Clean Escort Radar Mount w/pics
 

Some pics of last weekend's project, getting my 8500 X50 mounted clean and out of sight....all for less than $4. Probably a more important mod for a convertible than a coupe...

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This is the mount installed. The exposed part is wrapped in black electrical tape in a spiral.

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As you can see, it is tucked up nice and tight under the windshield frame. Tied in to the power from the mirror as shown on the Bugman's site. http://www.bugmanweb.com/c6/c6index.html

I saw the two mounts on his site and had a problem with both. The Great Lakes leaves the detector hanging down in plain view under the mirror. I dont like people driving behind me to see the detector in plain sight. Then the Voztech mount looked good and I thought that the mounting on the visor screw made alot of sense. But the Voztech is on the OUTSIDE of the windshield frame trim, and I figured it would look better if it was underneath the trim. I took off both visor clips that are near the mirror, and the trim flexes plenty to fit a bracket in underneath it, following the contour of the frame itself. I thought Stainless would be a nice material and found a stainless ruler at Walmart for $1.97. It was only slightly wider than the slot in the 8500, and the same thickness as the original suction cup bracket. I carefully bent it to fit the frame and then ground off about a 32nd on each side of the part that goes into the 8500...perfect.

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This is the view from the rear of the car and the 8500 is just barely visible. But if I unsnap the visor and just put it under the clip...it looks like this from behind...
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And the visor is still very solid there.
The reason it was $4 is because one ruler at $1.97 was a tester and got weak when I bent it too far...pic below. I heated the second one up with a torch until just glowing and the second ruler bent just fine. This pic is not completely bent to shape but shows the general look of the part. The last thing was to get the windshield trim back up where it was before, but the thickness of the ruler makes the trim sit that much farther from the frame, so the visor clip must have about a 16th ground off the end to make it shorter, and then it pulls the trim up nice and snug to the frame. The whole thing can go on either of the two visor clips but I like the driver's side myself...also the power jack on the 8500 is on the right so it faces the mirror this way...power cord is shorter.
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There's quite a bit of space up and under the windshield frame, and this puts the 8500 right there. The visor is fully functional and can be folded all the way around 180 degrees. It completely hides the 8500 when folded this way. I've never done a post like this so let me know if I forgot some part of the explanation...:thumbs:

Why didn't you just use the suction cups?

A number of reasons....

1. Too bouncy, not stable enough. Using a solid screw is much better.
2. Suction cup mount can't put the 8500 up so close to the visor and tucked out of the way.
3. Suction cups always fall off at some point. This is a permanent mount and yet lets me take the 8500 out any time.:yesnod:

Nice!

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nice!!! now go get a hair drier and some goo gone. :thumbs:

Very nice setup! :thumbs: :thumbs:

:thumbs:

Very nice. You should mass produce them and offer them on the site. You could easily sell them. Thanks for the ingenious engineering.:thumbs:

I got the 9500i, the only problem with this type of mount is the rear radar antenna is on the top of the detector and being that high the visor blocks the rear reception. :leaving:

So mine is mounted about the same location as the rear view mirror (left side). I bought the hardwire kit that has the alert led in it with mute button, I mounted that on the top of the HUD buttons on the left side.:cool:

:thumbs: :thumbs:

The mount is why I use Valentine ones, Passport has the the very worst mounting system.

My 8500 has no rear antenna, just smooth on the top, so it fit there nicely. I like your remote idea!
Also I thought I should put in a pic of the sunvisor folded over...the 8500 is under there...I promise! Sorry for the harsh flash but I wanted to get it in tonight! :thumbs:
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I agree, my original Passport from years ago had a better mount...a slot all the way down each side. This system that they use now is one reason why I didn't use the suction cups, when you go over a bump, the thing bounces (fine for girlfriends, not for radar detectors). The stainless steel mount is dead solid!:iagree:

Great install and I think this is just what I am looking for.

One thing still confused about. The bent ruler actually slides between the windshield and the trim, not between the trim and the visor bracket. Is it just held there by the friction of the visor bracket being screwed back in or did you drill a hole for the screw to go thru? Also not clear on where you ground down 1/32, the trim where it touches the bent ruler or the visor bracket?

Thanks.....

Good questions...
Yes, the ruler goes UNDER the frame trim and just the end that is bent over is the part that sticks out from between the glass and the trim. Its the only part of the ruler that can be seen, the rest is hiding under the trim. And yes, it has a hole in the ruler where the screw for the visor clip goes through it. Then you just grind off the DEPTH of the visor clip a bit, otherwise the bottom of it will squeeze on the ruler and it will be sticking out just a little and not pull the trim up tight to the metal frame. The only thing holding the trim up to the metal windshield frame is the visor clips and the visor hinges. So by removing the two visor clips(and not the hinges), the trim can flex enough to give lots of access to the metal frame for the contour bending of the ruler. Does this make sense???:bigears

Perfect. I plan to find a ruler this weekend and no I don't mean the misses. I assume you just used the trim as the template guide.

Also, the LAST part of the process should be the hard bend where the detector goes. Leave extra metal there and do all the bending, drilling etc, then mount it on the car before holding the detector up to it for measuring where the final bend will go. The position of this final bend determines how close the detector tucks up into the available space, and also that it is level while also touching the trim in the rear(where the buttons are).:thumbs: No, I used the frame as a guide for bending the ruler, not the trim...

The 8500 has a rear laser sensor on the top near the front: "The 8500 X50 provides extreme longrange warning on all radar bands including X, K, superwide Ka, and instant-on POP mode. Multiple front and rear laser sensors provide 360 degree laser protection."

When do they go on sell??? I want one to!

So true! I've never had a legitimate laser warning that I'm aware of, so I'm really only concerned with the radar detection. I've never seen laser around here...and I'm also not convinced that a detector can actually be of help when it comes to laser, but I have no experience with laser so I don't know. Our law enforcement here tends to be moving most of the time as they have vast distances to cover, and this lends itself to radar more than laser. I would love to hear about laser stories though!:cheers: