Tools required:
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Materials required:
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| Difficulty: | Moderate |
| Time: | 2 hours |
| Drilling/Cutting: | None |
| Broken Nails: | 2 |
| Lotus Positions: | None |
| Symbiotic projects: | iPod, RC10 Remote, Video System |
Start by removing the radio, following the instructions in the manual:
Next, remove the start button panel. Remove the two screws underneath:
Slide the panel firmly straight down, then swing the top out:
Next, prepare the wiring from the V1 hardwire kit. The red wire is already long enough,
but the black wire needs to be extended. I used a female crimp connector that receives the
horseshoe tab already on the wire. You could also cut the horseshoe off and splice extra
length on with various methods. I wrapped the connection in tape, and zip tied the two wires
to form a harness. This makes the next step easier:
Tape a fresh, straight zip tie to the end of the harness we just made. We'll be using it as
a fish tape. Shine a flashlight towards the driver's side from inside the hole where the radio
goes. You'll see the light from the start button cubby, so you have a better idea where you're
aiming. The start button cubby is divided into three areas. The bottom area is the one you
see when nothing is taken apart. The middle area is just below the foam seal you see with the
cover removed. The top area is above the foam seal, where the buttons and wiring go. Feed the
zip tie from the middle area of the cubby, around the left end, into the upper
area, then over towards the radio. Peeking in the
radio hole, you should see it, and be able to reach in and grab it with your hand. Fish the
harness through, like so:
This should leave the phone-connector end of the harness nestled nicely in the middle area of
the cubby:
Note also how the V1's fuse is nicely accessible in the upper area.
Clamp the vampire tap that came with the V1 wiring kit on to the radio wire that is green
with the brownish stripe. The radio wiring diagram calls this "red". Don't mistake the orange wire
for "red" like I did. That mistake involved a lot of head scratching, and poking around with a
multimeter to figure out what was wrong. Plug the red wire into that tap. Next, use your
14-16 vampire tap to connect the black wire to the ground wire on the radio (it's black). It
should look something like this:
Next, take one of the long straight power cords from the V1 wiring kit, and feed it from
the driver's side footwell...
...to the middle area of the start button cubby, using the zip tie fishing technique:
Next, take the very very short power cord that came with the V1 remote display, and connect
it to the phone connector in the start button cubby. Pass it through the square opening in the
bottom of the middle area of the start button cubby. Fish the wire you ran from the footwell to
the same spot. Place the remote audio control in the lower area of the start button cubby, and
connect both power cords. Refer to the V1 installation instructions for the proper connections
here.
Tuck the cord in the footwell under the plastic door sill cover. If you lay the cord flat
against the aluminum, it will tuck nicely under the plastic, and hold fast. Run it back behind
the driver's seat, tucking it where ever you like. Bundle up the extra length, and tuck it in
to the upside down fabric pocket on the back of the driver's seat. In this picture, the
screwdriver is pointing at the area you should tuck the wire into to get it from the driver's
footwell to behind the driver's seat:
Take the other long straight power cord from the V1 wiring kit, and fish it past the plastic
trim between the start button cubby and the driver's door. Feed it through the middle, where
the plastic flexes easiest to pass the plug:
Once the plug is clear, slide the wire up to the base of the A-pillar, and pull through length
as you need it. Tuck this wire into the space between the trim and glass around the edge of the
windshield, until you get to the rear-view mirror. Bundle up the excess length in the middle
area of the start button cubby:
Reinstall the plastic cover on the start button cubby, making sure none of the wires will be
rubbing on anything sharp, and that everything is tucked neatly above the foam seal. Attach the
remote audio control using the industrial velcro. Do not use the plastic locking squares
that come with the V1 kit. They do not hold well against the Elise's crinkled plastic trim. Also, make sure
to mount the control deep enough in the cubby so that you won't snag the knob with your foot when doing
the infamous Lotus Entry/Exit Procedure:
At this point, you need to mount the detector itself. The front of the detector will be visible through
the rear window, so I advise taking some steps to conceal its identity as a $400 radar detector. I covered
the front with black felt, leaving a hole around the laser detector, and stopping short of the rear radar
antenna. I built a small box out of cardstock, covered it in felt, and used it to cover the knob. Make sure
you turn the knob to the on position, but leave it at the minimum volume setting. The remote audio control
won't behave quite right, otherwise. The felt is secured to the detector with double-stick tape:
Now you're ready to mount the detector in the rear window. So far, I've tried three options for this.
We'll start with the one that I think works the best.
Place the V1 on top of this bundle, and secure it firmly with zip ties:
Cut the craft foam to a size that will wrap around the top of the detector, and cover everything
down to the Radio Shack plate on each side. For the bends, cut a relief groove 3mm deep and 5mm
wide on the inside surface of the foam. Affix pieces of industrial velcro to the zip ties and
inside surfaces of the foam, where they meet. Cut a hole in the foam for the V1's power
connector, and cut 5mm deep reliefs in the foam to clear the heads of the zip ties (as needed). The final result
should look something like this:
This arrangement covers everything nicely, but avoids gluing anything to the V1 itself, and the unit remains easily removeable.
At this point, fold everything together, secure the velcro, and (if you wish), glue a small piece
of foam to the front to cover the area below the V1, opposite the suction cups. If done carefully,
the foam cover can still be removed even though one end is glued across. Lastly, I cut a piece
of black felt to cover the front of the V1 (which is now visible in the rear window). I notched
it around the laser detector and radar attenna. This is important, because otherwise, it is
very obvious that there's a V1 stuck to the back window. While not an ideal
permanent mount, this setup is reasonably attractive, and still easy to move around to experiment
with positioning.
Mounts #2 & #3 allow you to experiment with the position of the detector in the rear window. This is a difficult car to position the detector in, because it must have clear line of sight over the rear clam, under the rearview mirror, and over the front clam, all without blocking the driver's limited rear visibility. Furthermore, the rollbar tends to block lateral detection, and the car's low stance tends to limit range. In my tests, Mount #1 is the only real choice for optimal detection. I've had some close calls with the detector mounted in any other position. Mount #1 is a fairly involved construction project however, so Mounts #2 & #3 are worth consideration. If you're installing a video system similar to mine, Mount #1 is the clear choice.
Whichever method you choose, mount the detector in the rear window and connect the power cord (mount #1 shown):
Note that I also experimented with mount #3 on the driver's side of the rear window. It looked good, but
I found that in the long term, the suction cups didn't hold well, and detection was affected by the driver's
seat and rollbar:
Next, you need to mount the display. Here again, I present two options.
If you have the hardtop installed, you need to remove the front headliner panel along the
top of the windshield. To remove the stock mirror, start by rotating it so it is parallel with the windshield,
and tilted skyward as much as possible. That makes the next step easier. The plastic cover over
the pedestal needs to be moved. Stick your fingernail under the topmost edge, and rotate it
downward. The bottom is hinged, and the top will only pivot down a few millimeters. This exposes
a little metal finger in the center of the pedestal. You must push this finger down (away from the glass), and slide
the mirror pedestal downwards (along the glass towards the defroster vents). This is easier said than done. Here's the technique that worked
for me. Take a small allen wrench, brace it against the glass, and pry gently upwards on the
wrench, which applies downward pressure on the metal
finger, like so:
While applying pressure to the metal finger with the allen wrench, use your other thumb to
press firmly on the rear end of the pedestal to slide it down the windshield, in the direction of the defroster
vents. It may require substantial force, and it may come off suddenly, so be ready. A pillow on the
dashboard is a good idea. In my case, when it broke loose, the allen wrench went flying and
I never found it. It's lost forever in the nooks of my Elise.
Now comes the hard part- mounting the new mirror. Your mileage may vary, but in my case this
was difficult. The supplied directions did not work well for me, so here's what I did. Start
by aligning the pedestal so that it's in roughly the correct orientation for when it will be mounted
on the windshield. Tilt the top of the plastic cover downwards, as before. Engage the shoe of the
mirror in the bottom of the track on the windshield. You need to push up firmly on the mirror while
applying pressure to the front of the shoe to slide it upwards in the track. Don't apply pressure
to the horizontal surface of the plastic cover of the shoe- it's only cosmetic, and needs to remain
tilted downward for this to work. Remember, that cover only tilts away from the shoe a couple of
millimeters, but that's critical. Keep it tilted down while pushing it from the front (the end closest to the glass).
In my case, this step required channel-lock
pliers, dish soap for lubrication, and a lot of sweat. I hope yours is easier! With the new
mirror mounted, reseat the plastic cover in the up position, plug in the power cord that you ran
from the A-pillar, and replace the hardtop headliner panel (if necessary). The final result looks
something like this:
The picture above is of the first-generation RR-mirror, which was simply a V1 remote display
stuck into the mirror, with a rectangle cut away from the reflective surface so you can see it.
It worked, but was a little cludgy looking, and was difficult to see in daylight. The new
version (which I have, but have not photographed) has the guts of the remote display transplanted
into the driver's side of the mirror. The display is invisible when off, and very visible when
on, even in daylight. The overall look is completely factory, and very slick.
One final note of caution on the previous step. Use absolutely the minimum amount of force you can to get the mirror to move during removal and installation. It is very possible to crack the windshield if you apply too much force, or apply force in the wrong direction. If you do, the crack will be on the inside, close to the pedestal, where it can not be repaired. You will have to live with it, or replace the whole windshield. Unfortunately, I had a defective mirror the first time around, and had to install a second one. On the second go, I cracked the glass. Please be careful with this step!
That's it! You're done.
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