 GPS Mounting
Since I'm not quite ready to lay out $600+ for a built-in GPS/AM/FM/CD/bluetooth, I made a semi-permanent mount for my 4.3" Garmin.
I've made a number of long and short trips with GPS, and it's really valuable. However, it can distract you from driving far more than a celfone. It's best to have the display as close to your line of sight of the road ahead as possible, and still within easy reach. If you want your navigator person to help, it is better mounted in the center. Anywhere you put it is a compromise. The larger display of a built-in unit helps offset its angle out of primary field of view, I guess.
Another important factor is vibration. The typical GPS suction cup mount is about 3" long, and prone to vebration, when it's not losing its suck.
I made a mounting bracket from a 1/4" stainless cable clamp stretched out into an L shape. I then removed the long trim strip that divides the upper and lower sections of the dash, and drilled a hole in the center of the covered section. I used one #8 sheetmetal screw to hold the bracket and then fed the GPS power cable off to the left behind the long trim strip and down into the nethers of the dash. I put the trim strip back, leaving just the end of the mounting L exposed.
I chopped up a Garmin suction cup mount to get the 17mm ball needed for the mount, and screwed that to the L. It makes a tidy installation.
Below and behind the dash I installed a lighter socket, and ran power to it via a fuse adapter from Autozoner. The fuses just below the relays in the fuse box are powered only in ACC and Run.
Now, the GPS power goes on and off with the ignition, and no more forgotten GPS turn off, and the cable is out of sight.
GB | 
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