KenK in TX

I'm going to wait a little to see if I can find a deal like yours, or a better price on the Bel equivalent...and hopefully I wont get popped with a fat ticket in the mean time!

I've been scouting out locations for my install too, and havent come up with much...but I was eyeing the area where the cigarette lighter is - the lighter pops out and it looks like it would be easy to make a face plate in that area to hide the control panel. I was also thining of stuffing it in the drivers door cubby. The ash try is still an option too...

matt13

license plate, and the front laser sensor is on the other side of the front plate in the lower grill. I had to cut the grill to get the antenna to fit facing the correct direction, but it worked.

Too tired to keep typing right now, I'll see if I can get my hand on a digital camera at some point.

KenK in TX

...I ordered the Bel RX75 on Friday so I've got to start scouting out my engine bay too.

How did you run the cable through the firewall? Were there any unused grommets or did you just go through the ECU area? I'm also wondering if you went with the ash tray mounting location too.

Keep me posted!

matt13

I haven't been able to get my hands on a digital camera yet, so no pics.

First I'll tell you the specifics about the install and then my impressions. Consider my impressions if you're planning on doing anything the way I did.

Remember, this is for a B5 A4, so I'm not sure how it will differ for a B6 A4, maybe you'll luck out and find better mounting locations. Just be sure to test fit.

The radar antenna and front laser sensor are both mounted in the center lower grill on either side of the front license plate. The front laser sensor fits perfectly in between the grill with no cutting, so I just used some clear double sided mounting tape (I didn't realize that the SR7 came with black mounting tape until I finished this, so you could use the supplied mounting tape instead) to make sure the sensor wouldn't slip out. The radar antenna was much more tricky. There isn't enough room to install the antenna facing the correct direction unless you do some cutting.
Here are my lower front grill instructions:
1) Remove your front license plate if you have one. Remember which vertical sections of the grill are not behind the license plate (should be 2 vertical sections on each side)

2) Remove the lower center front grill. There are 4 point that it is clipped to and you can access these point by popping the hood and looking behind the bumper. I was able to just push the little plastic clips one by one down with my finger and pull out at the same time to get all of them to release.

3) The front laser sensor will fit easily in between the 2nd and 3rd horizontal slats down and can be secured with some mounting tape. No cutting required. I put it in the 2nd vertical slat from the end (first rectangular one). Make sure you center the module because if it is too far left or right it will interfere with reinstalling the grill (centered it just barely doesn't prevent reinstallation)

4) The radar antenna install requires cutting. I decided on mounting it as far up on the grill as I could so I centered the antenna in the 2nd grill from the end (first rectangular grill) on the opposite side of the laser sensor and used some double-sided tape to hold it to the top of the grill while I marked the where I would have to cut the grill to move the radar antenna in further. I then cut the grill using a dremmel and a pair of tin snips until a fraction of an inch was left in the front and I sanded it with a dremmel until the radar antenna was flush with that remaining fraction of an inch in front. I didn't want to cut all the way through the grill because I figured it would in some way make it hard to reinstall it. Then I had to make a mounting bracket for the bottom of the antenna. I used two strips of reasonably bend resistant sheet metal. I drilled two holes into one strip, centered it and screwed it into the 3rd horizontal slat down. Then I made a cross with the other slat at a 90 degree angle and positioned it so that I could screw the feet of the antenna into the slat. I then screwed the feet of the antenna in, used double sided tape to keep the top of the antenna attached to the top of the grill and used a dremmel to cut the bottom of the screws/bolts off. I also threadlocked all of the nuts and bolts that I used. Then I found some flat black paint and painted the silver metal strips and bolts to make them blend in with the grill. With this method the radar antenna *barely* fits when the grill is reinstalled.

5) I wrapped the wires coming from the laser sensor and radar antenna in friction tape up to the point where they go over the radiator, I figured that this would be a good idea because of the heat from the radiator.

6) I routed the wires anound the outside of the engine bay along the rubber strip that seals the engine compartment up the drivers side, using wire ties to secure the wires at a point or two.

7) To get the wires into the passenger compartment I went through the ECU. The wires can with rubber grommets, so I just cut into the large rubber grommet already there and ran the wires into the passenger compartment.

8) Obviously, I took off the knee bolster to grab the wires. I attached the control module that everything plugs into to the bottom of a relay with velcro.

9) I removed the radio and climate control to get to the ashtray and drilled a hole into the back of the ashtray. I put the display module in the ashtray and used the mounting brackets that I took off of the laser detector module to set it at an angle (double sided mounting tape again to make it stay)

10) I then drilled a hole into the piece at the top of the steering wheel (after removing it) and put the remote display LED there.


Impressions:

I think the radar antenna is too low. It can definately be blocked by other cars and won't "look" over hills as well. I have yet to find a better mounting location for the antenna yet and I've looked inside and outside the car. The LED mounting location is not very good. I can't see it in the day and it refects on the windshield at night, annoying the hell out of me. I'm going to disconnect it since I can see the display at all times anyway.

I have yet to find a speed trap to test the radar sensitivity. Why are there never any when I actually want to find one ;-)

KenK in TX

I hope to God that the RX75 comes with reflector plates so I can mount the antenna sideways in front of the radiator like I did on my B5. Thats really strange, especially since the SR7, RX75, and 975R all use the same antenna. Oh well.

Mine has yet to be delivered, but it might show up on Saturday. Whenever I get into the install, I'll take as many pictures as I can to document the process. Hopefully I wont have to go through the same hell you did!

matt13

Did that reflector plate you used come pre-bent like that, or was it straight at first?

KenK in TX

It was pre-bent, part of the 975R kit. Felt like anodized black aluminum to me.

matt13

Luckily I wasn't speeding. Lets just say the laser tone is distinct.