So I plan on doing a bunch of work wiring some things in this weekend, as well as possibly installing my Sirius receiver if I feel confident enough making some cuts, and thought I should get some input/feedback on what I plan on doing.

First on the list is hardwiring the Sirius as well as my underglow (I know... it was installed when I bought the car and would be far too much work to remove). I was planning on wiring them both into the cigarette lighter via wire taps. Since the underglow is essentially never used I didn't think there would be an issue wiring them to the same source. My question is does anyone have a picture of or know which wires I'd be taping to do this? I have looked through several DIY but could not get a clear idea which wire I'd be taping.

Second, I was going to be putting in footwell lights. That will be pretty straight forward (theres even a recent DIY on it). I was going to go the route of taping the fuse box and putting on a on/off switch so I could control it.

And finally, mounting the Sirius receiver. Below is a picture of where I planed on putting it. Would an approach of drill/saw/file/sand be the simplist, allbeit a lot of work? I thought finishing it with a vinyl trim would still look good and save me from going to a custom shop to fab me a piece.

Thoughts/tips?

 

If you put it there it's permanent. I thought about that originally years ago but since then I have had three different units of all different sizes.

 

Well I'm glad I'm not the only one who thought of that. I got the idea when I seen the navi unit there. From what I can tell, Sirius has been keeping the two low-end models the same for the past couple years so if this one dies on me it probably wouldn't be too much trouble to get the model that replaces that one, or even this same one again. Even looking on their site now, the Starmate 5 (the new one) just has a darker grey than the one I have.

I wanna do a permanent install with it, I am getting so sick of having it on a vent mount and could never get the suction mount to stay on the window. I'm still just unsure which wire to tap.

 

As far as where to mount the sirius receiver, I have an old school one that is a direct FM only unit with a separate tuner, display, and receiver. I mounted my display in the sunglass holder. Can't tell it is there unless you flip it down.

 

Thats a pretty spiffy idea! I'll have to consider maybe doing that, seeing as I have no sunglasses to speak of and the holder is essentially useless to me. The only problem would be I kind of fiddle with mine a lot to change stations and I like to glance at whats playing. Also, I noticed the holder kinda blocks the rear-view mirror if I were to keep it down...

 

Don't put the sirius there... You'll hit it with your wrist... put it where the ashtray thing is.

 

That's where I was originally thinking of putting it, however, I'd have to get a custom piece made up to replace the ashtray/lighter which was going to cost $250+ from a local shop. I would also be losing out on that lighter-socket for power.

This is the cheaper alternative. I still have time to fiddle with it though, so I'll see if I can't get it to work.

 

I have mine mounted and wired to the lighter socket in the console. I also have it FM direct to the back of the factory head unit. But I have a remote for my unit with presets so I don't need to see the display unless I wanna know the name of the song.

 

I fiddle with mine a good bit as well, but i am able to get to my preset stations and change stations while hardly ever taking my eyes off the road. And for blocking the rear view mirror, it isn't a major block for me at least. When I get it to a station I want, I can just flip it up and out of the way, and should I hear a song I really like and want to know who sings it and the name of the song, just flip it down, take a quick look, and put it back up. It has worked out great for me, and because of its location, I never really take my eyes off the road.

 

You don't need a custom piece!

This is a great way to learn how to fiberglass.

Well, regardless, don't put it there... I think you'll regret it.

 

I guess its been almost 3 weeks now, but I've finally moved on to putting my Sirius into my car! Exciting! Once I actually took a look at the panel, it wouldn't have fit too well where I was going to put it. So, taking your suggestions I went back to what I originally wanted to do and taking the idea from this thread.

I haven't gone and fully put it in yet, but you can get the idea below. The third picture is a rubber edge finish I picked up at a local custom vehicle audio etc install shop. One side is sticky, so that'll hold its self in place well and seems to do a good job of holding the receiver with the flexible fit.

 

Looks Good.

 

I like it. Looks real sharp and real clean.

 

mmmmh looks very familiar. Did you have to put anything on the back of the unit to keep it from slightly falling into the ashtray? Mines pretty much supported by the inside of the ashtray but it still sinks in if I press a bottom near the bottom left side of it. Good job btw I like the rubber padding around it, definitely going to look around for something like that when I redo my lid.

 

That's probably because I took your idea to take apart the dock. Thanks btw!

I haven't played around with it too much yet, but the circuit board runs almost the full length of the receiver and rests on an edge in the ashtray so the bottom doesn't seem to move at all. The top however has some room to move, but like I said I haven't played with it too much yet. Later on if it becomes a problem I may put something behind it to hold it in place better.

That rubber edge finish works good too. It actually has a pretty tight hold onto it.

 

Looks nice and clean..I'm thinking of doing something similar, but using the guts of the ashtray compartment instead of the cover. That way you can hard wire it clean and hide it by closing the cover.

 

That would work pretty good too, but you'd probably need to do some fabricating to get it to sit nice.

With mine its, as I like to call it, phony-hardwired. Phony because I just plugged the adapter into the existing cigarette lighter and hid it underneath the ashtray. I have to say, I'm really enjoying it like this now. It frees up my passenger A/C vent and I can now see the entire display on the car all at once.

Off topic, but so I don't start worrying, do our driving lights only turn on at night? I could of sworn that they did that at least because it was pointed out to me today that my driving lights weren't on.

Anyway, installed pics!

 

i think i have a factory installed xm radio and i was just wonderin if i could take it somewhere to have it converted to an ipod jack. anyone know?