In Dash CD/Mp3/Blutooth Stereo
Well I have tried the retro style made to fit your dash stereo. It came with my car when I bought it. It sounded terrible and in my opinion is not worth the money they charge for them. Then I went with a easy under dash stereo set up. This worked great (see article here) but the stereo I used was a old CD player and didn't work with my phone or mp3s. I also found that reaching for it was a real pain since it was just out of my reach which didn't make it safe. Then for my birthday my wife and kids bought me a nice slick Alpine unit that I felt just had to go in the dash. One really nice feature on this stereo is that it works with my cell phone via blutooth. Now that is awesome!
So here is what I had to do to make this work:
1- Mark all my existing wiring. Ground, Accessory power, Battery power, Front left and right speaker wiring, Rear Left and Right speaker wiring. *currently I only have front kick speakers
2- Mark the dash for cutting. I considered many different ways to do this. Ultimately I used a scribe to mark the lines for the DIN stereo bracket that gets put into the dash. Looking back, I think I would do this again but use tape to mark the dash so I had a clearer picture of my markings.
3- Using safety glasses and a dumel I went to it. Cutting a little at a time. Measure three times, cut once.
4- Once a fit was good, I put the bracket in place
5- If your happy with how the bracket fits then the rest of the install is a standard stereo install. Leave the ground wire for last. Enjoy!
*note:
1-Before I get to much hate mail let me first state that my dash had been slightly hacked by a previous owner so something would have to be done at some point.
2-I also noticed that my cut wasn't quite level. I have since gone back and corrected this.
3-The stock opening in the dash is much higher than the height of a modern DIN stereo. There is a small gap at the top that can be viewed at the right angle. I'm planning on painting the car in 2013, I will take care of this at that time. Right now my plan is to bend the lip down to complete the install.
So here is what I had to do to make this work:
1- Mark all my existing wiring. Ground, Accessory power, Battery power, Front left and right speaker wiring, Rear Left and Right speaker wiring. *currently I only have front kick speakers
2- Mark the dash for cutting. I considered many different ways to do this. Ultimately I used a scribe to mark the lines for the DIN stereo bracket that gets put into the dash. Looking back, I think I would do this again but use tape to mark the dash so I had a clearer picture of my markings.
3- Using safety glasses and a dumel I went to it. Cutting a little at a time. Measure three times, cut once.
4- Once a fit was good, I put the bracket in place
5- If your happy with how the bracket fits then the rest of the install is a standard stereo install. Leave the ground wire for last. Enjoy!
*note:
1-Before I get to much hate mail let me first state that my dash had been slightly hacked by a previous owner so something would have to be done at some point.
2-I also noticed that my cut wasn't quite level. I have since gone back and corrected this.
3-The stock opening in the dash is much higher than the height of a modern DIN stereo. There is a small gap at the top that can be viewed at the right angle. I'm planning on painting the car in 2013, I will take care of this at that time. Right now my plan is to bend the lip down to complete the install.