head unit space

[ep82]

Need abit of a help guys.

Just bought a Sony head unit, to replace my JVC one as it keeps cutting out and sometimes it has no power to it.

Anyway, When I put the cage into the space. I noticed that it went back about 1cm further back than the JVC one. When I put the head unit in, it doesnt lock into the cage as it sits about an inch too far out. I tried push the head unit abit more but it's not shifting, I had a quick feel in the space and noticed it's quite shallow and there seems to be something in the way (top of the heater control)

Anyone else had this problem?

thanks

[jalesi2001]

Yep, its very tight behind the centre console for the radio loom on our civics!! It can be done but needs a bit of patience to get the wiring in. If you take the radio out, and look into the slot, at the back on the left there is a hole that you need to push the wiring down into, as you slide the headunit into place. A bit tricky but you will get there in the end!!

[danxs]

pop the glove box out, reach round there and pull some wiring through

im an audio fitter and it took me a while to get the OE wiring plus the harness adapter plus ipod lead etc in. it does all squash down the gap though it just takes a while lol

[matej]

yeah the space is very tight. It took me quite some time to fit it in with the cables and some antenna connector when I changed my unit in my car. When I had my first mb6 car in certified Honda dealer service and asked them to remove a plate that my dad had there for his hands-free they weren't even able to fit it back correctly and it was sticking out. I had to do it myself, hehe. They also damaged the antenna connector. But since I never listen to radio (only mp3 cds) I didn't really care much. There is a bit of space under the unit and also a bit of space above. Though if your cables are as short as my were and they cannot reach that far that you would be able to easily connect them while the unit is still out be prepared to have a long time fiddling with it. Better leave it on an audio specialist than leaving it on Honda dealers. When I first had my unit changed in my first Honda (MB1) the guy at the audio specialist service told me it was a real struggle. I wanted to have the radio playing even without the key inserted so I couldn't do it myself as I am no expert when it comes to wiring.

With my current car I cannot have it that way since my radio has a motorized panel (Pioneer DEH 9800 BT) that you cannot remove until it moves itself to the removing ready position and there is no button for it to do it manually. It only moves if the power is cut off or if you select eject cd. So I could change it to have the keyless powering but than I would have to eject the cd every time I wanted to remove the panel. It wouldn't be such a great deal since the cd is automatically inserted again after some time (and remembers the previous cd position), but I just was a bit lazy to do it.

Hey danxs since you are an audio fitter how hard is it to make the radio power independent and not depending on the key insertion? Would a non-electrical-expert be able to do it himself (maybe with a help of some electrically experienced friend)? Or should I just leave it to specialists?

[weetec]

i had a similar problem with my alpine, using a hacksaw blade, cut the upright plastic in the middle rear of the cassette aperture, top and bottom. only advised if your stereo has a bracket witch secures the stereo from falling in too much. it gives a bit more room for cables to bend. hope this helps.

[danxs]

its easy on the aftermarket stereo there will be a yellow wire (permanent 12v) and a red (switched 12v) join the red one to the yellow one with a suitable rated inline connector and it will be 12v live permanent