misterp Posted November 2, 2007 Report Share Posted November 2, 2007 Hi everyone, I promised that I would post pics of how I mounted my new Bel STi Driver into my truck. I despise anything suction-cupped to my windshield, as my good friend Pimp SS says "NOT pimpin" so I took an old aluminum road sign I have in the garage (for just such situations!), made a pattern, and used a jigsaw & file to cut a bracket that is held in place under the left-hand visor mount and holds the detector. I also ran the wiring down the A-pillar and hardwired it to the multi-function body electrical connector (MBEC) located in the footwell. This detector also comes with an external speaker, and I took the time to mount it between the ODBC port and parking brake release. The result is a clean tight install, the detector isn't visible from outside the vehicle, doesn't interfere with the visor, has best possible visibility to oncoming radar, is within easy reach to the controls, and it turns on & off with the ignition key. Total time invested is a 2-3 hours after work, I am sure next time I could git'r done in under an hour. And next time I am spray painting I will take the bracket down and shoot with semi-gloss black to match the detector and it will look ragin! View from the back seat - kewl! From outside you cannot see the detector at all behind the windshield tinting, and with the power off it is well hidden from the driver's side window too, you gotta be specifically looking for it to find it. I've also tested this location against some oncoming radar sources and detector performance is not hindered at all, and being mounted up high gives the earlies warning cresting hills and seeing over other traffic. View from the driver's seat, no need for the remote dash control fob dohickey, buttons are within easy reach. My trick aluminum bracket - I removed the visor and took a piece of paper to trace a pattern, I basically made a wild-assed guess and decided to make the bracket as wide as the narrowest part of the detector. Using the pattern I cut the aluminum sheet with an ordinary jigsaw and medium-fine blade, then used a swap-meet 4-in-1 hand file to finish the piece. To form the bracket I bent/massaged by hand to follow the contour of the headliner; I wish I had a bead roller to bend a stiffening bead down the center, it would be trick as hell but I can tell you it's not needed, the bracket is plenty strong as-is. The visor-end of the bracket has an opening roughly the size and shape of the hole in the headliner so the visor can still be installed through the bracket then the headliner, the bracket is held in place simply by being sandwiched between the two and the friction fit has proven more than adequate for the job. At the windshield edge of the aluminum bracket I used tiny bolts/washers/nuts from a discarded hardware drawer to attach the Bel bracket to my aluminum piece, a little redneck I admit but you can't tell and it works great. Getting power - under the dash on the driver's side is a junction box called the multi-function body electrical connector, the factory put it here so that guys like us can add more electrical stuff without hacking into the vehicle harness. I probed around and discovered an unused pin that is switched 12V power, and I made a little female spade crimp connector and attached. Reading the schematics for the truck it happens to be the 12V power supply to the trailer brake harness, and seeing how I will never have a trailer hitch I'm using this circuit! Also this radar detector comes with an external amplified speaker and it's hard to see here but I chose to bolt it to the dashboard support. Hard to see here but the arrow points to some red wiring crimped into a female spade connector, crude but gets the job done. The right way would be to salvage a trailer brake harness connector from a wrecked truck and solder to the pigtails... In the diagram below the exact pin I chose was Pin B in connector C7 (labeled Trailer 6-Way on the inside of the MBEC cover, see below). Mr. P. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stoutss Posted November 2, 2007 Report Share Posted November 2, 2007 sweet Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hankg42 Posted November 2, 2007 Report Share Posted November 2, 2007 Nice work, Steve! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KJT13 Posted November 2, 2007 Report Share Posted November 2, 2007 Thanks Steve! I was gonna get on this tomorrow, but looks like we're getting some heavy wind and rain tomorrow from the Hurricane/tropical storm that's off the coast. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moog5050 Posted November 2, 2007 Report Share Posted November 2, 2007 Nice work Mr. P. I appreciate you always documenting your How To posts so thoroughly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
misterp Posted November 2, 2007 Author Report Share Posted November 2, 2007 Nice work Mr. P. I appreciate you always documenting your How To posts so thoroughly. You're welcome; this was more a "how I did" than a "how-to". If I did a How-To I would have scanned and posted my pattern rather than throwing it in the trash. Mr. P. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xlr82sxs Posted November 2, 2007 Report Share Posted November 2, 2007 (edited) steve, just fyi.. a laser beam is usually targeted at your license plate or head lights, since laser beams will penetrate glass and the officer might not get a reading if he pointed at your windshield. a laser beam is a very small beam, shot at 500 feet it is only 18" wide when it hits your vehicle. as compared to ka, k and x beams which at 1000 feet, a radar beam shot from a radar gun is approximately 85 feet wide. i read a lot on the best place to mount a radar detector after i bought mine and they recommend it being near the center of the windshield taking in consideration of these two facts. this means if the officer is pointing the beam at your front license plate and your detector is high or mid level on the windshield, chances are that your detector will never alert. looks great nonetheless! Edited November 2, 2007 by xlr82sxs (see edit history) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
misterp Posted November 5, 2007 Author Report Share Posted November 5, 2007 steve, just fyi.. a laser beam is usually targeted at your license plate or head lights...Thanks for the compliment - yes I should have mentioned that this location is not the best placement for LIDAR detection, totally an oversight on my part as I believe LIDAR detection is a total waste, if your LASER alert goes off you cannot do anything about it, you're already busted and may as well pull over for the roadside chat. As such I do not care about the LIDAR detection and will instead look into LIDAR shifting. Mr. P. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xlr82sxs Posted November 5, 2007 Report Share Posted November 5, 2007 as I believe LIDAR detection is a total waste, if your LASER alert goes off you cannot do anything about it, you're already busted and may as well pull over for the roadside chat. Mr. P. not so true in some instances.. for example, i was coming back from milwaukee the other night on the highway and an srt4 neon, with some aftermarket turbos(i could tell) kept buggin' me to race him. note, we were already going 80 in a 65 so i give the truck a little gas so he can hear the beast. he speeds past me then slows down to about 65. i also slow to 65 and we both punch it, before i knew it we were doing 120+ and my detector detects a laser frequency and we both slow to 65 instantly. we continued doing 65 for another 25 minutes until my exit and no cops ever came for us.. food for thought is all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlkSilvySS Posted November 20, 2007 Report Share Posted November 20, 2007 Nice install, and nice tutorial!! As Always... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smoke03 Posted November 21, 2007 Report Share Posted November 21, 2007 hey Mr. P, ever thought of makin a few of these to sell? I know id be interested... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stitches040 Posted December 1, 2007 Report Share Posted December 1, 2007 Thanks for the compliment - yes I should have mentioned that this location is not the best placement for LIDAR detection, totally an oversight on my part as I believe LIDAR detection is a total waste, if your LASER alert goes off you cannot do anything about it, you're already busted and may as well pull over for the roadside chat. As such I do not care about the LIDAR detection and will instead look into LIDAR shifting. Mr. P. I would soooooooooooooooooooooo still catch you Steve!!!!! Ninja and all!!!!! LOL ........ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
misterp Posted December 3, 2007 Author Report Share Posted December 3, 2007 I would soooooooooooooooooooooo still catch you Steve!!!!! Ninja and all!!!!! LOL ........ Ohh puhleeeze you're gonna have me on the side of the road even if I'm NOT breaking the law. :jester: All seriousness, my point wasn't that I would beat you, but that I personally give zero weight to LIDAR detection. hey Mr. P, ever thought of makin a few of these to sell? I know id be interested... What model radar detector do you have? Mr. P. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AK04SS Posted December 3, 2007 Report Share Posted December 3, 2007 yeah, i hate suction cups. up here in ak, it gets so cold that the suction cups just stop working. i hate coming out to my truck seein my radar detector dangling. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stitches040 Posted December 3, 2007 Report Share Posted December 3, 2007 (edited) All seriousness, my point wasn't that I would beat you, but that I personally give zero weight to LIDAR detection.Mr. P. Seriously .... If your the only one on the road ... your detector will go off ... and it's too late. I got Ya!!!! Same with LIDAR ... if your lucky to have the signal go off ... It's way way way to late ... Edited December 3, 2007 by Stitches040 (see edit history) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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