As promised.. I have spent probably too long assembling this but here is a link to a 5 page review of the Avic D3. I have installation pictures, problems I faced, details photos of the interface screens, the works. Navigation, Bluetooth, iPod, Sirius, and radio interfaces are explored.

Just make sure you click thru all of the pages to see everything. If I would have left it one page it would have taken 10 minutes to load the page!


CLICK HERE TO SEE THE FULL D3 REVIEW

Raw URL: http://www.gorsar.com/index.php?opti...d=36&Itemid=64

 

Great job! This will help many members looking to do the same thing. Im glad you did this.

 

Thanks for the in-depth look at the install...I think I might be able to do it now...

 

Looks really nice man. We've done a couple of these at work in F150's, and ive always liked how clean they look.

One comment though...I wouldnt hold your breath on that merger. Last I heard from my XM rep is that it make still take up to a year to complete, if not more.

 

Where did you locate the mic for the bt? Do you have pics.? I will be taking the Avic Z1 out of my wifes leased Mariner and putting it in my '07 King Ranch soon, and we have had sound quality issues from day one in her truck. I have moved the mic several times.

 

I meant to mention that, thanks for bringing it to my attention. I was going to go with the visor but thought it looked bad there. I ended up taking the absolute easiest route and it's worked perfectly. I mounted it on the lead edge of the steering column. It points right to my face, is blocked from road noise, and is really not easy to see. If I didn't have the tan interior it would be all but invisible. There is a tab that slides under there no problem. A TINY piece of two sided tape holds it solidly in place. This pic is horrible but I took it 10 minutes ago and it's dark, meaning it's all flash and that makes good photos hard..



I added this to the review as well. Thanks again for pointing it out, hope this helps.

 

Awesome job, Looks good!

 

Thanks! I appreciate it.

 

Great post I bought the same setup should be here next week. I also prefer the volume **** and was one feature I liked. Your not the only one

 

Glad to hear it! Honestly I find that I use the steering wheel controls for 90% of the volume controls, but I still like the ****. Good luck with your new unit!

 

The PAC switch for the steering wheel controls. Does it control only the radio, or do you have to reprogram all of the steering wheel controls?

thanks

 

You program each button step by step to do whatever you want. It does not effect their normal wiring/function at all. What you are doing is taking the factory electronic signal and telling the PAC unit that when it sees that signal to do X.

Here is a link to the step by step instructions for the 04-08 F150s. Other than tapping the two wires it is a quite simple process.

http://www.pac-audio.com/swixprogram...ehicles&ID=566

Good luck!

 

EDITED: originally asked about the factory cable for the SIRIUS to Factory setup. Thanks for the additional info! It looks exactly like it seems- should be the large standard radio plug, then the other, smaller plug does appear to go directly from the 'radio' (smaller plug on the right of picture) to the tuner (Left plug on the tuner) as the plug on the right is the antenna plug.

Great setup and VERY helpful article. Thanks again!

 

You can see the cable in this picture..



Where I removed the radio the smaller cable on the right is for the Sirius, and then you can see on the Sirius tuner itself the cable that plugs into it.

Sorry I can't tell you more. Maybe Low_e can shed some light beyond this..

 

anyone else looking at this thinking of a retrofit, I am going to take a cue from justi and make a photo tutorial of my retrofit of an '06 unit to an '04.

Anyone else admiring the AVIC setup - I think there is some sort of $200 rebate going on for it now- not sure if crutchfield has that already built in though.