GatorWPB

can you explain the "minor modifications"? I plan on having a professional place install mine, but Id like to give them a heads up if the instructions are going to be a little off.
Thanks.

socalJD

^ I had to shave some material off the male end of the kit's 1 pin connector to fit back into the female end of the car's Nav unit. The oem 1 pin connector was a tight fit for the kit's female end, but I forced it since I didn't want to alter the factory connector. Not that it matter for you, but DIYers will want to use latex gloves while pulling the Nav/radio unit, I cut a few of my fingers while pulling the Nav out. . .

rominl

iTrader: (4)

wow man, what did you do with the car cutting yourself

socalJD

^ Bah, its only a flesh wound - kinda like deep paper cuts. The navi bracket can be quite sharp if you grip too tight. You know, no pain - no gain

GatorWPB

Thanks SoCal. I heard those metal brackets were sharp.
I get concerned doing installs like this. It was one thing when I was 17 installing car audio systems in high school friends' cars, but navigation on a 50k car is something else.

gs350_07

yeah the shaving off of a section of the kit was discussed on page 4 of this thread... thank goodness i read this whole thing through before i tried to do the install... it really helped out alot.. and to get the nav unit out, it would be easier to use towels when you grab those metal tabs... you'll avoid getting battle scars.. hahaha.. but congrats on installing the nav kit .. and i second the ebay guy.. he was really cool to deal with

gs350_07

but seriously it isn't that bad.. i'm still very new at doing this type of work.. and i understand your reluctance to mess with a 50k car.. however, sometimes i question whether shops will really take the time and care to do a good job.. most of the time, if they break a clip or something, you won't even know about it until it is too late or something.. and that annoys the heck out of me.. so i started doing things myself ... and the directions on this thread are really good

rominl

iTrader: (4)

interesting, i didn't recall touching anything sharp or brackets. took me 1/2 hour to take everything out

ecount00

same for me. I am NOT usually good at this sort of thing but it only took me an hour start to finish. Do a lot of homework first. there are great instructions and pictures. without that, i wouldn't have thought about doing it myself. everything was covered in the write ups. there were no surprises.

I had a little trouble getting the unit lifted out too but didn't slice any skin. I just had to figure out a way to get ahold of it and tug in the right direction (up a little and out as i recall). That single pin connector was tight and the vendor instructions warned of that. i was able to get it to fit, snug as it was. Very glad i did it. Anybody thinking about doing it should go for it.

socalJD

^^ Well I even had trouble with the plastic trim piece above the ashtray. #@*$%&* thing didn't want to come out, using a small flathead screwdriver with electrical tape on the tip to protect the trim - prolly took 10 mins alone. And the instructions (in japanese) were misleading, the diagram with the connector locations were backwards. (yes I read thru this thread 2x, but using the instructions as a guide was easier than printing out 13 pages of html)

dk0515

iTrader: (6)

When I pulled out this unit the first time, I also cut myself. It took a big chunk of skin off because I was pulling on the little bracket on the bottom of the unit to get the unit out. Now when I remove the unit, I just pull on the back of the bottom deck (cassette player I think). The removal process took about 25mins the first time.

After I installed the unit, I started to have some rattling behind the unit. So, I took out the unit again and used felt and super glue to stop the rattling. So far after about 1k miles, no noise.

rominl

iTrader: (4)

lol, i guess that's one part where the PS unit is better, they provide instructions in english and much better pictures

jaxgs350

Glad to see a few more folks doing this mod.... I just took a 10-hour trip last week in the GS and was really happy I had the override buttons installed so I could enter some address points without pulling over someplace off I-75.....

GatorWPB

Well heck, now you guys are inspiring me to give it a shot. Certainly saves money to DIY.
Can anyone list the tools they used?

socalJD

^ First you need the unit . . .

Off the top of my head: phillips driver, small flathead driver, 10mm socket wrench with 3" extension, exacto knife (or similar to shave 1pin connector), rag or towell (cover console and protect nav unit when pulled out), and lots of BEER. . .