Supples’ Pub

It was mod weekend here at the Pub, where I finally got to a couple easy mods I’ve been meaning to get to on the Goat. You can view all of the pics and more, in high resolution glory, in this Flickr set.

The first was a long-awaited radar detector hardwiring. I have an Escort Passport 8500 X50 (at least they didn’t call it a Type R too…) and it has always done a great job, but I wanted to clean up the power cord hanging down over my dash. Now this detector’s cord has a mute button, power light, and activity light, so a regular old hardwire kit that just provides power would lose that functionality. I love hitting the mute button at the regular radar signals that are picked up during my usual commutes, so I couldn’t lose that. Luckily Escort has a special hardwire kit with the “SmartCord” and everything you need to hardwire one of these models. I also picked up a couple extra mounting brackets and several suction cups - replacement suction cups are impossible to find otherwise.

I removed the knee panel covering access to the fuse box and began running the wiring.

But how do you hardwire this into your fuse panel? Escort included a slip-on connector and a small plastic wire splice. The wire splice wraps around an existing hot wire and splices into it, with a place for the slip-on connector to attach and voila, you have power. Some people also just shove a bare wire into a fuse slot, jammed into the fuse as well. I didn’t really like either of these approaches for obvious reasons and came across a neat little product: Access-a-fuse.

As shown on these pictures from their website, this unique fuse design allows for safe addition of a new accessory to your fuse panel. They even include a slip-on “butt” connector attached to the fuse already, talk about convenient. The pricing is reasonable and when I placed my order, the owner called me to verify it before shipping. All in all, a great company and product.

With the fuse panel exposed, you’ll need to select the appropriate location to wire the detector, aided by a diagram showing your fuse box breakout. The GTO has a diagram on the back of the knee panel and I chose a fuse on the Ignition circuit with a 10 Amp rating. This way the detector is only on with the ignition and the way I reason it, the lower ampage fuse ensures the detector won’t be subject to any high-amp spikes or shorts.

This is what my fuse panel looks like with the Access-a-fuse and harwire installed, replacing the original fuse with an Access-a-fuse of the same rating. Now that one end is connected, we can run the wire through the rest of the car and up to the radar detector.

The first decision on wire routing needs to be whether you will place the radar detector towards the bottom or top of your windshield. You could put it in the middle, but then you have an ugly wire draped across your glass. I opted for higher on the windshield, just below my rear view mirror. With that decision made, it is best to try to run the wire along the headliner. Luckily the GTO’s headliner will pull down very slightly, just enough to tuck the wire in; just make sure not to pull too hard, you can feel it stretching some kind of adhesive or something.

From there, the most direct route to the fuse box is likely down the a-pillar. Depending on your car, there may or may not be room to easily conceal the wire and you may need to resort to other measures. Luckily I was able to stuff mine in the a-pillar, then into a seam at the base of the a-pillar, and run it behind a vent panel right to the fuse block.

So now you have connected the hardwire power, run the wire in an out-of-sight fashion, and your radar detector is hung in all its clean glory - what else is there to do? Place the “SmartCord” module.

While previously integrated into the 12V plug, it is now a separate little housing that can be attached anywhere within reach of the cord. Escort even supplies adhesive velcro, although regular mounting tape would make more sense to me. Regardless, it works. I ran my wires up where the knee panel opens for the steering column and sat the SmartCord module in front of my gauge cluster.

Here it is in easy view, and relatively easy reach for me to slide around the steering wheel and press that godsend of a mute button. The velcro tape allows the module to shift slightly when you press the button; while not a huge irk, regular mounting tape would secure it better. I personally see no need to be able to remove the SmartCord module, seeing as it would leave the other side of the velcro tape there anyway.

Anyway, enough rambling, here are the before and after shots:

Below are shots of where the GTO’s main accessible accessory plug is. A neat little drawer pops out of the center stack, but it gets old staring at it laying open. No more!