Teddy's New Adventures

[CyncySpyder]

Work'n on mods

:2thumbs: While Teddy Supervises:2thumbs:

 

[CyncySpyder]

In over my head ---- But that's nothing new - LOL

How Ironic, on my locker at work, I have a lil comic strip posted that states:

:roflblack:BITE OFF MORE THAN YOU CAN CHEW ..... & CHEW IT ANYWAY:roflblack:

Well, that's EXACTLY where I find myself today:helpsmilie: My best friend who usually helps me work on Teddy's :spyder2: is in Florida right now on vacation & I've been camped out at his house cause I have the:spyder2: spread out in so many pieces all around his garage & it's my only Ryde so I'm kinda stranded right now :roflblack: Tho, if I had to, I could put a couple of Tupperware pieces back on & Ryde, but WOW, WHAT A SITE THAT WOULD BE :roflblack:

I've been try'n to get TEDDY's rear-view camera system integrated & mounted into the SpYder. I've got the Garmin Zumo 665 mostly set up & mounted, but still need to run the cables.

My issue right now, is that I un-mounted the Utopia Back-Rest so I can run the cable for the camera down thru the hole in the seat so I can mount the camera in the back of the back-rest so it will be showing me a constant video of Teddy at all times. And right now, I'm stuck with getting the Utopia matched back up with the under-seat support:helpsmilie: I'm trying to do it without taking the entire seat off, as I'm not good with remembering how everything goes back together & if you could see all the pieces laying all around, I think you'd understand why I don't want to take any more parts off than are necessary :roflblack:

Some of you may think this system is unnecessary, but when I wear my full-face helmet, even when I turn around, I still can't see the lil guy to make sure he is ok, do to the jaw-piece & my seating position & angle. So usually, unless on out-of-state road-trips, I don't usually wear a helmet (KY doesn't require) but with as many out of state road trips that we do, I felt I needed to do something to help with this situation. Not to mention, when pulling our Moto-Mate Camper, I can't see directly behind the :spyder2: at all:yikes: as the camper is just a lil bit taller than the :spyder2: So, I was able to get a system with 2 cameras last winter after I bought the camper, but haven't tried installing til now. I have 1 camera that I can watch Teddy with & the other that I can mount to the camper to give me a view of what's going on behind us when we have the Camper hooked up:thumbup:

So, I'm taking a break from my frustration right now & doing my research on SpyderLovers.com, as I know there is so much great information on here that can help with my situation. Just thought I'd take a break & share with everybody what Teddy & I have been up to lately:dontknow:

He's doing well, crashed out along side me on the couch right now. He's starting to use his gimpy leg a little more each day it seems :clap: I shaved him down again just yesterday, as he was starting to get scragly looking :gaah: & we just can't have that :roflblack:

 

[CyncySpyder]

These are the mods we're working on

Dave, Praying for Safe Travels to you and Teddy. You're going to have and list those mods when you get the time

Ok, here's what we're doing/working on:

1) disconnected both analogue gauges
2) mounted Rear-View LCD screen where right gauge was
3) mounted cup-holder using ram mount to left side gauge area
4) mounted Garmin Zumo 665 to top of dash
5) mounted Garmin XM antanae to right side upper wind deflector
6) mounted $20 Verizon universal phone mount to center console
7) still working on mounting rear camera into Utopia Back-Rest
8) have lights still to install in Frunk, rear trunk & glove box
9) lights still to install to keep TEDDYS Ryde'n area illuminated at night
10) additional badging & chrome SpyderLovers.com license plate frame
11) I don't think we'll be able to do the puddle lights now

That's most of the mods we're working on at this time. I'll post pics once we get TEDDYS :spyder2: back together & up & running, hopefully soon:dontknow:

 

[Phil]

I AM impressed!!!!!!!!!!!

Sent from my iPhone7 using Tapatalk

 

[CyncySpyder]

OK, so here's where we are on the mod'n of Teddy's Spyder

Well, I figured out somethingpps: Its much more comfortable & easy to work on your :spyder2: when you have a nice cool garage to do so The main reason its taken me over a week to do these mods (not mentioning trial & error) is that the temps. here in the Cincy area have been in the 90's with heat indexes in the 100-115's & its bad enough to HAVE to WORK in these conditions without AC, but I just found it VERY SLOW GOING & even unbearable at times when its a choice:lecturef_smilie: That is, til I found an Awesome Fan in my friends garage that helped alot:bowdown: Oh, I also forgot, said friends' been gone to Florida on Vacation & not here to help, so its just been me:shocked: & I'm very up-front and honest about NOT BEING VERY MECHANICALLY INCLINED:roflblack: But thanks to this Forum:bowdown: & all the great posts by other members:bowdown::bowdown::bowdown: Ive been able to struggle thru & GET'R DONE:clap:

Garmin Zumo 665 is now mounted to the top of the dash (& looks & works GREAT:clap

XM antanae for said Garmin is mounted to upper right side Wind Deflector:yes:

Left analogue gauge replaced with Ram Mount & Cup Holder from Bass Pro Shops & looks & works GREAT:yes:
Right analogue gauge replaced with Ram Mount & LCD screen for Teddy's Rear View Camera System :yes:
Rear View Camera mounted INTO the Utopia Back Rest aiming right at Teddy 24/7 :yes:

Also got our Chrome Plated CYNCYSPYDER / SPYDERLOVERS.COM license plate frame holder mounted :yes:

I still have yet to mount the additional lighting mods & the 2nd camera for the RVCS into the Moto-Mate Camper, but I'm get'n there opcorn:
And for those that are un-aware, Ram-Mounts are AWESOME :2thumbs: & VERY USEFUL for MULTIPLE APPLICATIONS and Bass-Pro Shops carries a large assortment IN-STOCK usually in their marine departments:thumbup:

I have to add, I'm VERY PLEASED with all of these mods. Especially the cup-holder & also with how well the Garmin mounting on top of the dash with the Ram-Mount turned out:firstplace: From reading another members post that did similar, I was able to run all the wiring under the lip of the Dash Top, so no wires are visible at ALL :yes:

I hope some of this may help some of you out there that have been thinking about doing some mods, believe me, IT IS TOTALLY WORTH IT!!!

 

[Phil]

MOST EXCELLENT TED!!! (sorry for that)

My assistant laughed outloud at the idea of a camera in the backrest, but then when she just saw the pic said... 'but you know... that's REALLY brainy.'

GREAT work Dave!! And you gave me an idea. I've been wrestling with how to do a backup camera and you gave me the spark of how and where to do it.

Can't wait to see the lighting (lights are MY fave!!)

 

[SpydermanCT]

Everything looks great ! Any chance you have further pics or could you elaborate further on the Garmin install. It's a far better location than the factory location and I'd be interested in how it looks where the cabling goes thru, the ram mount and Garmin bracket..

Anyone else want to speculate if the factory BRP Garmin harness would be long enough if the unit was relocated to the top of the dash ??

 

[CyncySpyder]

Here's more pics of the Garmin Install

Everything looks great ! Any chance you have further pics or could you elaborate further on the Garmin install. It's a far better location than the factory location and I'd be interested in how it looks where the cabling goes thru, the ram mount and Garmin bracket..
Anyone else want to speculate if the factory BRP Garmin harness would be long enough if the unit was relocated to the top of the dash ??

If you look in my profile, and albums, pull up the mods album & I've posted pics with descriptions as well. Hope this helps some:thumbup:
I'm cheap, couldn't afford the BRP wiring harness, so I can't offer you any advice on if it would reach or not, sorry :dontknow: What I did, was I used the power to the Left Analogue Gauge for the power for the Garmin. I then ran an extension audio cable from the audio connection in the rear trunk, up to the wires for the garmin that are now housed in the dash where the gauge used to be housed. Ran the XM antanae cable from inside the dash over to the right upper wind deflector where the actual Antanae Disc is mounted. Ive called and subsribed to the XM Nav Weather Nav Traffic & Music & so far, so good. Not crazy about the music selections personally, but the Nav traffic has already saved my butt twice from sitting in backed up traffic congestion opcorn:& as for the Nav Weather, well, I'm still working on understanding it, but seems it will be usefull when on those long road trips, so we'll see :dontknow:

So far, after 3 days of use, everything seems to be working really well, & I think it looks good to boot :clap:

 

[StriperKing]

I don`t know about all that other stuff but that sure is a great looking windshield-inside joke.

 

[CyncySpyder]

LOL

I don`t know about all that other stuff but that sure is a great looking windshield-inside joke.

Oh Yeah, :agree:
But i'm glad you mentioned the shield, as I've actually mod'd it as well :yes:

I for one, use Ted's Red Sled as my daily driver, so sun, rain, sleet, snow, we go thru it all. As for rain, I think many other RT owners would agree, that the angle of the shield comes into issue with shedding water Its too dang straight:sour: So, when I went to put the shield back on, I used rubber grommets and added them under the shield before I screwed it all back together. It didn't change the angle a great deal:shocked: but it did change it a little bit:shocked: Sadly, it hasn't rained here in a while, tho we're scheduled for upper 90's & low chances of rain every day next week :yikes: So, maybe I'll get a chance to see if it helps any with the water-shedding :dontknow: My thought process on this, is if the shield is at a greater angle, along with the wind at speed, that it will help the water beads slide off the shield instead of just beading and sitting there as it does now Tho, I could be wrongpps: Anyone else have any ideas or thoughts on this?

:2thumbs:Thanks again StriperKing, hope your enjoy'n yours as much as Teddy & I are enjoy'n ours:2thumbs:

 

[StriperKing]

Yes use car wax on the shield and it will shed water much better. Everyday turtle wax works great on plastic, the stuff in the green bottle.

 

[Barbwire]

:congrats: Emmy says hey Teddy wanna meet at the next Spyderfest??? You are kinda' cute!

 

[SnoWhite]

Just looking at your carrier, is that a custom one or did you purchase it? I have a little shi zu who would love to travel with me.

 

[CyncySpyder]

Responses

Yes use car wax on the shield and it will shed water much better. Everyday turtle wax works great on plastic, the stuff in the green bottle.

I'll have to give that a try, thanks for the heads up:thumbup: We did get caught twice this weekend in downpours. Good news, the XM Nav Weather on the Garmin Zumo 665 works really well, & it alerted us about 15 minutes before hand that there was bad weather in the area & again when we were gonna get wet:shocked: Bad news, without an added water-shedding aid (rain-x/TurtleWax) the angle didn't change enough to cause any better visibility so I'll definitely being giving the Turtle wax a shot ray:

:congrats: Emmy says hey Teddy wanna meet at the next Spyderfest??? You are kinda' cute!

:agree:I'm sure Teddy would be smitten with Emmy as well:2thumbs: They would make a cute couple :yes:

Just looking at your carrier, is that a custom one or did you purchase it? I have a little shi zu who would love to travel with me.

Teddy has a few different carriers actually. If your referring to the black one with the red zippered top, we got that one from PetsMart. Think it's called a PetMate Carrier. It's hideously ugly IMO & comes in like a cream zebra print. I couldn't have something look'n like that on TEDDYS new :spyder2:, so I painted it. So its not custom except for the paint job It IS a really convenient carrier, & is totally collapsable. The top & bottom both zip off & on & it also has a side screen zipper door. I usually use it for road-trips, as it provides more protection for him (especially at highway speeds) than his usual open doggy bed does. We use the doggy bed & harness combo for cruising around town:2thumbs: cause it provides much more visibility for TEDDYS fans to better appreciate him:clap: When I get home from work today, I'll try and find the pic of the PetMate Carrier that I took of it while we were at PetsMart the other day. They sell for like $49 here in Northern KY. Most ppl won't buy them cause they are ugly, but they are totally useful & a good product if you can get over the looks of it :roflblack:

 

[CyncySpyder]

Video of Teddys New Mods

 

[CyncySpyder]

Hey SnoWhite, Here's yur sign ...... err pics

Just looking at your carrier, is that a custom one or did you purchase it? I have a little shi zu who would love to travel with me.

Here's some pics of Teddys travel carrier. I took the pics of the new one on the shelf at PetsMart. IMHO, its an UGLY:yikes: looking carrier, but a GREAT design:yes: So, if you notice in Teddy's pics, I have it painted black with a red top:thumbup:to match his new Viper Red RT-S :spyder2: Most the time, we leave the top off:doorag: unless extreme heat & sun or rain:helpsmilie: then we zip on the top Its very handy & useful that you can zip the top or bottom off and also has the zipper side access as well:firstplace: Hope this helps for you looking, & believe me, ryde'n your Spyder with your best friend right behind you, doesn't get much better than that :2thumbs:

 

[TicketBait]

Sweet ride and video. Love the turn signal indicators!

 

[Questions]

Yes. It all looks great. Now we have all these ideas rattling around... What to do next ... Decisions decisions!

 

[BLUE MULE]

Sweet ride!! I'm not so sure about your statement about " not being mechanically inclined ". So the only screen you seem to be missing is the 60'',240HZ, 3D HDTV. Post that mod when you get it on -personally I'd go with Samsung or Sony.

 

[CyncySpyder]

:agree: