Found a few things that made my install easier. First, lots of discussion on which circuit to use to get power. Inside the main fuse box looks like this (except for the red wire – I added that…):
The lower contact in each row is either hot or switched, whether of not there is a circuit or fuse there. A common spade lug will fit into any empty circuit location, giving easy power. Check with car off to see which ones are always hot. The rest are switched. Every add-on I have ever seen has its own in line fuse, so just plug in and go!
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To get rear ZR3 unit or backup camera wiring to the rear license plate hole, take the cover off the left side tail light. Three 8 mm nuts hold the light in.
Unplug the wires, remove the nuts, remove the light. From the hole in the corner of the taillight socket, you can see the hole behind the license plate :
Snake the wire through. There is plenty of room beside the taillight to feed the wire to the back of the taillight. Here there is a large flat area where you can drill a large hole to pass thru wires and set a sealing grommet in place:
Replace the light, and you have the wire through to the cabin. There is also power and ground in the area behind this cover.
To get wires from the front fog light area into the cabin, first snap off the fog light trim covers. You will snake the wires up to the area to the left and right of the hood latch. The trim in this area, and up the sides of the hood cavity is just velcroed down. After pulling it off, snake the wire up:
Darn that image limit....
Bring both wires around and up the driver’s side of the trunk and into the area of the Windshield washer fill cap:
There is a black sheet metal plate where the main wiring harness goes thru the firewall, also the brake and clutch cylinders (I think). Others have put a hole in the gasket of the main wiring harness. I did not want to drill that close to all the wires, so I went thru the sheet metal. It is thin, easy to drill, good access from the cabin side between the clutch and dead pedal. For a large hole (like needed to put the ZR3 jacks thru) first drill a pilot hole, then 3/8”, then finally 5/8”. I went straight in with a 5/8” bit, and the metal is thin enough it grabbed and made a ragged, ugly hole that I had to file down. Hole from cabin side:
Hole from hood side:
Wired, with grommet installed:
While I may eventually use the mounting brackets, I just velcroed the front shifters in:
To fit them in, cover the Velcro with a stiff plastic sheet, put the device in place, then pull out the plastic:
Darn it some more...
I do not like anything on the windshield – I also think that the police are more likely to pull you over if there is a detector in view on the windshield. The 9500i can be mounted like this:
Since the ZR3’s are handling lasers, you do not need for the 9500i laser sensors to have a good view forward and backwards. The metal of the Porsche roof is thin, so the GPS can see right thru it. You do not need to see the readout since it talks to you. The passenger can still use the sun visor. Finally, I routed the remote mute to the back if the info stalk:
Exterior views:
can you give more details how you mounted the 9500i on/near the passenger visor?
About to leave town, so here is the quick answer - for wiring to the top of the windshield, I took tips from all three articles on radar detectors in the articles section. The physical mount shown was using the suction cup mount, put on the windshield all the way up so that the top edge of the suctions cups are behind the headliner at the top of the windshield. I have ordered additional visor and suction cup mounts, plan to try the visor mount clipped to the front edge of the headliner, or fabricate something that will screw into the visor clip. Will post more when I get back...
You should post this as an Article in the Cayman Electronics section of the Articles area of this website.
Did you drill from the cabin or the trunk side?
Drilled from the cabin side - after you REALLY make sure of the right spot. Be sure to do a small pilot hole, then increase to full size in a couple of steps. I put this in the articles section as suggested, there are more / better pictures there...
