So Saturday was project day, on the list of things to do were,
Hardwire the V1, install Illuminated AMG Door sills from www.formymercedes.com, and Fix the Ipod kit install. To explain the Ipod fix, the issue is that the volume is much lower in comparison to the radio & CD. Details below on how to fix this problem.

OK so first project was the V1.

Tools and parts you need include a 12 foot black phone plug. A 1-3 amp in line fuse, and some squeeze connectors. All found at Radio shack. You can also buy the hardwire kit from V1, all units should come with one, but I left it in the Boxster when we sold it. Wire cutters, clamp ends, torx tool.


So first step is mount the V1 and run the wire straight up to the headliner. Tuck it under the plastic molding around the rearview mirror, then run it up into the headliner.



You will need to pull the headliner out just a tad in order to slide the wire inside, its a tight fit! Run it to the passenger side, once you get to the corner, unscrew the sun visor to loosen up the headliner.



Now pull out the panel on the right front pillar. If you just pull a little bit it will pop out, once that is done you can run the wire down this and along the side to the footwell area.




Run it down the side..



Next unscrew the panel under the passenger footwell, two T20 Torx screws and it pops out. Run the wire over to the center console for now.

Now you have to remove the ash tray and the CD Changer. Pull out the removable part of the ashtray where your ashes would go. Now you must pull up on the wood panel where the shifter is. Its in there really good, so pull up hard towards the top part, its a solid piece so it won't crack. Once this is out you can remove the whole ash tray, its clipped in also. There are two plugs, remove them both, the one that plugs into the lighter is a plug that looks like this.. just pull down on it to remove.



Now you need to remove the cd changer, there are two torx screws to remove. Before sliding it out, unplug the three plugs attached to the bottom of the CD changer. After these plugs are out the cd changer will slide right out. The reason for removing the CD changer is so you can now pull the black phone wire through the center console and bring it to the front where the lighter is.

OK if you bought just a regular 12 foot phone plug cut off the end of the plug that's now in front of you. Splice back the black wire and you will have 4 thin wires, red, green, yellow, and black, I believe. You only need the red and green, the two middle wires, so cut the other two off.



So looking at the plug that's in the V1 now notice the colors and their order. The middle two are power & ground, the middle one closest to the display of the V1 is the ground, the furthest is the power. For mine the Red was positive and the Green was negative. So now add the inline fuse to the positive side.

The squeeze connectors weren't that great for this use, because the phone wire is so thin, I ended up using another wire with some with some clamp ends in between the phone wire and the lighter plug. Also very important tip here be sure to splice into these wires furthest away from the plug, meaning as close as you can to under the dash. The reason for this is with the fuse and connectors you need to tuck them near the CD changer, so when you put the ash tray back it will snap into place, if not they will get stuck under the ash trany and smash the plugs, Trust me on this, I made the mistake the first time. The first pics show my mistake being closet to the plug.


Wires moved back further.



OK so now you have connected the correct plugs, brown to the green thin wire from the phone wire, and red to the red/white positive wire on the plug.


You should now be ready to test it, turn the ignition on and be sure the V1 fires up. If it doesn't be sure you have a fuse in , then re-check your connections if that fails. Hopefully it works, and you can now button it back up. Careful with the CD changer connections, also don't worry if your Comand didn't turn on when the CD changer wasn't plugged in, it will work once its plugged in.

All done..

 

Now on to the Ipod Fix
I had the dealer install the kit last week, and many of us have encountered a low volume, here is the solution. This fix actually has two positive features. Aside from the increase in volume, you can unplug it from the hard wire kit, and now you can have your passenger be the DJ, so you re-gain all normal controls that the Ipod has, EQ, volume, etc.

Remember this only applies to those that have the Ipod kit installed from your dealer or anyone else.

So you must remove your Comand unit, to do this follow these steps..(borrowed)
1. open the ashtray
2. pry the shifter wood panel up with your fingers at the ashtray
side...the panel is held in by clips at the front side - release these
clips by pulling the panel up...the rear of the wood panel comes out by
moving the panel forwards
3. unclip the 2 plastic clips at the front of the ashtray that hold
the ashtray in
4. take out the ashtray after the clips have been released
5. take off the connector at the back of the ashtray
6. take the 2 torx 20 screws out that hold in the CD changer/compartment box
7. disconnect the 3 connectors at the bottom of the CD changer
(only 1 connector if you don't have the CD changer) BEWARE not to bend
the fiber (amber colored)!!!
8. take out the CD changer/compartment box
9. unscrew the 2 torx 20 screws at the bottom side of the comand -
turn these screws counterclockwise till they don't go any further
(won't come out)
10. take out the comand by pulling it towards you
11. disconnect the connectors at the back...BEWARE not to bend the fiber!


Ok so now there should be a plug that looks like this just laying around under the comand unit.


Back of Comand, the three wire plug is the one to change out.


This plug was replaced by the one from when the dealer installed the Ipod kit. Plug this back into the comand, now leaving the Ipod kit plug just hanging around, it won't be needed. This plug is the one that connects to the headphone plug in the glove box. This will increase the sound and clarity.

You will need a wire that has two headphone jacks, one on each end. One end plugs into the Ipod headset, and the other plugs into the jack in the glove box.



When you unplug the Ipod kit connector from the bottom of the Ipod you can then adjust your volume and EQ settings, I went through all of the settings, and the best sound for my taste was actually the Classical setting. Although I don't listen to classical, I listen to Modern Rock, old school rap from back in the day and modern R&B. The treble was perfect, and then I use the setting on the comand to increase and decrease the Bass. Also sound level adjustment is off, and volume is cranked up all the way.
Now the next best thing is if your on a road trip, or your passenger just wants to be a DJ for the night, simply unplug the Ipod connector and you will lose the steering wheel function, but since its plugged directly into the headphone jack you can use the Ipod freely.
That's it low volume problem solved, and now you have a DJ

 

OK project 3. Installation of AMG illuminated door sills.
Thank you to Larry at www.formymercedes.com for supplying a set of door sills to experiment with. He wasn't aware that the E class and CLS use the same sill.

First of all, these are instructions that I came up with, not supplied by Jerry or anyone else. I installed a set on my Cayenne using this same method, and they have worked fine for the last 2 years.

The simple method is to tap into your existing footwell lights under the dash. Since these light go on and off when you open and close the doors, this is the perfect power supply for the door sills.


First you must remove the stock sills, they look metal but there plastic, you must pry up on them, they are held in by double sided tape and 3 plastic plugs, when you pull up from one edge, the plastic plugs will break off.


Once they are off remove the tape attached to the car. Also you will need the clear rubber plugs that the plastic plugs from the sill attached to. Some break away others stay attached, cut off the edges so you can use the clear plastic plug. Beware these fly when cutting off


OK so now you need to tap into the footwell light. Remove the panel under the passenger side, two T-20 hex screws, and it drops down. Each sill comes with a resistor that changes the 12 volt power to the appropiate power needed to light the sill. There is a left and right sill so be sure you notice that, you can tell cause the wire aims closet to the front of the car.

Lift up the black felt sill that goes along sill, plug in the diode to the sill and run it and the wire over to the footwell light. Pink and yellow is positive and brown is negative.



You have a option here, the problem is the wire from the sill has to go under that felt rubber sill, you can either drill a hole large enough to fit the plug and wire, or run the wire under the rubber/metal sill and have a small bump. I chose to have a small bump because I didn't want to drill a hole, the metal is pretty thick, two layers, and the hole has to be a good size to fit the small connector through. The rubber sill has metal pieces in it, I just bent this back a bit, and ran the wire under the bent area. As seen here.



So now you should have the wires connected, by now the lights went off from having the door open for a while, so open another door and the lights and that door sill should light up. One down 3 to go



Night Shot..


Repeat the same step for the drivers side.

Now for the back sills. Drivers side, remove the stock sills as you did above. Also lift up on the black plastic panel with chrome strip, just pull straight up and it will pop out. There are footwell lights on the back of the front seats. Unplug these, you will need the longer supplied extension wire for the rears. Feed the wire through the back of the seat and over the left wall, tuck it under the paneling, and over to the door sill area.



Remove that rubber sill as well. You will notice under the carpet on the edge of the door is a plastic cover, with two hinges. Open these up, this is where you can store the little tranistor box from the door sill.



Cut off your extra wire now, but be sure to leave a little slack on the wire that plugs in under the seat into the light. Reason for this is so in case you move the seat all the way forward or back, you won't pull the wire. I used a black zip tie to attach the wire around the bottom of the seat. After its all hidden, this is the only wire you can faintly see, from the seat to the left wall.







Repeat same steps for passenger rear side.



Well that's it, are you tired if reading? Cause I'm tired of typing

 

tacky. I'm glad it's not a p-car.

 

MOD KING KEV!!!!!!!!!!

very nice

 

Tacky?

I think GT3 wheels and a GT3 body kit on a car that is clearly not a GT3 is tacky. But that's just me.

 

Tacky? Ok...the car I is tasteful...Kev is Tacky.

 

Formymercedes has some good stuff! My brother has the sills installed in his car, very nice. Thanks for the DIY steps!

 

Thanks Guys!

Simon, I appreciate your comments, does the definition of tacky also include a tow hitch on the back of your 996?
EVO 2" tow hitch (Yup, pulls a jetski)

 

Now that is

 

Hey Kevin,
Did you happen to make an appearance in SF today?

 

Hehehehe, yes, my tow hitch is tacky !

I never said mine wasn't tacky, I just said the glow in the dark sills in my opinion is tacky.



You should see my black and white dice hanging from the mirror too, and my purple seat covers.

Hehehe.

 

Yeah, sorry about the post guys. I was actually drunk, I'd got back from the pub and decided I'd be a smart ***.

Seemed like it was funny at the time, but in the cold light of day (I'd totally forgot I even posted) it was in fact me that was being tacky.

Man, I need some sort of forum-lock that stops me from posting when I've had a few.

No offense meant Kevin, sorry.

 

Nope wasn't me

 

Thanks Simon, apology accepted.