Be aware this is a LONG post, with lots of photos, not good for dial up users...

Some of you might have been interested (or bored :) )  with my recent posts regarding my OEM Sat Nav installation.

Originally from the factory my car had a VW Gamma Head Unit and the VW dash mounted 6 CD player. After seeing Benc's excellent post regarding glove box installation of the 6CD ( http://uk-mkivs.net/forums/thread/645627.aspx ), I decided I had to attempt this myself, at the same time as fitting the Sat Nav unit.

So after some fun I've installed the OEM VW MFD version G unit and I've also installed the 6 CD player in to the glovebox.
I took lots of pictures and whilst this wasn't mean't to be a step by step guide to the installation it sort of turned in to one!

The parts I used in this installation were -

Extension Cable for in dash changer:
http://www.bluespot.co.uk/stock/idc_cable.asp PRICE: £17.99

Single DIN Mounting Kit:
http://www.bluespot.co.uk/stock/din_box.asp PRICE: £17.99

6CD player (I already had one in my car)
Ebay or off this forum in the classifieds PRICE: £100 total guess!

OEM VW MFD Sat Nav version G:
Ebay or off this forum in the classifieds PRICE: £240-£340 approx

VW/Audi Sat Nav plug and play cable/antenna kit (contains Nav loom/antenna/removal keys)
Ebay seller - "Navis-and-more" PRICE : £33.00

other misc parts -
zip ties, self adhesive cable tie base, suitable wire to extend the illumination wire for the 6CD.

tools -
stanley knife(good strong one)/spare blades (to cut the back of the glovebox), screw driver (to screw the DIN cage in to the glovebox), cutters (to clip zip ties/cut cables), removal keys (to pull out the Gamma/6CD), Torx driver set (to undo the screws to pull release the glovebox so the GPS Antenna can be mounted behind it), soldering iron/solder/heatshrink (to solder the some wires that needed to be extended)

So heres my guide to doing this installation/conversion. Don't fall asleep :)

1) My original set up, as it came from the factory

2) The glovebox - note you can see the marks near the lamp, these are already made from the factory and are stress points which are helpful for cutting a hole at the back.

3) I mated up the single DIN tray to the glovebox to see where the hole needs to be cut. The hole needs to be cut as the DIN tray/CD player need to be mounted right at the back of the glovebox to allow the lid to close (and to give a little more space in there too.)

4) After a real battle I had the hole cut at the back of the din tray, which allowed it to push back and be flush with the log book holder. (this took time and perseverance!)

5) The Sat Nav loom has an "eliminator" switch on it which basically allows a video input to be watched on the Nav whilst driving (normally this is disabled for safety). I attached this to the side of the DIN tray using a adhesive base that allows a zip tie to pass through it.

6) DIN tray slid in to place with the eliminator button attached

7) Goodbye to the Gamma head unit and the 6 CD player starts its journey to its new home in the glovebox

8) The rear of 6 CD player. This has a 'hardwired' connector (as shown below on the left) and a snap in connector on the right. The hardwired connector is a multi pin unit and this normally links in to the Gamma unit. When the 6 CD player is moved to the glovebox the cable won't reach to the rear of the MFD Sat Nav, so the extender cable has to be used. The snap-in connector on the right (I believe) is for the illumination also is quite short and will never reach in to the glove box. I had to cut this off and extend it using a piece of similar thickness wire, solder it and then insulate it using heatshrink tubing.

8a) Here is the snap in connector for illumination on the 6 CD player cut off and ready for soldering on to the extender cable

9) I decided it would be a good time to actually test the MFD unit. If it was faulty it would be a waste of time to continue. I plugged all the loom in to the rear of the MFD and layed the GPS aerial on the dashboard to get a signal. It picked up 7 satellites and the radio was fine too.

NB the Sat Nav Loom I used had 2 bare wires marked as "Gala H" and "Gala L". These cables are only used if the car has a full FIS cluster, they pass information from the MFD to the cluster and it displays route information etc. For a normal car with half height FIS or no FIS these wires can be zip-tied up and ignored.

10) Now I needed to get the GPS aerial INSIDE the dashboard. The most favoured position is on the left of the dashboard, basically quite close to the tax disc. Around this area is a thick metal bar (for body strength?), I fixed the GPS aerial there. To get my hand in I had to undo all the glovebox screws and let it hang down plus I had to take the side panel off. This also helped me to feed the GPS connector along the dashboard to the back of the MFD

10a) Side panel removed feeding the GPS Antenna in

10b) I zip-tied the excess GPS cable and mounted it securely on a metal fin. At upper left of the photo below you can see the thick metal bar, this is where the GPS antenna is mounted to.

11) I pulled the extended DIN cable through and the extended snap in power connector through ready for fitting the din tray. Also at this point I pulled through the eliminator cable through from the Sat Nav loom (not seen on the photograph though) to connect to the back of the blue switch

12) This photo shows the 6CD nearly finished (not fully pushed back in to the DIN tray in case of any problem) and all Sat Nav loom/cabling all pulled through ready for connection. At this point I again tested the Sat Nav before commiting myself to pushing it in to its final position.NB the cabling is clearly quite chunky and caution has to be used to make sure it doesn't foul when pushing the MFD in to its final position. A lot of the excess cable can be pushed in to the large-ish space behind the climate control panel.

13) Sat Nav unit now mounted and playing CDs from the 6CD player in the glove box :) Result!

14) 6CD player mounted in the glove box and working

14a) Unit in operation at night time

14b) CD player view - notice that it displays the play time in minutes/seconds on a CD - something the Gamma didn't do!

14c) As part of the install I made sure my Nokia car kit worked with the MFD (muting the CD player/radio when in use), on this pic the phone is active, along with navigation and CD (muted!).

As I said before I want to thank BenC for his excellent guide on the 6CD glovebox conversion and for other help he gave me with some questions I had!

Glad to be help Steve, very good "how to" you have made there

 Happy with it all? Looks spot on mate, well done....

B.

Cheers all!

Ben, yeah I'm happy with it, just need to sort get hold of a newer Nav CD, I still haven't resolved the issue with not been able to enter any postcodes or house numbers, seems that my 2001 CD is either a bad copy with information missing or it simply doesn't have that information on it due to being older.

Are you thinking of any more interior/ICE mods yourself? You should get the Bora vents in, they really help finish the interior off and are definately not just a style improvement, the dual controls on the centre vent is extra funcionality too..

Dont forget that I started this trend with mine except that I didn't cut the glovebox and made my own custom enclosure!!

http://uk-mkivs.net/forums/thread/564624.aspx#564625

JRW I do remember seeing your installation now and I can see why you did it but I prefer the way BenC and I did it. I'm not worried about the hole in the rear of the glovebox, it woudn't be impossible to replace the glovebox space with one from a scrappy if I really wanted to. I plan to keep this car until June 2009 (six years old and my company policy states six years is the max age for a car used for business) and with this in mind I decided to make the car how I wanted it so I can enjoy it for the next 3 years and not worry about the hole.

The skin is now growing back on my knuckles and hands from pulling cables through in awkward spaces and all the other work with doing the conversion, well worth it though   

JRW, whats all the fuss about? You was the first to do it your way (mounting 6disc player in bottom of glovebox), and myself and steve were the first to mount it at the top of the glovebox, which in my opinion looks more OEM, so enough of the i did it first, your acting like we are stating that we have done it first, when all we have done is provide a "step by step how to".

 Ben.

jrw:

Not at all, that way is a lot more professional and would prefer it myself.  I was just making people aware that it can be done without cutting the box (and that I was the 1st to do it!!!)

This is a great 'How to' guide and I am getting very tempted to try it out as well.  One quick question, What different versions are there of the VW MFD navigation system and which is the best I a notice you mention the version G above?

Thanks

BenC:

JRW, whats all the fuss about? You was the first to do it your way (mounting 6disc player in bottom of glovebox), and myself and steve were the first to mount it at the top of the glovebox, which in my opinion looks more OEM, so enough of the i did it first, your acting like we are stating that we have done it first, when all we have done is provide a "step by step how to".

 Ben.

jrw:

Not at all, that way is a lot more professional and would prefer it myself.  I was just making people aware that it can be done without cutting the box (and that I was the 1st to do it!!!)

adrianwood:

This is a great 'How to' guide and I am getting very tempted to try it out as well.  One quick question, What different versions are there of the VW MFD navigation system and which is the best I a notice you mention the version G above?

Adrian,  I'm also a little confused about the difference on D and G.. I know both D and G can do postcodes. I heard G was supposed to be superior, I think its possibly the way the address is entered, it has a sort of predictive text system that build up names from the alphabet as you enter them, possibly the D does not have this? On any MFD I've found the newer the "Tele Atlas" CD used, (the map CD that loads in the front) the better the results, my 2001 was pants, no postcodes/streetnumbers but the 2003 I have is much better. I'm still going to try to get a newer version.

One more thing, there is a MFD "DX" version, I saw one on ebay, with a photo of the product sticker on it, so its real, I've no idea if that has any special features or if its just a late version of the MFD D. Basically on Ebay MFD G are always the most expensive, so its a safe bet to try to get a G I think.

Good luck!

Nice install!    What is the navigation software like, acurate and easy to use?  If I drove all over the place, to new places and such I would do this install.

 BTW, would this set-up work with steering wheels controls?  I can't see why not.

scarum:

Nice install!    What is the navigation software like, acurate and easy to use?  If I drove all over the place, to new places and such I would do this install.

 BTW, would this set-up work with steering wheels controls?  I can't see why not.

The Navi is easy to use, its been good up to now. I think its probably not as advanced as a Tomtom (which have the advantage of being much newer), but it does exactly what I need it to do and I dont have an extra bracket or wires (as I would for a tomtom).

Not sure about the steering wheel, I do seem to recall that a guy I met in 2003 with a fully loaded V5 170 (leather, cruise, satnav, dipping mirror, winter pack, parking sensors - THE LOT!) said that VW couldn't fit the multifunction wheel with his set up when he ordered it new.. 

MFD vers D works with the steering wheel controls (I have them on my Bora).  Apparently the G version needs the cables rooted through a TMC (Traffic announcments) box.

HI

Hope you can help me

Ive just fitted a VW MFD version D in to my passat 1.8t all work well except when i plan a destination it plans the route but will not guide me if i press the enter button to bring up the navigation symbols / arrows it tells me im off road. if i go back to the map it shows my current location some where different to where i actually am, have you come accross this at all and if so how do i rectify this.

PS great write up 

As soon as an MFD pops up for a good price and will be doing this as well.  Already have the 6CD changer.

Good write up.  

MFD and CD extension lead arrived this week so I will be fitting this tomorrow with the help of the above `How To'.

I bought it from Bluespot, as detailed in the first post.  Here`s the link. 

 
Extension Cable for in dash changer:
http://www.bluespot.co.uk/stock/idc_cable.asp PRICE: £17.99

It`s all fitted and working but I cannot get the MFD to lock into place

Guys,

Theres plenty of room down behind your climate control panel that you can push some of your excess cables into, giving your more room behind your MFD and allowing it to slide right back into place and lock securly.

B.

To help with the cables, I've since learned that its quite easy to remove the climate control panel. This allows you to get your hand completey under the sat nav and carefully pull any excess length of cable from behind the nav to the space underneath.

I've no pics of this but heres a guide (from memory!)

1) Look under the climate control panel and pull off the cover thats covers the VW diagnostic connector (the one that people connect for Vagcom etc)

2) Gently try to remove the 'wood' trim that surrounds the climate control panel. This unclips, so with patience and maybe a flat blade screw driver it can be prised off. I think removing the cover mentioned in step 1 allows more easy access for a small screw driver to be used to prise the climate trim off.

3) There are four screws keeping the climate control panel in place, these have TX20 torx heads (as the car seems to have everywhere!)

4) The climate panel will pull forwards, remove all the connectors and don't worry about 'mixing them up', they can only go back in 1 socket each, they can't be mixed up, unless you wack them back in with a sledge hammer :)

5) you can now get your whole hand in under the sat nav and when pushing the nav back towards its final position you can feed your hand underneath and try to gently pull any excess cable through, its very easy to trap/wedge a wire at the back of the nav, this obstruction causes it to not want to slide all the way back in.

Hope that helps! I also hope its about the same procedure for normal heating controls, but I can't be sure...

Yes you need to screw it into place into the above document holder. You will need to use a short stubby screw driver and some small screws, 2 will hold it in place securly as its plastic.

B. 

vwmadcat:

one question though the single din plastic did you have to screw that into the glove or how did you secure it im sure it does not say please let me know

also no chance of getting any of them parts cheaper and from anywhere else and still dont really know how you managed to screw it into the top because it is a sort of din cover and you can only screw into the bottom of the din plastic but it is top touhing the underneath of the documents holder if you know what i mean please let me know or if so show us a picture as am to do this mod

also no chance of getting any of them parts cheaper and from anywhere else and still dont really know how you managed to screw it into the top because it is a sort of din cover and you can only screw into the bottom of the din plastic but it is top touhing the underneath of the documents holder if you know what i mean please let me know or if so show us a picture as am to do this mod

Firstly this is a excellent walk through, Will this allow you to watch DVD's??

James 

JamesP:

Firstly this is a excellent walk through, Will this allow you to watch DVD's??

James 

You can't watch DVDs on an MFD without adding in a seperate DVD player and appropriate cable. 

hi,

great install, really looks good,

what nokia car kit have you got,

thanks

Spiky

This really isn't that hard. If I can do it anyone can.

Not essential, but a good tip is using a dremel & fine drill bit to chop the back out of the glovebox.

Probably not great for the chuck on the dremel, but it cut through like butter. Quick and neat and easy. Doing it manually with a stanley as described in this thread would have been the devil's own job.

Rather than screwing the DIN cage up into the doc holder, I bored the mounting holes through with an awl (couldn't get the dremel in there) & used little flat-headed half inch bolts. You can't really see them, and the heads don't sit too proud, so you can still get your handbook into it's little compartment.

try and get a DIN tray which fully covers all four faces though, because the shelf in the glovebox you're screwing it to is cut away, so it gets seen. I bought a cheap one form Halfords which was nasty & didn't cover the top completely, so the top of the changer & bits of the stickers on it and stuff could be seen. It didn't look good, so I improvised a DIN tray lid by cutting up a paint tray lol.

Great mod this. I love the Navi & changer in the glovebox & it does look pretty neat. Full respect to those who developed it.

Only other thing to note is that your glovebox light will be partly obscured by the DIN tray too... forget ever changing the bulb if it goes, and the light is pretty much useless once the DIN tray goes in.

Personal preference, but notwithstanding the glovebox light, and extra faff of mounting a DIN tray, I still would do it. It really makes the mod, and I don't like the idea of the CD changer being loose or wedged, only held in place by it's cables & the glovebox lid.

If anyone`s interested I will have my MFD for sale very soon.  It will come with everything needed to fit it, as well as the VW 6 disc changer which is mounted in the glove box and all leads.  If you collect I will fit everything for you as well.   Drop me a PM if you`re interested, otherwise it will go on Ebay.

 Guys, how does this work if the ipod cable is already in situ?  As this connects to the navi unit by selecting the cd channel (not the aux) does this mean the multi changer functionality is lost?

And given the amount of space availble would it just be too tight in there?

While the ipod is great, theres still the times when you havent got round to loading the whole thing up - for example when you've just bought your cd and on the way home from the shop!

Also, while it might be a simple job - that assumes you have an amount of technical ability - if you have none, as I might not - anyone fancy earning a few beers sorting this out?