Haha nice! Have you played much to know the sound quality? I'm assuming the noise inside the MINI might warrant placing the GPS closer to your mouth for better sound quality. I've been using a bluetooth headset but really want to get away from it in the car.

My 360 is supposed to arrive on Monday, can't wait. =)

Richard

 

I got my set-up complete this weekend!

Garmin Nuvi 750 with the Kuda dash mount for my R53 ('06 MCS)

I cut the power cord that came with the unit and discovered that it only had 2 wires in it, despite the complex looking plug that goes into the cradle. Red and black... power and ground. The red wire leads to the center post of the cigarette lighter adaptor and the black wire leads to the side contacts. I cut the wire about 6 inches away from the connector and attached one of these to the other end.



To the other piece of the now split power cord, I attached one of these, so that I could still use the cigarette lighter adaptor if I ever wanted to use the Nav unit in a car other than my MINI.



I cracked open the dash, drilled a few holes, sawed off some plastic bits behind the facia and installed this pannel mount size-m power connector to the dash (after applying a quick coat of flat black spraypaint to the outer bezel). I ran a new pair of wires behind the dash and connected them to the hidden side of the cigarette lighter power leads.



Now, when I snap on the Kuda mount, the Nuvi has its very own power supply and a short cord leading to it. I can't even see the 6-inch power connector from the driver's seat, so it looks like a very custom install. When I take the Nav unit out of the car (for daily driving to the office, etc... no need for the Nav to be in the car 100% of the time), you only see this...

 

That looks awesome. Super clean and stealthy.

 

Thanks! The install came out just like I had hoped... except I dinged up the paint a bit on the bezel during the install. The next time I take the dash apart (a few weeks), I'll probably pop it off and give it a fresh coat or my automotive-OCD will take over! :D

 

Good job, looks great! I've been meaning to setup a similar thing for my MINI, but more a network of MINI USB plugin points so I can power different devices, from my Nuvi, to my phone, to my Valentine.

Funny you commented about the mini USB plug. I discovered that recently as well. I had a docking cradle for my phone and realized that those MINI USB cig plugs only have two wires because they don't pass any data.

Richard

 

How about an electric guitar plug?

 

I think VW already did that...

http://www.autoblog.com/2006/10/03/v...ith-every-veh/

 

Cool. My seemingly brilliant ideas are always a bit outdated.