Hardwired 8500 x50 and Sirius in rear wing
 

Alright... this isn't really a write up or a DIY but I figured I'd share what I did to my car last weekend.


First off is the hardwired 8500 x50. I started with this hardwire kit . When I took the radio out to plug the sirius cord in the back I popped the little black semicircle faceplate and drilled three holes. One big one for the silence button, one medium for the alert led, and a small one for the power led. Then I took apart the hardwire kit and hotglued it to the back of the faceplate. I then peeled the sticker off the hardwire kit and put it on the front of the faceplate. It looks like the hardwire kit is actually set in the panel but drilling three holes is much easier and looks almost the same.

http://sio.midco.net/dkroon/8/1.jpg
Heres the smartcord being glued to the back of the faceplate

http://sio.midco.net/dkroon/8/2.jpg
And heres what it looks like finished.



Then I just ran the power and ground wires to the cigarette lighter and I ran the phone jack for the detector (which is suctioned to the bottom of the windshield) out the back of the nav display panel right by the winshield. Do do this just unscrew and pop the airvents out when the radio is out, and then pull out and up on the nav pannel.






Alright, now the sirius which I got from santa. I didn't really like the idea of slapping a plastic box on top of my white trunk so I did something I remember seeing on nasioc back when I had my subaru. I wont go through the whole instal seeing as this is the only part that varies from the mazda instructions. Basically I took my rear wing off, which involved taking 2 bolts off each side and then smacking it until it fell off (theres a clip on each side). I then cut a rectangular hole on the underside of the wing to slip the sat antenna in. I put it in there with two sided stick foam pad and then I slipped some silicone on the antenna's edges to make sure it didn't come loose. I made sure to get it as far as possible to the middle of the wing so it would be facing straight up. I put a little plastic cover and sealed it with silicone on the rectangular hole to try and keep water out of the wing (some came out of the wing when i took it off the car for the first time). Then I ran the wire through the trunk lid under the wing and into the sirius box (which mazda has you install in the trunk) and it was pretty much all done. I dont have any pics of the setup becuase you cant see any of it... thats kind of the point. I do have a picture of the hole I cut in the wing with the antenna inside though.

http://sio.midco.net/dkroon/8/3.jpg








Let me know what you think.. with the ash tray closed my dash looks much cleaner without the old coiled wire into the cig lighter smartcord.
Also I've been getting perfect reception from my sirius, I doubted urethane could mess with signals anyways.

Oh ya and I'm not sure If im going to keep my x50... so this mod was kind of wasted. Anyways If someone wants something like this and an x50 i might sell it soon. Just kind of mentioning it.

So you get perfect Sirius reception?

The material in the spoiler does not affect the signal strength? Seems like it would, but if not that is a nice way to do the Sirius antenna install.

Do you have more pics of the steps taken to do the install?

Very nice Xantium!!

You know.... I've heard of people getting crappy reception with their antenna mounted underneath something. But I have never had a big issue with it. Every time I install a sat radio, I plug everything in real quick and just hold it in my hands. (To make sure it's not DOA) The antenna is in the car in my hand and UNDERNEATH MY METAL SHOP ROOF! Still gets signal fine. Everytime.