first of a bunch of pics from RPG start coming in on my iPhone.  There go the tires, then little by little I see parts of my rig on jacks, on the floor, I’m just thinking…”holy crap”.  Then they start sending the good stuff and I practically start hyperventilating.  It took all I had not to look like an idiot, but I’m sure people were wondering why I was sitting on a ride at Disney staring at my iPhone with a shit-eating-grin on my face.

Stock springs (with AAL) vs. National HD's

So what seemed like the longest day EVAAAARRRRRRR finally comes to a close around dinner time, the girls were wiped out so we decided to go back to the hotel.  The guys from RPG were already on their way to bring back Ironhide.  I met the guys back at the hotel and decided we’d all go to dinner.  Before we could even get out of the hotel parking lot, they start telling me ok…turn here.  I knew damn well the BBQ joint wasn’t in that direction but they had something else in mind.  We get on I-5 heading south to where they know are some NASTY bumps in the highway that I had previously driven through and just about knocked the fillings out of my teeth.  Right when I braced for impact and white-knuckled the steering wheel, I felt like we were floating on marshmallows and the ass end of my truck is just cruising over these bumps like nobody’s business.  I just looked over at these guys with a gaping wide jaw slammed to the cab floor of the truck and they just sat there smiling.  They knew they had me.  I just simply couldn’t believe what a transformation a set of springs could do to this truck.  Not only did I have the normal gear I carry in the back, I also had the old springs in the back adding a couple hundred MORE pounds, PLUS two more full grown dudes in the cab. MONEY baby…it was MONEY.  Or as Jarrett likes to say…”it was LEGIT.”  So that was the first part of the demo.  Then we hit a couple of other areas where I could really squash the suspension.  As we hit that, I hear the bumps getting slammed.  I had no idea what it was and Corey says…there they go, now I knew what the air bumps sounded like as the axle was plowing through the rear on it’s way to hit the frame.  Although I couldn’t SEE the bumps in action, I somehow had a MUCH higher level of comfort now knowing those were there.  The truck is now just simply…A BEAST.

So as we get to the BBQ joint and we are outside looking at my rig, that’s when Corey says, so I have a little bit of bad news for ya.  I thought, uh oh.  That’s not exactly what anyone wants to hear in this kind of situation.  Corey proceeds to tell me that my frame was bent about 1/4″.  I looked at him like “Huh?”  Turns out that it’s not too hard to bend these frames under the right conditions. Jumping it is of course one of those (which I had not done), but in my particular case it was something as simple as hitting a speed bump too hard while carrying a lot of weight in the back. It’s that simple folks.  That’s where the Frame Brace comes into play.  While mounting the brace there is a section of the brace that comes in contact with the frame and if your frame is bent even the slightest, you’ll be able to see daylight through that section.   Measure the daylight, that’s how much your frame is bent.  Thankfully, by adding the RPG brace to the frame, not only do I not have to worry about the bent issue, it will now protect my frame from ever bending again.  This is yet more peace of mind that I’m protecting my investment and won’t do anything to the rig that will tweak the frame while I’m out in the middle of nowhere.  There are a couple of great write-ups on the Ford Raptor Forums that go into even more detail about the RPG Stage 3 that are worth taking a look at: http://www.fordraptorforum.com/f5/rpgs-stage-2-kit-rear-frame-support-fox-air-bumps-10553/

Goodbye CA...

I can tell you without reservation that this has made the most AMAZING difference in the ride of my truck.  If you’ve ever had your teeth just about rattled out of your jaw when cruising in the right lane of a highway that’s real bumpy, you know what I mean.  Going over some whoops is a reality with this suspension.  Being able to get rid of the blocks also made it much safer.  So I’m feeling pretty good with the truck and suspension overall.  Next month I’m planning to head down to Vegas for the Mint 400 and hoping to meet up with the RPG crew down there.  Jarrett has already told me to “lighten up the truck” and take out everything I don’t need.  I think he has plans for Ironhide to meet the desert and catch some air.  :)  I’ve also been given a heads up that they are working on some additional “upgrades” for the F-150 and my wallet is already sweating the thought of what these guys are up to.  If I had to pick one item I want to upgrade next would be the rear shocks.  Although I’m doing quite ok with the Fox 2.5″ Piggy Back Shox, what I really want are some 3.0″ long-travel bypass shocks. I’m pretty confident that moving up to the long-travel shocks would complete the rear end of the truck.  I’m thinking for the front end, some nice new tie-rods might be in order as well.  RPG has an amazing set of products that just absolutely kill the competition if you ask me.  I’m looking forward to establishing a long-term relationship with these guys.  I’m a pretty happy customer and that’s not an easy thing considering how picky I am.  And so my California Adventure comes to an end and back to WA state we went.  I have to say, I really fell in love with the Orange County area of CA.  I miss it quite a bit and look forward to getting back there on another trip and having RPG add some more beefy parts to my rig.  Thanks a million to Corey and Jarrett for completing an awesome adventure for me.  Until next time…keep the antenna side up!

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Hey…look at that, it’s 2012.  Happy New Year! It was a crazy and wild ride coming into the tail end of 2011 and between work and life in general, I fell behind updating the blog on Project Ironhide, so lets kick off 2012 with an update to what a lot of you have been waiting on…the suspension.  One of my requirements for this project was that I be able to take this rig off road into just about any conditions I could encounter here in WA and the western half of the US.  I want this rig to be able to handle Snow, Mud, Sand or river rock and do it with ease.  As good as the Ford FX4′s stock suspension may be, it is a stock factory configuration and we all know that anything stock can be improved upon.  One thing I did NOT want to do, however, was lift the truck using conventional lift kits.  I know there’s a lot of debate and opinions about this, but the bottom line is that when you lift a truck, you change the geometry of the suspension and how things were designed to work.  No matter how good the lift kit, at some point, components WILL fail (but that is the price you pay to play and any responsible truck enthusiast should know and understand that).  There are also center of gravity issues and just a host of problems I didn’t want to deal with on a new truck (like my wife and kids needing a ladder to get into the rig).  So how do I get the clearance required to get big meats under the truck and improve the ride quality at the same time?  After exhaustive research on the best way to do this, I decided to go with the Camburg 4WD Performance Kit. Camburg’s kit is absolutely amazing.  This kit allows you to add up to 3 inches of lift and over 40% more wheel travel over the stock F-150, bringing it almost in-line with the travel of a Raptor. The Upper A-Arms alone are just night and day from the stock A-Arms.  Comparing them side by side, there’s no doubt you will see the quality and beefiness of these UA’s.

The Camburg kit also includes Fox Racing 2.5″ Long-travel Coil-overs in the front and a set of 2.5″ Piggy Back’s in the rear.  These are OEM bolt-on replacement parts so there is no special machining, welding or modifying of anything to get these on your rig.  That being said, they are exactly what I just said, OEM replacements and that means that if your application goes above and beyond the factory application, you might be in for a surprise like I so rudely discovered.

My rig is carrying more weight than a typical user might carry.  I’ve got the ARE canopy on the bed, several hundred pounds of SAR and recovery gear in the bed, and a hitch-gate with full-sized spare hanging off the rear of the truck.  This added weight wasn’t designed for the stock OEM suspension and once everything was in place, the rear end was drooping pretty bad.  Now some folks like that CA Ridin’ Dirty look, but I prefer mine level.  If I take out too much of the pre-load on the front coil-overs. I’m not going to clear the 33.6″ Toyo Open Country M/T meats on the front, so how do we raise the ass-end of this rig?  I knew the answer, but wasn’t in any position at the time to do something about it as I needed a way to drive this rig home.  My mechanic, Buff, at Bickford Ford is a rock star.  He had a set of add-a-leaf’s in the back which we thought might do the trick.  After installing them, believe it or not…we were still ridin’ dirty.  So at this point there was really only one thing to do, which is what I was trying to avoid at all costs…blocks.  We threw in a set of 3″ blocks and sure enough, it did the trick.  But at what cost?  Now I have a real problem.  The Fox shocks for the rear are not long-travel shocks and I just tore 3″ of travel out of them with those blocks.  To say I wasn’t a happy camper was an understatement.  But this is the price you pay when building a customized rig…you live and learn.  So I’ve got 2 options…beef up the leaf springs in the rear and/or get some long-travel shocks like a set of take-off OEM Raptor shocks.  Anyone seen what those cost these days?  Sweet mother of…

So for the time-being, this is a temporary fix until we do things right.  As for the tires, You’ll see in some of the pics a set of chrome wheels with some 35′s wrapped around them.  As much as I wanted to fit those in there, there simply isn’t enough room without going full-on lift kit.  I could possibly trim an insane amount from the front valance, but that really isn’t the right way to do things so I downsized the tires to just a hair below 34′s (LT275/70R18 or 33/11.0) which is what you’ll see on the black wheels (Fuel Offroad “Gauge” Wheels in 18×9 with a 4.5″ Backspace & -.20 offset).

I’m going to leave you with some pics of the install and you can take a look at the results.  It looks great, but I’m not about to take this off road anytime soon until I get things done right (just to be safe).  And that’s where part 2 of this series comes in.  In part 2 I’m going to cover how I solved the block and shock problem in the rear, and I’m also going to show you something that nobody in the F-150 community has seen before.  Trust me when I tell you, this is going to blow you guys away.  I’ve got some new friends in California that know a thing or two about Ford Raptors and Baja 1000 trophy trucks that have some incredible new stuff coming out for the Raptor, that just happens to work for the F-150 too. You’re going to dig this, and you’re going to want this…stay tuned…

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We’ve been all about trucks around here for a while and I’ve been meaning to get a gear review up here now that I’ve had a chance to get out on the water a few times with my new Vedavoo Spinner Day Pack & Chest Pack add-on.  In the spirit of full disclosure, I did win this pack as part of a contest, and subsequently purchased the chest pack.  Boy am I glad I was the lucky winner!  I’ve been carrying around my fly gear primarily one of two ways…a chest pack/sling from Fishpond and my Orvis Pro guide wading jacket.  Both have served me well, but I never realized how uncomfortable those were the way I was using them.

Once I got the pack, it was a mission to strip the gear from the old pack and get it just right on the Spinner Day Pack.  There are so many places to stuff things that you have to really think about how you will use it…that’s not a bad thing.  Before with my chest pack, it was primarily just fly boxes, extra reels and all the usual stuff one takes with them.  But on cold, wet days, the chest pack wasn’t really working for me (bulky, hard to get into, etc.), so I’d end up shoving everything into the pockets of my wading jacket, which wasn’t exactly comfortable. Another annoyance for me with the chest pack was that because it was so bulky, I never wore it as a chest pack, but rather a shoulder sling so that I could push it off to the side.  That made it ride pretty low and if I waded in too deep, my pack would be in the water.  That’s the kind of thing that would get my thermal undies in a kink I tell you.

Now with the Spinner Day pack, I’ve got enough room to carry all the essentials, plus I can roll my jacket into the pack along with a bottle of water and a snack for the afternoon, with plenty of room to spare. That’s a HUGE thing for us here in WA where it can be sunny one minute, and turn grey, cold and wet the next. Nobody ever wants to hike back to the truck for the jacket.  When I’m on the water, the pack is up high and out of the water leaving me the ability to wade in deeper if I need to without worrying about getting my gear soaked.

As for the comfort factor…at first glance, I was taken back at the simplicity of the shoulder straps. I was actually concerned that it wouldn’t feel comfortable because there was no padding built into the web straps.  I couldn’t have been further off base.  The pack is actually extremely light and adjusts quite easily to whatever I’m wearing.  It’s not the typical bulky packs we have seen time and time again.  The real hidden gem in this pack is the optional chest “pack.”  I put that in quotes because it really isn’t a chest pack per sé, it’s a chest plate reminiscent of the kind I used to wear in my body armor in the military and as a cop.  When you aren’t on the water, it attaches seamlessly to the pack with the clips provided on the pack.  When you are ready for action, you take it off the pack, attach the provided strap, hang it off your neck and go.  This chest plate packs an amazing amount of stuff into a very small, compact and comfortable form factor.  All the stuff I need to get to while on the water is easily accessible leaving the other gear on my back and out of the way.

Like with any other backpack, wearing it while you cast is a concern.  Most of them block your range of motion and nothing will piss off a flycaster more than goofing up their cast and getting all knotted up.  Happily, this wasn’t the case with this pack.  It’s well out of the way and due to those light straps, casting was no different than without it.  I’m not too sure I would have run out and bought a backpack because of the this concern, but the Day Spinner did not disappoint.

To wrap things up, there is an insane amount of attachment points/loops on this pack.  With some standard carabiner rings, you can hang all sorts of stuff from the pack if you are hiking in somewhere.  I prefer to keep things light, but it’s nice to know I can sling some gear on there if I plan to be out for more than a few hours or have to hike a good distance from the truck.  If you are in the market for a new pack and haven’t taken a look at the Spinner Day Pack, definitely give it consideration as I’ve found it invaluable since I’ve started using it.  It’s my go to pack and has a permanent spot in my gear stash now.

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Here’s a quick and easy mod for anyone.  I have been wanting to get one of those RBP black exhaust tips since I got the truck.  I have debated this endlessly.  Is an exhaust tip really worth almost $200?  I simply can’t justify that for something that doesn’t do anything other than give a pipe a nicer look.  So I went down to the local auto parts store and decided to make my own.  I bought a 4.5″ chrome tip and some VHT (Very High Temp) flat black spray paint.  I had some fine grit sandpaper at home and was good to go.  I started by giving the nice new chrome tip a good scuffing to allow the paint to stick to it better.  After a good wipe-down, I started painting the exhaust tip with nice even strokes and light coats.  This paint dries pretty fast and with an hour I had laid down a good 3 layers of paint and the tip was done.

Well, a nice flat black tip does you no good with an ugly stainless steel exhaust pipe.  That had to be fixed as well.  After some taping and masking of the surrounding areas, I followed the same process and gave the exhaust pipe a good base of flat black.  Once everything had dried, I ran the truck for a bit to cure the paint on the pipes.  Once it cooled off, I installed the tip and repeated the process letting the paint cure a bit more.  That’s it!  Pretty easy and it looks 100% better.  Check out the pics below…

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One of the requirements for my project truck was being able to carry a lot of my Search and Rescue gear as well as other gear for fishing, camping, or any number of other activities I plan to do with the truck.  I also wanted a canopy which could serve as a solid shelter in the event I have to spend the night out somewhere unexpectedly.  As I started doing my homework, I narrowed down the list of canopies to 3 manufacturers.  I did a ton of research on the internet, then went to some local dealers and finally settled on the A.R.E. Z-series.  I loved the look of the canopy with the nice lines that blended in with the bed of the truck, the frameless windows for a clean look, and the interior carpeting which matched my BedRug perfectly.  My local A.R.E. dealer, Canopy West in Everett, WA, was absolutely fantastic to work with (and is a primary reason why I also chose to go with one of their products).  I spent a good amount of time chatting with Mike, the GM,  and he took me through all of my options before I settled on the A.R.E.  I looked at every single element of these canopies and after comparing all of them, the A.R.E. had me sold primarily due to the quality of the hardware components (one look at the hinges on the rear window and you will know exactly what I mean), the clean look on the rear window (no visible hardware other than the locking latch), and overall quality of the paint job (which turned out to match PERFECTLY with my truck).  Mike was a huge help in showing me the infinite number of options and how I could configure the canopy to best suit my needs.

When I ordered the canopy, I chose a few options that made a lot of sense to me.  First, the rear sliding glass window that sits up against the cab of the truck.  There are a number of options here, but I definitely wanted a sliding window since I had one on the truck, and I really like the fact you could choose to have it swing down in order to make cleaning of both windows easier.  That has come in super handy.  Another option was the interior 12V LED light.  This one is definitely a must have, but I have to say…it’s not as bright as I had hoped.  This is a large canopy and the small LED light just simply doesn’t do it any justice. Luckily this is pretty easily remedied with some additional LED lighting options that are out on the market. I also chose to have Mike mount up a clothes hanger and fishing rod carrier.  These options are absolutely great for when I go out fishing.  Last, but certainly not least, the Yakima rack and Megawarrior cargo basket.  Getting the rack installed by the factory is an absolute MUST.  This is not a trivial installation once the canopy leaves the factory.  When the canopy arrived, I had no worries about drilling into a new canopy and possibly misaligning the rack holes.  This is done on a large jig at the factory for precise alignment and I couldn’t be happier with my decision.

On installation day, I was amazed at how these canopies are installed.  Before I had arrived, the cargo box had already been mounted to the rack to make things easier on the installation.  I had also opted for the shovel/axe brackets on each side of the basket which were also already mounted.  Mike’s tech, Jason, has clearly done this a million times.  The canopy was loaded up on a forklift and prepped for the install with the proper weather seals and wiring.  Before I knew it, Jason was sliding that canopy on the to bed of the truck while Mike guided him in.  Once the canopy was in place, the wiring for the 12V LED was put in place and tapped into the main battery via a dedicated wire (not the tail lights).  There’s a slick little device that sits on the hydraulic arms to the rear window and it triggers the LED light when you open the window.  Once the canopy clamps were installed and clamped down, Jason hit the interior with the air gun and got it all nice and cleaned up for me.  It looked AWESOME.

I’ve had the canopy now for a couple of months and have been out on some camping and fishing trips.  I seriously don’t know how I had lived without one of these on my previous trucks.  If you are debating on getting one of these, DON’T.  I couldn’t be happier with not only getting a canopy, but choosing the A.R.E. and buying it from Canopy West.  These guys are true pro’s at what they do and they know their stuff.  Do your homework, look at what’s out there and make sure you work with a reputable dealer in your area that will be there if anything goes wrong.  Here’s the pics from the install…

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Here’s another quick one for today.  Finally installed the RECON headlights.  There’s just not much to say about these other than they look AWESOME.  Installation took < 1 hour.  The headlights come in a HUGE box, individually packaged nicely with plenty of protection.  There’s some minor pre-wiring work to do, but pretty basic stuff.  To bolt them to the truck takes 3 bolts, that’s it.  You screw in the factory bulbs and you are up and running.  LOVE the new look…

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Hey folks.  Been slammed here recently but I wanted to throw a quick update on the truck on here.  Finally got around to installing the CB Radio.  Pretty simple setup.  I’m using the Cobra 29LX with a 4ft. Firestik tunable antenna mounted with a HD Spring on the Firestik NGP Antenna Kit with a door jamb mount at the tailgate.  I ran the cable through the bed of the truck, along the side (underneath the bedbug).  At the back of the bed (behind the cab) there is a plastic drain plug and I routed the cable through there and came up underneath the cab of the truck (pax side).  Behind the rear door on the floor board there is a small rubber grommet/plug which you can use to route the cable into the cab.  I then ran the cabling under the carpet and pax seat to a small hole in the right rear section of the center console.  Through that hole you can poke the cable up into the center console, which is where I mounted the CB.  The CB doesn’t have an ideal location in these trucks and I didn’t want to drill into the console, so I improvised using some velcro with sticky backing (you can pick it up at any craft store) and it holds everything perfectly.  Once the antenna is in the console, you just need to solder the end connections in place and you are almost done.  For power, I used a cig. lighter plug with +/- leads straight to the power plug on the CB.  It’s got an inline fuse and makes the install way easier that running to the fuse box.  I also added a PA Speaker under the hood and ran a PA cable from under the hood of the truck to the CB.  This one is MUCH trickier.  There’s simply not a lot of entry points from the firewall into the cab.  I used the same location as I did for the rally lights and fished some 18g speaker wire through that hole and under the carpeting into the center console.  It was a bitch, but not impossible.  The CB is hidden and out of view from nefarious types and easy to get to if you are driving. After the install I calibrated the antenna using the built-in SWR meter and got it down to < .25 on the scale, WELL within acceptable limits and it’s got a nice clean strong signal.  Couldn’t have asked for an easier setup.

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There’s simply no words to express how sad today has made me feel.  Steve Jobs is the reason I have a career in design today.  He has impacted my own life, and my family in so many ways, it’s simply immeasurable.  Thank you for making the world a better place through art, design and passion for creating the best experiences possible for your users.

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It’s time for the next update on Project Ironhide. In this post we’ll cover the installation of the N-Fab Light Bar and 801/803 series KC Rally lights.  Lets start with the light bar.  Pretty standard piece of hardware and bolts onto the truck fairly easily without any real modifications. N-Fab does a really nice job with the design and incorporates some nice touches. That being said, if you want to really do a bang-up job that makes the install look really clean (no wires zip tied to the bar) then you have to take it just a tad bit farther.  This is where having some skills in the shop come in handy.

There are a couple of ways one can go about mounting everything for a build like this.  But there’s only one real way (in my opinion) to get this done, and that’s to pre-wire and mount everything to the light bar BEFORE it goes on the truck. I have opted to have some of my mods done by the dealer and I couldn’t be happier with that decision.  I always freak out when it comes to drilling into brand new metal, but sometimes, you just have to do it.  Thankfully I had two very talented guys working on my truck, Kevin Piper and his apprentice Aaron.  Kevin started working on the light bar well before I arrived in order to have everything mounted up and ready to go.  Part of the prep for Kevin included making sure the install looked as clean as possible and that meant drilling into the light bar and running the wires through it, rather than simply tie-wrapping them to it.  Boy, what a HUGE difference that makes. N-Fab should look to this as a best-practice and modify their design to incorporate this way of wiring the light bar to the vehicle.  I’d add some grommets for a clean look and to keep water out of the holes (we used some black silicone).

Once the lights and pre-wiring are complete, it’s time to move on to mounting the light bar onto the vehicle.  With the new EcoBoost F-150′s, the license plate bracket on the front of the vehicle has been moved off to the side to allow for proper and unobstructed cooling of the turbo intercooler. This presented a slight hiccup when mounting the light bar, but it was easily cured with a little bit of “modification” of the factory bracket. For the non-EcoBoost engines, the license plate bracket is centered on the vehicle and bolts to a small lip extending from the side of the opening.  Kevin sawed the lip off and we were back in business.  Given that we won’t ever need (or want) to block that front opening, no loss here.

Next, we bolted up the light bar to the truck and started wiring it up.  Ford has paid attention to the little details now and providing things like nice flaps to cover wide empty (eg. ugly) spaces provides us with an opportunity to hide the relay switches behind one of these flaps.

Before running all the wires to the interior, remember to check your connections!  There’s nothing worse than doing a bunch of labor intensive work and routing your wires nice and neat only to discover later you wired it wrong or there’s a problem somewhere. As I preach in software development & design, test early…test often!  With the initial wiring out of the way, we lit up everything to confirm we are good to proceed.

Now for the fun part, the interior.  Lets start with running the wiring through the firewall.  What an incredible PAIN IN THE ASS!  Ford did such a damn good job sealing the interior from the firewall forward, that it didn’t leave many options for getting wiring through to the main cabin. After much battle with finding a suitable ingress point and taping wires to a wire hangar, Kevin and Aaron were finally able to pull the wiring through.  This is no trivial task as the small little hole we used was not visible to the eye from below the glove box and required feeling our way through the heavily insulated carpet up behind the dash by the glove box while another person was fishing the wire down from the outside.  Again, Ford has stepped up quality and craftsmanship significantly which made it that much more difficult for us to do without drilling holes unnecessarily.  Did I mention I’m not a fan of drilling into new metal?

After getting the wires set up, it came time to figure out a solution to the switching.  This is probably the single most mind-numbing part of the install, which I lost countless sleep over, trying to figure out how to best accomplish while maintaining a high degree of fit and finish.  I searched the forums endlessly for examples of how others had installed the switches for their lights.  Not a single example passed my sniff test.  I poured over literally hundreds of parts websites and aftermarket lighting/panel specific manufactures.  You know what I found for the F-150? BUPKIS.  Nada.  ZILCH.  Sure, there were plenty of switches and tons of dash mounted options for Jeeps, but it seems like nobody thinks people put lights on anything but a Jeep, including Ford!  Using cheesy switches and drilling or screwing them to the dash or trim just looked cheap and I wasn’t having that.  What irked me more than anything was that Ford has a perfect solution for the Raptor with 4 neatly mounted aux switches that would have fit the bill perfectly.  I would have just used that part from the Raptor but there are a couple of buttons that would have gone to waste and the cost for the part was not cheap.  I was about to give up and assume that I and the rest of the non-Raptor F-150 universe was left out in the cold for a nice solution to this.  No so fast skippy, that’s where that decision to buy from Bickford Ford paid off…again.

After brainstorming with Kevin, he spotted a nice sheet of 1/4″ aluminum he had laying around.  The idea was to fab a plate that would go where the F-150′s coin/junk area was just forward of the shifter / cup holders and mount the switches to that.  Taking it one step farther, I have a VIAIR On Board Air compressor I’ll be installing soon and that comes with a gauge and switch as well.  We figured, why not make a complete switch panel that also allows for future add-ons?  We removed the center console and went to work.  First, the junk holder was going to have to go through a slight modification so we could fit everything and run wires. After getting that modded, we used it as a template to cut the aluminum plate.

After some fit and finish work and giving the plate a brushed look, time to measure things up, lay out the switches and see how this beast would come together. A little drilling, filing, sanding and a quick run to the auto parts store (for some extra switches to make them all uniform), and the panel was complete.  I have to say, this came out better than anything I could have possibly bought on the market!  Not only do I have the switches for the lighting in place, but now the OBA gauge is mounted cleanly and in a place that makes sense. For the switches I used Blue for the OBA, Green (4 total – 2 in use now, 2 for later) for lighting, and (2) Red for a couple of things I have in mind in the future. You’ll have to come back and follow the build to find out what those are!

Thanks a million to Kevin, Aaron and the entire crew at Bickford Ford.  They far exceeded my expectations on this.  Stay tuned for more updates coming soon, the best is yet to come!  Full pics after the jump…

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Hey folks, so I’ve been busy as heck getting things going with the project and it’s coming together quite nicely.  I wanted to start off the series with an easy mod just about anyone can do with a few basic tools and some minimal mechanical know-how.  One of the things every enthusiast wants to do is get better performance out of their ride.  There aren’t a whole lot of performance modifications available for the EcoBoost engine at the moment for several good reasons.  First, the engine is built to such tight tolerances, that going outside of some very strict parameters can have catastrophic effects on the engine.  You won’t see any chips, tuners or flashes for these engines for quite some time, if ever.  There are lots of companies working hard to figure out a way to add performance to the EcoBoost without voiding your warranty.  But for now, your options are really limited to air intake systems and some fairly minor exhaust mods.  Venture out beyond that, and you are in voided warranty land.

That being said, Airaid has recently launched their newest product, a cold air intake system for the F-150 EcoBoost engine.  Airaid has quite a solid reputation and is known for putting out very high-quality components.  This High Performance Air Intake system is no exception.  When you open the box and pull out the air filter, your first reaction is “holy *h!#, this thing is MASSIVE!”  I’m not kidding here, this is one seriously BEEFY air filter.  One thing to note is that for EcoBoost owners, you want to make sure and order the NON OILED (SythaMax) air filter.  Using an oiled (SynthaFlow) filter on this engine can quickly lead to a bad day due to the EcoBoost’s twin turbos.  Once you verify you have the non-oiled filter and all the parts for the kit, installation is fast and easy.  Removing the stock air box, filter and mass air flow sensor is pretty straight forward.  Assembling the new box, reinstalling the MAF sensor  and re-attaching the hose and clamps is straight forward as well.   Total install time was well under 30 minutes.

Specs from Airaid’s dyno have this simple mod adding an extra 20 horsepower and 39 lbs/ft. of torque!  That’s a whole lotta bang for your dollar from a simple mod.  I haven’t had a chance to make a road-trip with the new CAI system installed, but I’m expecting that it will add a bit of a fuel economy boost as well, which is hard to complain about.  Some of you might be wondering what it sounds like with the new filter installed so I’ve cut together a before and after video for you.  Pics after the jump…Hope you enjoy!

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Hey everyone.  Just wanted to shoot some pics of Ironhide before the big transformation (no pun intended) this week.  If all goes well, I’ll start getting the initial components of the build mounted on the truck this week with steady progress on additional parts over the coming weeks.  For now, here’s the first set of pics…enjoy!

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It’s been a long few weeks folks, but the truck is on it’s way!  It left the Dearborn Ford factory on August 5th and is currently steaming across middle-America on it’s way home to the pacific NorthWest.  ETA should put the truck here early next week.  I’ve officially named the truck. This is hereby officially now: PROJECT IRONHIDE.  As a huge fan of the Transformers since I was a kid, this has been one of my favorite of all characters and the supreme Autobot Combat Veteran.  Little known fact, Ironhide was at one point an F-series pickup truck. So yes folks, Michael Bay sold out to GM by taking their cash and making Ironhide a GMC Dually (a bad ass looking one at that), but nonetheless, a GMC.  I’m hereby taking Ironhide back and giving him a proper chassis where it belongs…ON A FORD!  :)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ironhide

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Farewell dear Stang...

It’s been a busy year and I’ve totally neglected my blog, but that’s about to change here.  After five years of living in the great state of Washington, I’ve finally decided that my 2006 Mustang is simply not going to cut it any longer.  My needs have changed and going back to a truck will suit my family’s and my lifestyle much better.  I will miss the stang, she’s been a great and reliable car and one heck of an eye popping head turner.  In five years I’ve only had it in the shop for one repair outside of basic maintenance, kind of hard to complain about a car like that.  She will be missed.  But a new beast is lurking in the background getting ready to make an appearance in my driveway soon enough.

So like anything else in life, I’ve made lots of compromises and sacrifices when buying a car in the past (like getting the stang in a V-6 rather than the GT).  I’ve never had a new vehicle *just* the way I want it for some reason or another.  Since I plan to keep this truck for quite some time, this will be a no-compromises build and I’ve decided to do things the way I want them from the get go. I looked around at every truck out there and there are some great options available these days.  One hard core criteria that was not up for negotiation was that this truck would have to be AMERICAN MADE.  With so much that is wrong in this world and our economy being in pretty sad shape, I felt it was only right to spend my hard earned money right here and put it to work in our own economy.  After looking at all the major players and doing extensive homework, I confirmed what I already suspected…this was going to be another Ford for this family.  I’ve had a Ford in the family since I was born (my dad started my obsession with his 67 Mustang) and I’ve gone on to own a dozen or so Ford products. At this point in my life, I think it’s safe to say I bleed blue.

So the next big question, *which* truck would be the right one?  I have to be honest, there’s a secret part of me that ‘s total redneck.  Yes, you can be hispanic and be redneck.  :)  That being said, I really wanted a Diesel powered beast and a dually was something I’ve wanted as long as I can remember.  Let me tell you folks, if you haven’t checked out an F-350 lately, you would be shocked at what an amazing truck that is.  All that being said, I quickly realized it was going to be entirely too much truck for what I needed.  Even with plans on buying an RV next year, short of a giant 5th wheel toy hauler, I just simply didn’t *need* an F-350.  Short-lived dream, but practicality and an ass-whoopin from the wife wasn’t part of this build.  Back to reality.

The truth is that these days, an F-150 is so much more capable than the same truck even a few years ago, that if you aren’t hauling some very heavy things on a daily basis, an F-150 should suit just about anyone out there looking for an all-around solid and very capable truck.  This truck build will have four major missions to accomplish. First mission, an eco-friendly daily driver truck. Yes, I used eco-friendly and truck in the same sentence. Fuel prices aren’t getting any cheaper and the need for an all-around multi-function truck made the new Ford EcoBoost engine an extremely attractive option.  We’re pretty eco-conscious here in the Pacific NW and when I first read about this new twin-turbo engine, I have to admit, I questioned what the heck Ford was thinking, but I kept an open mind in the name of being “green.”  I watched for months as this new engine’s saga began to unfold.  I read every article, every blog and took every opportunity to learn anything I could about this engine.  The bottom line folks?  This is the real deal.  As this engine gets put to the test over time, I really believe it will revolutionize the way America thinks about 6-cylinder engines moving forward, especially the truck enthusiast community.

Second mission: An off-road capable beast that can get me to just about any photography location or fishing hole I choose to go after.  I’ve become obsessed with fly fishing this past year (which coincides nicely with one my other passions, photography).  As I learned more about my new hobby and ventured out to new and unknown destinations in search of fish, it became painfully obvious (very quickly) that my Mustang was simply not going to get me to those places you find in magazines.  Aside from being able to get on the many fire-roads and off-road trails in the region, this truck has to be able to serve as a solid shelter should things go wrong in the middle of nowhere .  One thing I’ve learned being part of a Search and Rescue organization, things will go wrong when you least expect them to.  And when they do go wrong, you better be prepared if you plan to make it back home. Throughout this series I will cover the products I chose to accomplish this mission and why they’re critical to being prepared.

Third mission: SAR.  As I alluded to above, I’ve been involved in Search and Rescue on and off for over 25 years with the Civil Air Patrol.  Most recently that has been from an air operations aircrew role but this year I’m planning to get back to my roots and exercise those rusty ground team chops.  Here in WA, you simply never know what kind of terrain that mission will take you to.  As a senior leader, if I’m taking my cadets out into the unknown, I want to make sure we are loaded up and prepared to spend some time out there should something go wrong.  This rig has to be able to execute this mission with a high degree of reliability and success.

Fourth mission, but certainly not least: the family adventures.  I have been blessed with two very beautiful girls and a wife that lets me get away with crazy ideas like building a project truck.  So it’s only fair that when able, I take them out to experience the outdoors and what this great state has to offer.  Prior to moving to Washington, my wife’s idea of camping was room service at the Mandalay Bay in Vegas.  The mere thought of no running water or flushing toilets made her cringe.  Over the past couple of years I’ve managed to ease her and my little ones into camping by starting them easy at campgrounds with facilities like KOA’s.  This was a perfect way to introduce them to the outdoors without a lot of undue stress and drama.  This year I finally coaxed my wife (with the help of some friends) to try camping at a primitive campground which had “pit” toilets.  She wasn’t exactly keen on the idea so I went prepared with a Luggable Loo and pop-up Privacy Shelter as a backup.  Thankfully, we didn’t even need them and the girls camped like champs.  Next up – Overland excursions and off-trail primitive camping!  But you know I’ll have a backup shelter – the truck!

So now comes the fun part, ordering the truck.  One thing I’ve learned over the years and after buying several new vehicles is that not all dealers are the same.  Your experience and level of quality can vary pretty dramatically and I’ve been on the receiving end of working with a dealer that was a complete nightmare (none here in WA though).  I took this part of the build extremely serious as I want to make sure that not only will the dealer be around to honor any “dealer” warranties outside of Ford (think aftermarket parts), I wanted to establish a long-term relationship with my dealer knowing that I would be back for another vehicle in the not too distant future.  Over the past few years of living in the Seattle area, I’ve been to most of the local dealerships but one in particular has stood out time and time again, Bickford Ford.  So for anyone out there who wonders if social media can make a difference and bring you new customers, I’m one example of how simple frequent interactions with the dealer on Facebook has landed them a new customer. The folks at Bickford have not only been extremely helpful throughout the ordering process, but they made sure I wasn’t getting into more truck than I needed.  Remember that F-350 I was considering?  It was the guys at Bickford that discouraged me from that purchase based on my needs.  I’ve been to many dealers that would have put me into the most expensive truck I was willing to take on, but this is one dealer that you can count on having solid salesmanship and ethics. Bickford has a great service team and through their aftermarket specialists, I’m able to get exactly what I’m looking for on the truck in one place at the same price you’ll find at most online stores (and they’ll stand behind the products).

So by now I hear you screaming…”tell us what you got already!”  Fine!  :)  A couple of months ago I finally placed the order for a 2011 F-150 FX4 EcoBoost.  The order wasn’t without a hitch however.  As life would have it, due to the unfortunate events that have happened in Japan, Nav systems are in short supply for all auto manufacturers at the moment and Ford was no exception.  After placing the order with Nav system, I was notified that they would not be able to get the Nav system.  I seriously thought this was going to be a deal breaker for me.  Being a tech-guy I really wanted that new Nav system with Ford Sync.  After trying to find an existing truck that met my needs and striking out, I decided that the Nav system delete wasn’t that bad after all.  Not only did it save me some serious cash that I can put towards other parts, in the end, you can do some amazing stuff with the aftermarket units out there today.  I’ll cover this more in-depth as one of the segments throughout the series. For now, we are t-minus 2-3 weeks from an ETA delivery date of August 8, 2011.

So stay tuned folks.  This project truck build will cover everything from performance to aesthetics to functional mods that will make this an ultimate outdoors rig.  I’ll be covering suspension mods (without a lift kit) that will include coil-overs, shocks, upper a-arm upgrades, 18″ wheels, 34″ tires and more.  Lighting mods from lightbar selection with long-range lights to replacement HALO headlamps. Functional mods will include canopy (topper) selection, bed liner, side steps, spare tire carrier for the oversized tire to roof rack and cargo box mods. Depending on how broke I am after all that, we’ll look at how to make a substitution for that factory Nav that will blow the factory option out of the water. So in closing , I’ll leave you with a sneak peek at what the baseline for this project build will look like.  Stay tuned folks, over the next several months I will periodically be posting updates to every step of the build!

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Hello from CTIA 2011 in sunny Orlando, FL! As the Teleca team wraps up yet another successful industry event, we wanted to take the time to recap some of the best parts of the show. First, we had a number of great meetings at our suite across from the convention center at the Peabody Hotel. It was a great opportunity to meet up with some of our valued clients, new and old. We are feeling some great energy and excitement about what’s coming in 2011…stay tuned for more success stories throughout the year.

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It’s been one heck of a busy year with a lot of changes in my life, thankfully all for the better. All-in-all, I can say it’s been a pretty good year and for that I’m grateful. I’m lucky enough to be working in one of the most exciting spaces in technology (mobile apps) and found a new passion, Fly Fishing.

This week I had the privilege of finally being able to go on a guided float down the Yakima River with Orvis endorsed guide Derek Young from Emerging Rivers Guide Services and my buddy Troy Yung. What an experience that was! I was thoroughly ready to catch my share of some trout, but I swear they were holed up in a fish hotel watching some fish porn or something. More on that in a bit…

One of the Fly Shops I frequent is Orvis in Bellevue, WA. In the short time I’ve been fly fishing (a few months), Orvis has put on a number of free seminars that have been quite excellent and their Orvis Days have been simply awesome.

If you haven’t gone to these, you are REALLY missing out! The staff at Orvis has always been wonderful and very knowledgable. If you are a local in the area and haven’t been to Orvis, make sure to at least go there once to have a look and meet some of the fine folks like Leland Miyawaki, the Fly Fishing Manager and Dov Young (what is it with all the Youngs in fly fishing around here). If you are into salt water fly fishing in Puget Sound, Leland is one of the most knowledgable guides in the area. Just be forewarned, if you go, it’s going to be hard to walk out empty-handed!!!

It was at the Orvis Fall Days where I met Derek Young when he was presenting on fly fishing the Yakima river. I knew Derek had to be a cool dude when I saw him setting up his MacBook for the presentation. Mac guy, fly fisher, how could he be a bad dude? Then my suspicions were confirmed when he started talking about fly fishing the Yakima. I knew right then I HAD to do this. The bug was planted (no pun intended), now I just needed to find the right time to go. Life was pretty slammed and crazy busy at work for the past 3 months (notice the lack of posts on the blog here). But FINALLY, I found a time that would work, but as life would have it…it was dead smack in the middle of winter. Cold as hell, and not exactly the best conditions for trout. But I was determined. If for nothing else, the float would be incredibly scenic (and fun) and it would be good casting practice with a chance to get some 1:1 instruction on techniques like nymphing, droppers, strike indicators and streamers, as well as reading the water, all of which I was still a complete n00b at.

Every good adventure has a story behind it, and this adventure would not leave us empty-handed. Our day started out in less-than-ideal fashion with Troy’s Audi deciding that half way to North Bend (our planned breakfast destination) was about a good time to break down. :-/ We pampered it and hobbled along to get pretty close to our rally point when I called Derek for a rescue mission. The Audi was pissed off and bucking like a bronco. I suspect CV joints were at the root of the poor Audi’s dilema given the clacking sound and resistance to turning without creating a scene. I was really hoping this was not an early indicator of how the rest of the day was going to turn out. But thankfully, Derek promptly jumped in the “Rum Pig” (more on that later), and came to the rescue a few miles down the road just before we hit Issaquah on I-90.

Troy called a tow truck and set up an appointment for them to tow the car AFTER our float later that evening. There was no way we were going to miss this opportunity. As we were wrapping up the towing situation, Derek pulls up in the Tundra (Rum Pig) with a sweet looking StreamTech raft in tow. This green monster had FUN written all over it. Things were looking up.

Our original plans called for us to stop at a killer breakfast joint in North Bend, but due to the delays, we opted to skip the big breakfast and grab something once we got closer to our put-in at Cle Elum, daylight was at a premium at this time of year. We loaded our gear and launched heading east on I-90 towards Snoqualmie Pass. The weather forecast was all over the place with some calling for snow, so we were hoping the weather would cooperate. The passes definitely had snow, but the drive eastbound to Cle Elum was more than manageable.

We made it through the pass and arrived at our first stop, the Pioneer Coffee Roasting Company. We grabbed some tasty eats and loaded ourselves with coffee to hold us over for a good while. From there we headed out for a quick hop to the put-in. When we got there, I just looked at Derek, then Troy, back at Derek and said, what…THIS is where you’re putting in?

So….like where’s the ramp? Then Derek proceeded to go all 4×4 in what I thought was pucker factor 10 (mind you I’m a recent Northwest transplant from Miami, FL of all places). Snow is something I’m still adjusting to, especially when driving in it. But I guess that’s why Derek is a true pro guide, he maneuvered the Rum Pig with no problem and got us into position to pull the StreamTech off the trailer. I was still wondering how the hell he was going to get the raft to the river, but he promptly put that question to rest. Derek started prepping the raft while Troy and I got suited up. After stowing our gear and a solid safety brief, we boarded the Class 5 rated StreamTech raft and were on our way.

The scenery was simply breathtaking. Everything just has this serene feel about it when it’s covered in snow. The water was crystal clear. Floating down the river just felt right. After a short float, we jumped out for some casting instruction and a little wading. Derek worked with us on getting our casting skills tightened up and got us warmed up for the day. That’s when Troy discovered it just wasn’t his day. There’s probably not much else worse than standing in a river wearing chest waders that are supposed to keep you warm and DRY only to find out you have not one, but multiple leaks. The suck factor for Troy just went up by 10x. No problem though, we adjusted the plan and spent a minimal amount of time wading in lieu for seat time on the raft. As it turns out, this wasn’t bad at all. It probably kept us warmer in the long run and it was great practice being able to fish from a floating platform, we can wade anytime. We spent the majority of the day floating except for a few pit stops along the way.

We started the day off with some nymphing. Derek rigged us up nice with a dropper combo and indicator that would hopefully improve our odds of catching something. Somehow the fish knew something we didn’t. They simply didn’t want to come out and play. While Troy and I were slingin bugs, Derek was keeping an eye out for anywhere the fish might be hiding. We could see clear to the bottom of every pool and nothing, nada, zilch, zip. But we charged on.  Along one of our pit stops Derek pointed out the hatch of the day on the snowbank. Looked like some small black winter stoneflies and midges were on the menu for the day.

We continued floating for the next several hours, only to be skunked by the trout. I was able to get some great shots throughout the day and made the float that much sweeter being able to combine another one of my passions, photography.

Before we knew it the daylight was gone and we arrived at our final destination. The shuttle service had already positioned the truck and we were ready to go. Again the Rum Pig came through like a champ and put that Warn winch to good use. The snow was fresh powder and deep. Derek dug out in 4WD mode with ease and got the truck lined up to pull the raft up to shore. A few button pushes later the boat was beached and he turned the truck around to pull the raft onto the trailer. NICE. And just like that, our adventure had just about come to an end.

On our way home we stopped for some great burgers and headed for the pass. The snow was coming down hard at this point and driving conditions were deteriorating fast. Thankfully we made it through with no problems and arrived in time to meet the tow truck.

This adventure ended with us getting skunked by the trout. Fish 1: Anglers 0. I intend to get even. We’ve already committed to Derek that we’ll be coming back out in March for a rematch with the trout. Something tells me the next three months are going to be very long. I couldn’t have asked for a better way to end the year. Thanks to my buddy Troy and new friend Derek for a great time I won’t ever forget. In the meantime I think I’ll try my hand at learning to tie some flies. And wouldn’t ya know it, Orvis has a 4-session fly tying class coming up in January!

Oh…and about that Rum Pig, you’re probably wondering why I’ve been referring to the Tundra as the “Rum Pig”…

For more pics on our adventure, see the full set on my Flickr page. Happy New Year & Tight lines…see you in 2011!!!

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Looks like Facebook is testing some UI enhancements starting today for a limited group of users (other colleagues in the office aren’t seeing the changes). I just refreshed my browser and noticed that the UI around updating my status has changed. I have to say, I like it. It’s a very nice and much cleaner treatment around the update bar.

If you look closely there’s another interesting feature called “Question.” I read about this a few months ago on the NY Times and have been waiting to see this, and it’s finally here. Pretty interesting to say the least. It’s like ask jeeves just took over Facebook! I haven’t seen anyone actually using this so I don’t know if this is something that actually rolled out to other users earlier or if today is the first time anyone is seeing this. It seems like a potentially useful feature but time will tell.

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It’s a new world for how we do business online these days. There is a constant struggle between designing what is an optimal user experience for your customers and one which will (presumably) have a greater impact on the overall business goals for your product or company. More often than not, the business needs win over the user experience. What isn’t so evident at times is the impact those decisions will have on a greater scale. This is one example that illustrates why business owners and stake-holders should always consult with a UX professional and take a serious look when the recommendations of those professionals aren’t necessarily what they want to hear.

I’ve been a long-time user and founding member of LinkedIn. I think it’s a fantastic site and provides real value while providing a quality service for both its users and paying customers (e.g. recruiters looking for top talent and sales professionals looking to connect with potential clients, etc.). Slowly over the years I’ve witnessed the declining user experience (not from a design perspective but rather a value for me as a user) as LinkedIn has looked for ways to monetize their business. Hey, I get it – the investors and shareholders want to see a return on that investment and they need to keep the lights on, we can’t get a free ride for ever. Nobody can argue with that. The problem is that LinkedIn’s services and offerings which bring in the revenue depend on one key factor…MY / YOUR PERSONAL DATA. They can only make money if the community at large decides to voluntarily give them that data. In return, we get the benefit of connecting with colleagues, classmates, friends and recruiters. Fair enough.

So it strikes a real nerve when features that were once included, get taken away…not because they want to monetize that feature, but because of a perceived “value” that doing so will provide. Disclaimer: For all I know I may be part of an A/B test and this is something only selected accounts are seeing at this point, I can’t say one way or the other). What I can tell you is that my experience today is different than it was yesterday. Today LinkedIn rolled out a new “feature” around the “Who’s Viewed My Profile” widget. Previously one could set their privacy settings so that you could safely and anonymously view other members profiles without them thinking you are a stalker. Conversely, corporate HR departments and recruiters could safely search for a candidate and not worry that they would get bombarded with unsolicited requests to connect in hopes of getting a new job. Anonymity and privacy are key to this feature actually being used.

Today’s new experience requires you to REMOVE that privacy setting (and set it to reveal your full name and headline) in order for you to see the results of who’s viewed your profile. That is simply inexcusable. You don’t require someone to give up their right to privacy in order to view something that was available previously. It violates the users trust and really creates a lot of questions around where they are heading with regards to my private data that I am allowing them to use and monetize. To add insult to injury, if you decide to allow LinkedIn to change your privacy settings in order to see the results, you are presented with ZERO results and a nice offer to “upgrade” your account if you want to see the results. Without a questionable doubt, an EPIC failboat of a user experience and violation of trust.

I wasn’t a happy camper when this feature was stripped down for those who have a basic account, but at least it let me see that there was activity on my profile and a general idea of what kind of folks were hitting on my profile. That kind of information does actually help someone fine tune their profile for optimal results when it comes to getting noticed or “found” on LinkedIn. Now with the new requirements, that widget is effectively completely useless and wasting valuable screen real estate which I could use for what I consider more pertinent information. The new widget has just become a bait and switch ad. Excellent. <insert sarcasm here> :-\

My hopes are that I am in the minority of users who will ever see this and that my experience was no more than a typical A/B test that we use widely in usability to gauge the success or failure of a certain design. I am a huge fan of LinkedIn so I’m praying for a fix soon. My advice to them would be to simply be transparent and straight with what we get with a basic versus pro account and not change the terms at will. Reward your long time users who have helped you achieve success, don’t nickel and dime them for functionality that should be there to begin with.

What do you guys think? Sound off in the comments and let me know if you are seeing the same results and how you feel about having to give up your privacy for this basic feature.

–Frank

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I’ve been busy….REAL busy the past 6 months but life is trucking along quite nicely. Picked up a new hobby (as if I needed another one) and just got into Fly Fishing. I have to admit, I never thought I’d be much for fishing but there’s just something about being out here in the wilderness of the Pacific NW that is absolutely magical and therapeutic. I’m looking forward to learning more about my new passion and incorporating my love of photography into fly fishing. Now if only I could squeeze in flying and get in a floatplane to get into those really remote areas. Not quite ready to take that plunge but maybe someday.

For now, I leave you with my first catch…nice little Rainbow Trout that I released back to the wild to be caught another day.

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Mount Baker, originally uploaded by bisonium.

One of my latest pics from last weekend’s SAREX (Search and Rescue Exercise) with the Civil Air Patrol. The entire set can be found at:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bisonium/sets/72157623745697876/

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It’s been a busy week of updates and cleaning up the dusty parts of this blog.  We now have a brand new look and I’ve added some dedicated pages for my resume, photos and contact info.

A couple of housekeeping notes…make sure to update your RSS Feeds if you aren’t seeing them.  I’ve republished the feed to feedburner but if you were using anything other than that, you might want to check your feed settings or re-subscribe via the link at the top.  If you are having any issues or see anything wonky, please leave a comment and I’ll be sure to check it out.  Now back to our regularly scheduled blogging…that is all.  :)

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If you are serious about becoming the best pilot you can be, you won’t want to miss these gems produced by Fly Right Films. I recently discovered these guys via Facebook and saw the trailers posted on their site. I was sold the instant I saw them. I just finished watching Volume 1: Attitude Flying and Volume 2: Decision Making, and I can say that I am really impressed with the quality of these videos.

Unlike most other training videos you’ll find elsewhere in aviation, these videos keep you engaged the entire time and don’t make you feel like you are sitting through yet another boring training video. Fly Right Films calls it “entertrainment” and I have to agree. These films are entertaining as well as informative. Having Dick Rutan teaching you definitely doesn’t hurt either. Dick has a way of telling stories that just keep you on the edge of your seat and you can literally envision yourself sitting there with him as he tells wicked tales of his adventures in aviation.

A number of factors contribute to the magical formula that I believe makes these films unlike any other on the market. First, let me start by making sure you understand that these are NOT films that will substitute any traditional training curriculum that you will find in your typical flight training. I would consider these supplemental films to your primary training and they are great refreshers for any pilot at any level in their flying career. What Fly Right Films has done is combine pertinent topics in aviation safety with an incredible legend in aviation and story-teller extraordinaire, Dick Rutan. They also bring other leading experts in their field that explain in great detail (but in a way we can all understand) the science behind some of the human factors and physiological aspects of how your body interprets external influences that are being exerted on your body during flight. Combine this with brilliant cinematography, a superb original soundtrack and the use of the best and most advanced aircraft and technology in general aviation and you have a winning combination.

Both videos are filmed in various and visually inspiring locations such as Alaska, Minnesota and California and are flown in Cirrus Aircraft (both the SR-20 and SR-22). The SR-20 has the Forward Vision EVS-100 (manufactured by Max-Vis) aftermarket add-on and the SR-22 is equipped with the factory version of the EVS-100 from Cirrus via the Perspective avionics package powered by Garmin. Although the topics covered in these videos applies to ANY aircraft you will fly, it was a nice touch to include the use of the best general aviation has to offer today and gives a nice modern feel to the films.

Fly Right Films proclaims The Aviator Series a “Masters Program For Serious Pilots.” I only have one gripe at the moment…I WANT MORE! I am looking forward to future releases of The Aviator Series films and would highly recommend them to any pilot serious about their flying. For those of you aviators in the Civil Air Patrol, having your aircrews sit through one of these films should easily count as a safety briefing for the month. Below are the trailers for the current films for your viewing pleasure. Happy flying!

Volume One: Attitude Flying With Dick Rutan

Volume Two: Decision Making With Dick Rutan

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For any of you Civil Air Patrol Search and Rescue pilots who have spent endless hours gridding your sectionals, life is about to get a whole lot easier for you! The fine folks over at Sky Sectionals have just launched CAP Charts for CAP Pilots (or anyone flying Search and Rescue for that matter) at http://www.capcharts.com/.

These digital charts are the same as your typical FAA/NACO charts but insanely more manageable. What Sky Sectionals has done for us is provide the conventional grid overlay we use (15′x15′) further subdivided into 7.5′ grids (A,B,C,D). The grids are easily identified with semi-transparent lines and don’t obscure key critical information on the chart. This is simply a Godsend to Search and Rescue Pilots and Aircrew. Now you can carry current and updated GRIDDED charts with you at ALL times. I still see some guys flying around with charts that are 10 years old because they don’t want to grid a new one (granted they have current paper charts, but still…), all that is in the past! There’s simply no excuse for not having up to date gridded charts anymore.

Other nice things about these charts are that they are perfect for folding up and putting them in your kneeboard. Just get your grid assignment ahead of time and print them out before you head out to fly your missions. I’ve gone the extra mile and printed out the entire Seattle Sectional, TAC and VFR Flyway and laminated each page. I carry them all in one giant spiral bound stack so that if we get reassigned to an unexpected grid, I’ve always got them with me. The laminated surface works great with a dry-erase marker as well for adding notes and outlining your grid.

If you’re jumping up and down like I was to hear about this new product, you can get a full tour by heading over to: http://www.capcharts.com/tour

The Sky Sectionals team has even provided a full video tour of the sectionals:

Last but not least, if you aren’t already convinced you need to go order these charts, a portion of the proceeds of every CAP Chart they sell is donated to the Civil Air Patrol Foundation. You can make your life easier and contribute further to a great cause all in one! It’s great to see a company that has taken the time to address the needs of an organization like the Civil Air Patrol and we should definitely make every effort possible to support them. Happy flying!

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