Between this install and my orientation testing, I did a lot more thinking and planning, than actual doing. Knowing what I do now, I'd say this job would take approx 1.5h for a layman such as myself.
Special thanks to:
AMP, for helping me understand and execute wiring this unit.
DouglasABaker, for helping me find the easiest firewall breach.
Cliff, for answering every question you throw at him.
Items used:
- 18-22awg squeeze connector taps, from Radio Shack (check the plastic tunnels, some in my bag had shoddy quality control)
- 3/8" split flex tubing, from Lowe's
- 3M double sided exterior tape, from Lowe's
- multimeter
- electrical tape
- painters' tape
- household tools (phillips, flathead, pliers, 7mm socket, scissors, safety knife, file, flashlight, zip/twist ties)
- chopstick!
Installing the LI control unit:
I put mine under the center arm rest.
From the back seat...
1. Remove cubby under the rear ventilation. Pressure the vent slightly upward, and pull cubby out. Cubby is held in at the sides by plastic wedges.
2. Slide rear vent controls downward, to expose arm rest screws.
3. Undo two phillips screws and remove arm rest.
4. Back some of the tape windings off to create more working space with the 18-pin multicolored wire bundle (for a phone, which I don't have). Note: if you have the euro-style cubby arm rest, then this may create a predicament.
5. Using squeeze connectors, seat red power wire from LI with violet+white wire from car. Pinch with pliers. Do the same with black LI power wire and brown+black wire from car.
6. Using multimeter at the socket end of the LI power wire, test voltage with key in accessory position, vs key off. You're looking for ~12V and 0V, respectively. Skip this step at your own risk.
7. Confirm LI's heartbeat, with your wiring. Hook up the heads, turn key, switch LI on, listen for parking distance beeps and voice prompts. Find a TV remote that sets off a warning.
8. Wrap squeeze connectors in electrical tape to prevent re-opening.
From the front seat...
9. Remove the compartment to the passenger's side of the parking brake handle. It pulls straight out.
10. Invert the parking brake boot, so it faces to the sky. Push the highest edge of the boot towards the lowest edge.
11. Invert the shifter boot, so it faces to the sky. Push the passenger's edge of the boot towards the driver's edge. Tug out the large foam insulation block.
12. Uncover the center console side panel (approx where your right calf is with foot on gas). Remove one phillips screw, and slide panel towards trunk.
13. Uncover the lower dash panel (above the pedals). Remove 4 phillips screws, and one large black twist screw, which is at the back edge, between the brake and clutch pedals. I left this panel dangling down.
From the engine bay...
14. Remove the driver's microfilter. Use flathead to pry up the 3 clips on the center side. Pull out the lower retaining clip with both hands. Unclip the bar that holds down the microfilter lid. Remove lid. Pull housing out. This reveals the wiper motor compartment (above) and brake fluid compartment (below).
15. Locate the nickel-sized rubber grommet, just below and right of the wiper motor.
From the driver's footwell inside the car...
16. Lightly push out the grommet in 15 with a chopstick (or screwdriver). It's easy to find with a flashlight, and some sense of space.
From the engine bay...
17. Recover the grommet. Note: I had a friend watching the grommet as I pushed. If you don't, drop some tape on the outside so it can't escape.
18. Undo 3 phillips head expander screws from the hood insulation.
Installing the front head wires:
19. Protect the RJ45 connectors with painter's tape.
20. Create a lot of straight slack, to reach to the center arm rest.
21. Drop wires down through hole in 15.
22. Route wires through center console to arm rest. I used painter's tape + chopstick to do the fishing. You may need to use the 7mm socket to loosen one screw in the driver's side footwell, to achieve clearance.
23. Tuck wires under hood insulation, leave heads dangling by ~15in. I painter's taped my heads into place.
24. Bundle the "middle slack" of wires into the brake fluid compartment.
25. Using a safety knife and file, create grooves in 2 rubber parts (grommet 15 and U-shaped wedge) to tightly fit threaded LI wires.
26. Reseat grommet in 15 with chopstick.
27. Wrap engine-side of grommet-15 wires in electrical tape, with chopstick as a roller.
28. Cut split flex tubing conduit to fit between the grommets
29. Replace microfilter. Find the soft part of its ledge to let the LI head wires escape.
30. Cut split flex tubing conduit to fit between hood insulation and microfilter ledge.
Installing the front heads to kidney grilles:
This part was made much easier having the wood rig I built for orientation testing. That gave me a square reference for the plane facing front.
31. Wrap bottom bracket in electrical tape to avoid long term scuffing of kidney grille.
32. Test seat the heads to see where double sided tape strips should be spaced.
33. Lay 3 strips on the center-side fin, but leave the LI-side of tape still covered.
34. Use ruler to establish equidistance to rig.
35. Take advantage of the fin flexion by pressing LI head away from center. Yank tape cover off with pliers. Squeeze fins to seat tape.
36. Reconfirm distances to rig.
Put humpty dumpty back together again.
Micellany:
A. I'm using the factory volume setting from LI. It's plenty loud from under the arm rest. Cliff says I have 25% more volume available.
B. I thought about running the wires near the hood piston, dipping under the driver's wiper, instead of in front of the microfilter. I saw a two issues here. First, that compartment is a tight working space, so my excess wire bundle would have to go elsewhere (e.g. cabin or hood). Second, the movement of the wipers made me leery of having my LI wires frayed over time. That said, with good securing, this route is viable.
Special thanks to:
AMP, for helping me understand and execute wiring this unit.
DouglasABaker, for helping me find the easiest firewall breach.
Cliff, for answering every question you throw at him.
Items used:
- 18-22awg squeeze connector taps, from Radio Shack (check the plastic tunnels, some in my bag had shoddy quality control)
- 3/8" split flex tubing, from Lowe's
- 3M double sided exterior tape, from Lowe's
- multimeter
- electrical tape
- painters' tape
- household tools (phillips, flathead, pliers, 7mm socket, scissors, safety knife, file, flashlight, zip/twist ties)
- chopstick!
Installing the LI control unit:
I put mine under the center arm rest.
From the back seat...
1. Remove cubby under the rear ventilation. Pressure the vent slightly upward, and pull cubby out. Cubby is held in at the sides by plastic wedges.
2. Slide rear vent controls downward, to expose arm rest screws.
3. Undo two phillips screws and remove arm rest.
4. Back some of the tape windings off to create more working space with the 18-pin multicolored wire bundle (for a phone, which I don't have). Note: if you have the euro-style cubby arm rest, then this may create a predicament.
5. Using squeeze connectors, seat red power wire from LI with violet+white wire from car. Pinch with pliers. Do the same with black LI power wire and brown+black wire from car.
6. Using multimeter at the socket end of the LI power wire, test voltage with key in accessory position, vs key off. You're looking for ~12V and 0V, respectively. Skip this step at your own risk.
7. Confirm LI's heartbeat, with your wiring. Hook up the heads, turn key, switch LI on, listen for parking distance beeps and voice prompts. Find a TV remote that sets off a warning.
8. Wrap squeeze connectors in electrical tape to prevent re-opening.
From the front seat...
9. Remove the compartment to the passenger's side of the parking brake handle. It pulls straight out.
10. Invert the parking brake boot, so it faces to the sky. Push the highest edge of the boot towards the lowest edge.
11. Invert the shifter boot, so it faces to the sky. Push the passenger's edge of the boot towards the driver's edge. Tug out the large foam insulation block.
12. Uncover the center console side panel (approx where your right calf is with foot on gas). Remove one phillips screw, and slide panel towards trunk.
13. Uncover the lower dash panel (above the pedals). Remove 4 phillips screws, and one large black twist screw, which is at the back edge, between the brake and clutch pedals. I left this panel dangling down.
From the engine bay...
14. Remove the driver's microfilter. Use flathead to pry up the 3 clips on the center side. Pull out the lower retaining clip with both hands. Unclip the bar that holds down the microfilter lid. Remove lid. Pull housing out. This reveals the wiper motor compartment (above) and brake fluid compartment (below).
15. Locate the nickel-sized rubber grommet, just below and right of the wiper motor.
From the driver's footwell inside the car...
16. Lightly push out the grommet in 15 with a chopstick (or screwdriver). It's easy to find with a flashlight, and some sense of space.
From the engine bay...
17. Recover the grommet. Note: I had a friend watching the grommet as I pushed. If you don't, drop some tape on the outside so it can't escape.
18. Undo 3 phillips head expander screws from the hood insulation.
Installing the front head wires:
19. Protect the RJ45 connectors with painter's tape.
20. Create a lot of straight slack, to reach to the center arm rest.
21. Drop wires down through hole in 15.
22. Route wires through center console to arm rest. I used painter's tape + chopstick to do the fishing. You may need to use the 7mm socket to loosen one screw in the driver's side footwell, to achieve clearance.
23. Tuck wires under hood insulation, leave heads dangling by ~15in. I painter's taped my heads into place.
24. Bundle the "middle slack" of wires into the brake fluid compartment.
25. Using a safety knife and file, create grooves in 2 rubber parts (grommet 15 and U-shaped wedge) to tightly fit threaded LI wires.
26. Reseat grommet in 15 with chopstick.
27. Wrap engine-side of grommet-15 wires in electrical tape, with chopstick as a roller.
28. Cut split flex tubing conduit to fit between the grommets
29. Replace microfilter. Find the soft part of its ledge to let the LI head wires escape.
30. Cut split flex tubing conduit to fit between hood insulation and microfilter ledge.
Installing the front heads to kidney grilles:
This part was made much easier having the wood rig I built for orientation testing. That gave me a square reference for the plane facing front.
31. Wrap bottom bracket in electrical tape to avoid long term scuffing of kidney grille.
32. Test seat the heads to see where double sided tape strips should be spaced.
33. Lay 3 strips on the center-side fin, but leave the LI-side of tape still covered.
34. Use ruler to establish equidistance to rig.
35. Take advantage of the fin flexion by pressing LI head away from center. Yank tape cover off with pliers. Squeeze fins to seat tape.
36. Reconfirm distances to rig.
Put humpty dumpty back together again.
Micellany:
A. I'm using the factory volume setting from LI. It's plenty loud from under the arm rest. Cliff says I have 25% more volume available.
B. I thought about running the wires near the hood piston, dipping under the driver's wiper, instead of in front of the microfilter. I saw a two issues here. First, that compartment is a tight working space, so my excess wire bundle would have to go elsewhere (e.g. cabin or hood). Second, the movement of the wipers made me leery of having my LI wires frayed over time. That said, with good securing, this route is viable.
