Finished my XM Installation

[Decker87]

Alright, I finally finished my XM Radio installation. The reason I went with XM was that it cost me $35 for all the up-front parts. I installed it on my dodge neon such that the cord ran straight out to the driver side, then down the black rubber groove in the roof.

Antenna attached to roof, cord secured with electrical tape and some krazy glue:

Antenna cord secured to black groove in roof by tape and glue:

Cord running alongside windshield insulation. Attached with krazy glue:

Cord going into door hinge, bundled up in a nook:

SkyFi2 Attached to the top of the dashboard. The antenna cord is pushed into a groove, and I am workng on hiding the other wires:

My cutom mount using bent-back 32-cent L-Brackets from hardware store. They are secured to the radio and the dash by some heavy-duty mounting foam:


If anyone is wondering, the receiver doesn't block my view at all. It is just slightly below what I see of the windshield from where I sit. It turned out to be much better than either of the provided mounting options with the car kit. My favorite channel is Squizz!

 

[korsjs]

can you take a wider shot of the antenna. something so we can see kind of an all in one shot from the top?

i am surprised the antenna did not come with something that covers the wire from the antenna to the weather strip.

i know what you mean with the mounting. i have sirius and it is kind of mounted pretty low. it was the only place feasable with what came with it.

 

[digiblur]

I think this one takes the cake... glue and tape. WOW!

 

[Decker87]

What do you mean? Are you implying it's ghetto? If so, don't forget mounting pads and shelving hardware!

Then again, if I could be a superhero, I would be adhesive-man.

 

[HTINSTALLER]

Is this a joke???....Worst install i have ever seen!!!!......put down the duct tape and walk away!!!

 

[HTINSTALLER]

You should have used one of these http://www.pro-fit-intl.com/Adobe/DG-56-95.pdf

 

[kevlard1]

I don't think they were looking for criticism.

 

[digiblur]

This can't be for real... I keep looking back at the photos. There is no way.....

 

[Decker87]

What's the big problem? So what if it's not all nuts and bolts - It's hardly noticeable from the outside or inside, especially now that I painted the metal brackets black and took a sharpie to the mounting tape. I also hid some more of the wiring.

Why are you guys being so harsh? There's no way I want to reach that far over to the passenger side while driving. With the place that it's mounted, I can still see the road pretty well if I have to look at the screen for a second or two.

 

[minorthr]

Can I make one suggestion. Instead of using tape and glue to hold the antnnea wire down why didnt you put it on the roof above the front windshield right in the middle then run the wire down into windshield molding then bring it into the car? I did this with my wife's old car and it worked great.

 

[Decker87]

I explored that option, but the molding was too tight around my windshield.

 

[pretzelboy]

I'm at a loss. By any chance, are you related to Red Green?

 

[Decker87]

Is anyone here going to say anything constructive at all? Anyone over age twelve should be able to say more than just "this is terrible, I'm at a loss." That said, thank you korsjs and minorthr.

Maybe some of you do have cleaner installs - so where are the pictures?

 

[dervari]

Hell, I think his idea of using $.32 L brackets is pretty good! So what if it's not the cleanest install? If he's happy with it, more power to him.

 

[pretzelboy]

Maybe some of you do have cleaner installs - so where are the pictures?

Pictures of what? It'd be a picture of my car with the antenna centered just behind the windshield. No wires are visible.

So, take this picture and imagine a small black square.

 

[digiblur]

Is anyone here going to say anything constructive at all? Anyone over age twelve should be able to say more than just "this is terrible, I'm at a loss." That said, thank you korsjs and minorthr.

Maybe some of you do have cleaner installs - so where are the pictures?

I was going to buy the Sportster Replay for the docking cradle option but the unit was just too big for my tastes. So I ended up with the Starmate Replay with a few modifications.

I drilled two holes through the suction cup mount and left the suction cup in place to give it a little something to squeeze down on when I mounted it. I drilled two holes in the top of the "garbage collector" in front of the gear shift. I put two nuts and lock washers on the backside of the dash to secure the unit. This places the unit out of the way so you can still let the garbage collect under the radio.

The power was hard wired to a constant source. This works great when listening to Maxim. When I need to make a stop for 30 minutes, I just hit pause before I get out of the car. It was annoying having the cig plug since I frequently have a laptop connected here, plus it's a switched cigarette plug. I am I thinking of connecting a two way switch and flush mounting in the garbage collector under the HU to switch between switched power and constant power.

I opted for the direct audio connection method. The JVC HU I use has a front panel AUX IN. I drilled a hole in the small "garbage collector" under the JVC HU for the antenna to freely pass through when the face was removed. This was also needed when the face folds down when a CD is ejected. A small weight was added to the cable on the backside hidden from view that causes the cable to pull back into the dash when the face folds up and down for different viewing angles.





The drivers side rubber strip on the roof was removed. The antenna was then run across the back glass, through the valley in the roof(rubber strip replaced afterwards), down the windshield, quarter panel was unbolted and a drip loop was made here, into the engine compartment and through the firewall where my 2 gauge amp power cable runs through. No issues were found with large draws on the 2 gauge power cable yet.



At last but not least.... one of the 1200 watt amps and it's cap that Sirius feeds.



As you can see from the PICs the Starmate is stuck on Maxim radio and I can't figure out how to change it something else when I'm driving around.

Next project?? Hmm... adapt the vehicles antenna wire to the FM out on the unit and broadcast on the low power rap station that everyone seems to listen to. I'd have to let them hear Sirius's Hard Attack instead!

PS....anyone know where to find an angled audio cable to go from the HU to the Starmate? A link would be awesome!

 

[digiblur]

Is anyone here going to say anything constructive at all? Anyone over age twelve should be able to say more than just "this is terrible, I'm at a loss." That said, thank you korsjs and minorthr.

Maybe some of you do have cleaner installs - so where are the pictures?

I'll have another set of pictures of the same radio in '04 Jeep Liberty in a few days. I'm not bashing you... I was just to show you that you don't use glue and tape on an install of XM or Sirius.

 

[joedekock]

I am not being cruel, but that is the worst install ever. I am laughing, but not at you... just what you did. I will try to post pics of my install tonight. I have two cars, and I ran the antenna so that it is at the front of the car above the windshield, (like someone already mentioned here). Mine was difficult to get in there to, but once I got it pried it open a little bit I kept my finger in there, and ran it along the strip feeding the strip behind my finger. It runs in the weather molding down the side of the windshield, then tucked under the molding into the door just like you have it, but I ran it all the way to the floor, then under the carpet by the firewall and behind the dash, where I stuck it out to the radio.