spitfire

Hello, first post, so apologies on the random subject. Uncle has just purchased a GT3; you can read here if you wish.

Has anyone used this mirror w/ the current Valentine detectors? Is it comparable performance-wise to the integrated Passport SR-series detectors.

As I understand it, one needs to remote-mount the actual detector somewhere, but where do the antennas or sensors go? Is there a "stealth mount, or does one still need the detector on the windshield?

Best to All

Jeff

Edit: Appears if I can't link yet, but I have a post on pg2 of the caymanclub forums entitled "I know this is a cayman forum, but..."

The valentine mirror can be found at the East Coast Induction Systems website, in the accessories section.

ArcticFox

This has been done by the BMW crowd, and I had one! I loved it, but could not find one for our cars.

In a nutshell, you STILL HAVE the V1 itself, and it needs to be mounted "as usual". The difference is that a remote display is put inside the mirror, and it is modified to allow you to see the display through it.

The big advantage of this is that you could conceal your V1 in something (eg" in the E36 M3, the 3rd brake light housing) and nobody would ever know you had one. I don't see an advantage in the GT3 as there is no good place to "hide" the V1 itself. I guess you could canabalize a V1 and remotely mount the front and rear detectors in the front/rear of the car, etc., but I would be very skeptical of its performance and reliability.

Here is a link to the "originator" AFAIK. Jim Powell....
http://www.apexcone.com/JimPowellHom...RadarLove.html

whakiewes

As Tim explained, Jim Powell who was behind 'angel eys' and the stealth mount V1 designed the setup. When I was in the parts business I had a couple of them come through my store which I looked at. It would be very easy to replicate the setup into a non-compass rear view mirror. On BMW's you can fit it with the LED compass, and maybe on the Porsche, but it would be a trial and error test only.

What you need is the Valentine 1 and the remote mount kit. What they did (and I could probably still replicated it given enough time) is take apart the remote display, leaving just the internal electronics. You take apart the mirror and etch away where you are going to conceal the display. You don't remove all of the metallic mirror coating, just enough that the red display is viewable. This makes it stealth when off, and visible when on. Attach the electronics however you wish via tape or glue, then reassemble the mirror. We ran the wires up through the mirror base by doing a little drilling, then the wires into the headliner.

Here is where it gets tricky. You have to mount the V1 somewhere that it gets a good signal, but also is concealed. We did it in two locations, the above mentioned third brake light works well but you loose a lot of frontal protection, or we cut out a mounting area in the upper front headliner by the sunroof motor. It had perfect front protection, but again you lose a lot of the rear protection. You have to give up some somewhere to do this. Whenever you figure out your location, you need to hardwire the detector to the switchable 12V power with the hardwire kit included with your V1. This turns the detector on with the key. The remote mount is the hardest part to wire. We did two different types, a direct connection and a remote on/off. When you disassemble the remote display you will have your standard power wire, which is originally wired to go through the V1. This uses a standard telephone cable so you can aquire one of the correct length at any electonics store.

The hardest part besides the mirror is all the running of wires/wiring. Often people get in their and create shorts which are incredibly hard to trace. One M3 that had the V1 hardwired spent 10 days in the shop getting one bug traced which ended up being a result of the hardwiring (not done by me, but by the PO). It caused the windows to sparatically roll up and down, sunroof to open, among other things.

Wes

ukchris

I've made several of these for Boxster, 996, BMW etc, the process is involved but should be quite workable, it all depends on space inside the mirror. This is mine in my Boxster:


Takes a while, costs a bit, slight risk of ruining the mirror (but rarely).

Chris.