Greetings All!

I followed up on the keyless entry installation by putting in the security system. This effort was a bit more time-consuming at about 2.5 hours.

Earlier in the week, I began gathering the needed tools and stuff. After a futile search for metric drill bits, I finally bought a standard Black & Decker package at Lowe's that had (close to) the sizes I needed.

Best advice for this install is to follow the directions carefully and take your time. Most everything came apart quite easily with the exception of the steering column covers, that need to be removed for the "status" LED install. The two rear clips on the top cover are far enough back that they are difficult to open. I managed to break the top off of one, but a little super glue made things whole again.

When dealing with the wiring, don't force anything. the pins snap into the connectors easily. Take note of the orientation of the other pins already installed in the connector for a "guide".

Having the secuity system installed is a great feeling. Saving the huge dealer mark-up on the parts and the equally huge installation charge feels really good 8)

Agreed the Alarm is only little more complex than the Keyless Entry. I did both at once and found installation can be much quicker by not altogether following the official instructions.
With a manual transmission at least there is no need at all to remove the center dash lower cover/subwoofer assembly, just the panel round the gear lever is all. The red LED can be anywhere that's nice and visible, you can save time (and risk) by not taking the steering wheel housing apart. I put it by the microphone on the gear lever cover with no need to lengthen the connecting wires.
I don't know if the the microphone position is at all critical - I doubt it, but put it as reccommended just to be sure.
The only awkward bit was getting the retainer off the security terminal connector, easy when you know how (prose up from the side with a small flat blade scredriver) but not obvious at all.
Oh and the metric/imperial conversion too, when is the US going to give in and convert? I used the 'net to get: 5.5mm = 7/32 and 8mm=5/16.

It has been stated elsewhere you can do this sort of work without disconnecting the battery. I've blown enough computer chips enough not to risk this for the few minutes saved.

Steve

My mistake was not pushing the pin from the wire harness far enough into the 22 pin connector. After I re-read the instructions and figured out what they meant about the retainer, things worked fine.

Fyi, not having the pin seated correctly seems to only affect the led. The rest of the system seemed to work fine, but the led was just dead.

Then when I got everything working, it seemed to be in valet mode. After following the instructions to put it back into manual mode, it worked fine.

I also used the non-metric equivalents shown in the above post. I found them to be a tad small requiring some extra work to shove the led into the hole.

Since I've got a 5spd, I didn't bother removing the subwoofer cover. I also didn't remove the steering wheel casing and installed both the led and the microphone in the shift cover. The led seems to be more visible there anyway.

eKennedy