flynnibus

Hey all, there are a few threads on this recently, so I'll add my install options as well.

First what not to do
- Think you can use a windshield mount. The glare is just too bad with the Z's rake

The cubby is perfect, for both a permanent or flexible install. I wanted to swap my GPS between cars, so I wanted a fixed install where I could still remove the unit if needed.

The mount included with the unit will not fit in the 03 cubby.

The Nuvi line varies a bit between the series, but on the 600s you must use the cradle that comes with it to get power into it. So you need a mount that works with the cradle.

The good news is, Garmin part # 010-10675-10 is perfect for anyone looking to mount the unit from behind. Because you must allow the antenna to flip out, there is a minimum distance the unit must stick out and this component is PERFECT. This mount has been used by others successfully in the cubby. Another alternative is garmin part # 010-10969-00 which is a ball on a screw mounted block - but I could not find dimensions on the unit. Halr has started a thread where he successfully used that mount in an 05 and looks good.

I wanted something more sturdy then the suction cups which tend to come off in temperature changes, etc. So I found RAM makes a ball mount on a screw mounted plate. RAM Part # RAM-HOL-GA22. This is what you want if you are doing anything custom

I chose to make a small block which would be securely mounted to the cubby and hardware the unit in for power. Some measurements showed with the RAM mount, the block would need to be 1" thick to allow the antenna to clear and still allow the unit to fit inside the cubby.

Not having any metal to work with (or the tools) I decided to make the simple thing out of wood and just paint it black. Besides, its behind the unit, most would never see it.

I removed the cubby entirely from the dash so I could work on the table. Following the dash removal steps here I pulled out the center dash and took it inside. A tip, the white box under the radio is a PITA!! The issue is the brackets for the radio go rather underneth that box. The trick is after getting the top of the dash free (and guage wires unplugged).. pull the dash straight out until the rear of the radio clears the black plastic that was behind the cubby, only after that clears can you tilt the dash forward.. and then fight the white box.

On my 03, the tabs for the radio connectors are on the BOTTOM which makes it hard to get to them. Another tip - Do all this from the PASSENGER seat - you may think you can do this from the drivers seat looking at photos - trust me you don't want to. Also, have some magnetic screwdrivers - because most of the screws are 4+ inches inside the dash where you can't get a hand in.

Once removed, the cubby itself in an 03 is a box mounted into a bracket that holds the sliding door. You can take out the 4 screws on the side and simply remove the box completely from the rest of the dash. This makes it easy to work with - even without the sliding door.

I cut my mount to be 1" thick, and with a 94 deg cut at the bottom edge to match the box's angle. I didn't measure the height, as I did that by hand when fitting it all together and trimed to the height I wanted the GPS mounted.

Here are some shots of the RAM mount and block.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/23000826@N07/2207373001/



Sorry the photos aren't great - most were taken with my cell phone. But that shows you how I simply ran the wire straight through the block. The bottom hole is for a stylus to stick in as I figure I may want to use a stylus sometimes to type.

The hardware is a standard Nuvi car adaptor and cutting off the cig lighter end. The 650's adaptor had NO electronics in the plug, only a fuse, so I hardwared that right into the car.. more on that later. But since the cradle uses a high density connector, not a common jack, I had to use this.

Here it is with the cradle mounted to the RAM mount
http://www.flickr.com/photos/23000826@N07/2208165208/http://www.flickr.com/photos/23000826@N07/2208165282/
And a perfect fit when the unit is in the cradle


http://www.flickr.com/photos/23000826@N07/2207373521/"
The important dimension shot! Originally I figured I had to be within 2.5-3" of total depth to clear the door. Post install, I think you may even have more clearance then that - easy.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/23000826@N07/2207373631/
To prevent any screws from cracking or pulling through the plastic cubby, I used these metal brackets I had lying around to distribute the pressure a bit. Using #6 3/4" screws to hold the block against the back and bottom of the cubby to really prevent any movement. The brackets are not lined up together because I realized my stylus hole was going to be right where a screw was needed! So I moved the bracket over slightly as the style hole was already drilled. Doh!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/23000826@N07/2208165912/
Mounted in the cubby - plenty of room for the power cable, and ability to remove the cradle if needed.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/23000826@N07/2207374123/http://www.flickr.com/photos/23000826@N07/2208166188/
To address power, I had already cut a standard Garmin car adaptor and ran the cable out through the back of the cubby box. To power it, I was going to splice into the ACC power of the head-unit and ground to a screw in the dash. I picked up some wire, crimp terminals, and a in-line fuse holder from the Auto Parts store. I wanted to keep the fuse accessible, but that wasn't possible without making it obvious in the cubby or having a large hole in the back of the cubby. If this is important to you, I suggest you get the 'add-a-circuit' things you plug into your fuse box and run the power from there. They are in the electronics isle at the auto parts store as well. This way the fuse is in the standard fuse box and easily accessible.

To ensure easy dash removal, I put terminals on the power cord from the GPS, and wired up the other side with terminals as well. This way you can remove the dash again and unplug the wires rather then cut or unsolder.

Black was ran to the screws at the base of the radio bracket (near the temperature controls) and power was to be spliced from the HU using an inline tap. Don't trust colors and pin positions from just anyone! depending on your radio and year it will vary! Check the Service Manual! On my 03 BOSE radio, it was the Light Green on the larger connector to the radio. I used a splice, which attached my fuse and terminal to the ACC power of the car without hacking the terminal itself or having to run cables under the dash from somewhere else.

Here is the cubby reinstalled in the car
http://www.flickr.com/photos/23000826@N07/2207374497/
Here's a shot from down low so you can see how much space is left below the unit. This is important to be able to get the unit in and out easily!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/23000826@N07/2208169012/
It's pretty easy to unclip it even with my fat fingers!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/23000826@N07/2208171918/
Finished product
http://www.flickr.com/photos/23000826@N07/2207375821/
Again, the red thing is a Nintendo DS stylus which sits in a hole drilled in the wood block for storage and is used to make typing easier on the screen since its recessed slightly compared to being out on a external mount.

Some more photos are available /
Parts
- Some wood
- Some mounting screws. I chose #6 3/4" along with metal brackets
- RAM Mount - Got mine from www.mountguys.com
- Standard Garmin (or equiv) car adaptor
- in-line fuse holder (3amp fuse), wire (I used 18gauge), in-line splice/tap, and crimp terminals from auto parts store

Hope this helps some people in the future. I would have killed for some of these dimension photos earlier and knowing the garmin part #s.
http://www.mountguys.com/product_p/ram-hol-ga22.htm
http://www.mountguys.com/product_p/010-10675-10.htm

(mountguy's prices seemed to have gone up recently - but these are standard parts you can get from anyone who sells garmin and RAM).

Spike100

^^ Nice write-up with excellent pictures.

Question: Did you hook the Garmin to your car's sound system as Hair did?

--Spike

flynnibus

No - because my 03 Bose doesn't have a line input. You need to add an accessory to do that - and if I were to do that, it would likely go towards my ipod

The voice is pretty loud on the garmin - and I don't think I'd use it for mp3 or audiobooks anyways.

mg350ZR

Nice setup.

You could get Garmin Nuvi 660 or 670. Both of these units have built-in FM transmitter to allow you to hear voice instructions, music, etc. from your Nuvi via your speakers.

Spike100

The disadvantage I see with this approach is that FM modulators provide poor sound quality. Not a big deal with voice guidance, but playing music this way suffers.

Hair choose to do a direct connection using an AUX input to get the best possible sound.

--Spike

Spike100

Understood... I see your point. I probably should not have even mentioned this because it jacks your thread a little.

--Spike

flynnibus

Yeah - but the problem with the FM transmitters is you still need to be tuned to them to listen to them.. its not automatic. That's why I haven't bothered with them.. and still use a tape adaptor for my ipod (still manual, but better quality then FM)

flynnibus

No worries!

mg350ZR

I currently use a tape adapter to listen to my MP3 player as well, and it works pretty well. Never tried the FM transmitter, did not know the sound quality was worse than the tape adapter. I was thinking about trying the FM transmitter functionality when I install the Nuvi, to eliminate hanging wires.

flynnibus

The sound level was much louder with my tape adaptor vs two FM transmitters I'ved tried and the tape had much greater range. I know many are happy with their FM transmitters, but I don't know if they like their music loud or what. For me, the choice was pretty easy after comparing. The cheap Radioshack tape adaptor I have from ages ago still wins.

I'd just like to get the ipod power and cell phone power hidden away. Since the 03 only has the cig lighter at the back, it gets kind of messy. I keep my ipod next to my hand brake, plugged into the back, and the tape adaptor just stays in and I have the wire looped around the shifter so its easy to find the end.

David M

How tough / easy was it to remove the box ?

flynnibus

The box from the dash piece? Easy. It's just held in with 4 screws from the sides. On the 03, the screw posts go into the bracket slightly, so you gotta bow/bend it to pop it out of the bracket but its nothing.

Getting the dash out/in is the hardest part and that is still only minor. Its more annoying then hard... at least mine was to get around the white box and to get at the tabs to remove the radio harnesses.

spacemn_spiff

iTrader: (3)

Nice write up, thanks. I have a nuvi 650 that I want to do something similar to this.

Do you have any pictures of the connecting to the the power from the head unit? Thats what seems to be the most challenging of all this.

I use the nuvi on its battery power in the cubby right now, signal strength is more than adequate.


I have this splash screen that I created in 10 min.

David M

When you removed the box, was there much space in directly behind it ( ie, towards the front of the car) ? I'm thinking of a similar installation but would install a Powerlet plug outlet in the back of the box so the cradle could be easily removed too. I use these on my motorcycle and there really superior to the cigar lighter type.

http://www.powerletproducts.com/prod...gs_sockets.php

flynnibus

I did not take pictures mainly because that is the part that will be the most variable between installers and model years.

Do you have the service manual for your car (not the owners manual, the full PDF service manual)? What year is your car?

You simply need to find which wire is the ACC (switched power) leading into the radio harness and wire that back to your unit via your preferred method. The service manual (or threads here from someone with your exact radio and model year) will tell you which connector it is.

My method was to take the 12V charger from Garmin (because you need the specific connector at the cradle end), cut off the cig lighter end, put crimp connectors on the ends.

Then take one wire to act as ground, strip one end and attach to a metal mounted screw (I used the screws at the very bottom of the radio bracket where it attaches to the car) and crimp a connector on the other end. That goes to black on the charger cable.

Bought a inline fuse holder from Advanced Auto Parts (look in the electrical section with all the other fuses), popped in the fuse from the left over 12v charger. The fuse holder probably needs longer wires, so I soldered on extensions to the end of the existing wire. One end I put a crimp connector on, the second end I put into a splice connector which I put on the ACC power going into the radio.

The crimp connectors are so I can pull the dash back out later without having to break the splice or unscrew the ground cable, or pull the connector back out of the cubby (because I never made a big hole in the cubby, only one large enough for the wire itself). The splice is a type you just put on with pliers so you don't need to do any soldering, or wire tieing there.

When re-installing, I pushed all the wire down below the radio where there is a big gap.

To help which wire it is, need to know which radio and model year it is.

And if you are unsure, simply after you splice the wire into power, simply test it with a multimeter before you plug it into your GPS cable.

I had the manual and still tested it prior to plugging the connectors together

flynnibus

There is a plastic panel that sits behind the cubby box in the 03. I don't think there is a huge amount of room between the back of the cubby and that panel. Probably like an 1" or so.. but I couldn't tell you exactly, or what is behind that panel. It was just a thin plate, it's purpose I do not know.

My suggestion would be to take the center dash off and do some quick estimates and feel behind that plate. You will not need to remove the dash all the way to do this, so you don't need to remove the radio or get it all the way out.. which makes it REAL easy. About 4 screws. To feel behind the plate you will have to pull the dash out to the point where the radio is free, because that black plate goes all the way to the top of the radio.

My estimate? You will not be able to mount that socket without cutting a hole in that plastic plate. Step 17's photo here gives you a good view of the setup. The hole is where the radio slides in, the plate goes right to the top of it (but has cut-outs already).

You may also be able to mount your socket on the side of the cubby, rather then the back. There may be clearance for that.

However, I struggle to see what you gain from using this socket... to use the 650 somewhere else, you still need to take the cradle with you, and now this power cord setup must be accessible in the cubby as well. Why not just leave the power and cradle in place and duplicate it in your other setup?

You get a secure socket - but wouldn't it be easier to just not have a socket all together? If you want a removable power, its probably easier to just buy another 12v charger and hardwire it in the other place.

But in both cases you need to handle the semi-fragile power connector on the cradle, and install and remove the cradle. That's why I opt'd to leave the cradle in place and simply duplicate it. For $54 I got a cradle, vent mount, and 12V adaptor.

The cradle of the nuvi would be more cumbersome to move around and I worried about long term durability of trying to snap the ball socket in and out in the cubby without the plastic cracking. So I opt'd for a secure mount, and to leave the cradle+power in place all the time.

YMMV

jamaicanj

iTrader: (3)

Great write up. Thanks for the inspiration

maxpowers

iTrader: (3)

Thanks for the info. I was having a hell of a time trying to find a mount for my nuvi 260W and because of this thread I just installed it with the RAM mount you used. Cheers!

quakerroatmeal

iTrader: (9)

How big of a screen is on that Garmin Nuvi? Looks reallyy small.

Spike100

^^ The screen size is: 3.81"W x 2.25"H (9.7 x 5.7 cm); 4.3" diag (10.9 cm)

And yes, that size looks small when comparing to a 7" screen.

--Spike