DIY: Blinder installation and radar detector hardwire
 

I had a new Blinder laser jammer installed yesterday, and also had my Valentine-1 hardwired at the same time. I decided to take some pics along the way to help out anyone thinking of doing either one or both of these things. Please note that I did not do this all by myself; one of my best friends is a professional mechanic and he came over to help me with this. Also, this is only intended to be an outline of the main steps, not a detailed log of every tiny thing that needs to be done. I highly recommend that you have a professional do this if you're not an experienced installer yourself. Altogether, this took us about 4 hours. But keep in mind that we were figuring things out as we went along, so that took up considerable time. Now that we've done it once, it wouldn't take as long to do another 370Z.

We started with the Blinder installation. The first thing we did was locate the wiring and get an idea of where we'd want to route the wires from the transceiver units into cabin. We figured that we'd want to come in on the passenger side, as that's where we did it on my 350, and the 12V plug is on that side as well. So step one is to take out the floormat and pull up the carpeting. You need to remove the sill cover on the side (by the kickplate).

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Note that under the carpet, there's a styrofoam block that the factory glued the carpet to. Just pull the carpet away from the block. Take the block out and set it aside (be careful not to break it). Under where the styrofoam was, there's a thin layer of insulation.

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If you pull it back at the right-side corner, a little hole in the firewall is revealed (right to the left of the wires).

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We then turned our attention to mounting the two front transceivers of the Blinder. Due to the dimensions of the mounting brackets, our options were quite limited. We opted to mount it on the lower rung of the grille. Note that we had to cut out the little vertical pieces (which don't actually support anything).

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Here are pics of one of the transceivers already in the mounting bracket. Notice that we had to cut the right side of the bracket mount in order to get the transceiver to sit as far to the right side of the grille as possible (this is the right side transceiver). Also notice that Blinder includes a little level thingy that you insert into the transceiver so that you get get it perfectly level.

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Here's a better view of where we installed the transceivers. And we just taped two stir sticks together to get a straight edge, then used it to make sure they were both parallel to each other.

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So now we had to route the wires into the cabin. We jacked the front end up and took off the front passenger-side wheel. Then we removed the fender liner. Notice the hole in the middle of the third and fourth pics below. That's the same hole we found on the inside of the cabin when we pulled the carpeting back.

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We simply zip-tied the transceiver wires to the existing wiring harness that is already running along the top of the fender.

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Each transceiver comes with its own grommet attached. We cut one of them right off, and cut a slit in the other, the idea being that we'd just put both wires into a single grommet, and therefore the same hole (which saved us from having to drill a second hole through the firewall).

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Insert both wires through the hole and pull through, then put the grommet on and push it into the hole.

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Next we secured the two wires (which we wrapped together with electrical tape) against the fender using Gorilla tape. Notice that we routed the wires over the 'rail' through a little divot in said rail. We also applied some sealer around the grommet/hole area. The second pic below shows the wire from the inside, after it has been pulled through.

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Now, I have to apologize, because at this point I didn't take very many more pics; my friend had his head under the dash working with all the wires and I couldn't get a clear shot anyway. The important thing is locating the switch wire, and to do that, all we did was remove the AC adapter and trace its wiring. The yellow wire shown below is the switch wire.

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What you do is tap into the switch wire, and hook up the interface box for the Blinder, as well as the plug unit for the Valentine-1. The transceivers plug into the Blinder's interface box, as does the little alert LED and speaker. All of that just gets tucked neatly away behind the side panel, then it's just a matter of putting all the pieces that were pulled out back in neatly. As for the radar detector, just tuck the wire in along the top into the headliner, and pull the cover back away from the A-pillar and route it down along inside the A-pillar. Be careful when you do this because the curtain airbag is in there. Make sure you don't obstruct it with the wire from the V-1. Then plug the wire into the power unit, which is tapped into the switch wire. Here are pics of the finished result.

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Hope you guys find this useful! Oh, and note that if you click on these pics, they expand.

Awesome! Thanks for the write up. :tiphat:

I'm surprised you put the blinder down low. I was thinking about putting them up higher. I don't know what the coverage is for each, but I can imagine it's only 2 meters at most.

There are three levels to the grille. The top level is a no-go due to the tow loop section. The little section that pushes out gets in the way, and besides, you probably wouldn't want to block that area off anyway, lest you actually have a need to insert the tow loop one day. We opted not to mount on the middle level because the mounting screws would actually push through the bottom and stick out, and it'd also make it harder to conceal the wires. That leaves the bottom level as the only other option. Actually, we did consider drilling into the the actual bumper to attach the bracket mounts. It sits in behind the bumper cover and up a little. That would have left the transceivers sitting behind the top level of the grille. But again, the tow loop section came into play -- we would have had to push the plastic piece out, which would have made it funny looking, and then the actual hole where you screw in the two loop would still be blocked. And we were also concerned that the transceivers would be recessed in too far. Judging by the diagram in the instructions, they aren't supposed to be recessed into the grille at all -- they want the transceivers lenses in line with the front of the grille. As for 2 meters of coverage, the Z is only 1.3 meters high from the ground to the top of the roof. Finally, you can test this thing by zapping it with a TV remote, and I can tell you that it works fine with the transceivers mounted down low, because I tested it.

^^^ Awesome. Good to know. I wanted to get the 4 receiver setup to secure the back of the car too, but I just couldn't figure out where to put them. I assume you thought about that too?

Thank you so much!

Are you saying that the V1 wire went under the headliner, or not?

Yeah, I thought about it, and same thing -- I couldn't figure out where to put them. I used to use the K40, and you could mount it right onto the license plate with the license screws, but you can't really do that with the Blinder. I mean, even if you went with just 1 transceiver, the thing is a lot deeper than the K40, so it'd jut out like 4 inches and look silly. I did discover something interesting though -- the width of the transceiver is the same width as the rear fog lamp area! It would fit perfectly in there! Thing is, we'd need to figure out a way to nicely cut off about 2 inches off of top of the cover. Plus, I'm sure the wiring harness and plug that sits behind the cover would be an issue as well. But it's a thought. Anyway, cops around here never hit cars with laser from behind (knock on wood), so I figured I don't really need coverage back there.

It did. To be more specific, there's a thin gap between where the top of the windshield meets the front edge of the headliner. You can push the wire into that gap without any tools or anything. Yet the gap is thin enough that the wire won't just fall back out. It was the same in the 350.

Nice write up, It looks GREAT!

your good!

Excellent!

great writeup. one question: why didnt u use the k40 again? my brother has it installed on his car and it seems to work great. I was thinking about getting one for mine as well. Is the K40 the best?

I did some research and the Blinder jams virtually every laser gun out there, whereas the K40 does not. Now, where I live, the K40 never failed me once. But I started thinking about it and figured you know what, let's plan for the future and get the one that jams the most laser gun models now. Because with my luck, the cops in my area will upgrade/switch their laser guns to a model that the K40 doesn't jam!

I also found out something interesting about K40. The model that they sell now is newer than the old version that I've been transferring from car to car for the past 10 years. The current, new model, has this 'feature' where once you come within 200 yards of the laser gun, it automatically shuts off! Their rationale is that you should have slowed down to the speed limit by then, and by automatically turning off, it'll allow the cop to get a reading on you, which in turn won't cause him to suspect that you have a jammer. Okay, I guess that makes sense if you're driving through a state where these things are illegal. But personally, that's a feature I can do without. The Blinder has no such feature. It does have a manual off switch if you feel the need to turn it off in order to avoid suspicion though.

thanks. i just did my research on both. i will be getting the blinder next week! thanks for the DIY

There's a thread about laser jammers. The blinder does a good job at stopping most lasers, but there are 2 others that are actually better than the blinder. One that stops them all for sure. The blinder gets them, but sometimes falls short at certain ranges.

A thread on this forum somewhere?

Yeah. Let me find it... I can't recall where it was or what it was called.

Here Ye:

http://www.the370z.com/nissan-370z-g...etector-3.html

:) Laser Interceptor is the one that seems to be the best. I looked at the results for the blinder-x and compared it to the test videos I saw on Youtube. They seem to be correct. So I'd assume that the other results on the list are correct as well.

Ouch on the prices.

Front only: $700 for the base model and $1400 for the high-powered one.
Front and rear: $1225 for base model and $2450 for high-powered.

http://www.laser-interceptorusa.com/901.html

You're right. That's pricey! :(

What happens when the laser is jammed from the perspective of the cop? Does it give him a wacky speed or does no reading appear on his gun?

He gets no reading.

^^^ Also, sometimes it will give an "error" message. But that's normal as well. It's common for a cop to have to try 2 or even 3 times to get a reading on a car.

priceyyyy but seriously thats about a years tickets for me lol

I'm in the midst of hardwiring my V1 right now. I noticed in the second pic of your last series there (the straight-on view of the mirror+V1) it looks like you've run the V1's wire up to the headliner separate from the mirror. I've found that the little plastic tunnel that hides the mirror's wire will hide the V1 wire as well. Slide the outer sheath down, then snap the whole tunnel off (it has little plastic snap-attachments at the base, just pull it straight up while keeping it against the glass) - and put both wires inside.

Anyways, I have mine through the headliner so far, and I'm looking at the A-pillar. I'm kinda scared to yank on the A-pillar cover. Does it just pop off, or does something else need to be undone first?

ETA: Gave up on yanking on the A-pillar cover for now, since it seems some other things need to be pulled off first. I stuffed the flat V1 wire down into the edge of the A-pillar cover along the windshield glass, and then just ran it along the outside in the grove from the end of that seam down around to where the air duct for the door is. The air duct cover for the door, I was able to snap out and run the wire through the edges of that and into the passenger-side under-dash area. So what's exposed and/or ugly now is a section of wire coming from the top of edge of that duct peice (the one that connects to the door, you can only see it with the door open) running up the seams to the deep corner of the windshield there where the wire goes back under the A-frame cover again.

Any suggestions/solutions for this?

With the Homelink mirror, it seems a lot easier just to use invisicord. It was $15 and took less then 15 minutes to install. Is there a downside to using invisicord over hardwiring?

http://www.the370z.com/members/par4b...0-dsc-0118.jpg

For the A-pillar, take a flat screwdriver and use it to gently pry the top of the cover. It's a little scary at first, but with a little pressure it pops right off. Also, there's no need to pop the cover right off. Just pull it back enough to get the wire behind it. Be careful not to obstruct the airbag that's rolled up in there with the wire. The cover just snaps back in.

Forgot to reply earlier, but I did get this to work, thanks. Once you pop the A-pillar loose as noted above, it's pretty easy to drop the wire through and have it come out under the passenger-side dash (I used a bit of stiff wire taped to the cord to push it through initially).

hey have u got a ticket since you intalled it? and how much did the radar jammer cost?

No tickets. I paid $334 for the Blinder. I've been using these things for ten years now, on both my car as well as my wife's. Combined, we've been hit with laser approx. 40 times in the last 10 years. Not one single ticket from laser.

I don't know about other states or just that I've been lied to. But cops have stopped me. When they approach me, it's my word against them, and they don't care what you have to say. I once knew I was within the speed limit, requested proof that I was speeding and the speed he claims I was driving at, and he just replied that he does not have to provide with that information. Therefore I got my ticket, and that's it. If this is like that, and knowing that cops like to stop people just because the car is a sports car and looks like it's driving faster than an SUV, then how will this items prevent from a cop getting bothered at the fact that he couldn't catch your speed, being suspicious of your laser jammer, and stopping you to give you a ticket?

awesome! reputation added!

I personally have never had anything like that happen. Sounds like you're being subjected to some BS if you ask me. If something like that happened to me I would fight the ticket in court and tell the judge that the officer refused to provide evidence. In GA, we have a right to demand that the officer provide proof. I don't know if it's different in FL.

you always have the right to have proof. for christ sake you guys live in the states how can you be found quilty of something with no proof?. I would have fought that on in court.

I did actually fought for it in court and won. The cop stopped about 4 cars at the same time, and I questioned his means of knowing who was going at what speed. It was a Thanksgiving weekend coming south from Orlando. Lots of vehicles. However, in court itself, I told the judge that the police officer did not allow for me to see his record (speed detector) for my alleged infraction, and the judge advised that the officer has can decide not to show it if he feels his safety can be in jeapordy. BS!

Here is something that I did to my 2005 Subaru Legacy GT,..can you see it in the bumper?
I originally had it under a lip a little above the license plate area,. but when I made the cutout for my FMIC, I needed someplace else to mount it,..

This would work on a black car only though to make it concealable...

Im looking to picking one up again,..this thread makes install a little easier...

http://i37.tinypic.com/ehhg0.jpg

http://i38.tinypic.com/eagok0.jpg

semtex, quick questions...
I'm thinking about getting the blinder laser jammer, and I wanted to ask you how you setup the audio alert? Is it connected to your car speakers or does the Blinder come with a speaker of some sort? Thanks

It comes with its own speaker.

Thanks man! I'm going to do the same setup once I free up some cash. Just bought my first Z!