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Grumpy
01-04-2012, 07:42 PM
I've gotten sick of not having access to my tunes while in the car. I recently donated all my cds after converting them to mp3. I got the JVC KD-X50BT, which came out about a month ago. $120 US for USB/Aux-in/Bluetooth/iPod, blackberry (eww), and Android integration. No CD player.

Radio Removal instructions:

0: Disconnect the Negative battery terminal under the hood!

1: remove triangle trim pieces using a small flathead with tape on it, or trim removal tool. Insert tool on top front edge, just below climate controls, pry towards the rear of the car. At the same time apply some pressure from the rear of the piece using your other hand.

2: Put shifter into 3rd or 6th gear to allow for removal room.

3: once those pieces are removed, it reveals the 2 screws that hold the oem unit in place. Remove those.

3a: 2006 only: There is a hidden bolt on the drivers side that is next to impossible to get unless you have tiny hands. good luck finding it and then removing it. Once it is out, don't bother putting it back in. It's not really needed.

4: Pull radio towards you. If this is your first time, it will be difficult to pull out very far :p before the cables stop you. You should have enough room to get your hand back there to disconnect antenna wire, then the climate control plug. For the radio plug you need a short small flathead (no room to get a regular length screwdriver in the correct position) and use it on the bottom of the plug to get the clip to release.
At that point you should be able to remove the radio completely from the dash.

5: While you've got everything open, notice the antenna wire has some slack that is just taped together, and the main radio harness is attached to the plastic trim piece via a plastic thingie (technical term-not a plain zip tie) you might want to remove the tape and plastic thingie to give youreslf more slack the next time the radio/climate controls have to come out.

6: Route the microphone wire where you want it. I mounted mine on the underside of the instrument console cover. I revmoved the cover, routed the cable down through a hole that was revealed, then into the center stack, ziptieing the extra to a dash mounting point.

http://i793.photobucket.com/albums/yy213/askut/carstuff/stereo/IMAG0231.jpg

7: Hopefully you are doing this right, and have the harness from the head unit, and a harness to splice into that connects to the main car harness. Follow the instructions/schematics, and splice the wires together. The colors on the wires for the stereo harness and the conversion harness should be the same, at least mine were. I did double check anyway. They suggested grounding to the chassis, but I just went with the grounding wire in the harness. I don't want to have to find some dang extra wire connecting point to disconnect when I want to pull the head unit the next time.

8: Unscrew the climate controls from the stock faceplate (4 screws), and unscrew the stock radio from the metal bracket on the stock face plate. (4 anodized/purpleish screws)

9: Using the stock screws, attach the climate controls to the new faceplate.

10: Put the cubby into the faceplate.

11: Put the new stereo without the front radio surround trim piece into the faceplate, and affix with stock radio anodized screws. There was an option to use the metal bracket instead, but it looked like it needed additional support, and it didn't seem as stable as the mounting that I used.

11.5: Put front radio surround trim piece on

12: Make all 3 connections, Antenna, climate controls and main audio harness.

13: Reattach Negative Battery Terminal.

14: Turn key to accessory and test out radio.

15: If things don't work, you messed up. If things do work, then go to 16

16. rearrange wires and put the whole shebang into place, and affix with the 2 screws you removed at the beginning. Put the triangular trim pieces back into place, and you're done!

http://i793.photobucket.com/albums/yy213/askut/carstuff/stereo/IMAG0237.jpg

blackchicken
01-06-2012, 11:51 PM
Appreciate the detailed writeup!