Guide To Fitting Additional 12V Supply In Mk2/2.5 Dash Storage Compartment

[Brigante]

Here is a guide for any focus owners that have a higher trim level such as the titanium or the ghia and have a storage compartment on top of the dash where the gauge pod would of went on the ST

If you don't have this storage compartment though you could always retro fit it with the help of Lenny's guide to fitting the gauge pod.

I dunno about everyone else but I hate wires. Especially when its dangling across me dash. Till now when using satnav I've had the wire across the dash with the excess tucked away in the garage door. But it still goes across my headunit which is annoying.

This is why I decided to create this

Which means instead of having a long wire trailing down over the dash, it only has to go a few inches into the top of the dash

Now for the guide

I will need to insert a few extra photos in various places shortly but for now I'll write what I've got

First step is to gain access to behind the existing 12v supply. On both the mk2 and 2.5 you will have to remove the side panel in the driverside footwell for the purpose of routing the new loom up into the dash. This is easy as theres just a pop off cover covering a screw, and with the screw removed the panel just pulls straight off

(Ignore this random red wire it's something I've put ready in place for a separate mod I'm yet to do)

On the mk2 you will now have access to the back of the existing 12v supply, but if you have the mk2.5 with the power supply in the centre console by the gear leaver. I think it is easy enough to remove but I'm not sure if just the gear stick gator will need to be removed to route the new wire across and up into the dash, or whether you will have to remove the whole trim itself. Either way this is easily done though and Clive has written a guide on this.

Next step is to remove the air vents. A small flat blade screwdriver down the sides will dislodge the clips holding them in place and they will simply pull out

Next you need to reach in and gently start to push the storage up and start to dislodge the clips on this side

To unclip the other clips, it is recommended to remove the speedo cluster to push the clips up from underneath.

This would be a case of dropping the steering rack down to its lowestposition, removing the leather trim on top of the steering column, this simply pulls out to unclip, and then you have access to the 2 screws holding the clocks in place. Then the clocks pull out and unclip the loom from behind.

I found it easier though, to not do this.

Instead, once I got the storage to this point

I found it easy enough to finish the rest off using a small flat blade screwdriver working around to gently lift the storage up to expose the clips, and then giving the clips a little squeeze to finish them off while lifting the storage out

This caused no damage to my dash by being careful

You will also need to remove your head unit

A guide to this can be found in my signature as part of my guide to fitting an aftermarket headunit

This is everything you need to remove for the mod

Obviously to carry out this mod you will need an additional 12v socket and wiring loom. Clive very kindly donated a spare set up he had laying about

One end is the patch that goes between the existing 12v socket and existing loom

And the other end has 2 bayonet connectors that go onto the new sockets live and earth terminals

Unfortunately this loom is rather rare, but it should easily be mocked up yourself using some twin core wire and bayonet connecters for the patch

Here is a diagram courtesy of Clive

What you will need to do is reach in behind the socket and pull off the wiring loom

Now what you need to do is connect the one end of the patch to the 12v socket, and the other end of the patch to the existing loom

You will now have the job of routing the new wire from the bottom of the dash out though the top where the storage was. This should actually be easily done with the headunit out of the way

Next job is to cut a hole in the dash storage to accommodate the new socket. For this a 22mm hole cutter will be required

I didn't have a hole cutter, so instead butchered the hole with a dremel

The position of the hole has to be where the middle hole out of the 3 existing small holes was. It was easy enough using a dremel, just takes a little more time to keep cutting and checking accordingly so as to not
make the hole too big. It also ended up a little messier than a hole cutter would of done but you wont see it so the end result is the same

Now its time to take the dash storage back to the car and replace it in the dash

Pull the new wire though the hole first as it'll obviously be needed

Now gently begin to clip it back into place in the dash and simply attach the bayonet connectors onto the spades of the socket

Putting the socket into the dash actually turned out to be more faff than I bargained for, due to the components in the dash bashing against the socket making it rather fiddly

But with a bit of perseverance and plenty of swearing I just about managed it

I didn't like the look of the 2 little holes exposed so I also decided to cut a hole in the rubber lining insert and fit that back in as well

So now rather than have wires dangling across the dash, it stows away in the top of the dash

Making it all look much neater and tidier

It was a bit more of a faff than I expected but the end result was worth it and works nicely

Refit all parts removed in the reverse of how you removed them and job done.

Apologies in advance for the length of the guide as I do tend to rabbit a bit when explaining things ;)

[Brigante]

will a mod please edit the typo in my guide title

thankyou very muchly ;)

[Preee]

Great guide and a use full place for a 12v Aux , I have recently added a Usb power supply on mine as I too was sick of trailing wires.

[Brigante]

Nice one Paul mate

I am pleased with it

The trailing wire was annoying me (like a lot of things do ;) )

So this way its nice n tidy

[Stoney871]

Job well done indeed.

[catch]

Nice one Charlie,

like you I don't like trailing wires either, and as you know, in Mk2.5 they have to trail even further into the center bin storage area between the seats.

I'll put it on my list of to do's.