Headunit Install

[tenny]

did anyone else have to take out a bunch of plastic in there dash? I took out a TON in my 04 to get the deck to fit and I hadnt heard anyone else having to do that so I wonder if its a new feature for 2004.

[doubleN0alero]

by saying a bunch of plastic might you be referring to the plastic harnes behind the radio? Yes, I had to cut out quite a bit to make my radio fit with the flush install kit. You can avoid it by buying the kit where the radio sticks out 6 feet, but that just doesn't look right.

[tenny]

ya... there is a lot more of it then on a typical car though... and this does not count all the stuff that fell in behind

[tenny]

it never really fit in perfect, I had to use the screws to get it to go in all the way because of the position of the harness on the back of the kenwood. to anybody buying a new deck and planning on a flush mount, try and find one where the harness on the back is on the right side rather then the bottom left, or at least the top left.

[ptrudel]

installation is a major PITA for our cars...i stil cant get my clarion to fit quite right <_<

[justinusaf]

Looks good though tenny

[tenny]

ya it was a major pita, i hadnt really noticed many posts about it so i thought they maybe changed the design a bit for 2004 and made it worse but I guess not.

the right hand side does not go in quite all the way so its on a bit of an angle but you cant tell unless you know to look for it, even then its just slightly. Also you can notice in the middle bar just bellow the bottom of the radio that it is bowed down a bit, I had to do this because the kit didnt fit quite right and i'd rather have a bit of a bow there and the cd player in there solid then no bow and it flopping around. I felt so bad ripping apart the guts of the dash though, it sure makes a big mess behind there trying to intall one of these. I was tempted to not even bother but I already spent the money on the kit and ordered an cd changer to aux adapter so i can use my ipod so I was determined to make it work haha.

I also spent a lot of time the wiring harness, soldered everything and then heat shrink tubing on it instead of tape.

[d00fN00BeR]

how many parts did you need to install it?

[tenny]

u need a mounting kit, wiring harness and antenna adapter.

http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=5723852235 there is my old one if anyone needs a stock unit.

[Crazytaxi37]

yes I had too as well.

[tenny]

is it possible to put 6.5's in the rear doors? how hard would ti be? anyone done this?

[WildBill]

i had to pull alot from behind the dash because i have the Sony XM kit which has RCA imputs that got in the way.


nice install, looks great

[tenny]

on mine it was righth whre the rcas came out of the deck that was the problem

[j_smith]

Yeah on my Clarion head unit the wiring clips in directly where the vertical plastic piece is in the dash. I broke that off and cut a notch down into the horizontal piece. Now it fits perfectly.

[alerosmoke]

what were the #s of the mounting bracket and harness and adapter if you dont mind. :smokin:

[scadada99]

Where did you have to cut behind the dash in order to get yours to fit? I can see there's this vertical piece of plastic back there, and this horizontal piece at the very top...I also had to route my wiring harness out through the back of the top and pull it up through the hole underneath it to get it to work...

And also, what did you use to cut back there? I have a friend with a drill and either a saw or knife, but he also has a dremel. What do you reccomend?


Dammit, GM, why did you make it so hard to upgrade anything?! :wah:

[Sno]

installation is a major PITA for our cars...
thats why i got my stereo + speakers installed at Circuit City... woot, i didn't have to go through that BS