Can this be done and is it feasible? I hate having that big coiled cord stretching across the car.

 

Hardwiring an 8500 is easy, you need a length of black telephone cord, and a couple of crimp connectors, some shrink tubing and an inline fuse holder. I used a 1A inline fuse. Radio Shack has all the necessary parts.

From a standard telephone cord, the red and green wire are at the center, the red is used for power, the green is used for ground.


1. Clip off one end of the phone cord and strip back a couple of inches of the outer insulation.

2. Slip a piece of heat shrink tubing over the phone cord.

3. Solder a piece of 16 gauge wire about 2" long to the green lead and cover the joint with shrink tubing. I use a lighter to shrink the tubing to form a clean, tight insulation over the splice.

4. Slip a piece of shrink tubing over the red wire, then solder one end of the inline fuse holder to th red wire, and again use the shrink tubing to cover the splice.

5. Cut off the yellow and black wires, then slip the piece of shrink tubing you slid onto the phone cord in step two over the two spliced wire connections and shrink it to make a tight connection.

6. Attach a lug connector large enough to fit around the ground bolt to the end of the wire attached to the green wire.

7. Attach a female spade connector to the other side of the inline fuse holder.

8. Connect the ground wire to the chassis ground bolt by the fuse box.

9. Connect the power lead to the fuse box as illustrated...this lug provides power when the key is on.


I tucked the wire behind the rubber door moulding, and ran it behind that moulding all the way across the windshield until I got to where I had my passport stuck to the windshield...I then tucked the wire in above the visor, and plugged it into the 8500.

Oh yea...the poster of this message is not responsible for any damage incurred during this operation to the operator, electronics, or the vehicle Don't forget the fuse!

 

Escort sells an 8500 accessory called the "Direct-Wire Power Cord" which has a phone connector at one end and an in-line fuse and a pair of connectors at the other end. You will need to replace these connectors with a 1/4" lug and a round washer type and then wire things up like Cyclops suggests.

As an alternative to routing the wire under the rubber trim piece, you can route it under the plastic trim pieces that surround the front window. Removing and reinstalling these pieces is a little bit tricky due to the possibility of damaging several plastic tabs. The procedure is described on page 20-66 in the Helm service manual.