Ladies and gentleman,

What you are about to experience within this thread is a play by play on a installation of Escort’s Passport 9500ci Radar / Laser System. This installation is the starting point of what will be a large 997 Turbo build touching on all aspects of the vehicle from Performance, Audio / Video as well as some minor appearance changes. The objective for this client was to enhance everything about the vehicle and not to over do it in certain areas while not doing anything on others. It is all about balance…

Vehicle: 2009 Porsche 997 Turbo 6 Speed

Phase 1: Escort Passport 9500ci Installation

Phase 1 Objective & Concept:

As with any build / installation at POG, it is most important to take into consideration the client’s needs and requirements. Our usual radar / laser installation in 997’s consist of Valentine 1 concealed in the rear view mirror and K40 EX1/2 for laser protection. This combination is routine for us and I personally think it is a bit out dated compared to what is out on the market now. Please don’t misunderstand me on this, the V1 / K40 package is very effective but when new technology comes out, we always investigate it.

Part of that investigation consists of evaluating the product prior to even considering putting it in front of our clients. This evaluation was done by our Chief of Operations, Paul Burkman, in his daily driven Subaru Legacy GT that has its fair share of go fast goodies… Now we didn’t just throw the system in there with wires dangling and we didn’t get crazy with doing any trick display/control installations, just a very basic clean install, nothing fancy. Paul has a pretty heavy commute to work on all different types of roads/highways so using his vehicle would give us the most “seat time” out of all the POG staff. Now we all know this system is full of some very cool features and for those that are not to familiar with this product, you can read more about it here:

https://www.escortradar.com/store/passport-9500ci.html

The one statement that stuck out in my mind was that Paul kept saying, “this system gets better and better every day I drive it…”

I asked Paul why he said that and his response was, “less false signals each time I drive the same roads and it has already saved me a few times with the laser shifting…” The lack of false signals is due to the radar / GPS system which identifies repeat false signals by their frequency and then locks them out by their GPS coordinates. This could be the coolest thing since sliced bread in my opinion. In our area and I95 having traffic cams that set off radars, State Troopers know they can sit there and run radar thinking/knowing speeders will automatically assume that the cameras set their radar and they don’t even bother to slow down or look around to see if they are actually being targeted. Does the 9500ci set itself apart for just that reason, you bet it does…

One of the requirements on this install was that the auto dimming mirror needed to remain intact, a feature you loose when doing conceal displays inside rear view mirrors with this feature. It was then suggested by CEO, Todd Brown, to do something on the overhead console area.



As you can see, the angles and the depth would not work out on the trim piece itself so we have to create something that mounts off the overhead trim. This is where we had to think outside of the box and come up with a solution.

Behold!!! Performance Outfitters Group Porsche 996/997 Custom Escort Passport 9500ci Overhead Console Display…



In case you don’t know, it is impossible to get the exact Porsche material, even though our supplier is the same one that Porsche uses, Porsche OWNS the rights to the their interior colors and the manufacturer can not sell them to anyone other than Porsche GMBH etc… So with that being said, our interior specialist did his magic and was able to make the match so close you can’t even tell they are from 2 different color specs. Our client ordered his Turbo with the red stitching which we were able to match up no problem and it adds a bit of style to what would have been a boring looking trim piece.

All the usability and functionality is useless if you can’t easily access the controls… Our client is a non smoker and had no use for the ash tray while he needed to keep the cubby pocket accessible for his iPhone so we used the same material as the overhead console to keep things even per say…



Now I know you are going to ask, what is that switch for…?... The 9500ci has the power button on the top of the chassis, not on the front with the rest of the buttons so we had to add a master on/off switch. It is not the prettiest switch out there, we have new styles inbound that we will swap out in the future.

Part of the 9500ci system is the ability to download/upload data to Escort’s website, this updates known false indications across the board so it is a cooperative effort of all 9500ci owners that contribute to the database. In order to make this happen, a USB plug needs to be mounted so your PC can communicate with the 9500ci. The fuse box panel was the perfect place for the plug, easy to get to and out of sight when not in use. You can also see where we mounted the Escort speaker up and out of the way and out of sight as well.



A good spot for the GPS antenna was centered at the bottom of the windshield…



The other parts that needed to be installed were of course the laser pickups and the actual radar sensor. The radar portion gets neatly installed behind the driver’s headlight and you can see where we positioned the laser sensors, split wide on the nose and just above the license plate in the rear…





So what does the 6speed community think of this installation?

Now I have a feeling some of you might ask, what can POG do for you if you too want a 9500ci…. It is very simple, we are offering both a INSTALLED SPECIAL as well as a DO IT YOURSELF install special. I have been authorized by Escort to make some really nice packages however I can not post what these prices will be on the forums. All interested parties must email me directly to get a installed or shipped price. The system retails at $1599 so keep that in mind if you decide you would like me to price it out for you. For the DIY crowd, I would need your shipping zip code in order to get a accurate quote to you.

Look for more threads in the future relating to this 997 Turbo as we build her.

Up next….POWER & SOUND!!!

Happy Motoring!!

Brian

PS, for locals that want to check this out in person, let me know and I can make it happen.

 

wow awesome install, nice work very clean

 

Very nicely done. It's almost a shame to have such nice work go unnoticed.

DI

 

Your laser head placement will yield these heads ineffective. They are too narrow, low, and deep. Stealth the car, not the install. Your heads are no where near the headlights. At the very minimum, on this install, they should be mounted on the top portion of the left and right ducts above the turn signals with the heads either flush or better yet, poking out some. I guarantee I get punch through every time on that install shooting the headlights. Always make them as wide as possible, as close to the centerline of the headlights as possible. Sinking them into to the grill like that will make them very vulnerable to off-axis (overpasses, way side of the road, etc) shots. Don't even me started on the back I don't know what the radar sensor looks like but it should in theory be as high as possible. Headlight level would not be my first choice. It's proven that height=range.

The interior work is very nice though! The display and switch gear look very nicely integrated.

 

Very nice!

 

Hi Guys,

Just a quick update in terms of the types of installs we are doing with the 9500ci. Below are pics from a recent Cayman S Install in terms of what we consider a "BASIC" install in terms of the display and the controller. The bulk of the installation remains the same as with the 997's.



The display piece is mounted for enough forward so the steering wheel can be moved all the way back and not have a clearance issue.




Brian

 

Milou and to those in Europe,

YES, THE 9500CI WILL WORK IN EUROPE!!! I had a looooong conversation with Steve Thomas at Escort and here is the deal....

The US has more radar frequencies than the Euro market so ALL guns and detection devices are currently covered.

All GPS coordinate functions will work, it will still take 3 falses for the auto lockout to kick in.

Target marking still works, GPS based

NO MAPS for Europe in the database yet. However, Escort does have the Euro maps already and are working on it. Steve could not tell me if it would be a week, a month or a quarter out yet, it all has to do with demand. If I show Escort that there is a demand by selling these systems to you guys overseas, we as a group can drive the manufacturer to move a bit faster to cover our Euro clients and get the euro mapping database done.


Brian