Chatting with Tom I realised that some of you may have dashes with the old shaft style radios and were wanting to switch over to DIN-sized units. This is almost a must for adding a CD player.
Ok let me give you some background. The older style radios like this:
are called U or S chassis depending on spread of the shafts. They are now in limited production and this Sanyo is the only one I could find quickly
Another odd size is the CG chassis. So called since they are custom made for the really oodball openings in MOPAR/GENM Vehicles.
Then you have the DD or Double DIN chassis from many Nip/Eurotrash POS vehicles.
The rest all fill into the DIN category. I,E,J, and K styles differ in width and depth, but not height. All DIN are 2". There are 3" and 4" but they have been cover ealier.
Step one. DICONNECT THE NEGATIVE LEAD FROM THE BATTERY!!!
This is to prevent blowing fuses, acidental arc welding, and trips to the emengency room.
If you have a S or U type radio in your car and want the newer stuff, you have a minor amount of modding ahead of you. It is not difficult just time consuming. Take a tape meaure and meaure the new head unit WITH THE MOUNTING RING ON! This is usually painted black and as all kinds of odd angles and weird holes in it. More on that later. Make a carbboard template from the measurements. Some stereos have a template in them, but not many. Once you have the size. proceed to remove the old radio. Once it is out, lay the template on and trace it with a marker or sharp knife. This is where the dremel or rotozip cames in handy. Cut out the plastic.
One other thing to keep in mind. Some radios require the chassis be grounded. This info is located in the owners manual or istallation guide. They dont print those things just to waste paper ya know. READ THEM!
If it does reqire one, then this is the time to locate it. I assume you know what a grounding strap is. If not I'll tell you. You know those metal straps with holes in it? Yeas that thing you threw away. They are also called rear support straps. For it to be a grunding strap is has to be mounted to metal. Locate a metal support bracket for the dash that is connecte to the body. This sounldn't be hard to find, just hard to get to. If you're lucky the old strap is still there.
Once that is done, put the mounting ring into the hole you just cut. I should fit snug, and you may have to trim with an Exacto knife of the dremel. Once it is in use your trust ole spade screwdriver to push those wierd tab thingies out. You wont use all of them, but some will fit the space like a golve. Use those. This will hold the front of the Head Unit to the dash. I definetly suggest using the wiring harneses connector rather the the cut and splice technique. The only time you dont use the harness is when you are replacing all the vehicles speaker wires. A great wa to do that is to solder the positive and negative wires together and pull the new wires through with the old ones. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it dosen't. Oherwise use a harness.
After geting the harness in place, run any RCA/remote/TOSLink/whatever, lines and pull all that out the hole. Hook up the antenna lead then the RCA then other stuff then plug the unit in. slide it in untill you hear it click, and mount it to the RSBor S/GS (Rear Support Bracket or Strap/Grounding Strap) and reconnect the battery. Sometime the sliding part dosent go all that smothe and may require some "motivation" to get it in place. DON"T FORCE IT IN! Slide it unitl it sticks and find where it is binding up at. Some times a small tap on the ring with a hammer is all it needs. Wait a second or two to see if any smoke or other undesirable things happen. If it is all good, turn on the circiut and test the radio.
YA!! IT WORKS!!!!
Now it is time for a
and a 
or 
.
That is your choise of course.
Ok let me give you some background. The older style radios like this:
are called U or S chassis depending on spread of the shafts. They are now in limited production and this Sanyo is the only one I could find quickly
Another odd size is the CG chassis. So called since they are custom made for the really oodball openings in MOPAR/GENM Vehicles.
Then you have the DD or Double DIN chassis from many Nip/Eurotrash POS vehicles.
The rest all fill into the DIN category. I,E,J, and K styles differ in width and depth, but not height. All DIN are 2". There are 3" and 4" but they have been cover ealier.
Step one. DICONNECT THE NEGATIVE LEAD FROM THE BATTERY!!!
This is to prevent blowing fuses, acidental arc welding, and trips to the emengency room.
If you have a S or U type radio in your car and want the newer stuff, you have a minor amount of modding ahead of you. It is not difficult just time consuming. Take a tape meaure and meaure the new head unit WITH THE MOUNTING RING ON! This is usually painted black and as all kinds of odd angles and weird holes in it. More on that later. Make a carbboard template from the measurements. Some stereos have a template in them, but not many. Once you have the size. proceed to remove the old radio. Once it is out, lay the template on and trace it with a marker or sharp knife. This is where the dremel or rotozip cames in handy. Cut out the plastic.
One other thing to keep in mind. Some radios require the chassis be grounded. This info is located in the owners manual or istallation guide. They dont print those things just to waste paper ya know. READ THEM!
If it does reqire one, then this is the time to locate it. I assume you know what a grounding strap is. If not I'll tell you. You know those metal straps with holes in it? Yeas that thing you threw away. They are also called rear support straps. For it to be a grunding strap is has to be mounted to metal. Locate a metal support bracket for the dash that is connecte to the body. This sounldn't be hard to find, just hard to get to. If you're lucky the old strap is still there.
Once that is done, put the mounting ring into the hole you just cut. I should fit snug, and you may have to trim with an Exacto knife of the dremel. Once it is in use your trust ole spade screwdriver to push those wierd tab thingies out. You wont use all of them, but some will fit the space like a golve. Use those. This will hold the front of the Head Unit to the dash. I definetly suggest using the wiring harneses connector rather the the cut and splice technique. The only time you dont use the harness is when you are replacing all the vehicles speaker wires. A great wa to do that is to solder the positive and negative wires together and pull the new wires through with the old ones. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it dosen't. Oherwise use a harness.
After geting the harness in place, run any RCA/remote/TOSLink/whatever, lines and pull all that out the hole. Hook up the antenna lead then the RCA then other stuff then plug the unit in. slide it in untill you hear it click, and mount it to the RSBor S/GS (Rear Support Bracket or Strap/Grounding Strap) and reconnect the battery. Sometime the sliding part dosent go all that smothe and may require some "motivation" to get it in place. DON"T FORCE IT IN! Slide it unitl it sticks and find where it is binding up at. Some times a small tap on the ring with a hammer is all it needs. Wait a second or two to see if any smoke or other undesirable things happen. If it is all good, turn on the circiut and test the radio.
YA!! IT WORKS!!!!
Now it is time for a
and a or .That is your choise of course.
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