Slomo
It's Complicated
144MHz, CB, CD, XM All flush mounted in dash with 1 antenna mount
In addition to being a daily driver my Cruiser sees duty as a chase vehicle for an off road race team as well as trail use. With CB being the radio of choice for car to car on the trail and 144MHz a necessity with the racing I needed to figure out a way to mount both of them without being in the way. I am very anal and needed a clean install, the ability to easily hear them with windows down and/or with the stereo playing, and with minimal holes/butchering of the interior space. The factory cigarette lighter/power port was failing miserably at staying in the dash so this seemed like a natural time to upgrade that and add a second power port. Though there is no ground breaking tech with this install, I did learn a few things along the way and it turned out so well I thought I would share.
I plan on keeping my rig for a long time and have got sick of stopping to re-attach magnetic mount antennas in the past so a permanent roof mount was chosen. I didn’t want to cut two holes in the roof and I was worried about affecting the ground plane if I had two dissimilar coils and whips mounted close together. I have had good results with Radiall/Larsen antennas in the past so I stuck with that brand which is comparable to Wilson in quality. You can use one permanent mount and swap different coil/whip combinations. I have three separate coil whips, one for CB, one full coil/whip for distance and one ¼ wave for the race radio if I only need a couple miles out of it when using only for car to car with my friends. I am still working on a way to store all three in the Cruiser out of the way and without rattling. I will probably use some sort of Velcro strap system. The only drawback to this system is that you can’t use both radios at the same time but as I understand it that is not advised. I don’t think there will ever be a situation where I would need both anyway.
In setting up the system prior to installation I learned that the two radios must be completely separate electrically which ruled out using a splitter to permanently attach both radios to the one antenna base. To alleviate this problem I used an MFJ Enterprises 2 Position 450 MHz switch. This switch brings in one coax cable from the antenna mount and sends it out to 2 radios. The unique feature of this is it completely breaks one connection before it reconnects the second, thereby preventing the two antenna circuits from ever crossing. It also has the benefit of lightning surge protection for the radios, though unlikely it is nice to have. The mount is centered in the roof area between the back of the sunroof and the rear hatch. I was able to drill the hole and route the cable at the same time I drilled out the nutserts during the removal of the factory rack and then ran it down the c pillar and under the carpet to get to the center console area.
I then turned my attention to mounting the radios. I have a single bin Pioneer head unit and was able to make brackets that attached to the metal side plates that mount the head unit in the dash. I attached the provided mounting bracket for the 144MHz radio to my fabricated bracket giving it a sturdy and centered position in the second bin area below the CD player. The size of the 144MHz radio face filled the 2nd bin position leaving approx 1/8” gap top and bottom to aid in air flow and ¾” on either side. To fill the side gaps I cut filler pieces out of black abs plastic and epoxied them to the back side of the black center dash piece. That left little room but I was able to mount the cb in the ashtray location as done before on MUD. I believe the Radio Shack unit is a rebadged Uniden but I am not sure. It did however fit perfectly, the only modification being a 90* elbow for the coax to clear the air box behind it in the dash.
Obviously this would leave a lot to be desired in the sound of both radios when the dash is fully assembled. To alleviate this I mounted an external speaker on the center console just below the dash. This circuit also needed to be completely separated between the two radios so I bought a center off 2 pole switch from Radio Shack and ran one external speaker wire from each radio to the switch and a third from the switch to the speaker. This switch works the same way that the antenna switch works and completely isolates the two radio circuits. I have also heard this switch referred to as a “break before make” switch.
I chose the USDS rear bottom of the center console to mount both switches arranging them so that they move up and down in the same direction to switch between radios with the up position on both being the race radio, the middle off for both, and down being the cb. I chose this format to match the radio’s position in the dash, allowing me to reach down and blindly switch them without the need to contort and read labels. Note: visible in the picture of the switch location I would recommend moving the two of them a little further forward to protect them better from peoples toes when sitting in the back seat. I won’t bother unless it becomes a problem with damage.
I was able to squeeze the XM Pioneer adaptor in below the center console just in front of the t-case shifter. The main XM unit is mounted inside the main storage compartment of the center console with the wires routed out a hole directly above them. I routed the XM antenna wire from the rear of the roof behind the top hatch and follow the weather stripping down inside of it with only a very small hole to get the wire in and out of the weather stripping. It runs up and under the main XM unit and plugs in beneath it.
To get power for all of this equipment and have extra for later additions I ran one 8 gauge and two 10 gauge wires directly from the battery and through the rubber plug where the clutch master cylinder would be on non US 80s. One 10 gauge for the CB/144MHz, one as an extra, and the 8 gauge to power the fuse panel. In a stroke of luck the mounting holes for the accessory fuse panel lined up perfectly with two of the four mounting screws for the ECU just behind the drivers side kick panel. I replaced the two top screws with units just long enough to go through the accessory fuse panel and hold the ECU to its brackets making sure to only go as far in the ECU as the OEM screws to avoid damaging it.
While I had the dash apart I replaced the factory power port with a heavy duty marine grade unit that fit perfectly with almost no modification. I added a second power port where the OEM hand throttle would go. Both ports are wired on their own circuit to the accessory fuse panel with 12 gauge wire.
The finished product almost looks like Mr.T designed it that way and I am very pleased with it. Pics to follow.
In addition to being a daily driver my Cruiser sees duty as a chase vehicle for an off road race team as well as trail use. With CB being the radio of choice for car to car on the trail and 144MHz a necessity with the racing I needed to figure out a way to mount both of them without being in the way. I am very anal and needed a clean install, the ability to easily hear them with windows down and/or with the stereo playing, and with minimal holes/butchering of the interior space. The factory cigarette lighter/power port was failing miserably at staying in the dash so this seemed like a natural time to upgrade that and add a second power port. Though there is no ground breaking tech with this install, I did learn a few things along the way and it turned out so well I thought I would share.
I plan on keeping my rig for a long time and have got sick of stopping to re-attach magnetic mount antennas in the past so a permanent roof mount was chosen. I didn’t want to cut two holes in the roof and I was worried about affecting the ground plane if I had two dissimilar coils and whips mounted close together. I have had good results with Radiall/Larsen antennas in the past so I stuck with that brand which is comparable to Wilson in quality. You can use one permanent mount and swap different coil/whip combinations. I have three separate coil whips, one for CB, one full coil/whip for distance and one ¼ wave for the race radio if I only need a couple miles out of it when using only for car to car with my friends. I am still working on a way to store all three in the Cruiser out of the way and without rattling. I will probably use some sort of Velcro strap system. The only drawback to this system is that you can’t use both radios at the same time but as I understand it that is not advised. I don’t think there will ever be a situation where I would need both anyway.
In setting up the system prior to installation I learned that the two radios must be completely separate electrically which ruled out using a splitter to permanently attach both radios to the one antenna base. To alleviate this problem I used an MFJ Enterprises 2 Position 450 MHz switch. This switch brings in one coax cable from the antenna mount and sends it out to 2 radios. The unique feature of this is it completely breaks one connection before it reconnects the second, thereby preventing the two antenna circuits from ever crossing. It also has the benefit of lightning surge protection for the radios, though unlikely it is nice to have. The mount is centered in the roof area between the back of the sunroof and the rear hatch. I was able to drill the hole and route the cable at the same time I drilled out the nutserts during the removal of the factory rack and then ran it down the c pillar and under the carpet to get to the center console area.
I then turned my attention to mounting the radios. I have a single bin Pioneer head unit and was able to make brackets that attached to the metal side plates that mount the head unit in the dash. I attached the provided mounting bracket for the 144MHz radio to my fabricated bracket giving it a sturdy and centered position in the second bin area below the CD player. The size of the 144MHz radio face filled the 2nd bin position leaving approx 1/8” gap top and bottom to aid in air flow and ¾” on either side. To fill the side gaps I cut filler pieces out of black abs plastic and epoxied them to the back side of the black center dash piece. That left little room but I was able to mount the cb in the ashtray location as done before on MUD. I believe the Radio Shack unit is a rebadged Uniden but I am not sure. It did however fit perfectly, the only modification being a 90* elbow for the coax to clear the air box behind it in the dash.
Obviously this would leave a lot to be desired in the sound of both radios when the dash is fully assembled. To alleviate this I mounted an external speaker on the center console just below the dash. This circuit also needed to be completely separated between the two radios so I bought a center off 2 pole switch from Radio Shack and ran one external speaker wire from each radio to the switch and a third from the switch to the speaker. This switch works the same way that the antenna switch works and completely isolates the two radio circuits. I have also heard this switch referred to as a “break before make” switch.
I chose the USDS rear bottom of the center console to mount both switches arranging them so that they move up and down in the same direction to switch between radios with the up position on both being the race radio, the middle off for both, and down being the cb. I chose this format to match the radio’s position in the dash, allowing me to reach down and blindly switch them without the need to contort and read labels. Note: visible in the picture of the switch location I would recommend moving the two of them a little further forward to protect them better from peoples toes when sitting in the back seat. I won’t bother unless it becomes a problem with damage.
I was able to squeeze the XM Pioneer adaptor in below the center console just in front of the t-case shifter. The main XM unit is mounted inside the main storage compartment of the center console with the wires routed out a hole directly above them. I routed the XM antenna wire from the rear of the roof behind the top hatch and follow the weather stripping down inside of it with only a very small hole to get the wire in and out of the weather stripping. It runs up and under the main XM unit and plugs in beneath it.
To get power for all of this equipment and have extra for later additions I ran one 8 gauge and two 10 gauge wires directly from the battery and through the rubber plug where the clutch master cylinder would be on non US 80s. One 10 gauge for the CB/144MHz, one as an extra, and the 8 gauge to power the fuse panel. In a stroke of luck the mounting holes for the accessory fuse panel lined up perfectly with two of the four mounting screws for the ECU just behind the drivers side kick panel. I replaced the two top screws with units just long enough to go through the accessory fuse panel and hold the ECU to its brackets making sure to only go as far in the ECU as the OEM screws to avoid damaging it.
While I had the dash apart I replaced the factory power port with a heavy duty marine grade unit that fit perfectly with almost no modification. I added a second power port where the OEM hand throttle would go. Both ports are wired on their own circuit to the accessory fuse panel with 12 gauge wire.
The finished product almost looks like Mr.T designed it that way and I am very pleased with it. Pics to follow.
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