Scottish Elises

Not only did i get my 2bular 2day but ive also got a i-pod connector for my alpine stereo

anyone fitted one on an 08 dash - i fiited one on my 06 111r dash no bother but never done it on the 08 dash so any tips appeciated

Beer tokens avaialble for helpful peeps

Cheers

Benny

Benny,

It's pretty straightforward with only a couple of tricky bits.

1. Remove stereo front panel
2. Remove black plastic surround trim (it's an interference fit so I find easing off with a small thin blade screwdriver the best)
3. At each side of the stereo, mid way up, you'll see a couple of small screws protruding. Using a samll screwdriver lift these into the middle position whilst easing the stero body out. The stereo should come out very easily.

And now the tricky bits:

4. You'll need to remove the cover above the passenger side cubby hole. A couple of screws hold this in but once removed it'll pull out easily.
5. Using some form of strong wire or similar you'll need to pass this through behind the dash from the stereo cut-out to the left cubby cut-out and use as a pull to get the iPod cable through. If you don't have an airbag fitted there then it may be possible to remove some of the dash to make access easier but the pull method worked for me.

And now the trickiest bit:

6. Once you've got the cable from the stero to the left cubby hole you will need to feed this through to the dash under-shelf. You will notice that there is a black plastic filler piece at the left hand side of the under-shelf. There is no easy way to do this but remove the piece, form a hole/gap at bottom dead centre slightly bigger than the diameter of the ipod cable. Feed the cable through the gap and then replace the plastic filler piece with the cable running through the newly formed hole/gap. Getting the filler piece out is a nightmare, getting it back in not so bad. I've removed this a couple of times when upgrading the stereo and found the longest, but easiest way without risking damage, was to remove both the door/chassis cover (1 screw at lock side and two at bottom of cubby hole) and also to remove the air vent/cubby hole dash panel (couple of screw at the top then ease off, needs a bit of effort plus some jiggling about but comes off fairly easily).
7. Finally put it all back together in reverse order and you should have a neat finish with the ipod sitting in the undertray to the left of the stereo and no cable showing (apart from at the bottom of the undertray).

There might be even easier ways to do this but this worked for me. Also managed to cure an irritating squeak that I had from that side in the process!!

Cheers
Graeme

Cheers for that Graeme much appreciated - i'll have a bash at it later on today



Anthony

Graeme

cheers for the advice - after an hour or so of fannying about finally got it all hooked up



Cheers in due you a pint

I'm jealous! Just spent an hour trying to get a cable from the head unit to the grommet where the main harness comes out from the dash (passenger footwell) had to give up due to phone calls

Has anyone had any luck doing this on the MY08 airbag dash? I may try the instructions above to see if I can get access that way.

Cheers, Peter

do they not still come with the ipod connector and holder anymore, mine is an 07 spec and it had it from new already hooked up and ready to go?

LittleMorvy wrote:do they not still come with the ipod connector and holder anymore, mine is an 07 spec and it had it from new already hooked up and ready to go?

Only on the posh touring spec. Cable can be brought for £18, I'm running a cable for a different reason though...

Cheers, Peter

Mine is an MY08 airbag dash and the above instructions work fine. Once the head unit is removed along with the passenger side cubby hole it's not too much of a problem getting a feed wire round behind the airbag. It's on of those jobs where it'll either go first time or you'll spend 20 minutes faffing around til it eventually comes out where you want it. If your hands are small enough you can just about get your hand all the way round the back of the airbag via the head unit hole. Mine aren't the smallest and although it was a bit of a squeeze it certainly helped getting the wire to feed along to the cubby hole exit. I had looked at feeding it out under the dash but that would be a pain to do.

Thanks & yes. Your instructions worked. I initially tried to get the cables coming out of the harness grommet in the passenger footwell. (trying to get them to the centre rear of the car).

After reading your instructions I rerouted behind the airbag after removing the cover above the passenger side cubby. This then allowed me to route out the bottom of the dash and join the loom to the centre of the footwell then owards to the rear of the car via the centre console.

Now I have a nicely installed Alpine Sub (Halfords ex display £49.99 from £150) behind the drivers seat. It's subtle sounding but good enough to make the car stereo sound like a normal car stereo now..

Cheers, Peter

Peter, where did you take the power supply from for the sub? It could be on my pre-roadtrip to do list if its failry easy (cant see me getting power from battery in front to behind seats)

Hi Peter, I've been thinking about installing a sub woofer. Anychance of letting me know what kind and any piccies of the final installation possible? I also want the 'true' stereo sound and have upgraded to an improved Alpine system with sound processor. All I need is the sub but was struggling to find one that would be easy to fit and easy on th eye.

Cheers
Graeme

I installed an Alpine SWD 1600 http://www.bassjunkies.com/?pid=31298&rf=ref_froogle .

It was by chance that I popped into Halfords and they had an ex display model (at £50 I had nothing to lose). It's located behind the drivers seat and held in place with a large pice of velcro. (it aint going anywhere quickly) some people fit in the passenger footwell which would make wiring easier but it will get kicked and bashed.

I took all the sources from the head unit and upgraded the fuse supplying it to 25 amp. I was going to take the cigar ligter power but it's always on and I was worried about getting a current drain when the car was not in use.

Cables run are -
+ & - via a 12 amp in line fuse (2 wires)
acc/external amp init from the head unit (1 wire)
stereo RCA leads (dual core cable with screening)

4M of cable is just enough using the route described above.

The sound is much better. Not Audiophile std but as good as a standard car stereo. The sub points straight into the back of the drivers seat, this left the cargo net in the back free to be used but I think if I move it (so the speaker is more centralised) then I may get an even better sound.

Will try to get some pics tomorrow. In the mean time I'd go barter with the local Halfords. This unit is end of line and it seems that most shops carried 1 demo unit. See if you can beat £49.99

Cheers, Peter

Head unit now changed for a Kenwood 8041 (Full speed Ipod control and built in bluetooth). Alpine unit now listed in the for sale section..

Sounds much better!!

Does anyone have a picture of the foam ipod holder that is supplied with the Touring pack?

Not sure if it's easier to make or try to source from Lotus. Has anyone tried cmaking a foam one before?

Thx, Peter

Thanks guys.

Just installed this cable today and routed it to the cubbyhole under the light switches which is pretty handy and hidden.

Works great but was a bit disapointed to find the Nano ipod telling me that the connection does not support charging!

Also installed a "99" VW relay for the wipers to get an adjustable intermittent wipe. Brilliant cheap mod.

Take care,

Frank