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My M3 Lidatek and Stealth V1 Installs

 

First, the Lidatek units:

Quite easy to do it yourself.  I used a Dremel tool to cut out some of the front grille - just
enough to snuggly fit the transponders which I double sided taped instead of screwing. 
Then I just ran the wires through the engine compartment and through the firewall on the
passenger's side via the little rubber wire boot thingy.  Glove box comes out very quickly
with just  5 screws. Once behind the glove box, you can hide/make up all your connections
per the installation instructions and tuck them away nice and neat.  I didn't bother mounting
the toggle kill switch - just flipped it on and bundled up with the other wires behind the glove
box.  Didn't take pictures of the wiring since it's really a "follow the Lidatek directions
provided" deal and quite simple.  I mounted the warning speaker under the glove box,
out of sight.

Afterwards, I fine adjusted the levelness of the transponders with some more sticky tape
and used black magic marker to color the tape.  
The rear, LE-10 was a bit more of a hassle
to install.  Snaking the wire into the trunk area via the rubber grommet sleeve was a challenge
but the end product is no wires showing anywhere.

Result: M3 with front and rear laser protection. They fire for 5 seconds with a very loud audible,
allowing you to slow down to proper speed before Mr. Laser Gun finally locks on and gets a
reading.

The old LE-10 mounted on rear license plate frame for rear laser coverage

Another angle

Close-up of LE-20 right transponder cut into grille with Dremel tool

Hard to see them (one in each corner of the upper grille)

REALLY hard to see them

Close-up of LE-10

Impossible to spot transponders

Speaker mounted under dash (and very loud I might add - you WILL hear this go off!).

 

My M3 V1 Stealth Install:

This took a bit of doing but I'm happy with the results.  First off, I cut out some 3/4" Medium
Density Fiber (MDF) board with a jigsaw the same outline as the alarm cover from the roof
(cover cost $ 16.).

Then I traced the V1 onto the MDF, leaving a little space all around and for the telephone wire
to fit snuggly inside.  Be sure to face the V1 in the forward position, with dials and display
facing the rear of the car (an easy mistake to make).  Cut out the MDF and sand until the cows
come home to get it smooth.  Once ready for paint, I used 2 coats of gray Rustoleum primer,
followed by 2 or 3 coats of flat black Rustoleum paint, sanding in between all coats of paint.
You will need to level the V1 with shims - I used wads of paper, then tie wrap it to the bracket
that the child restraint bolt screwed into.  I should've taken more step by step pics, but oh well.

One more thing: I did extensive testing with the V1 covered on the back deck and uncovered on
the front windshield.  Almost no degradation in reporting bogeys.  The only thing that may be
affected is the laser detection since the laser antennae are both partially obscured.  But in my
case, it doesn't matter since I've got Lidatek doing the laser warnings for me.  I also ran the
Passport 8500 along side as a comparison and was happy with the new V1 location.

I ran a 25 ft telephone cable from the V1 down through the hole left from removing the baby car
seat hook thing in the back dash all the way to the shifter area, tucking in wires neatly all the way.
You have to remove the back seat.  The hardest part here was getting the wire snaked from the
back seat carpet to under the console.  A stiff gauge wire and a lot of muscling the carpet did
the trick.  Be sure to protect the modular ends of the wires whenever snaking them around.  The
power connection was made from the fuse box to a switched fuse.  Then I installed the kill switch
that operates the V1, the Lidatek LE-20's up front and the LE-10 on the rear license plate.  One
switch kills power to ALL units.

The compartment above the ashtray that I used, is easily removable by lifting up and pulling out.
Quite easy.  Then a dremel tool was used to cut holes in the back of the compartment to feed
all the necessary wires and cables through.  It really worked out very neatly.  I surprised myself.
The kill switch was mounted on a piece of black Plexiglas that was glued like an "L" to another
piece of Plexiglas so as to be able to drill up through the bottom of the compartment to screw the
unit in place.  Drilled a hole to slip the LE-20 LED through.

The V1 remote audio box with mute and the LE-10 Enunciator are velcroed in place for easy
removal.  When the door is shut, you see nothing but can easily hear the V1 and Lidatek units
when they blast off.  Then I ran a telephone wire from the main power supply unit thing up to
the back of the cluster.  Originally, I wanted to cut out the SMG area of the cluster to install the
remote display, but having seen others make serious mistakes in that area and not feeling too
adept at plastic surgery, I opted for what I have now and I'm really beginning to like the way it is
setup now.

V1 mounted on back dash.

From driver's side.

Straight back shot.

Passenger's side shot.

Closeup.

Last one.

V1 remote audio/mute, rocker killswitch for ALL V1/Lidatek units, LE-20 LED, LE-10 annunciator.

Closeup shot.

Remote display - wire fed through bottom of cluster.

Everything is hidden (and you can hear the V1/Lidatek stuff w/door closed).

Remote audio and enunciator electrical taped for further stealthness.

Last one of these shots.

Remote display velcroed for quick 3 second removal when times call for such action :).

Last remote display shot.

 
 

 

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