I've been doing a lot of installation stuff on my own for my carpc and for my audio system (all internal stuff thus far), however there are somethings that I've been reluctant to tackle: installing an external XM radio antenna on the roof in a modified BMW-style sharkfin antenna shell, and also a rear-view camera, possibly a pin hole behind the license plate and drill a hole through the license plate)

My main question is for the external antenna. I am going to have to run the wires somehow to the roof, while keeping everything water tight around the trunk lid and rear window. Any suggestions? I'm really nervous about pulling up the weatherstripping around the rear window or trunk. Explainations and pics would be rad.

My second question relates in terms of running the wires to the outside, however I possibly will not need to run them outside since I'll be running in the trunk to twhere the license plate would be. Anyway, any suggestions on this from those that have installed a rearview camera, and waht gen maxima you installed it in, and where.

Thanks all!

 

Bump, because I'm desperate for the advice of you awesome forum members --sound like *** kissing? that's because it is! i'm desperate here. cut me some slack

 

I've been using the rear deck for XM antennas for as long as I've had XM, and I've never had any problems. If you're doing this for the carpc, grab a hold of something like FrodoSatRadioX and see what the sat/terrestrial signals look like inside and outside the car. If they're close together, then it's not worth going through the trouble of mounting the antenna outside IMO.

This one still has me stumped. I purchased a camera that I was going to use for this and never got around to installing it precisely because of that. I couldn't find an open path to the rear from the trunk, so I figured drilling was required (which I wasn't comfortable with). If you deal with the license plate then I'm sure there's already wiring back there from the lights, so it's just a matter of getting to the wire bundle.

Still, if you're not entirely comfortable with it then just get some shop to do it for you. This is what they do for a living, so you might as well leave it to the pros.

 

Viquera,

Thanks for the response. I was also looking at moving my GPS receiver (it's a plain old BU-303) outside because i don't get any locks on satellites. I did some tests sitting in my driveway and with it sitting on the rear deck, 0 locks on satellites. Move it to the dash and i get locked on 1 or 2 satellites (but it takes it about 1-2 minutes to lock). If I move it to the roof of the car (on the outside) it instantly locks 7-9 satellites with no delay. I've read that there are better recievers out there, and that the BU-353 or the Holux or Rikaline gps receivers are good about being installed inside and having no problems locking. However, I'm not sure if it's an issue of the receiver having problems, or the window tint causing problems.

I may just toy around with it some to see how well I can do getting it to the outside.

Thanks again for the response.

 

Well then it could be something with the tint, or the glass itself. I never had that big of a problem on the rear deck of any car I've installed stuff in, and I'm running 35% on my Max and 20% tints on my MB. Could be the brand of tint, metallic, etc. I suppose.

Sounds more like the tint though... I had the re-branded Pharos unit that shipped with MS Streets, and I left that installed in the other car. That works "alright" but it takes a while to lock sometimes. I just purchased a BU-353 the other day and I got a 2 SAT lock in my basement right away.

 

I was looking into buying a bu-353 with iguidance 2.1.3 on dvd (they have a special right now of 169.99. that may solve all my woes

thanks!

 

run it thorugh the car and into the truck and mount it on the trunk lid i get perfect signal all the time. i work at circuit city and we install them there more then anywhere else

 

Amomaxima, when you say "mount it on the trunk lid" could you be a little more specific? That is my whole thing, WHERE do i run the cables to get it to where I can put it on the trunk lid? Specifically I'd like to run it to where it is on the roof of the car, though, so I can use my swank bmw style sharkfin.

 

http://www.leeparts.com/2004maxsatellite.pdf

Check out the installation instructions for the factory XM radio.
If it is good enough for the factory..........



Brad