BigDave

I bought an Autopage system from EBay. I put it in myself, but it took a lot of digging through wiring diagrams and I used to wire aircraft for a living. I would not say it is a do-it-yourself job. There is one guy here in Charlotte that installs this for I think $350 total. This alarm dues everything but your laundry. I did not hook up the remote starter. And the range on the remote is about 500 feet at best (but I extended the harness and mounted the transmitter in the back window--not vertical).

http://www.autopageusa.com/t_inside....a-5f6fd435f2ac

http://cgi.ebay.com/Autopage-RS-860L...QQcmdZViewItem

skilz4u2nv

Yea that autopage system looks pretty good... 500feet is around what most systems give you I have some to see...
The new Viper system claims to give you a range of 1mile which would be pretty sweet if you are in a mall or something..

BigDave how much wiring was it? Most of what comes in the box looks to me like plug and play stuff... I am not going to need the remote start so I wouldnt have to wire that... Perhaps I can use the remote start button as a garage opener.. that would be sweet

fairlane292

RAVELCO, check their website. I found the install "amazing".

bl1nk

Ive heard the Viper/Clifford systems are top of the line and really the high end custom audio shops around here will deal only with those. The system I saw when I went into a few shops was pretty sweet, auto start, shock sensor, remote paging w/ live car stats, shatter alarm, wheel sensors, lift sensors, valet, starter kill, satellite tracking, defrosters, ALL kinds of stuff... thats just the stuff I can remember off hand... And btw there are remote starts that DO work with manuals.

Justin_R

For Alarms I would defintely reccomend Viper there one of the best had it on my old car was awesome, that will defintely be one of my next mods.

BigDave

The Autopage wiring isn't hard to understand, but you'll need some wiring diagrams and a good understanding of how the Ford electronics work. I had to extend most wires in order to reach to the SJB. You have to solder into several wires off of that thing. Plus you have to wire diodes into the door switch wires, otherwise the exit delay will mess up the signals to the alarm. If I had to do it again, I would consider having a shop do it.

skilz4u2nv

I just hate thinking of the fact of having some shop that employs people with no care in the world and they go ripping out trim panels and leaving things a mess...

How long did it take you Dave and on a scale of 1-10 how big of a pain in the a** was it?

BigDave

I agree with you. I wanted my stuff soldered in there--not a bunch of squeeze taps that will work loose or worse, create a fire hazzard by some Bozo routing over sharp edges or something.

I spent about 6 hours reading the manual and wiring diagrams carefully and getting a gameplan. I marked which wires that I was going after and where to connect to the alarm harness. After I actually started on the car, I took the better part of a day. I still have not wired the hood pin switch (wire is parked under the driver's kick panel) or the trunk pin switch (wire is coiled up under the center console). The reasons for this is that I'm still waiting for the Cobalt wide-band A/F meter (will be out late Oct now, says Autometer) before I go ripping the fenderwell out again for routing wires. And I need to purchase another pin switch for the trunk.

As far as the PIA factor. Once you know exactly where you need to tap into the wiring harness, it isn't too bad. Without the diagrams, this is an impossible job. I bought the wiring disk form some guy on EBay for $25 and printed out what I needed.

penguin

I just ordered my 07 Convertible, I was dissapointed the interior sensor only works with the roof up.

I'm currently looking at the Viper 5000 (or Clifford 2.5x), so far the Viper is more talked about online I'll bet they are very simliar.
I'm getting a manual, so not really interested in remote start, but I am interested in their proximity sensors that will warn people to stay away. I'm also looking an the Window Up/Down module. The alarm dealer said it was complicated and to do it right was a full 8-Hr install with military splicing and accessing the window controls.

My car should be in near the end of October (probably November), so I'll have to get it installed shortly after it comes in.

skilz4u2nv

Penguin... From my understanding The Viper system and the Clifford system are owned by the same parent company... I too am choosing between those 2 packages... Both I am sure will work nicely.. Tell me how it goes when its done