After two days of work my daugher (2ndMiniac) and I have completed the HK retrofit into her MCS This is definitely not a project you will want to do if you're worried about cost or if you're mechanically/electronically challenged. I'm estimating my total cost at around $1,000 after I recoup money from some extra components I ended up with. But, we have the sound we like in a stock package, we spent $600 less than the retrofit kit from Mini, and we did something everyone says is too hard.

I'm still waiting on the grills to come in but if you wanted to do this and save some money you can just use the stock grills. If you buy the chassis and door harnesses from Mini or acquire them from a loaner car of some sort then this is mostly plug and play. I ended up with three required splices (and 2 due to our mistakes) while everything else was just disconnect and reconnect. The tough part is the complete dismantling of the interior, but thanks to GBMini's web site it wasn't all that tough. Only took an hour to completely dismantle the interior. The front seats do not have to come out but pretty much everything else does.

If you have questions on the wiring connections or any other questions on the retrofit either list them here so others can use this thread for info or PM me. I was facing a time deadline and didn't have time to take all the pictures I would have liked. If you're looking for great technical info www.minitis.com is awesome. It's fairly expensive at $25 per 24 hours but I would not have been able to complete this without the wiring diagrams and info on that site. We learned a LOT about busses and auto wiring and feel pretty proud of our accomplishment

 

CONGRATULATIONS!
Well done - I can see you becoming the new "font of knowledge" for the H/K system

 

Thanks GBMINI!! Your great website was a HUGE help. Lots of info that I had saved to my favorites list before we started. I've seen a lot of folks asking if this could be done but could only find one person on Mini2 from Australia or Austria that had done this and he didn't give any info. At least this gives them the info to make a decision on whether they want to tackle this or not.

 

Wow, I am very impressed. And you are officially crazy!

 

Congratulations - don't forget to update your sig with "retrofitted HK".

 

Awesome!! I love how the HK sounds..never heard stock, first mini had hk..but when I was buying my current MINI I turned away from a lot because of no HK..

Next I would like to see someone retrofit a nav system in their MINI..

 

jwardell, I think you are right that I would fall into the crazy category now!

Wanted to post a couple thoughts now that I have a minute and before I forget. I drove the car today and it's perfect. No rattles, squeaks, etc...everything works the way it should and the stereo sounds great

Random thoughts for those contemplating this:

- The door wiring harnesses do not have to be replaced. Just get the connectors for the HK speakers and use them to replace the base speaker connectors since that's the ONLY difference. The connectors for HK and base at the door are in the same spot. Doing this would have saved me $200, a couple hours work, and kept my hands from being raw.
- There is a huge difference between the HK and base speakers. The base speakers look REALLY cheap next to the HK's.
- You can use the original stereo wiring harness to provide power to the amp and Head Unit. It's just a matter of removing the wires required from the original Head Unit connector and putting them in place of the wires on the replacement Head Unit connector that comes with the HK main wiring harness. You have to splice the power and radio on wires from the HK amp wiring harness onto those from the original wire harness.
- Use the antenna wiring that is already in the car and not the wiring that comes with the new harness. Doing this would have saved me at least an hour.
- I ended up leaving the base wire harness in the car and just laying the HK harness next to it. There is NO way to remove the original wiring harness without dismantling the entire dash. There is plenty of space to put the harness so you won't be able to see any of the wiring when complete. Had I known this at the beginning of the job I would have saved 3-4 hours.
- The grills and speakers mounts are the same for HK and base.
- I would recommend buying the HK main wiring harness from MINI as it makes the job MUCH easier....although if you are really crazy you could make your own wiring harness. The harness was $304.00 but made life very easy.
- There is one bus connection and one ground connection with the HK wiring harness.
- Things that need to be removed (in sequence) are: rear bottom trim, rear seats, rear side trims, door panels, door sill covers, glove box, driver's knee bolster, center instrument panel cover, down tubes, head unit.

Knowing what I now know, I think I could do one of these in about 4-6 hours with no problem....I spent a LOT of time trying to figure out stuff that wasn't as hard as I was trying to make it.

Now to start researching that NAV retrofit

 

Could you explain a bit more about the door harnesses?

The stock door speakers have two wires (+/-) to drive both the "bass" and "tweeter". But the H/K system has four wires (two pairs of +/-) - one drives the "bass" and one drives the "mid/tweeter" combo.
So how could someone avoid replacing the door wiring?

Apart from me being confused by that, your notes are great and would doubtless be very helpful to someone wanting to attempt the same (I'll add a link to this thread from my H/K weblog entry).

 

GBMINI, there are actually four wires running from the door connector to the two speakers....two to the tweeter and two to the bass. They are pins 5-8 on both sides (left and right doors). I'm not sure where the wires go from two to four but it's somewhere between the Head Unit connector and the door connector.

 

Wow! Interesting

 

Since I may be the one buying your "extra" parts and I just moved to Orlando do I get onsite help?

 

CARdiac, come on up to Jax and I'll be more than happy to help. I've got plenty of garage space and all the required tools. I'll PM you my contact info.

 

Well then you definitely didn't install it right...a real HK system features plenty of rattles and buzzing!

 

I'm very impressed, and you've set a good example for your daughter to show how one can do something despite everyone saying it is crazy or too difficult. It should also encourage the rest of us to attempt challenging projects.

 

How much do you think you could sell the whole NAV setup for? Also the H/K setup...

trying to get some ideas if my mini doesn't sell...

 

I have no idea how much the NAV setup would go for as I've never seen one for sale. The H/K setup ranges from 3 to 6 hundred dollars depending on who's doing the ebay bidding. Are you looking at selling those from yours or buying both?

 

Wow, just found this, I too was mad enought to do a H/K retrofit, but I was a bit lazy and came across a cheap retrofit kit that I used. As it has been stated it is a big job but not a hard job. I also installed the retrofit alarm at the same time and when i went to the dealers to have it programed they did it for free as they did not want the job of installing either the H/K or alarm.

Also to any H/K people out there if you want to improve you system for very little money go buy a small amount of sound deadener and place it around the speakers, it makes the world of diff to the sound from the H/K

Oh MSFIT others have done the SAT NAV retrofit, head over to MINI2 and there are post on it over there. As for cost I was looking for parts only (off ebay) of about $400USD, but the computer behind the LCD screen that is a main bit of the car and this slowed me down/turned me off doing it, as by the look of it, you need to buy a new IKE (the bit behind the LCD) and get the dealer to program you car config into it. :(

 

well if I cant get my mini sold for the price I want, then Im going to strip it down to its bare bones and start building some crazy setup..

 

You got PM mate!

 

Do you realize you awoke a FOUR YEAR OLD thread! The original poster might not even still own a MINI, and probably has solved his issue

 

You're right, sorry about that!! If a mod could cancel this post please.

 

Retrofitted the H / K system in my car at the weekend - took 2 people 5 hours to do... was well worth it as the sound in comparison with the stock boost system is awesome !!! :D

Total cost was £250. (circa $400). Well worth it :D

 

make sure you dont put the amplifier in the location behind the tail light! I'm starting to believe thats why my amp is finally going out. its not a perfect seal and there is moisture leaking in.

 

would it not be easier to get new rubber seals / grommets for the lights rather than relocate the amp ? my amp is already there now... :(

 

You'll give me some advice Dave!! It's one of the upgrade i'm looking for... Where did you find your kit ?