Just picked up my dream car, a gorgeous Black Cherry Portfolio with 82k on it. Been lusting for one of these for eight years, and when I literally stumbled onto this car for a steal of a price I immediately purchased. Clean car fax showing the car has always been in LA and was traded in to the same dealer that sold it as a Select edition a couple of years ago, I got it at an auction and I don't believe any other bidders knew what it is.

Everything works so far, I had my indie look at it, there are a few things to do, some bushings in front, a motor mount, tie rods, couple of minor leaks to address. All will be done within the next few weeks.

Now the fun though. I want to update the car to more modern convenience as would be expected of a modern super luxury car. Goal is to modify and enhance the existing systems since doing something like adding a high end DVD Nav Phone head unit is not practical, and I would also like to maintain the stock look.

Based on a negative experience with factory Bluetooth in a 2007 XJR my expectation was I would have to update the phone also. However, I am pleasantly surprised that the factory Bluetooth is proving to provide high quality calls.

Base Requirements -

iPhone 4/5/and beyond support for music and video, including Pandora and Netflix

Backup camera

Additional things I would like. Ability to have all three screens showing the same thing when the Multimedia system is in use, this must be toggle able by the driver of course. Be cool to be able to see the movie up front - in conditions that are safe of course, as well as for the backup camera to display on the back screens. No real function to that, just think it would be impressive.

I want to investigate if anyone has successfully updated the Nav to a Garmin based system. Much nicer, more modern looking interface.

I will preface this all by saying I will not be doing this myself, but I have an excellent relationship with a great auto audio shop that I trust with any car. I could tackle this, but I am short on time and this probably is better suited to a pro with all the right tools anyway. But I will spec and design changes.

If anyone is interested in following this project, I can start posting before and after pics. Input and suggestions are also requested.

So far, I think my approach is going to start with tapping into and either moving or duplicating one of the RCA aux in sets from the rear console and have RCA inputs in the front console. Think I have an ideal location. Will add a powered USB port as I plan to use aiPhone composite video adapter cable which has the traditional 3 RCA jacks in addition to a USB charger. I like having dedicated USB power points in the car. With an iPhone 4/4s I should be able to get full music as well as some video - those apps that support tv out thru the old style apple connector. This does include netflix and any local content on the device so that is adequate. This should give me pandora music capabilities although I will have to control skips, channels, thumbs up and down thru phone. I can live with that. Tested in rear inputs and works, just don't want any exposed wires in car and need control of phone from driver seat. I can use the iphone lightning adapter which gives me all music but I lose video.

Found a link in another thread here on a device that seems to plug in between the Nav on the trunk and the video feed. I would think this would be a good avenue to add the backup camera as well as give me a place to tie in the video feed from the rear seat system to the front dash (and yes I know that is illegal to display while driving and I fully intend to use this in a legal manner if the NSA is listening).

The backup camera should kick in automatically on front screen. Not sure how complex it will be to have the back screens display always if backup camera is activated.

And since we are back in the trunk, has anyone replaced the jag Nav unit entirely with a Garmin or other 3rd party GPS?

Anyways - not huge changes, I think somewhat subtle but will hugely update the capabilities to a more modern state and will lower or remove any of the "dated" feeling of the factory system. Another objective is to do this for a reasonable budget. Right now the figure in my head says I should be able to do this for the $1000-$1200 which I consider reasonable to invest in this car.

Sorry for long ramble, up early thinking about this stuff.

Mark

 

Hmmm - may have hit a glitch. If I switch from rear multimedia as the cabin source, to either radio or cd I don't seem to be able to go back to the rear source from drivers control. Anyone confirm this is true or am I just missing something. Can you only return to the rear source from the back seat? Not sure how practical it would be to hack into the rear control panel to replicate that functionality to the driver.

 

What you have observed is true with the stock setup unfortunately.

Many have modified the stock setup so you can search the forum for them. Of course there is aways new technology coming out that can offer new alternatives so your audio garage experts should be able to give you good advice.

 

This may be of little or no help to you. When I went looking for my XJ, I wanted a late model that did not have nav, so I could replace the stereo unit without any concerns with affecting the climate controls. Removing the factory unit provided enough space to install a double din unit, but I didn't realize once I got into it, I would need to replace everything else, including wiring, amps, speakers. I ended up with nav, cd/dvd, back up camera, bluetooth, etc. Your game plan is different from mine, but I guess my message is just to prepare you that once you start down the road, you may get into changing more than you expect. Good luck with your project. Below are before and after pics.

 

Ok - so I have an understanding of the "magic button" that people seem to have found in the left cubby. Sounds like its a momentary on switch wired in parallel to the Audio Select in the back control pack that will let you cycle thru all the inputs including the rear ones. That would seem to indicate I could do the original thought and move one of the RCA inputs into the front console and use the magic button route.

Or- I found a post that references the IP-JAGCD iPod Adapter that plugs into the CD Changer line. Since I have a button on the front for the CD Changer this seems viable as well - however no video I guess. One question is would this even be compatible with my car? Doesnt seem to have a lot of compatibility info on the website - iP-JAGCD iPod Adapter for Select Jaguar with CD Auto Changer :: iPod Adapters & Interfaces

Anyone know if this is an option? Any thoughts to which of the two options above would work best, or have pros and cons with any real experience? I dont want to stream music via bluetooth - my opinion is the sound quality is dubious at best.

And if anyone is interested - here is my new ride:

 

Congratulations on the very nice new ride! Enjoy the power of the super V8.

We look forward to seeing your solution to the video/audio upgrade eventually with a how to with pictures.

 

@mblace

Well done on your 'portfolio' find. Looks a lovely car, and the nicer 'conker' interior.
Im sure you'll find all the technical help you need on the forums but here's a couple of general pointers.

1. ACM - Official Jag device (made be Dension - but you need the Jag version) to provide AUX in, USB and ipod connectivity for the head unit. Has known gremlins but is fairly simple to install. Cost new around £420.
2. Alternative is something like Alpine Ezi-Dab or Pure Dab. Breaks the FM antenna to inject own single. Gives you DAB, Aux in, USB and mini jack connectivity. (Maybe something similar for US market) Cost £250 (installed)
3. Several guys have done reversing cameras to good effect, although seems to me they are limited by the head unit resolution, have a search of the forums to help. There's a guy on the UK forum that makes some kind of switch box which may help.

All the best with the upgrades, keep the pics\updates coming..

Beavis

 

Beautiful ride, congrats! Looking at the above link and reading the fine details it looks like this will not work with your car since it has the fiber optic network. Looking for a solution myself for streaming audio to the head unit and besides the ACM unit, the pickings are slim.

Looking forward to tracking your progress in this area.

 

Ok, was able to accomplish at least 90% of my objectives. Totally get that some people will not get the "WHY?" but don't be a hater if this isn't your cup of tea.

Utilized the NavTool 2.0 to splice into the RGB. This got the backup camera working pretty easy and well. Pretty straight forward and anytime the car is in reverse it automatically displays on front screen. Could not get backup cam to tie into head rests though.

Now comes the fun part, how to tie into the rear multi-media system but be able to control everything from the front seat.

Flip up the ashtray and you see the 3 RCA inputs and (5) pushbuttons - 4 small black and one large red... You need them all at some point but most of the time you only use one (the equivalent of the "magic button" posted in other threads).

The three RCA jacks under the front ashtray are extensions of the Left/Input 1 RCA jacks in the rear console. Those still work but have been advised to only have a device plugged into one or the other or they will conflict. BTW, all stock functions still work 100% (rear DVD and MultiMedia System, 6 disc changer, NAV, etc.)

The large red button is what I call the Video Switcher. If you press and hold, it toggles the front screen for standard functions (Nav, Climate, Audio, etc.) to Enhanced Screen Functions. Once its in Enhanced Mode, you either see the backup camera in any gear (while driving is a little dis-orientating)or press it again and release quickly and it switches to Left Input of the stock multimedia system.

The problem lay in the fact that if you just plugged into the rear jacks, and the input changes to say Radio or CD, you could not get it back to Aux 1 (the left side RCAs) without being in back seat. Likewise if you changed the audio output in rear or turned it off from front, you could not get it back to All from the front - only from rear.

So we tied into the necessary buttons and extended them to the panel in the ashtray. The top left Black button is tied to the Left button in the rear console. Once that is set than all other buttons are now controlling Aux 1 (which is the one that is now in front and back). You rarely have to press this unless someone has been futzing with the rear controller. The next button is tied to the Front Speaker on/off button in the rear console. Again, rarely used unless someone in back turns it off or it gets turned off on front screen in Standard Mode (you can turn it off but not on from stock front screen).

The bottom two buttons are tied to the rear Video Input select button and the Audio Input select button in the back. The Audio Input button is the magic button used most often. Allows you to cycle thru Radio, CD, CDC, Aux 1, Aux 2, DVD inputs. Video Select Button allows you to cycle thru DVD, Aux 1, Aux 2 but truly you can only see the Aux 1 video on front screen. But you are controlling the left rear screen as well if its on.

So now I have lost no stock functions but I have a place I can plug in my iPhone 4s using the Apple Composite AV cable which goes into 30 pin connector and has 3 RCA jacks and 1 USB power at the end. You can also use a Apple 30 pin to Thunderbolt connector and get Audio, no TV Out thru Thunderbolt though but works for music fine. I also have a RCA to 3.5 headphone connector if I want music from a non Apple source like a standard Aux In set up.

Seems complicated but in actual use it took me 15 minutes to get the hang of controlling everything.

Awesome system, took my stereo guy 3.5 days to figure out the logic, which buttons to tie into, install and test. Think he could do another one in about 2/3 that time now that the logic and tests are done. If anyone in SoCal has a Jag with a rear multimedia system and wants a referral to that guy that did all this, just PM me.

Thanks for looking!

not sure why my pics won't rotate right...sorry about that.

 

A very nice setup! I am doing something similar with mine.
Do have any details on how the new switches are connected to the rear armrest?

Thanks,
Alec

 

Beautiful car and great setup, mbalce! Thanks for sharing!

Cheers,

Don

 

He soldered new leads onto the printed circuit board where the switches connect. He had the controller unit out on a bench and everything was tested prior to installing in the car. He did say it was really a PIA....

 

Very cool, almost wish I had not installed the ACM now so I could do it this way!

 

First off - thanks everyone for you kind comments, greatly appreciated.

Everything is working great, only two issues I am finding are both are at least somewhat related to using an iPhone. First is that the sound level coming out iPhone as a source is noticeably less than other sources (CD/CDC/Radio). Sounds fine, just have to be careful switching around sources to bring volume down or everything blasts much higher if you switch from Aux 1 (the iPhone).

The other issue I have should hopefully be corrected tomorrow. Apparently iPhones are known to be very sensitive to RF Noise and when I have power plugged in I get the electronic tach whine which is significant enough to be annoying. Short term is I unplug the USB power to the cable which completely eliminates. Tomorrow we are going to run a power and ground directly from the battery and I would like to add a USB port to the switch panel exclusively for unswitched, direct to battery (with an inline fuse and filter) source. 90% sure this will cure the noise.

Will report back with results.

 

About the whine on the iphone, I noticed exactly the same thing with my setup on the USB charger- on my Galaxy s3 and MP3 player- very annoying! And you are right about the aux volume being quiet, then the loud volume making you jump after selecting a CD at 70mph . I will be interested to hear how you get on.

 

Can you explain a little more on how you got video to play on the front screen? What do you push on the front control panel to get video on the front screen? Can you watch the factory DVD player on the front screen?

 

In order to tie into the front screen I used a navtool box (NAVTOOL INC). It splices into the rgb output of the Nav unit in the trunk. It has two video in and one out. One video in is switched by power to reverse lights and switches to backup cam when you put in reverse. Doesn't matter what you are on (Nav, climate, menu, logo screen etc,). When you hit reverse you see backup cam.
The second video input of the navtool was wired into aux 1 video input of the rear multimedia.

The five buttons in the ashtray were added. The big red button is wired to the navtool, if you press and hold it switches from standard mode (Nav, climate, radio, etc) to backup cam/video aux 1. Once it's in alternative mode press and release toggles between aux 1 video and backup cam, so you can see rear cam even when not in reverse or aux 1 video source.

The other four buttons are wired to extend function buttons on the rear multimedia control deck. Most important are the audio select and the left button. The other two are tied to rear speaker on and off and video select. You need to be able to press these buttons from front to regain control of the video select mode if someone is in back and changes it or you shut off rear speaker from front screen. Confusing I know but no more so than using the rear controller - the front buttons simply extend to the corresponding rear buttons that you need to access.

I cannot play the stock DVD player to front screen. The navtool would need a third video in. There may be some similar units out there with three in to one out that could give you that functionality but I am good with this set up. I can play aux 1 video input on all three screens though or have aux1 in front and rear left and DVD on rear right. It's a complex system to start and I definitely added a little more complexity to it but I gained a LOT more front seat functionality and control as well as having aux in for sound, video or both.

I like it!

 

Please let us know if it works, I noticed a similar whine if I had my Razr Maxx plugged in to aux 1 and charging via a lighter adapter simultaneously. I can either play pandora/mp3s or charge, otherwise the alternator whine drives me nuts.

If it works, I'm especially interested in what kind of wire you use (shielded?) and your route to keep it from picking up RF like a big copper antenna, which it is.

 

If that doesn't work, You could always just get a ground loop isolator. I think they around $20. Just plug in between phone and RCA's

 

Ok, well after experimenting with running a new power lead direct to battery found that it did not make any difference. However, what we did find is that it seemed to be the USB Power Adapter plugged into the cigarette lighter socket that was creating the noise.

Tried a few different adapters and could make the sound different, but not eliminate it. So we added a new iPod cable to the system, running it out underneath the console right by the drivers seat. This cable is both hardwired into power as well as the Audio and Video in of Aux 1. So now I have effectively 3 different places I can connect to Aux 1, from the rear seat controller (stock), from the panel I added under the ashtray (still works), or the cable that was added. I really like this since it not only eliminated the engine whine, but I also do not have to have the ashtray door open unless I need to access the buttons underneath.

Nice clean setup!

Done for now (till I re-do the amps and put in a real sub woofer system but thats a paycheck or two down the line!)

Mark