[SAMIAM]

Here's where it gets less hands-on, as I hired the dealer to do the comprehensive installation. I did an install of the SR7 in my E46, which wasn't terrible, but I was uneasy about tearing into the new E90. I studied the 9500ci in detail, and crafted instructions as carefully as I could to make it easier for them if possible, and to get the best result possible.

For the benefit of anyone doing this, I'm attaching the instructions I made for the installer. In fact he said these were so good, Escort should use them for their actual instructions. I edited these to correct some errors.

9500ci Instructions (Updated).pdf
9500ci Instructions Continued (Updated).pdf

So how did it turn out? Not bad overall. The greatest value the installer provided was his knowledge of the vehicle, and he did a great job of routing the cables properly, making sure they would not vibrate or chafe, providing a hard-disconnect under the hood, wiring into the fusebox, and generally following the instructions.

The only place that fell short is the installer struggled with the three units in the front bumper, and eventually settled just to get it over with. Initially I thought it was acceptable, but upon putting the car on a lift and studying the situation, I've decided I'll have to pull the bumper and make some adjustments. I also will get new plastic "grid" for the bumper and re-cut the holes, and improve on it. But I am happy that the "heavy lifting" was done by the installer.

Here is a front shot. Note that in general lighting you cannot see the forward radar/laser devices, below the license plate and in the fog bays.



Here is a closeup of the main 9500ci unit under the plate. The dome on the left is the Active Cruise system.



From the side you can see the profile.



The lighting is poor, but you can make out the laser shifter at the top of the foglight bay.



From the rear at a distance you cannot easily make out the rear laser sensor/shifter.



A closeup.



Now onto the interior to see the modified dash component in place. It looks quite good. My only possible doubt is that I cut the controller hole parallel to the bottom of the cover, and from some angles it looks a bit crooked. I don't know that there is a better way. As is, it does follow the general character of the lines on the dash. To level it would create other issues. Perhaps moving both units under the row of buttons would be better, but I'm in no rush to carve up another piece.



In the following photo you can see how this would be nicer if we didn't need to work with the stupid power button (I'm looking at you, Escort!) The other odd thing you may notice here is that the Mute button looks a little odd. When I received this, the Mute button was slightly rotated so the text was crooked. Escort support said that I needed to return the entire unit and all pieces to the vendor (just for that!), or send in the controller for "repair," or pay $200 for a new one. Ugh. I didn't really have time for any of that so I popped it open, and made some minor changes to fix the button. It's not quite right, but I can live with it for now. If I'm going to buy a new controller, then hopefully they will have a better back-compatible one.






Here's the location of the GPS receiver in the back window. I would have preferred it in the center, but there were complications with the roller shade. It's not perfect, but not terrible.



In the following photo you can get a little idea of how these will need to be adjusted. The side of the unit furthest from the foglight needs to come down an eight to a quarter of an inch. The face of the unit is also parallel to the trim, which means it is actually facing in a non-ideal direction. the side toward the fog need to come forward, in the same way the fog itself is rotated forward on the outside. Also these units are actually pointed a little downward, instead of forward. Fixing these cannot be done without pulling the bumper.



I also plan to order new grid work and do a better job of cutting it than the installer did. You'll see in the closeup of the main radar unit that the installer jammed it into the grid, deforming it. It was close, but not quite. This needs to be better. I'm thinking of cutting these as close to size as possible, and ideally find a similar material to form a frame around the units, and glue or fuse the material to the grid. I have no idea what to use for that.

[DieselPower]

[EZ_TUR90]

I want a jammer Awesome setup!

[Bimmer Nerd]

Originally Posted by EZ_TUR90

I want a jammer Awesome setup!

its illegal in cali

[ibeclueless]

nice

[oilfighter]

wow, that is clean!

How does that panel with the 2 new controller units come out? I'd want to put a V1 volume control unit there.

[Edward]

Is that thing in your front grill for adaptive cruise control? That is one pricey option.

[SAMIAM]

Originally Posted by oilfighter

wow, that is clean!

How does that panel with the 2 new controller units come out? I'd want to put a V1 volume control unit there.

See this post for a partial answer:

http://www.e90post.com/forums/showpo...3&postcount=12

See also the first thread showing how I fabricated this:

http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?p=7736268

[SAMIAM]

Originally Posted by Edward

Is that thing in your front grill for adaptive cruise control? That is one pricey option.

Yup, Active Cruise Control. It is quite impressive technology. It's kinda weird to see a yellow light appear on the dash as you get into range of a car, and then feel the car slow down as you get closer.

I saw a big truck suddenly changing lanes in front of me at a much slower speed, and knowing the limits of the car, I waited to see what would happen, as I closed dangerously fast. The icon turned red and the car did its limited automatic braking, but then beeped the warning for "User intervention required!" Then I hit the brakes. Scared the *ahem* out of my passenger, who is not used to the braking power of these cars.

[MusclezMarinara]

CAME OUT GREAT !

im redoing my SRX this week!

[andrewket]

Save your money. Laser jammers don't work. Mythbusters did an episode on them. After proving the devices available on the market didn't work, they built their own. They covered the ENTIRE front of a car with LEDs (1,000 of them if memory serves) and they were still able to lock on with a laser gun w/o any issue.

A

[MusclezMarinara]

Originally Posted by andrewket

Save your money. Laser jammers don't work. Mythbusters did an episode on them. After proving the devices available on the market didn't work, they built their own. They covered the ENTIRE front of a car with LEDs (1,000 of them if memory serves) and they were still able to lock on with a laser gun w/o any issue.

A

Actually they do and escort doesn't use LEDs they use IRs

http://www.youtube.com/watch#!v=TtIq...eature=related go to 4:00 or so
Needless to say I'll be keeping my jammers


and one more http://www.youtube.com/user/radarroy#p/u/9/wOjf3li8qXw

[michaelthepsycho]

Mythbusters is full of shit... As usual... Do you really buy into those two unscientific assholes? Just because it's on a major network doesn't give them credibility... At all.

Great job on the install. At first I wasn't sure what it was. Very stealthy!

[gmfm]

Samiam, if you don't mind my asking, how much did the installer charge for labor on this job?

[Coolieman1220]

so you only have forward facing radar? really low down too? radar is best up top. how are the jammers because there's still a lot of uncovered area on our cars and its hard to position them right because of that.

how do the jammers work compared to Blinders or LI's? I have a V1 for radar and am looking into jammers.

where in NY are you? here in NYC NYPD Highway Patrol loveeeeee laser. Thats mainly what they use. where as upstate those PD's tend to use ka radar.

[MusclezMarinara]

the radar unit is in the correct location mine is behind the bumper....radar is a sonar type system...no need for line of sight.

[SAMIAM]

Originally Posted by gmfm

Samiam, if you don't mind my asking, how much did the installer charge for labor on this job?

It was $500 for the BMW dealer installation, but that also included mounting another accessory (probably $50 in labor). Note again that I did all the work myself for the dash integration, which would have been very costly, if they could even have done that.

[SAMIAM]

Originally Posted by Coolieman1220

so you only have forward facing radar? really low down too? radar is best up top. how are the jammers because there's still a lot of uncovered area on our cars and its hard to position them right because of that.

how do the jammers work compared to Blinders or LI's? I have a V1 for radar and am looking into jammers.

where in NY are you? here in NYC NYPD Highway Patrol loveeeeee laser. Thats mainly what they use. where as upstate those PD's tend to use ka radar.

Even where the radar antenna is positioned, I get a much better range than my old car that had the SR-7 much higher. I have no idea how the shifters compare to other makes. I generally assume they don't work anyways, but every few seconds they might buy, is just gravy.

[andrewket]

Originally Posted by MusclezMarinara

Actually they do and escort doesn't use LEDs they use IRs

http://www.youtube.com/watch#!v=TtIq...eature=related go to 4:00 or so
Needless to say I'll be keeping my jammers


and one more http://www.youtube.com/user/radarroy#p/u/9/wOjf3li8qXw

Check out some of the feedback/reviews of the first video you posted. The corvette has the front license plate and headlights removed, which are typically what officers use the reflect the laser. It's an infomercial - they stacked the deck in their favor.

To each is own.

A