Laser jammer and radar detector installation

[M3R8]

Hi,

A few months back I started a thread inquiring about ideas and ways to get these things installed nicely and now that I finally found the time to do it, it seems a new thread is better as there's plenty to show and tell.

Since this job is one which requires a lot of time invested to get it just right, and if something is done I want it done right, I've decided to go for the best components I can get so after doing some research online I settled for a "laser interceptor" laser jammer and a Beltronics STi-R Plus radar detector.

For those who are less informed the Laser Interceptor seems to outperform all others out there and the STi-R Plus is one of the few stealth radar detectors that don't get detected by RDD (radar detector detectors) and have a GPS function where they automatically switch sensitivity based on speed and or road type. On top of that the STi-R is well regarded for its very sensitivity and a low amount false alarms.

I've bought the Valtneine-1 around a year ago and have never been happy with the thing even after reading the manual top to bottom, their web site and selecting only the bands that are used in my region. Simply too many false alarms to be useful and the STi-R can also blacklist locations that are known to trigger a false alarm with a quick push of one of its control buttons. Once you mark a location as false several times (3 or so) it will no longer alert at this location - it knows the location via its GPS function.

On a previous car I had an older version of the Blinder laser jammer installed, which performed very nicely, but I decided to go with the most up to date and best solution available.

Attached first are the pictures of the front end of the car being exposed and the bumper cover removed and some components installed. Those who have never seen their front end without its covers can now get a good idea of how things look like under there.

Interesting to note is the amount of dirt trapped between the wheel housing and the bumper cover. I had at least a kilogram of dirt trapped in there when taking into account both sides.

I'm only done with the front for now, so I'm attaching pictures related to that only. I hope to complete the work on the rear next week and then I'll post some more pictures and details. Get ready to be even more surprised when you see how things will look like on the rear end.

Pictures and further explanations:

- All black components and wires is the laser interceptor controller and the jammer heads

- Mostly black components and colored wires is the STi-R Plus with all of its components

- The pictures of the bumper cover taken off don't need any explanation. In two closeup pictures of the bumper's inside area you will see the laser jammer heads mounted facing forward using the appropriately sized aluminum profile, sprayed black for stealth.

- Top view of the inner bumper shows the STi-R unit installed in the center right next to a box which is, unless I'm mistaken, the garage door opener transceiver unit. The STi-R is mounted with velcro at the bottom and stuffed with some foam tape on the top to keep it steady.

- The closeup picture of the front bumper will show the nice part of this install:
1. I've removed the license plate holder which is normally attached with good double-sided adhesive and screw, trimmed the bottom end of the two square parts you see that attach the license plate holder plate itself to the bumper with a dremel so that the license plate height can be increased somewhat in order to expose the laser jammer heads located just below it. I didn't have such a good double sided adhesive and was unable to reuse the screw points to the bumper because of the trimming needed on the license plate holder itself so I sanded the surfaces of these two square parts and the license plate holder itself and used epoxy as well as small screws for a good, strong hold.

2. The fun part of this whole installation is the two square plastic surfaces you see just below the license plate. They are two pieces of perspex (PMMA, plexiglas, acrylic glass) which pass only Infra Red light within the spectrum used by the laser guns. Both pieces were cut and hand sanded around for a perfect fit into the square grille openings so that they are flush with the black (inside) part of the grille. Sanded areas on them were glued to sanded areas on the black piece on the inside of the bumper cover with epoxy. Effectively they are mounted deeper than the chrome part of the bumper. If you look carefully at your bumpers you will see what I mean, but it's a bit difficult to explain. The picture unfortunately doesn't do it justice and it looks, especially to the untrained eye, like an original part of the bumper. It also helps that our bumpers are pretty low, you'd have to knee down and inspect it very carefully to even begin suspecting something. Unfortunately I could not find a similar piece of Polycarbonate (Lexan, Makrolon) on time. If these ever break I'll replace them with the stronger Polycarbonate. In any case scratches can be easily polished.

The cables were passed from the front to the main fuse box where I'm probably going to locate the control units of both the laser jammer and radar detector by taking the white washer fluid container out and punching a hole through a rubber seal which is there in case wires need to pass. I guess the hole is normally used for when the wheel is on the right hand side but definitely the wrong side for most of us.

I mounted the GPS antenna of the STi-R on the right hand side on a flat surface in the rear of the main headlight unit.

A small piece of trivia; the white washer liquid container seen on the exposed front pictures filled with blue liquid is an original Lamborghini component complete with their logo. That was somehow nice to see.

Once the front was complete, before and after it was put together, I took the opportunity to clean it all nicely.

A friendly LEO will help me test both the laser and radar capabilities once the install is complete and I'll try to update the thread then with any observations I may have. The external aspects of this install passed the close up inspection, in daylight, of another friendly highway LEO.

Once the job is complete I'll post pictures also taken with a better camera. If anyone wants any detail or high res pictures just shoot me a message.

More pictures will follow in the thread.

[M3R8]

That's it for today.

[FiftyPence]

Nice writeup, thanks for taking the time.

You appear to have left the plastic pieces below the windscreen in place despite removing the luggage area liner. Is this the case or did you just refit them after removing the luggage liner?

When I was in the process of removing the luggage liner I found I would need to remove those pieces of plastic below the windscreen which surround the wiper stalks.

I look forward to seeing the pics of the rear of the vehicle in due course. Maybe a good opportunity for you to fit an aftermarket exhaust

[M3R8]

@FiftyPence, thanks.

You're right, I did actually leave that piece in.

I found that with some pulling and coaxing it's possible to take the luggage area liner out without first removing the plastic piece below the windscreen + wipers. It's a bit risky if the plastic is brittle, but it worked out.

The amount of coaxing and pulling is close to a level which can cause damage to that piece... I wouldn't recommend this way to most people but I also wouldn't recommend to remove that piece either, I found it to be tricky so I left it alone.

I'm already done with all the electrical aspects, its all functioning including auto muting the stereo when the laser jammer or radar detector produce a warning. Will hopefully have time to do the rear next week to finalize the install.

[M3R8]

Finally done with the cosmetic/operational parts of the install. I had a 90" aluminium profile lying around which fit perfectly in that niche above the AC control unit, cut it to size, bent the right angle to be flush with the side as seen in one of the attached photos and wrapped it with a piece of leather to match the styling of the inside.

On this piece you'll see the laser interceptor power button as well as the radar detector's display and remote control.

The cables were easily passed to the fuse box, where I have all the electronics installed, through a small gap between the plastic pieces on the top left hand side of the passenger's leg rest area. There was luckily no need to remove any pieces for this.

It's a good pressure fit so no drilling, gluing or other type of fastening was necessary yet it holds firmly in place and looks to be more or less part of the car.

I've seen other people use this area for cellphones or wallets, but since I tend to drive like an a-hole nothing stays in place so this is my best use for this niche.

The final cosmetic step would be to have a cover made of an aluminium piece again wrapped with leather which I simply plug into this area in case there is a need to hide these buttons/display.

Next week I'll try to finish installing the laser jammer heads on the rear end.

[M3R8]

One picture shows the area behind the seats uncovered where a bunch of electronics can be found including the B&O amplifier which now has a special mute box attached to it.

The second picture is the mute box and the cable loom it comes with which get attached to the rear of the B&O amp.

The mute box will mute the speakers as soon as the radar detector or jammer decide to make a noise.

[eliouno]

anxiously awaiting that...congrats on a real good explanation

[Digicrack]

Can you post a link to where you got the mute box?

[M3R8]

The mute kit is made by Elan http://www.elan-eu.com and sold by a company called http://www.nemesisgb.com

For the R8 with a B&O radio you need EZK-068 and EAH-002. The mute cable itself is made for Nokia phones, you need to cut the yellow wire out from the connector and hook it up to the radio mute wire of the radar detector or jammer. If you want any other device to mute your speakers, the yellow wire needs to meet the car's ground to do so.

[M3R8]

Here is the final piece of the laser jammer install and probably the end of this thread. The jammer heads are mounted at the rear of the car, on the inside of the spoiler.

The jammer heads are exposed and level with the road when the spoiler is up, when retracted they are completely hidden from view.

Two custom cut aluminium pieces hold the jammer head in a fixed position. Took a lot of messing about to get it just right.

Before install the aluminium pieces were sprayed black for added stealth. Everything is held in place with stainless steel screws and nuts, there will be no rust. It's pretty much impossible to see from a short distance as everything is dark.

It's a bit of a wide install between the jammer heads but should probably be just fine. I'll be testing it in action next week with a friendly LEO.

Better pics tomorrow in daylight.