PropellerHead
01-03-2009, 07:55 PM
I bought the module, cable, and antenna from a forum member. My X is an '04 3.0 that I bought CPO in '05 as my daily beater. I intended to save my boosted 540 and give our baby a chance at transit below 150MPH. It has fit the bill well. I'm right against 73K miles. For about three weeks now, the tuner has been sitting on the load floor with the antenna lid around the weather stripping and stuck on the roof. It worked fine, but it was a wreck back there. It really bugged me. Another forum member came over today to help me finally install it.
So, we removed the spare tire and all the associated covers to find the trim piece where it's supposed to go. One problem- no bracket for the trim piece. :mad: Since I don't have Nav, I put the module in that slot, drilled some holes in the plastic and secured the unit. It isn't pretty, but it isn't moving, either.
We ran the cables for the connectivity and CD changer (also don't have- don't need) along the factory harnesses across the back. The hardest part was the antenna mount.
We removed the body colored cover at the top of the hatch and ran the antenna down the grommets for the gate mounted tail light. The most difficult thing was fishing the cable down above the rear of the headliner and getting it to the D pillar. Once that was done, we ran it along the same harnesses, connected and tested good.
Back up top, it didn't take long to address securing the antenna under the hatch cover. Nothing under there is metal, so the magnetic antenna would otherwise move freely. I found some metal brackets for a gas grill and bent them to fit a nut and bolt for the rear washer hoses. I secured the antenna to the bracket and the bracket to the bolt. I doubt it will ever move. Cover reinstalled. Unit tested good. (15 year old PC assembly memories make this a pretty consistent habit.)
After that, it was all about reinstalling the spare tire, covers, and trim pieces. I am excited to test it out on my 4 hour road trips this coming week.
So, we removed the spare tire and all the associated covers to find the trim piece where it's supposed to go. One problem- no bracket for the trim piece. :mad: Since I don't have Nav, I put the module in that slot, drilled some holes in the plastic and secured the unit. It isn't pretty, but it isn't moving, either.
We ran the cables for the connectivity and CD changer (also don't have- don't need) along the factory harnesses across the back. The hardest part was the antenna mount.
We removed the body colored cover at the top of the hatch and ran the antenna down the grommets for the gate mounted tail light. The most difficult thing was fishing the cable down above the rear of the headliner and getting it to the D pillar. Once that was done, we ran it along the same harnesses, connected and tested good.
Back up top, it didn't take long to address securing the antenna under the hatch cover. Nothing under there is metal, so the magnetic antenna would otherwise move freely. I found some metal brackets for a gas grill and bent them to fit a nut and bolt for the rear washer hoses. I secured the antenna to the bracket and the bracket to the bolt. I doubt it will ever move. Cover reinstalled. Unit tested good. (15 year old PC assembly memories make this a pretty consistent habit.)
After that, it was all about reinstalling the spare tire, covers, and trim pieces. I am excited to test it out on my 4 hour road trips this coming week.
