DIY: In-dash navigation unit - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners

I wish I would have taken pictures but I'll do my best to describe the process. NOTE: This is my FIRST car stereo install. I have never done anything like this. If you have the tools, the time, and a little mechanical knowledge you can do this yourself. This is for a Pioneer AVIC-D3 to be installed in an '02 BoxS with the Bose upgrade. I bought my stuff from Crutchfield and the salesman (over the internet) filled my shopping cart with all of the harnesses and adapters necessary. Here's a list of what I bought for the install: Crutchfield: Pioneer AVIC-D3 PAC OEM-2 Universal Interface (wiring harness #1) Pioneer CD-i200 iPod interface Volkswagon Wire Harness Receiver, 1987 and up (wiring harness #2) Motorola/Male to Volk/Female A Antenna Adapter Universal OEM DIN Tool Pair Fo For select VW and Mercedes models (for pulling out the factory headunit) Auto parts stores: 3 boxes of wiring caps (I'm not great with solder, so these worked well) GM truck/stereo head unit adapter (raw materials) Torx (star) sockets sheet of aluminum extra screws (same size as ones that came with headunit, but longer) Tools I already had: Dremel w/cutting discs Torx (star) bits wire crimper/stripper various screw drivers and pliers electric drill Swifer duster handle (blue plastic handle, perfect for hiding wires) NOTE: I disconnected the car battery before doing any of this. Make sure you leave your hood open so you can connect it again. The VW harness plugs directly into the OEM harness already in the dash. The PAC harness connects the Nav unit wires to the VW harness. It's a lot of wires and harnesses in the small space but it fits (barely). STEP 1: The first thing I did was to connect the VW wire harness to the PAC OEM 2 harness. You can do this on at your table while watching TV. Crutchfield sent directions on which wires go where on both harnesses. I also copied the schematic that was on top of my CR-220 headunit. That way you can match up all of the power wires and the speaker wires correctly. NOTE: The wire colors matched up exactly except for the solid red and solid yellow. Those were switched on the Porsche plugs. These are the switched power and the always on power. STEP 2: Next I connected the PAC 2 harness to the headunit wires. The wires all match up just like the pictures/directions show. Make sure you follow the directions in the Pioneer install sheet as well as the PAC 2 sheet. You'll have a few extra wires, so make sure you tape these off so they don't ground out. NOTE: It is VERY important that you connect the amp signal wire from the headunit to the one on the VW harness. Without this your amp won't turn on and you'll get no sound. STEP 3: Pull out your OEM headunit. Unplug it. I had cupholders above mine. Pull those out, too. Pop off the side pieces, the ones with the convertible top switch, the rain sensor knob, etc. Unplug all of those switches. On the rain sensor knob you'll have a wire that grounds to the dash. Carefully pull that off. Now remove the entire front. There are a couple of Torx screws holding it in. Don't drop them. The whole unit, even the vents, comes out. Now take out the metal holder for the OEM headunit. STEP 4: Here's the hard part, the cutting. I did this on a table next to my car. You've got to cut the middle plastic piece out to fit the new unit. Now prop up the dash piece so it is sitting like it would in the dash. Slide the new unit in and prop it up as well. Mark on the plastic sides of the dash piece where the screws will go. Drill the holes, and screw in the screws. NOTE: The hole drilling has to be perfect. Make sure the new unit is positioned EXACTLY how you'd want it in the dash. STEP 5: (this step I did after the install, but I wish I did it during) Using your own creativity you'll have to use the aluminum sheet and fabricate something that'll hold the new unit still inside the dash. Use the mounting points in the car that were used for that holder you took out that held the OEM unit. The new unit is already being held in by the plastic of the dash piece, but that's not enough, you want something sturdier. NOTE: My new unit sits directly on the floor of the dash (metal sheet you'll see in there). I do not have it suspended by the dash piece or the holder I fabricated. I did it this way because that sucker is heavy and I wanted it as stable as I could get it. STEP 6: Now it is time to run the various wires from the new unit to the car. Run the wires behind the dash and out the driver's side into the foot well. Plenty of room to work with. STEP 7: Next I ran the GPS antenna out. I went backwards, mounting the antenna on the dash, then ran the wire back. There is a metal square that attaches to the dash, and the ant. is magnetically attached to the square. I put these about 6" to the right (passenger's side) of the IR sensor in the middle. I ran the wire in the crack between the dash and the windshield using the Swifer handle to push it into the crack. The the wire went around the A-frame, down the outside of the plastic next to the door, and under the passenger dash. I then routed it through the crack between my lower dash and upper dash and back through the space on the driver's side of the dash where all of the other wires are. STEP 8: The iPod cable is next. I ran that from the same hole everything else is coming from, and had it parallel the reverse light wire. Using the Swifer duster handle is great to push the wire into the little spaces to hide it. Then I ran it up the back of the box at the back of the rear console and into the box. You can drill a hole if you want, but I hate cutting my Porsche bits, so I ran the cable under the lid near the hinge. You'll see a space next to the hinge that's big enough for the cable to run through. The iPod sorta hangs in the box, but I'm working on a way to secure it. So far no trouble because I have a bunch of stuff in the box that the iPod sits on. STEP 9: The faceplate. The new unit comes with a plastic frame. I used this and the pieces from the GM truck kit to make a faceplate. I ended up cutting the bottom of the new unit's frame so it would sit flush with the dash. I used the GM truck kit pieces to fill in the gap at the top between the frame and the vents. You'll have to do a lot of cutting and fitting to make it look good. This probably took longer than any other step. STEP 10: Put the dash back together. Make sure everything is plugged in: Carefully slide the harnesses back so they don't get in the way of the new unit. This part is tricky, so take your time. Next plug all of the switches back, make sure to put the rain sensor knob wire back on the dash chassis. Then pop all the pieces back on. The side pieces should hold the new unit's plastic frame in place. STEP 11: Reconnect the car battery. If you did everything right your new unit should turn on once you turn the key to the ACC position. Follow the set up instructions in the owner's manual for the nav system and you're all set.