Installing CD player

[TazzyVR6]

Hey guys,
got myself a cd player, woot! No more listening to ipod through crappy radio thingo!
I'm taking it round to my friends place to install it, i was just wondering if there is anything i need to look out for when removing the dash, or actually how to remove the dash cause i haven't tried before.
Any tips wellcome, thanks
Alex

[BlackVr6ix]

easiest way is to remove the whole radio surround.

remove the abs/airbag light and headlight switch
remove screw holding on instrument cluster surround
remove blank switch covers from other side and remove screw
place fingers between gauges and surround and pull lightly and with a clenched fist hit dash at the endge of the surround. repeat on opposite side
remove two screws from upper vents and last remaining screw behind blank on far side of window controls
Pull out radio in surround

[The_Hawk]

Test the wiring before you put it all back...

Make sure your Balance/Fader works as expected.
Make sure your amp comes on (if you have one).
Make sure it all turns on/off when it's supposed to.


Nothing like putting it all back together just right to find out that you have mixed up the front left and right channels

[BlackVr6ix]

yeah thats always fun hahaha

[TazzyVR6]

haha, learn from experience did we... Thanks for that guys.
And no, no amp yet but that's in the not two distant future. 2 clarion amps, 1000W clarion sub and clarion 250W splits in the front and 200W in the rear

[The_Hawk]

Make sure you get both the amp and speakers at the same time.

Higher powered speakers require higher power pushing them. If you just hook new speakers up to the stock deck they will sound ****e.

[TazzyVR6]

Yeah i'm getting amps and speakers and sub at same time but i won't get a head unit with enough preouts to make use of them all for a bit longer. So i'll just have to put up with crappy music for a while. I'm just getting this cheaper kenwood head unit so i have a cd player!!!

[The_Hawk]

Since your running an amp or two, there is no reason you can't split the outputs and send one lot to an amp running speakers and one to an amp running a sub.

[95vr6]

Instead of removing dash surround, why not make up some radio release keys to remove oem radio.

[TazzyVR6]

I have no idea how i would do that, my friend might know what to do though. He's done plenty of this sort of stuff before, he's won sound comps and stuff.
lol, i hope he knows what he's doing!!!

[bboyskidz]

It wouldn't be that hard to win any kind of comp in tassie, would it? I heard there is only 6 people living there now... lol

All that those 'key' things are is a flat piece of metal that you stick down each side of the radio and then it unclips it so it basically just slides out. If you get a new headunit before you take out the old one then it should come with
some so you don't even need to make em. Your friend should know what I mean.

[BlackVr6ix]

I find it easier to get the unit fitting nicely if you remove the whole surround, when your running rca's and thick speaker wiring it can get a little bit tight behind there.

[The_Hawk]

It wouldn't be that hard to win any kind of comp in tassie, would it? I heard there is only 6 people living there now... lol

All that those 'key' things are is a flat piece of metal that you stick down each side of the radio and then it unclips it so it basically just slides out. If you get a new headunit before you take out the old one then it should come with
some so you don't even need to make em. Your friend should know what I mean.

You can give it a bash, but not all keys will fit/work with all head units.

What I have done in the past is just to head down to the local sound place (I have a choice of about 4 or 5 locally) and ask them to borrow their keys. Not all places sell/install all brands so may not have all keys. In my case I had to go to a couple before someone had (or was willing to help) keys for a JVC player. In the end the guy walked out, went click, there you go, and away I drove.

I usually make a point of keeping the keys for at least my current system somewhere so I can pull it out when I want to.

[TazzyVR6]

Yeah it the new unit had keys come with it, so that should make things easier. We'll try that first anyway... Thanks for all your help guys

[TazzyVR6]

Got the cd player in, after 2 hours... The oem radio has little holes in it which you are meant to be able to put something in and that releases it. But as hard as we tried we couldn't get it out that way so we took the whole surround out and did it that way. Wasn't to hard really. My friend made me an adapter out of all of his electrical gear so i didn't have to buy one. So now i can listen to my ipod static free!
Have no radio until i get an adapter for the new unit but not to worried.

Here is what the new unit looks like...