Myy06 Posted January 13, 2007 Report Share Posted January 13, 2007 Hey everyone, thanks for all of the great info here on the install. I never would have attmepted this on my own without the info on this forum! With that being said, I feel obligated to share info that I couldn't find while doing my searches. So I installed my Oct '06 unit into my '06 GT Mustang. A. Here is what I did.... 1. I soldered all my connections (never did this before but it was easier than expected) and used shrinkwrap afterwards (from home depot) as well as those tap connectors on the others. 2. Order your harness and the F150 install kit from Crutchfield! Then, you can call them up anytime for support on any part of the install using the order number that comes onn your invoice. They were extremely helpful and they're open 8am-12am est, except X-mas and thanksgiving! 3. The harness from Crutchfield has two blue/white wires (I'm pretty sure that's their color) to send power to the amp. The Z1 only has one wire. I called Crutchfield twice and on the second call I got an answer that made the most sense and was the correct one: their harness is designed to work with a variety of Ford systems, therfore they put in two power wires, one on the top right and the other on the bottom right. Simply look at the Z1 harness and you'll see that it's power wire is on the top. So we use the top wire to solder together and just tape off the other wire since it's not being used. 4. The bypass works beautifully. I found in some link the tip regarding moving the cell mute wire to the other harness. I've heard of people having problems with bad connections. The tip was: use a jewler's screwdriver (or anything with a tiny tip) when initially removing the wire from the first harness. On the topside of the harness is a small piece of metal that's visible. If you gently lift that (a toothpick may even work) you can pull the wire out, including the metal connector that it's crimped to on the end. Then you slot that into the other harness on the bottom right location and it snaps right in place securely! 5. When you're all done you've grounded four wires (misc info for reference): the parking brake wire, the unit itself, the cell mute wire in it's new bypass position on the 2nd harness, and the middle leg wire of the 5v regulator (see #7 below on this). Plus to find a spot to ground it to I drilled a small hole into the metal fram that sopports the whole dashbord directly behind the Z1 unit. I used those crimp style connectors with the O-shaped piece of metal on it to make sure they weren't going anywhere. Then I used a small screw to attach them to the frame. (I do have a small buzz when I press a button, I tried grounding the head unit separtately and it made no difference. It's minimal so I'll leave it for now.) 6. VVS, Reverse Wire, and Dimmer wire (ILL I believe): 1. Crutchfield was very helpful here: The VVS wire goes to through the firewall and to the main computer at the front right of the car (if you're sitting in the driver's seat, the front right corner). Attached to the main computer are three chunky black plugs with grey "handles", you want the top one fortunately. Pull back on the grey handle and it'll come undone. This is a 50 pin plug and you want pin 3, the dark blue/yellow stripe to tap into. To get to them gently raise the four black tabs that hold the cover over the harness and pull it off. ALSO, along the passenger side firewall is a rubber something or other, about 3" in diameter. I saw that the stereo shop went through here to install my alarm. I went into the engine compartment, took out the battery, unscrewed the three bolts that hold down the tray, and moved it to the side (something else is attached to it so I just moved it out of my way) Then I went back inside the car, used a wire coat hanger and wrapped the end around the end og my pink wire. And used that to push it through the opening into the engine bay. Go to the engine bay, you won't see the wire but you'll need to reach your hand down and behind the metal to find where it came through, and you've got it. Reverse wire: Crutchfield said it is in the passenger kick panel, and it's on a 52 pin plug, pin 13, a white /yellow striped wire. I couldn't find this for the life of me. There is a 50 pin plug kind hidden, I think it's blue while everything else is black. But I couldn't remove the cover to see what was in pin 13 slot. I didn't even see a white/yellow wire... I did remove the doorsill kick panel to see what wires were running back for the taillights and saw several white/yellow wires, checked my trunk and also saw the white/yellow wire. So back in the front of the car I tapped into one of these.... and it doesn't look like it works. I'll try again later, doesn't seem to affect me so far. Dimmer switch: I thought I read somewhere that for the '06 models you couldn't simply hook up the dimmer switch from the Avic to the dimmer wire in the crutchfield harness cause that wasn't working any longer. The known fix was going to the headlight switch. So I disassembled the panel, unplugged the two switches, looked and took my best guess and tapped into the Yellow/Green wire on the top corner of the plug. AND it worked! So tap into that one on the main switch, not the switch that goes to the brightness dial. 7. Going back to the sub-harness and the regulator fix: Buy that piece from Radio Shack (+5 Fixed-Voltage Regulator #7805). It has three legs to it so solder three 2-in wires to each and shrink wrap the part closest to the black main piece. Then with the regulator sitting flat on it's back and the three legs facing you, solder the blue wire from the Z1 harness to the IN leg left most leg), then solder the blue wire from the top position of the Crutchfield harness to the OUT leg (right most leg), then solder a 2-foot or so wire to the middle leg so you can ground it. It works! B. I have two outstanding issues with my install: 1. My radio reception is almost non-existant. It gets two channels only. It is pluggged in all the way, and I also confirmed that the additional connection that runs behind and under the glove box is tightly connected. Suggestions? With my stock setup I used one of those shorty antennas and it worked perfectly. I'm thinking I should try the stock antenna and see if that makes a difference... 2. I missed the reverse wire and apparenlty chose the wrong wire to tap into since the diagnosic settings doesn't recognize when I put it into reverse. Detailed suggestions? I cant' thank eveyone enough! LM Quote Link to post Share on other sites
OSUV Posted January 13, 2007 Report Share Posted January 13, 2007 Nice writeup, But why didn't you just tap into the dimmer on the stock radio harness? As for the reverse wire, unless you are installing a rear backup camera, you don't even need it hooked up. But the easiest way is to route the wire back to either tail light and look for the bulb that goes into the white lense socket as viewed from the outside when you are in reverse. (the wire that came with the Z1 is plenty long enough to go back to the taillights) This bulb plug should have 2 wires, Wht/Yel & possibly Black. Tap into the Wht/Yel and you're done. Do this at the same time that you install your rear camera so that you'll only have to remove your trim panels once. I'm still not sure that I understood why you had to go through the firewall. Could you elaborate on that? But like I said, it's a good writeup and it should help other Mustang owners with their install. Good Job! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Myy06 Posted January 13, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 13, 2007 I read a series of posts fromk people with the '06 rather than the '05 model. In it they mentioned that connecting the dimmer wire to the harness doesn't work for the '06s, someone else confirmed the problem, and another person told them again that they must go to the headlight switch. So that's what I did... and all is well. In regards to the firewall, I wasn't expecting to have to do that either and hadn't seen anything written about it . But the Crutchfield tech person gave me the location of the VVS wire (being in the engine compartment) so that's were I went since I had no clue where it was at otherwise. Thanks for the specifics on that reverse wire. LM Quote Link to post Share on other sites
OSUV Posted January 13, 2007 Report Share Posted January 13, 2007 Thanks for explaining. Good infomation. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Myy06 Posted January 14, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 14, 2007 Okay, I fixed my radio reception problem! I went back in and realized that my antenna cable wasn't plugged in properly. The darn orange cable was strapped in to the car in several places. So this time I went in and disconnected the cable first underneath the glove box. That got rid of the difficulties of getting it into the back of the Z1. Then I reinstalled the unit, and lastly went back under the glove box and reconnected the cable's two parts. Works perfect! Next I need to figure out a wire that I can tap into for my Valentine 1 radar detector. I thought the wire that went to the outlet in the center console was only active when the key was on, but it's live all the time. I want it to turn on and off with the engine so I don't forget it and drain the battery... Oh, hey how about re-wiring the Z1 so that I don't need to turn the car on to operate it? I'd like to be able to run ther unit with or with out hte key. But I don't exactly see an on/off button, so maybe that could be an issue... just a thought. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
cntrylvr79 Posted January 14, 2007 Report Share Posted January 14, 2007 You can tap power for your valentine to the red wire on the avic harness. That wire only has power when the key is in the ignition and on. As for your other question, I wouldn't since the z1 would be on ALL the time. You're right there is no true off button on it. If you hold the source button that will turn off the audio, but the unit and the screen will still be on. So your best bet is to leave the unit as it is as far as wiring goes. By the way congrats on the install. How about some pics. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Myy06 Posted January 14, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 14, 2007 Oh by the way, the radar detector won't cause any problems down the line drawing power from the same place as the head unit??? Just want to make sure I'm not overlooking anything and being safe! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
cntrylvr79 Posted January 14, 2007 Report Share Posted January 14, 2007 Nope do it all the time. The radio pulls almost nothing on that line and the radar defector only pulls an amp or 2 at the most. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Myy06 Posted January 15, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 15, 2007 Cool, I'm going to take care of that shortly! Got side-tracked today, I added a 10" Alpine sub in a box! The Z1 powers it nicely. I'll post a few pics in an hour or so! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Myy06 Posted January 15, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 15, 2007 Okay, finally some pics! I meant to reverse the order of my pics so I know for next time! But here they are....! Thanks cntrylvr79. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
jimmy303 Posted January 19, 2007 Report Share Posted January 19, 2007 Nice screenshot! Ummm, what were we talking about? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
tillithz Posted January 19, 2007 Report Share Posted January 19, 2007 judging from the title of the thread, i think it was assbsolutely possible the conversation wont be the same again. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
05Stang-GT Posted February 27, 2007 Report Share Posted February 27, 2007 Looks awsome! Im about to put the Z1 into the GT (Traded in the CV)....by the way, where did you get the GT plug for the Power Port...I want I want! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
05Stang-GT Posted February 27, 2007 Report Share Posted February 27, 2007 Looks awsome! Im about to put the Z1 into the GT (Traded in the CV)....by the way, where did you get the GT plug for the Power Port...I want I want! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Myy06 Posted February 27, 2007 Author Report Share Posted February 27, 2007 Ask and you shall receive! http://mgwltd.com/mustang_2005-present.shtml Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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