Example for mounting NAV antenna cleanly...

I've seen a number of posts where people were asking where/how to mount the NAV antenna on their double dins. I stole this idea from someone when I installed my Kenwood 5120 a while back. I just upgraded my unit, so I took some pictures while I was in there this time. It's pretty easy and clean...thought I'd share.

Back behind where the head unit goes, the plastic wall seperates about a 1 inch gap for the defroster vent at the base of the windshield. I carefully used a dremel with a bit to poke a small hole through there. Ran the cord and used RTV silicone to seal up around the cord once run.


1) Removed the plastic piece around the small end to keep the drilled hole size to a minimum..


2) Run the cable through from the top side..


3) Siliconed around the hole so that heat from defroster won't go back into the dash...


4) Tack it down on it's metal pad clean and centered at the base of the windshield. Hardly noticeable.

 

Very nice!

I went about mine a little differently. I ran my wire up the passenger side A-pillar and through the headliner so it would come out by the rear view mirror. I used a dab of silicone to mount it to the windshield in that area with the black dots just over the mirror. You really can't see it at all. I've never had anyone notice. It's significantly more work though than your method

 

Nice work...I still prefer under the dash for a cleaner installation IMO.

 

very nice install

 

That's how I ran mine too and it sits right by the bottom of the windshield. The reception is great and it was very easy.

 

Cool, so to sum it up for those looking for the how-to on this topic. I think that's the top 3 solutions...

1. Via the defrost vents as originally outlined, which is easy and fairly clean.

2. Up the a-plillar and out the headliner hidden in the dots on the windshield behind your rear view mirror as ItalynStylion noted. This definitely sounds like the cleanest method, but requires just a little more work.

3. Then there's the option of just setting it on top of the HU inside the dash. I have no idea how significant of a impact this has on the signal. If anyone has done any comparisons with it inside the dash vs outside, that would be interesting...

 

I mounted mine behind the dash. I don't have a comparison with it mounted outside. If I'm reading it correctly, then my gps reports a possible 12 sats to get signal from. It has signal from 11 of them. Mine is mounted behind the airbag on the passenger side, so the only thing between it and the sky is the actual plastic dash section and the glass of the window.