The2001TTguy

I decided to go with the GROM IPD3 adapter for the iPhone/BT/aux audio connection to the head unit. I probably should have spent more time researching the possibility of just replacing the head unit since the GROM with the BT option costs as much as some new head units with the same features.

http://www.gromaudio.com/ipod.html

I also decided to try ProClip's idea of a solution for mounting gadget holders in an AudiTT Mk1. I'm not entirely happy with it as the position that they provide a mounting plate for will interfere with the stock shifter if you don't take pains to move it as far up and to the right as possible (in which case it may interfere with the left leg of the passenger).

http://www.proclipusa.com/

I wanted to mount the phone kind of down low like this, and I like their iPhone dock thing, but the specialized mounting plate that they offer for the TT Mk1 only seems suitable for very small holders for things like small cell phones or something.

The first dock they sent me had the dock connector glued on at an odd angle where the phone wouldn't fit in the dock, so I had to send that back for a replacement. I was a bit annoyed about this because the flaw should have been obvious to anyone doing any sort of quality inspection before bagging the thing. It makes me wonder about their quality control practices.


GROM IPD3 Install

The GROM IPD3 is an adapter that connects to the head unit as if it were the OEM CD changer in the back seat, and the head unit "sees" it as an OEM CD changer for control button purposes. It then connects to one or more of an iPod dock cable, an RCA aux output, and/or a Bluetooth dongle with phone headset and A2DP support for streaming music. I installed all the options.

This thing is actually a bit more useful if your audio controls include steering wheel controls, though I'd say it's still easier to change the track and playlist on an iPod/iPhone. As mentioned earlier, it may be more cost effective to just install a new aftermarket head unit with iPod and bluetooth features. Also, you can't continue to keep the stock cd changer connected up after you install the GROM, but I could care less because I haven't used that thing is like 4+ years anyway.

First you have to pull the head unit out with these manufacturer-specific special tools. These aren't really very expensive and I'd rather have to buy some $5 special tools than take the dash apart. AutoToys sells a set of two of the less expensive ones for $5 that handle all audi/volkswagen, Mercedes (I think), and some other manufacturer.

I didn't really make a good effort to take the most illustrative photos while doing this, so the photos aren't that great, but hopefully they show the important stuff.




The "Euro" removal tools that AutoToys sells. You use the short knife blade looking one for my particular head unit.




Another horrible photo showing the proper orientation of the thing and the slot it goes in.




It would have helped me to see how this was supposed to work so here's an attempt at a photo of it. The tool slides in below the clip where there's part of the clip hanging down toward the inside. It pushes the clip inward, and the notch on the tool is supposed to hook and lock to the metal it's pushing on to help you pull the unit out. Then once you get it out you push the clip in with your finger to release the tool. Unfortunately it didn't seem to hold very securely for me and I had to pull on the front of the unit to get it out. I suspect the official OEM tool might do a better job than this aftermarket one.





Here the head unit has been pulled out, and I've already removed the cable harness from the connector on the back of the unit (near left side of the photo), and replaced it with the splitter cable that AutoToys sends out with the GROM. It's good that they've figured this out already because if they didn't include this cable (which is actually better than the one grom sells as it doesn't require that you take the whole back seat out to unplug the cd changer) I'd have to cut up the block connector thing and things would generally be more difficult.

The blue cube on the connector connects the CD changer pins up to the GROM box via that black cable running off the bottom of the photo. The green and yellow parts are just wired directly to the OEM harness which is plugged into that red connector on the upper left. Basically the point of this is to split up the wiring in these different colored connector sections so you don't have to cut up anything.

That black ground wire between my fingers, screwed to the chassis, is NOT installed in the best manner! Don't install it like this long term. This is how the GROM official instructions tell you to install it, but it really needs to be connected to the ground wire on the OEM harness using some sort of vampire tap. I didn't have the crimp tap stuff at the time but I plan to go back and fix it later. Basically the chassis of the head unit is only grounded via the antenna cable which is not only not the most solid connection, but I suspect it will introduce RF noise as well.




This is the box for the GROM IPD3 adapter. It has no controls. The part of the box cut off at the bottom of the photo is where the black cable from the blue block in the previous photo connects up to the adapter. At the top are cables for iPod and Bluetooth/Aux connected using 9 pin mini-din connectors. I wasn't satisfied with how securely the sockets were holding the connectors so I decided to tape them to make sure they didn't vibrate loose or something. The actual box itself also comes open very easily (which is helpful for firmware upgrades) so I also taped that just in case it might rattle lose eventually.

Basically the thing is just this black box with a circuit board and a MicroSD card slot in it for firmware updates.

At the top, stuck on the cable to the Aux port like an ugly shrink wrapped growth, is the Bluetooth dongle/tumor thing. It has a passthrough to the optional RCA cable for connecting random audio devices (not visible). All of that is behind the dash, including the RCA cable which I'm not using yet (it's stashed behind the panels under the ashtray where I can pull it out without too much trouble if needed). The BT adapter also has a microphone connector sticking out of it on the other side, which you can't really see, and the microphone cable is also run down to the area under the ashtray.




This shows the area under the ashtray.

The iPod wire runs down behind the AC/Heat controls where there are some plastic panels behind and below the ashtray that are very easy to separate by hand. The wire runs out between the cracks where I concealed it between the aluminum rail and the center console plastic. I loosened the bolts on the frame/rail thing to stuff it in there, but I tightened it with much less torque to avoid damaging the wire.




The microphone wire is concealed, stuffed between the cracks between the dash panels, until it runs all the way up to the top of the instrument cluster to the location of the OEM mic. It's just being held there by the tension between the plastic panels right now. It's not really visible to anyone not trying to examine that area.


ProClip iPhone Mount

I wanted some sort of holder for the iPhone, so here we are.



This is ProClip's idea of a good place to mount holders for various phones and other gadgets. It's the only place they offer a mounting plate for mounting unfortunately, other than some generic plates that I didn't want to try to use. Basically this thing just clips onto that leather pad that's clipped onto that aluminum frame. There's an adhesive strip to help hold it on, but it seems to stay on well enough for now so I haven't actually removed the covering tape to expose the adhesive. The thing on the top of the plate is a swivel (that doesn't swivel more than maybe 10 deg in each direction) screwed down to the mounting plate.




The swivel for the dock is screwed down to the plastic mounting plate with included tap screws. Unfortunately this means that once you screw into the plate with tap screws ProClip doesn't want to let you return it. Not really a very good policy since you may have no way to know what holder will mount properly on what plate (as you can see from my experience).

Normally you'd attach this thing right in the middle of the plate, but this is a bad spot to try to mount an iPhone dock and if I don't keep the thing as high up as possible then my hand will hit it when I try to shift into 5th gear. You can see the predrilled holes for the tap screws, but I had to make a couple of my own for the top left and right screws using an awl. The top of the swivel mount is just hanging over the top of the plate right now, but it seems to be pretty secure as it is with four screws.




Here's the dock after its been screwed into the swivel using that single screw in the center. It's adjustable so you can fit a phone inside a case/cover into the thing, and it has a long passthrough docking connector on the bottom. The passthrough connector has the iPod cable to the GROM-IPD3 behind the head unit. As previously shown the cable is concealed between the aluminum frame and the center console.

After taking the photo I concealed it a bit better than shown here.




Here's the dock in its final position. You can see how it could get in the way of the gearshift. For this reason I wouldn't really recommend the ProClip solution for this because it's still not totally out of the way (grab the stick the wrong way and your hand will still hit the phone). I may move this over to use the Modshack GadgeTT V5 mount that attaches behind the ring of one of the circular blower vents. I plan to use one of those for the GPS anyway.

I later concealed that wire between the leather pad thing and the rail. Overall it conceals well the whole way. I just wish that passthrough had the connector sticking out rearward or something instead of at the bottom where it's pointlessly conspicuous.


Unsolicited, Uncompensated Endorsement

Aside from the ProClip (which I had to order directly from ProClip) I got the other stuff from http://www.autotoys.com/

Normally I wouldn't bother to mention where I bought stuff, but these guys were extremely helpful with answering lots of installation and pre-sales type questions. Basically they were MUCH more helpful and responded much faster than I ever expected, especially in the couple days before Christmas.

Buy from these guys and you'll get a significant amount of help if needed, probably even more help than you'd get from a local store. Sometimes they even respond to messages during non-working hours. They're working very hard to help their customers with installation.

The2001TTguy

Oh yea, also see:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k73S7aCotoM