Its modulated unfortunatly. Once an aftermarket kit becomes available to replace the stock DVD rom unit for the NAV I will probably port the XM into the AV controller on that...

 

FInally got my commander and installed it. Of course, while pulling the ashtray out, the little metal pivot for the left hand side, as well as the spring basically vanished into thin air. I never heard them fall off, and I looked everywhere for the darn things to no avail. So no ashtray cover until I can make repairs.

Sigh. Oh well. Off to activate the radio!

 

That sucks... Does anyone know if you can order just an ashtray door or what the price of the entire assembly is? Just curious....

 

Welp, I aint to woried as I still have 1 spring left, so if thats enough to keep the lid open I will be happy. Just need to make a new axle for the left hand side and thats it.

My antenna isnt in it's final spot yet. Any suggestions on a easy-ish palce to put it? Let me tell ya that getting the radio out was a MOTHER, but everything else was pretty easy. I ended up putting the control box right above the gas pedal on a black metallic box that seemed tailor made for the darn thing.

And I havve no idea if I'll ever get that 10mm hidden bolt back on. It took me 45 minutes just to find the darn thing!

Anyways, tried it out a bit, worked great, very good music selection compared to the local crap FM stations. Very happy. Now I need to make it red as suggested previously and clean things up a bit. Thanks for the tips!

 

After much thinking about it I put the antenna on the rear lid. It was by far the easiest spot to wire up to, as all the necesary panels are just snapped on and pull of easy. Looks really nice. I might end up putting it above the rear glass, mainly becuase of the cable slack you need to leave for the trunk to open and not yank it off. Thats for another day though :D I fabricated an axle out of a paper clip, and even made a ok'ish replacement spring. Tonight I'll put the cover back on, put in the red filter and hopefully finish cutting the ashtray to get everything to close.

Tried it out on my route today and worked like a champ, except for 1 dropout under heavy tree coverage. But thats to be expected.

 

How about using your moto tool/Dremel to shave away the backside of the ashtray door? Looks like there's a few ribs of plastic, etc. under there. I'd measure first, but would that give you enough clearance to close it?

 

If you check out this thread you can see my installation. https://www.rx8club.com/showthread.p...threadid=13012 I gutted the ashtray and fit a custom black flocked backing. The ashtray does close. I also mounted the antenna in the on the dash and get a full signal with no drop out. Pretty simple and easy to remove if I need to.

 

Crutchfield did a similar install to PlanMan's for me. Looks awesome, I'm really happy with it. The antenna is under the rear window glass and it works perfect. I get no dropouts on my regular route to work, which has a lot of trees. I even get reception in the garage with the door closed. I was surprised.

I'm posting a couple pics for anyone who might be interested.

 

Here's where the antenna is.

(I forgot to mention that I can close my ashtray cover, too. I reaaallly like that I can do that. They used a dremel to shave away part of the plastic piece in the ashtray compartment.)

 

I just had an XM Commander installed; looks finished and the door closes. Lighter was removed, the plastic divider between lighter and ashtray cut. I now need to add the red filter like flyboy's.

Picture attached.

 

Ok.. I couldnt stand seeing all those great installs so I got out the old Dremel tool and did some more cutting =) I actually just took that adapter plate unit that came with the Commander and cut the bottom edges to match the contour of the ashtray. I then sprayed it with trim adhesive. I layed a piece of black leather over the top and pushed the commander back into the trim piece. It now fits perfectly, the door closes and looks like it came stock with the car! Finally...3 months later I have the perfect XM install... =) Thanks to Loco and TM45 for getting my *** motivated! =P

 

Lookin' good flyboyindy

 

Your new edition looks great day or night.

 

Ooooh, Flyboy! Nice. Now I'm jealous.

I like the red LEDs, too. My car has the black cloth interior, so I think I'll just leave mine as is, but that looks very sharp!

 

I have to agree and when I decide to get mine installed I think I will show the shop this site. Thanks for the ideas.