Summary: Cool stuff to do to your 2001 XC

I like to personalize my vehicles. Not the normal way: gaudy external plastic crap, window stickers that really say “I’m too stupid to realize how stupid these make me look to anyone who is not as stupid as I am”, or practically blacked-out windows that ensure any officer who approaches your car will be nice and jumpy. My way is to determine what cool things the designers already thought of and expand on their general ideas. If it’s a car, don’t put brush guards or a winch on it. If it’s a truck, don’t put fender flares, ground effects, or spoilers on it. You get the idea.

So what have I done to my 2001 Volvo XC so far? Here you go:

Hardwire my Valentine One radar detector to the front fuse box.

1) This procedure can be applied to any radar detector or device that uses the 12V power from your car. You might not realize this, but there is a fuse box up front as well as the one in the back. If you open the driver’s door and look at the side of the dash, you’ll see a recessed area that looks like the edge of a little door. It is. Just pop it off to reveal the box. But, to be safe, disconnect your battery first. I didn’t, and I plugged and unplugged fuses at will. BUT, if you want to be safe, just disconnect your battery first.

2) Get an “Add-A-Circut” from an auto parts store. This is a little device that plugs into a fuse slot in place of the fuse, and has two slots for the original fuse and a new one. It also has a positive red wire coming from it. The door for the box has a chart that shows what each fuse is for. Mine had an empty slot labeled “Cell Phone”, so I used it. I did discover that I still had to have 2 fuses in the AAC, even though there was no original one. No problem, just get some 3-amp fuses and fill the two slots. Or, make sure to get the right fuses for whatever device you’re hooking up. The cell phone circut is always on, even with the car off, so I have to remember to shut off my detector. My friend used the fuse for the heated seats since they shut off with the car. Choose whichever one you like. So far, no tools needed.

3) At this point, all I had to do was couple the positive wire from my detector wire to the positive wire coming from the AAC. Then I attached the black ground wire from my detector to one of the three convienient bolts that are near the fuse box by loosening one, putting the stripped end of the black wire under it and then tightening down. You’ll need a socket wench for this. The AAC has a connector on the end of its red wire which will let you put the stripped end of the device’s red wire into it, and then crimp down with pliers.

4) Since this is for my detector, I wanted to run the wire up under the windshield pillar and under the roof liner to mount it next to my rear view mirror. All you have to do is grab the upper end of the plastic pillar and pull. It seems scary, but it is made to pop off since this is where the side air bag is. No tools needed. Don’t pull too hard since there is a plastic loop that holds it about 4 inches from the frame. This is so when the airbag deploys, the plastic pillar doesn’t fly across the car. You will have enough room to get in behind it and you won’t have to remove the lower part of the pillar where it goes behind the dash. I took my now connected power cable for the Valantine, snaked it around the lower part of the pillar so I didn’t have to remove it, and now ran it up along the wiring harness you will now notice in there. I did this so as to not interfere with the airbag. Use a couple of zip ties to attach your wire to the harness. I ran my wire all the way up to the roof liner, and then simply shoved the wire under the liner with my fingers so that it came out by my rear view mirror.

5) Snapping the pillar back into place is a bit tricky, but it would be very hard to actually brake something. There is a thin black rubber liner that covers the seam between the pillar and the door frame (very obvious to find) the pillar will easily snap back into place, but you have to get it under the liner. I used a credit card to pry the liner out over the pillar before totally snapping it down. It’s kind of like taking a bicycle tire off a rim, just run the card up the liner as you push on the pillar. It took me 3 tries to get it right, so I just kept popping the pillar off and giving it another go. Again, I saw no real opportunity to brake anything, but be careful anyway. You might have to give a good stiff whack the pillar up and down its length with your fist to get it fully snapped down.

This took me about 30 minutes total.

Cool place to store a one gallon gas can.

Take a look under the rear bumper on the passenger side. There is the perfect place to bungee a one gallon plastic gas container (EMPTEE). I also put a syphoning tube into the can with a little string attached to it which hangs out the opening but lets me screw on the cap. That’s so I can get it out. I’d love to hear other ideas of what this space can be used for. I give credit to my VT friend for thinking of this.

Backup beep-beep bulb.

I have to back out of my driveway, so I got one of those backup bulb replacements that has a halogen bulb and a truck beep-beep signal in it. Got it from IPD, but I think you can find them at most auto parts stores. Very small investment to hopefully avoid a nasty situation. It took me 5 minutes to remove the little door in my cargo area that lets me access the right side rear bulbs and replace it. No tools needed. The cardboard-like piece that covers the bulbs snaps out and back very easily.

My own GPS navigational system.

Volvo’s system, while nice and clean, is WAY overpriced, and actually knocks value off the car at the end of a Volvo lease! This is because it will be worth nothing after a year, let alone 3 or 4, but it’s in the car for good. GPS consumer technology is ever changing, so I actually have several systems.

First is my Lowrance Global Map 100 with a windshield mount. Handheld, PC interface with uploadable and customizable maps. Display is a bit small for auto use, but it has customizable displays to you can see your speed, distance traveled, bearing, altitude, etc… It’s really good to have around for those times the interstate comes to a halt, and you want to find a work-around.

Second is my laptop using the GM100 as the receiver. This setup gets you all the wonderful features of any top-end windows mapping program, voice prompting, alternate routes, color display, etc…. Plus, if you’re slick, you can use a cassette adapter and listen to all those Napster’d MP3’s you have through the stereo. (I can’t because I have the 4-CD in-dash unit with no cassette!) God I wish the car makers would cut a deal with a major PC maker to just finally have a decent system built into the car, with cheap wireless network tech so you can sync from house to car. Sooooo simple to do, dirt cheap, and a big profit margin for them to tack on. Oh well….

Third is my Palm with a GPS attachment. I have yet to decide between the Rand Mcnalley Street Finder clip-on or the Delorme Earthmate. I know I can use the GM100 with a custom cable, but that’s not a clean as the two others.

Emergency stuff.

Just get a Campmor catalog and go through it. Here’s what I have in mine:

Batteries D- 2

Emergency whistle with compass & Windproof matches-1

Arm sling- 1

Duct tape- 1 roll

Ski gloves- 2

Compass- 1

CB radio- 1

Flashlight- 2

Leather gloves- 1

Folding saw- 1

Goggles- 1

Firestarting block- 1

Excedrin

Glueless patch kit- 1

Poncho- 1

Handwarmers- 6

Motrin

Hose clamp- 1

Shorts- 1

Powerbars- 6

Band aids

Jumper cables- 1 set

Socks- 1

Rope

Throat lozenges

Leatherman tool- 1

T-Shirt- 1

Tarp- 1

Blistex

Magic marker- 1

Turtleneck- 1

Toilet paper- 1 roll

Flares- 5

Paper towels- 1 roll

Wool hats- 2

Tube tent- 1

Help sign- 1

Pens- 2

Umbrella- 1

Reflective vest- 1

Socket set- 1

Water tablets- 1 bottle

Space blanket- 1

Shovel- 1

Sting extractor- 1

T9 lubricant- 1 bottle

Tire gauge- 1

Velcro straps- 3

Winch strap- 1

Window scraper/brush- 1

Wratcheting screwdriver- 1

Zip ties- 10 various sizes

It all fits into a medium sized plastic tool box. The CB is an emergency style that is in it’s own little plastic box, and the shovel is a folding, army style one. They fit in the tool box as well. I may attempt to distribute some of this stuff to the various spaces available in the car, such as down in the panel behind the rear light bulbs, spare tire area, etc… That way I can use a smaller tool box.

That’s all so far. I’m always looking for suggestions, so let ‘em fly!