Hi All,

I just purchased a Parrot Evo kit.

I was hoping the instrcutions here: http://www.mini2.com/forum/faq.php?f...aq_faq_removal
would make it easy for me to remove the bits of the interior necesarry to allow me to install the unit easily, I have all the adaptors, and it looks like its a very plug and play install.
The Parrot website doesnt show much info on the mini.

I was wondering if anyone had any tips on how to install this/remove the correct parts? I have an 06 Cooper Checkmate.

trying to remove the knee bolster isnt working, and you can only try to remove it until your hands hurt.

Any insight appreciated.

 

To remove the knee bolster, you'll have to pull down hard on each side of the steering wheel column, one side at a time. To remove it the rest of the way, you have to push down on the bottom of the knee bolster and then pull up. The bottom of the knee bolster is held in place in three areas. The outer areas come off by pushing down and the center area comes off by pulling up (or is it vice versa?).

You do NOT need to remove the downtubes at all.

Remove all four torx screws on the downtubes...you'll have to open the glovebox to get to the top screw on the passenger side.

Once the downtubes are removed, you'll see the phillips screws that hold the stereo in place and they are easy to remove.

Everything is pretty simple after that.

If you have access to a neoprene bottle coolie, it works GREAT as insulation around the box that you'll tuck into the driver-side access area that is reached by opening the driver door and prying the cover off on the side of the dash.

I'll try to take pics tomorrow if you need them.

After installing everything, make sure you test it before putting back all the screws & such.

I wasn't able to figure out how to get the microphone into the OEM space on the headliner, so I pushed the line into the vertical groove that's between the steering wheel and center of the dash, with the microphone itself tucked in just under the dash "overhang". I have the anthracite dash and you can't see it at all.

 

I've removed the knee bolster twice on my MINI, and it really is very easy to do. I've found the best way to remove it is to grab the area directly under the steering wheel with both hands and give it a quick forcefull tug down. It should 'hinge' down, and then it can be removed like that mini2.com page says, by rotating it down and out.
I've also loosened up the downtubes to install gbmini's auto-up circuit. The directions on that page is pretty accurate, so I don't know what else I can say to make the steps any easier. Let me know where else you are having problems, and I'll try to help out.