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How to really fit a... connect nav

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connect fit nav
9K views 20 replies 9 participants last post by  typos1 
#1 ·
Got my connect nav+ installed yesterday. It was a good 12 hour job, with a mates help, but at least I know it was done perfectly and without breaking a single clip or covering. There are a few frustrating steps, but I guess once you've ripped apart half your car, you have no choice but to keep on going. And with these instructions, it will probably take half as much time since you don't have to figure it all out in the first place.

It was good luck I managed to get a GTA connect nav from a breaker, becaue they're hard to come by (they have a different colour to other 147 CN+). Plus I got the GPS/GSM aerial base and wiring, as well as the bracket and light conslole with microphone all from the same breaker. I only had to buy the aerial itself, and a few tools I didn't have. The steps should be the same for other models.

The tools you'll need are duct tape, those star-shaped allen keys (don't know what they are called), standard allen keys, spanner, small blade/saw, assortment of screwdrivers, some electic cabling, a few metres of wiring.

CHANGING THE AERIAL BASE

* Open your tailgate, and while you're there, removing the rubber lining from the top edge by pulling down on it - it should come off easily
* Remove the plastic clip holding up the roof lining in the centre, which allows you to see what you are doing a little bit under the roof lining when the tailgate rubbers also removed
* Remove the rear light by levering it from the right hand side
* Once it has come off, unclip it, and then remove the plastic liner that held the light by sticking a flat screwdriver into each clip (there are 6 or 8 around the egdes) and unclipping them
* You should be able to see the aerial base and bolt through the opening where the light was, plus two cables running backwards towards connectors
* Unclip these cables through the hole, or manipulate the cables till you can get to them from the tailgate opening, which might make it easier since the connections are quite tight, and I needed some strength to pull them apart
* Now you can undo the bolt, using a spanner (size = 22), and there isn't much space, so you won't be able to stick a torque wrench in there at all
* Be careful not to fray the edges of the hole by moving the spanner around too much because you need the roof lining sturdy enough to hold your light back in there again when you are done
* Oh, and the GTA has a black roof lining, which probably hides fingerprints and creases from bending the roof lining by mistake, but if you have a beige lining, you'll want to be careful
* So once the bolt is removed, you can tap against the base from the bottom to knock it out, and then stick in the new one carefully
* Now just put the bolt back on, and make sure to tighten it properly, you don't want your roof leaking next time it rains
* Connect the two existing connections which the original aerial made use of, and make sure the connectors are fastened to the clips so that they don't move about later
* Next step is putting in some cabling from the GPS/GSM aerial base through to the radio

WIRING THE GSM/GPS BASE

* This is probably the biggest step, so have a beer before continuing
* I wasn't sure whether to run the cabling through the roof lining (which is how the factory does it), or run it down the C-pillar and under the floor to the front
* The GTA comes with a built-in CD changer so I thought of following those cables to the front, but to get so many panels opened looked even more difficult so I went with the roof lining route
* My theory was to feed some wire through the roof from the front to the back, then tie the ends of the GSM/GPS cable to the wire, and pull the wire back through to the front, pulling the cable along with it
* So first thing to do is get the front light out of the way (which you'll need to do for the microphone later), as well as the alarm sensors
* Push forward and then down to remove the light console, and push to the right and then down for the alarm sensors if I remember correctly
* I straightened a length of wire (size = 2mm diameter) that was roughly the right length and began feeding it through, after taping the ends with duct tape (you don't want to poke the sharp end of wire through your roof lining by mistake)
* First problem is that when you remove the light and alarm sensors, you'll see there are plastic supports holding the roof lining, but also blocking a lot of the access, so you you'll need to feed it around these
* Make sure to stick the wire through the hole for the light, and then use the alarm sensor hole to guide its direction a bit
* Even though you start out with a straight piece of wire, the 2mm is too thin and quickly starts bending itself, so I braided two lengths around each other, to make a stiffer wire that was easier to feed to the back
* Around the middle somewhere there seems to be some support structure which will block you, so you need to aim towards the back left or right
* You'll need to try again and again, if it comes up against something, try to push it in a different direction
* When you think you have pushed it in all the way, go around to the back and lower the roof lining and see whether you can see the wire lying there - it won't go through the hole for the light in the rear itself, but once you see it you can guide it there
* Once you have the wire sticking through the hole, tape the ends of the GSM/GPS cable to the wire with duct tape (tightly so they don't come apart half way) and pull the wire back from where you stuck it in
* Tape the connectors in as long and thin a manner as possible, because if you create a big ball of wire, connectors and tape, you won't be able to pull the wire back because it will get caught on things
* It was difficult to pull through even when taping everything tightly, and I had to use quite a bit of effort - I'm not sure what it was getting caught on, but be careful, and if you pull too hard and rip some wiring or something, don't blame me
* Eventually you'll get it all the way to the front, and you're halfway, time for another beer
* Now you need to get it from the middle of the roof down the left A pillar, which is fortunately a lot easier
* First thing to do, is remove the rubber lining from the top and front of the left door, and then the grab handle in the ceiling, by removing the plastic covers (slide them backwards and down) and then unscrewing
* Cut the piece of wire you used previously to make it shorter - about the length from the middle of the roof to the side
* Your connectors should still be taped to the wire from when you pulled them through from the back - leave them taped, and feed the untaped side of wire through from the middle to the side - aim for the middle of the door, not too far forward
* When you have pushed as far as you can, lower the roof lining above the door and see if you can see the wire, grab on it and pull it through, with the wire following it, like a needle pulling thread
* You'll notice airbags above the door, just move them out of the way carefully - they won't explode in your hands (I think) but you want them working if you ever have an accident
* So you now have the GSM/GPS aerial cable from the back, all the way through to the front A-pillar
* Unclip the convering that goes over the A-pillar - don't pull it all the way off, just loosen it - it has ties holding it to the pillar (so it doesn't hit you in the face if the airbag explodes)
* Getting it down the A-pillar is quite easy - I read a few places where people were worried it would interfere with the airbag in the A-pillar, but you'll see there is a clip running down the middle, between the other clips, specifically for cabling
* In my car it was empty in the left hand pillar... just a forewarning, you may need to run the microphone cable down this same route later, so don't close anything up yet
* Once the cable is clipped in all the way down, you need to get it in behind the glove box
* Open the glove box, and remove the 6 star-shaped allen screws (size = T25), and one big allen screw (size = 5) - the bottom 3 will take a while to remove if you don't have a screwdriver-shaped allen key set
* Let the glove box fall forward, and you can see in behind it
* Time for the piece of wire again with the GPS/GSM cable still attached to it, bend the wire into a wide arc, and then thread it through like a needle again, from the gap between the door pillar and the dashboard (which you can see after removing the door lining) into the back of the dasboard
* You'll need someone to lay with their head peering up into the space where the glove box was, keeping an eye out for the wire and guiding you on where to thread it
* Once you have threaded it through, you're ready to connect it to the back of the CN+ once you've removed the old radio and drink-holder

REMOVING THE OLD RADIO

* You can either use the official radio removal tool, which looks like two U-shaped bars, or do what I did, which is cut 4 straight lengths from an old wire coathanger
* The wire lengths need to be thick and strong enough, so don't even think of using the 2mm wiring you used for threading the GSM/GPS cable earlier
* Push the wires in, one at a time is fine, but you'll need all of them in before the radio will move - push them in slightly angling towards the radio till you feel some pressure, then as it shoots past the point of pressure, the clip should be undone
* Once all 4 are in, pull the 4 wires slightly away from each other (angling away from the radio now), and start wiggling gently until you manage to get it loose and then pull it all the way out
* Unplug any cables from the back, and put your radio away
* Now remove the drinks holder, which just requires a little bit of force pulling it from the front, and getting a hand into the space where the radio was to help push it from the back
* There's the hole for the new CN+, except for one problem, the big plastic bar running right through the middle, which your old radio used to rest on - time for it to go
* Put a piece of paper below the bar, with sides folded up, or get someone to sit there with a vacuum cleaner so that you don't leave plastic filings everywhere as you saw
* Saw through the plastic bar on either side, sawing close enough to keep it flush, or filing it smooth afterwards
* Stick your bracket in now, and it should fit without any problems
* Now, while the bracket's in there, take careful note of the square of plastic, against which the bar you have just sawed away rested, which sits directly between the bottom screw holes and the little folder piece of metal above it
* If you look at the back of the CN+, you'll see it has a screw on each side holding the face of the radio to the body, and the plastic you just looked at is in the way of where those screws need to sit
* So take out the bracket again, and cut out these pieces of plastic - don't be shy, I cut away too little, and spent hours trying to figure out why my radio wouldn't fit properly, until I realised I needed to cut away more - so make sure you clear high, low and deep enough
* Before fitting your bracket now, pull through any wires you need to, including the GPS/GSM aerial which is still sitting behind your glove box - you should be able to see it and pull it through without any problem
* Once you fit the bracket, you'll notice it divides the space into a left half and right half, since it reaches all the way to the back, and has a gap in its left side, and another one to the right
* I kept the GPS/GSM cable and the aerial cable coming in from the left (since their connections are on that side of the radio), and all the other cables coming in from the right, because its going to be tight back there once you stick the CN+ in
* In my car, only the top screw holes had nuts into which I could screw some bolts (size = 5.5x16mm), even though there are about 5 or 6 other holes
* If you want the CN+ to sit flush with the rest of the dash, you're going to have to make a plan to tighten the bracket with some of those other holes or else it will flex too much - I found some 6x12mm bolts and nuts which fitted perfectly into the bottom screw holes (don't drop a nut down into the back of the dash)
* Plus I stuck one of the same 6x12mm bolts into the hole in the bottom angled bit of the bracket that sits against the back wall (just below the big hole where the rubber stopper on the CN+ fits through) - I couldn't get a nut on the other side to tighten it, but it's held quite tightly already, plus the pressure once the CN+ is in will hold it firmer, plus I covered it with some duct tape
* Once you have all the cables pulled through, you can check what you are missing - the only new "plugs" on the back of the CN+ which weren't on my old radio were the GSM/GPS connectors, which I had obviously threaded through by now, and white connector which was covered in tape, just waiting for the day I installed my CN+ - I just ripped the tape off
* There were just two things I needed to check on the connectors - firstly, that I had a 12V feed to pin A4, and secondly, that I had pins 9 & 18 of the white connector connected to the microphone
* Pin A4 is on the big black connectors which lie next to the fuse, towards the top right somewhere - I have a diagram if someone needs - if you don't have a cable coming into your connector at this pin, you're going to need to steal some power from somewhere
* My car already had this power, so I didn't need to do anything, but if you don't have it, most people seem to fetch power from the cigarette lighter - I don't know how to do this, so you'll need to find out yourself
* As for the microphone, open up the white connector by sliding down the black plate, and then pushing out the black plastic piece which holds all the wiring - pin 18 is marked on it, and pin 9 is the one directly opposite it
* On my car, there were wires going into these pins, but for the life of me, I couldn't find where these cables went, and I definitely had no microphone connector sitting in my roof near my light console that I could find, despite hunting extensively for it
* If you don't have any wires in pins 9 & 18, or perhaps don't have the white connector at all, then you need to connect your own wires to pins 9 & 18 of the connect nav
* For those with the plug but no wires, find an old computer CD-audio cable (the one that connects your CD-ROM to your sound card) and strip all the plastic away from the connector, which will leave you with two metal pins you can stick into the plug
* If you have no plug at all, you should also find an old computer CD-audio cable, and rather than stripping the plastic, just cut the plastic until its the right size for plugging directly onto pins 9 & 18 of the CN+
* I had to piggyback some other cables onto the ones I already had going into the connector, by stripping them slightly and soldering some new cables to them, and then carefully taping everything neatly
* Be very careful if you solder in your own car, I don't want to be responsible if you melt your dashboard, or drop solder onto your gear lever! Get a friend's help, and cover everything
* Remember the warning not to close up anything - well, you're going to need to get these cables for the microphone to run all the way back up to the light console, so you'll need to kind of do everything in reverseto how you brough the GSM/GPS cable down
* Sometimes its easier to pass the wire through, tape the cables to it, and then pass the wire out, pulling the cables back with it, while sometimes its easier to tape the cable to the wire in the first place, and then thread the wire and cable through - use your own discretion
* Once you have the microphone cable up at the light console, if you don't have the proper connector for the microphone, a CD-audio cable does the trick again - just cut it till its small enough to plug into the microphone plug, and connect the wires

CONNECTING THE NEW RADIO

* Now's your chance to test everything before closing up - plug in all the cables into the back of your CN+ (each plug only fits one hole, except for GSM/GPS which are colour coded, so it shouldn't be difficult), plugging power in last (the plusg next to the fuse), and check everything works
* If its the first time turning on the CN+, it will ask you for the master code - if you don't have it, you're going to have a problem, although supposedly there are ways around it, but I had mine, so I didn't worry
* Make sure the microphone works - if its not picking up sound, assuming you've done all your wiring correctly, you just need to swap your connections to pin 9 & 18 by turning around the plug where you've plugged it into the microphone
* If everything works, first make sure the cables won't gather up behind the CN+ preventing you from pushing it all the way in, and then slowly start sliding it into its bracket
* If luck is on your side, the radio will just slide all the way in, clip into is bracket, and you're done!
* More likely though, it will struggle to slide in - this is either because you didn't cut away enough plastic where you should have earlier, or because the cables are bundling up at the back - there isn't any space behind the nav, so all the cables must lie to the side
* If you're having problems with the cables, push the nav in as much as you can, while still being able to undo the allen screws of the air-con console below it
* Remove the aircon console with an allen key (size = 3 I think), undoing the plugs so that it is moved out of the way, and then reach in behind the CN+ and manipulate the cables out of the way - in my car, the GSM/GPS and aerial went off to the left, and all others to the right/bottom
* Re-connect and screw in the aircon console, and then push gently on the CN+ again - if you need to, you can pull on any slack in the GSM/GPS cable from the glove box
* Hopfully it slides in all the way this time without too much force - remember if you are pushing against the CN+, spread the pressure out over the whole front area, without pushing on the screen itself, and don't push with too much force on one edge, or the fascia might break
* If the nav has clipped in, but isn' sitting flush, your bracket isn't screwed in tightly enough and the bracket is flexing with the weight of the CN+ and the pressure of the cables in the back - you're going to have to get the nav out again carefully, and then screw down the bracket in a few more places
* Once it's in, turn everything on and test again

CLOSING/FINISHING UP

* If it's all working, its time to close up
* Bascially everything you've opened/loosened/unclipped needs to be closed/tightened/clipped in
* Use the duct tape to fasten the GSM/GPS and microphone cable to other cables, so that it doesn't fall about too much
* The only difficult thing to re-attach is the A-pillar cover panel - at the top of the panel on the inside is a protrusion of plastic which needs to go into a hole - you may need to move the whole panel higher in order to get it in the hole before the clip will clip in
* Give the CN+ a clean with a damp cloth from clean or slightly soapy water - although I try never to get anything except plain water on the screen
* You'll notice the milege on your dashboard is flashing - your dealer should be able to help you sort this out
* And that's it, you're done, congratulations you say to yourself as you admire your handiwork
 
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#6 ·
How do you remove the connect nav unit from a GTA?
 
#8 ·
Cheers any idea how big?

M3 / M4

T
 
#10 ·
Great post. I like the idea a lot! I didn't realise that the GTA light cluster had the microphone in. I know that there's a bit that looks like it could take a microphone in the cluster but there's a piece of clear plain plastic between the microphone fitting and the textured outside clear plastic, otherwise I would have fitted the microphone from my handsfree kit there.
 
#11 ·
The GTA light only has a mic if Connect Nav is fitted-all cars with connect Nav have a mic there and all lamps have the space for one-you would just need to cut out the plastic and drill out the holes with a small drill bit, the design is the same but with the hole covered up.

And Connect Nav is the same and is fitted the same whatever model of 147 or GT.
 
#12 ·
Well after a lot of digging about, the only way to remove a Connect nav from a GTA is with 50-70mm m4 screws.

Srcew them in and then a gental tug will release them.
;)
 
#14 ·
There was a great deal of trying to remove Tom's Connect Nav at the SA Saturday Surgery just gone, he was wanting to get to the back to fit a Parrot kit. Really did have a few people stumped!

Glad to hear you have sorted it Tom. You all Parroted up now?
 
#16 ·
Na man it wont moveat all. Spoke to a few guys that also said you needed a threaded tool. So I've used some 70mm screws - work a treat and it just slides out.

Yeah wring all in place, fully tested will install the usbcable and insert box tomoz night :)

Works a treat and on the plus side I now know my way around the dash etc... ;)
 
#18 ·
I wanted to add a good iPod / iPhone intergration option.
 
#20 ·
It's really good. A lot of people say you need a tele mute box to reduce the signal from the parrot but I've found it ok.

MKI9200 - full iPod/iPhone control. USB/SD/Charges as well.

Great bit of kit :D
 
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