I disassembled the cigarette lighter plug and hard wired into the electrical system.

  • Take apart the cigarette lighter plug
  • Apply soldering iron to wires that attach to the plug, not the wires that attach to the dock connector. You do this so the solder will liquify and you can remove the stock wires from the circuit board.
  • Insert new/longer wires into the same existing circuit board holes and resolder. I soldered 6ft wires into the circuit board so I would have plenty of length to reach a ground point and the fuse box.
  • Attach black wire to chasis for your ground.
  • Attach red wire to empty slot in the fuse box. You can go to any auto parts store and pick up a handy gizmo that has the standard fuse prongs on one side and a slot for a fuse and a wire on the other. This allows you to connect the power wire from the iPod circuit board and insert a fuse. Match the fuse amps to that of the fuse in the SIK cigarette lighter adapter.
  • Wrap circuit board and at least 2 inches of the protuding wire with electrical tape.
  • You have now hard wired your iPod into your X's electrical system.
  • I added a power switch into my setup. If you want to do this then buy a switch from Radio Shack that is rated to match the iPod's power ratings. Attach the switch wherever it pleases you. Atach the wire from the fuse box to prong 1 on the switch. Attach wire from iPod to prong 2. Now you have a power switch to control when your iPod receives power.

I hope this helps. Be sure to make detailed notes of the location of the wires you remove from the circuit board so you can resolder the correct color wires back into it. I remember there being 3 wires on the cigarette lighter side of the circuit board, a power wire and two grounds.
In the case of the two grounds I took two 4 inch pieces of black wire and soldered them into the circuit board. I then soldered the free ends together and finally soldered a 6 foot long piece of black wire to the two joined wires. I finished this off with heat shrink tubing from Radio Shack to protect the soldered connections.

Good luck.