Celica Forums General Discussion Interior Radar detector mount - cheap n easy

All right, finally I got some time to show how to make a cheap and easy radar detector mount, using parts you can find at RadioShack, Circuit City, Good Guys and others - what you need is (and some of you guessed right) a so called satellite speaker mount. They costs less than $20 (at least here in the SF Bay Area...) I chose Omnimount AB1 Wall and Ceiling mount, for speakers up to 2.5 lbs, as it was the sleekest and nicest looking I could find - this is what the kit looks like when you buy it...

2) Next step is to remove mirror (pull it hard towards the ceiling at the window mount).
3) Then mount it carefully in a vise as shown, don't overtighten. Preferably use a drill press, or a regular handheld drill, but be careful.
4) Start by drilling using an 1/8" drill bit, drill all the way trough. Then use a larger drill bit, e.g. 3/16" etc and try to gradually increase the hole size, and finish with a 1/4" bit. The reason to go gradually is to have better control over what you do. You can go directly to 1/4" bit, but be very careful. Depending on how agressive the bit is, you might risk the drillbit go in very fast and grab the mirror and pull it out of the vise, and suddenly you have a much larger hole than you want. (If that happens, don't despair, it can be corrected somewhat in the next step).

5) Now you can mount the threaded metal stud in the speaker mounting kit as shown. If you messed up and got a hole that ended up a little larger... then repair by filling in with epoxy. I suggest you use epoxy and glue in the metal stud, this also goes if you can screw on the stud. You do have a hole on the other side, so before putting in epoxy and mounting stud, use a tape and cover the hole on the upper side of the mirror post, pour in epoxy glue, mount the stud, and let sit until dry.

So these are all the steps to mount the "radar detector holder" to the mirror post. There are several parts in the kit you can use to mount your radar detector to the holder. Since this will vary from detector to detector, I decided not to go into details. For the Escort Passport, the mount used for window mounting with suction cups (that came with the detector kit) is not rigid enough to hold the radar detector firm, when you drive the detector will bounce. It is just a piece of thin sheet metal. I have ordered a visor mount in hope this will be more firm, and then I will mount the "detector holder" to this.

This is how it looks right now in my car:

I hope this can be of help to you guys, there might be other mounts out there that are better suited. At least this is an idea... and the parts cost less than $20...

JT

sounds awesome, thanks for the hard work

Clever

Love it! Now my radar detector will be in secure. I hat when it falls off when I hit a speed bumps,going through railroad tracks,and pot holes. Great idea and my next mod.

nice and clean

neato.

good info

Looking goods

Very nice!

awesome

Here's mine

Nice!

if only it can be wireless. the cord is kind of a nuisance hanging there

it can be rewired. just haven't got the time to do it. it's time consuming.

that looks great, i think im gonna do that now thanks

how does the escort compare to the valentine??

IMO they are just the same but valentine1 tends to me more informative that passport. it tells you which direction the radar was detected. overall i coild atleast say you are safe with either one of them.