Here’s the Escort ZR3 laser shifter and 8500 radar detector install for my G35C. I’ll start out by saying that this was about an 8 hour job. My guess is that with these instructions it will go faster for the next person. I spent quite a bit of time checking out all the details prior to routing cable and was very cautious opening up the body panels and taking off the glove box. In hindsight the snap on fasteners and screws were very easy as were the body panels with the exception of the panel in the rear seat which I decided to avoid removing. Make sure you test the devices prior to wiring to be sure that they make it through the self test correctly. Also make sure that you are very careful not to break the clear plastic connectors at the cable ends as your route the cables.

Just jump in and do it!

1. I decided to make my own mounting brackets since the ones that Escort supplied seemed to be a little too easy to bend. I wanted a good solid connection that wouldn’t move around. My guess is that the brackets that they supplied would work just fine and that I over engineered this part. Anyway I used 1/4 inch steel from Home Depot and used a hacksaw, vise and grinding wheel to build the bracket to the same dimensions as the Escort provided bracket.

2. This is a picture of the bracket with front laser shifter.

3. Remove the screws from the bottom of the car just under the front bumper. Be sure to remove the screws in the front rather than part of the way back on the plastic liner.

4. This is a picture of the liner under the front bumper with the screws removed. I decided to work without removing it completely and used a foam pad to hold it open enough to get my arms behind the lower black grills in picture 6.

5. Notice that the laser shifter cable is not centered top to bottom. This comes in handy for mounting without kinking the cable.

6. I decide to mount the laser shifter in the lower black grill to the right and left of the license plate. This is a pretty level location and gives a slight angle to either side which should be advantageous if you are being clocked from the side of the road. Another factor in choosing this location was that I couldn’t bring myself to modify the main grill although this is also a good location if you do a little alteration to the main grill. I test mounted the bracket and used a permanent marker to mark the bracket where the best fit was. I mounted in the top row of the diamond mesh three over from the inside edge. This works well for the cable routing if you place the offset cable exit at the bottom as shown in picture 5. I drilled the holes in the brackets and use the provided screws and nuts to mount it permanently, one for each grill.

7. Route the cables up to the other electrical cables and use zip ties to securely fasten then as you route the cable to the passenger side of the car.

8. Remove the antifreeze container by using a screw driver to pry up the center of the black snap on fastener. Once you figure out one of these fasteners the rest will go quickly.

9. Remove the plastic just over the main grill by removing the snap on fasteners. This will give you a clear view and working room to route the cable through to the engine compartment.

9.5 This picture shows where you route the cables into the engine compartment. I decided to use the rubber plugs at this location since there was no need to drill the firewall. I routed the cables along the passenger’s side to the battery enclosure.

10. The plastic battery cover comes off easily by removing the snap on fasteners. You will also need to remove the plastic cover next to the window to gain access to the main wire bundle that goes through the firewall. Again all you do is remove the snap on fasteners and swing the plastic forward to disengage it from the piece of plastic that covers the drivers side.

11. Route the cable through the battery compartment and up to the firewall wire bundle boot shown in picture 12.

12. OK here’s the part where you need to be careful. With a razor blade, cut a small slice vertically in the firewall wire bundle boot and push the two cables through. Be very careful not to cut the wires inside and only make the cut long enough to insert the cable. You could also take the route of trying to unwrap the end of the boot and route it that way but it didn’t look very feasible.

13. Now that the cables are inside the car it’s time to start taking interior panels off. The black plastic shield for the fan just under the glove box comes off very easily. Just pull down on either side in the front and then pull forward and set it out of the way.

14. Now comes the fun part. Start unscrewing the glove box (see FAQ for more detail if needed). This is also pretty easy to remove, just be careful not to damage the connected wires. I left them connected since I didn’t need to leave the glove box down for much of the install.

15. This is a picture looking up to the wire bundle entry into the interior of the car. Just pull the wires through carefully and then go back to the firewall boot where you made the cut and add a bit of silicone caulk and then use electrical tape to cover the boot and completely seal any moisture out.

16. Remove the small side panel so that you can route all of the wire.

17. Remove the panel that contains the passenger side lighter and use a splice connector to tap the power for the main ZR3 connector. Black is negative (common) so match black wire to black wire.

18. Remount the lighter panel and the glove box.

19 Route the cables around the back of the fan enclosure and over to the area just above the foot vent in picture 20. Use zip ties to secure the cables, bundle the extra cable and zip tie it up near the other cables above the foot vent. Reinstall the plastic cover under the dash.

20. Here’s where I mounted the ZR3 connector. If you’re only going to use the ZR3 then you need to route cables to the ZR3 display and mute button.

21. I routed the Escort 8500 connector cable up to my 8500 just to the right of the rear view mirror. I just used a credit card to work it into the headliner between the passenger window and the front window.

22. Again use the credit card to tuck the cable in-between the front window and the headliner.

23. Here’s a shot of the front installation.

24. Here’s a shot of the passenger side installation.

25. Here’s a side view of the front installation.

26. The rear installation goes pretty quickly. Remove the liner along the rear of the trunk by removing the snap fasteners.

27. There is a cable route into the trunk above the license plate on the drives side of the car. This picture shows that route with the license plate removed.

28. Make a small slice in the boot and route the cable through to the interior of the trunk. This one will seal up with electrical tape. I left the rubber plug on the wire outside of the boot just above the license plate since I didn’t have to drill a hole.

29. Pull the tire and the jack holder and route the cable to the passenger side of the trunk with the other cable bundles.

30. Take the side panel off by removing the snap connectors and route the wire along the passenger side of the trunk.

31. Continue to route the cable up and through to the interior of the car using zip ties to secure to the existing wire bundle. I set the rear seat down to make it easy to route the cable from the trunk into the interior of the car.

32. I just pulled up the back the panel where the wire enters the car a little bit and pulled the cable through. I then routed it down to the seat and behind the safety belt.

33. Push the cable down between the seat and the read side panel to the door.

34. Pull the plastic guard along the passenger door and route the cable around the plastic connectors. Be sure to avoid getting the cable crushed in the plastic connectors. Go to one side or the other of them and then reinstall the plastic guard along the passenger door.

35. Route the cable back to the front of the door and route the cable around the rear of the fan housing with the other cables.

36. Here’s the rear laser shifter shot.


Put all the panels back on and You’re Done!





G35C 6MT CB Willow Aero Prem

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Here's a big pic of the front installation.





G35C 6MT CB Willow Aero Prem

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Here's a big pic of the side view.





G35C 6MT CB Willow Aero Prem

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Here's all the install info to get you started from Escort.





G35C 6MT CB Willow Aero Prem

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zman.

I think that looks like quite the job to get the laser piece in. Looks good, too.

If I read this right, you put the 8500 up by the rv mirror, where did you hardwire it to? Are you using the suction cups, or did you fabricate your own mount?

Am considering this model myself, without the laser part at least for the near future.

The pics were a little small. Are they posted in larger format/individually anywhere else?

Thanks.

 

It was quite a bit of work, but better than the possibility of having a bunch of holes, scratches, etc… from an unknown installer.

The 8500 is up by the RV mirror. I hardwired to the lighter on the passenger side. I attached a big pic of this. I’m just using the suction cups thus far, but will likely build a bracket to hold it permanently when I’m confident that I like the placement.

The 8500 is a great detector, but didn’t give enough reaction time to avoid a laser ticket (first ticket in 15 years, two weeks after I got the car). I figure the extra $300 for the ZR3 was cheap insurance against another speeding ticket and rising insurance rates coupled with a closer eye on the speedometer. I was in traffic going about the same speed as all the other vehicles. I guess the car caught the cop’s eye.

Here’s a 1MB version of the install sequence:


1MB Pic of the steps





G35C 6MT CB Willow Aero Prem

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Here's another link that should work for the 1MB pic of the install steps. It looks like a direct link to the pic is blocked by the service provider so I made it into an html page. If you right click on the picture and then save the picture you should be able to view it at full size.


1MB Pic of Step






G35C 6MT CB Willow Aero Prem