JasonMK

Ok, so this is my very first CarPuter installation, and with an Infill G4 it should be pretty straight forward. In fact, I know it should be because I have already installed it. So, this won't be your typical worklog. The whole process went so fast I didn't have time to chronicle it day by day, but I did take pictures along the way. This in no way compares to some of the amazing custom work I've seen, but with the success that you have brought to the niche market of carputers there are more and more new comers like me that might benefit from seeing an entry level installation. Once they get hooked, like me, they will want to gut whatever they are driving and totally go nuts. As for me, cutting out a 5"x6" piece of my week old $20k SUV was as nuts as my wife would allow. Thank God for a great wife.

MP3Car.com

 

JasonMK

I didn't bother to get many "before" pictures of my VUE since they are all over the net, and if you own one you know what it looks like. But here are some shots of some initial measurements I took.

JasonMK

This gave me my first peak inside my brand new dash, and gave me a rough idea what the cables looked like. More importantly, it gave me an idea how much space I had to work with. With the restocking fee, if I bought the G4 it was going in one way or another. After posting incessantly in the mp3car forum, 12volt forum, saturnfan forum, and reading forums on everything from Hummers (GM) to Corvettes (GM), just to name a few, I was getting worried how many people were saying that a double din stereo COULD NOT fit inside my car. I was shocked, disappointed and stubborn, so I went back out and remeasured everything.

JasonMK

I could not find in any way why a double din would not fit, so I moved on to locating install pieces I would need. This way by far the hardest part. After way too many hours wasted driving around, calling, emailing and even speaking with various manufactures I learned of and found a GMOS-LAN-06 for my OnStar equipped vehicle. This was to be my $109 wiring harness. Whatever your thoughts are on OnStar, it's a smart buy for other reasons.

While I am on it, another thing I have been told countless times is that I can NOT use the OnStar antenna for my G4's GPS receiver. I haven't given up on that, but just unsure how to make this useful.

JasonMK

Let me back up and talk about taking off the dash, something I did a few times a week over this period of time (took a week or so for my G4 to arrive, get it's upgrades and arrive cross town [Baltimore] to me). Getting it off isn't too hard, I've posted how elsewhere, but when you take off the little change pocket above the shifter leave the lower two 7mm bolts in. Just loosen them up and leave it loose until you are all done. Getting them on and off is a pain and you WILL drop them, and they never come back out.

JasonMK

Ordering time came, and on the 4th of July I declared by independence from my factory head unit. Cheesey, I know. One week later it arrived, so I came home a bit earlier than usual from the office to play with my new toy.

JasonMK

Although I had an evening appointment, I knew this was my best shot at installing it. So I heated up the soldering iron and got to work. After a few minutes I was back in the car taking the dash off again while my wife and daughter nervously looked on.

JasonMK

Now it was time to connect it (after disconnecting the battery, or course) and reassemble everything. The one (read: first) glitch I ran into was these nubs on the top of the Metra 95-3302 install kit had to be cut off. I heated up my razor blade and lobbed them off easily enough. I had to first disconnect the top cluster with the airbag light, hazard light switch and dimmer switch to get the install kit to fit right. I later learned, that it was in fact the stereo's 7mm bolts that had to come out, bolt the kit and stereo in and snap the bezel into the dash & Metra kit.

MP3Car.com

 

JasonMK

Now for the only real issue I ran into, I couldn't figure out the best way to get the G4 to sit in the dash. I wanted it as "factory" looking as possible. It was easy to install it with it sticking out 1/2 inch. I could even get it nice and flush, but then the screen wouldn't open. With my appointment quickly approaching I took of the install kit and mounted it all in place without it.



When I got back home, I grabbed the flashlight and went back at it. I ended up trimming the install kit, roughly and not to good of a job, but it looked much nicer than the gaping hole around the screen.

(I'll get a nice picture and post it soon)

JasonMK

I also ended up cutting out that back wall seen below the air vents with the wiring coming out. I didn't "need" to, but I wanted to. I knew if I didn't now I'd always think about doing it later. I was just nervous how tight the airflow might be around the G4's heat fan.

JasonMK

Over the past week I have been tweaking the mounting of the USB dongle and USB wifi adapter and various other software tweaks (most of which can be found posted here as well). I plan on simply buying another Metra kit, doing a much better job cutting it and then sealing up the dash (I still need to replace on 7mm bolt and tighten the other two back down) for good.

(I'll get some finished pictures and post them when it's all done)

JasonMK

Ok, so a week later I finally replaced the Metra Kit and did a much better job cutting out the top plastic lip. I was also able to get the whole G4 to sit back in the dash 1/2", making the front more flush. Still not perfect, but looks a whole lot better.

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JasonMK

As you can see, the top line still isn't factory straight. But at $20 a pop I just might live with it. If I modify it anymore, I'll be sure to edit this post. For now, running a USB cable to our glove box (for charging our Motorola RAZOR & KRZR) is about the only thing not listed.

Thanks for reading

RedGTiVR6

Looks pretty darn good!

Congrats!

*thread moved.*

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lmccants

I am newbie...just installed a JVC head unit with amp and new infinity speaker in my Saturn Vue '07...I have used the GMOS-LAN-06 wiring harness. The JVC system is playing very well, the only glitch I hit was how to get the OnStar to work without having the JVC to stay on after I turn off the car. Any suggestion will be greatly appreciated.

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