Where to put the Sirius box on a W124?

[Chris W.]

I've outdone myself this Thanksgiving weekend. I'm much more of a mechanical guy than an electrical, but I put a new Pioneer head unit in, and also put in the Pioneer iPod adapter. Put the iPod unit in the center console box by running the power, ground, and bus cable up under the console window switch panel. My 11 year old son was as amazed as I when I fired the thing up and it worked!

I'm now on a first name basis with my console cover, ashtray, console box, A/C controls, etc.

Now I have another box to mount, the Sirius box, with another three cables, plus the satellite antenna. The limiting factor seems to be the length of the bus cable, as it needs to hook up to the iPod box - these things can be chained together in series.

Anyway, I can't figure out how the passenger under-dash panel (under the airbag, etc.) comes out to see if there is room there, and I can't really come up with another location other than under the passenger seat, which is problematic due to the seat moving fore and aft. My Service CD only covers old glovebox models - does not show airbag cars.

Then there is that antenna... Any ideas for routing that wire ? At least it is much smaller than normal antenna lead.

TIA,
Chris W.
'95 E300D

[e320 coupe]

I put mine under the front passenger floor carpeting. If you pull that up, you will see that there is a lot of space to store it.

a

[Ashman]

pull out the passenger carpeting.. there is a black plastic panel. pull that out, and in there you will find the factory alarm unit and some other units. there should be space there to mount it.

To gett he airbag out on the underside of the dash panel there is a hole, you need like a 6" extension or more and I believe a 10mm socket and one that is out you can get the airbag out.

[Chris W.]

Thanks Ashman and E320. I never thought of putting it under the passenger carpet. Sounds like a good possibility.

Oh and I didn't want to remove the airbag - just the valence panel under it to see if there was room there to put the Sirius box. (if in fact you can remove only the valence without taking out the airbag) I did see that bolt/screw head way up there accessible through a hole in that panel, but I didn't know it was for the airbag.

Rgds,
Chris W.

[chuck95e300d]

Originally Posted by Chris W.

Thanks Ashman and E320. I never thought of putting it under the passenger carpet. Sounds like a good possibility.

Oh and I didn't want to remove the airbag - just the valence panel under it to see if there was room there to put the Sirius box. (if in fact you can remove only the valence without taking out the airbag) I did see that bolt/screw head way up there accessible through a hole in that panel, but I didn't know it was for the airbag.

Rgds,
Chris W.

I'd be worried about messing with panels near the air bag without knowing what I was doing.

[Chris W.]

To answer my own post, I did find a perfect spot for the box. It was, as the others said, under the passenger carpet. On my car, there is a sheet metal shield panel which is located under the carpet, not on the floor but on the angled-up portion of the footwell. This panel has a warning sticker about disconnecting a red connector related to the airbag. One screw removes that panel. Undo the screw and lift the top part of the panel and a clip slides out. Easy.

Under the panel is some sort of electronic box with Becker on it - presumably something for the radio (?) mounted on a sheet metal base and a red connector which is presumably the one referred to on the warning sticker. Anyway, the sheet metal panel there has plenty of room for the Sirius box and several holes already drilled. I used one of the holes in it by opening it up slightly, drilled one more hole, and it's a perfect mount for the box. Now the challenge of running the antenna cable!

Rgds,
Chris W.
'95 E300D