In this DIY you will find a detailed step-by-step description of a particular installation of an aftermarket stereo.
Components used: Alpine CDA-9851 reciever along with speakers: Front – JBL GTO 626 and Back – JBL GTO 636 (speakers installation is not covered in this topic).

STEP 1

First remove the cover plate with a leather sleeve. In order to do that pull down the metal coated ring that brings the leather sleeve down from the shift knob, then turn the knob counter clockwise and unscrew it. Then with your both hands try to get a firm grip on the plastic (wooden platted) plate from the side where it merges with the cup holder, try to lift it up and stick your fingers as far as possible under it and firmly pull it up. You have to apply quite an effort to pull the plastic cover, there are 4 or so, clips that hold it in it’s place. Don’t be shy but be careful to apply the pressure to as bigger surface as possible so you won’t crack it. And try not to bend it for it’s supper easy to crack right in the middle.

STEP 2

Next is to remove the plastic surrounding with a wood coated plate that holds seats heater control buttons and 12V outlet. To do that, just release the both sides of the plastic piece along the both sides (#1 on the picture), then grip with your hands on the lower round corners (#2 on the pic.) and pull it toward the back of the car and a bit up. There are two clips just behind of where your fingers would be, you will see that on the next picture. As usual try to be as accurate as possible cuss all that plastic accessories are somewhat breakable. Remember where all the plugs go so you can assemble it after, watch for small springs under the buttons that control seat heaters, they are easy to loose, I almost did … hehehe

STEP 3

Next is to remove the whole arm rest box. Actually you see on the picture (#1) the places where the pins mentioned in Step #2 go. When you know their exact location, it is much easier to remove them. Anyway, removing the whole arm rest box is not really necessary but it will be much easier to rich for two screws that hold the main dash with the stock head unit. You can unscrew them with arm rest box in place but then you need a short screw driver (I didn’t have one). Removing that box is very easy, I didn’t take a picture of the rear screws as they are not hidden and easy to find. So, you have to unscrew 4 screws in the back of the arm rest on the both sides where the rear middle passenger seat is. Then there are two (or one don’t remember exactly) screws inside the arm rest box under the small rubber “carpet”. At last remove two plastic pins (#3) on the picture. Be careful they are hard to remove and I broke one, fortunately they don’t do much in the first place. There is a trick just prone with something narrow right in the middle part of the pin and it will come out with no effort after. Once all the screws are removed just lift the whole box up and carefully remove it from its place.

STEP 4

Now is the fun part. Removing the central console with the radio unit and climate control/AC buttons. This step is very easy if you do it right. First unscrew two screws (#1) on the picture. The screws themselves can’t bee seen but they are noticeable right away when you bend and look from below. After those screws are gone, apply a pressure on the metal bar that was attached by those two screws that you have just removed, Apply pressure with both hands right UP as shown with two red arrows, and don’t worry to break anything you won’t, the dash will pop up and you can take it from the top and remove completely. Pretend you lift some weight with your both hands palms up. The console is being fixed by a bunch of clips on top, they are strong but hard to break. DON’T make the same mistake as I did don’t hook the edge of the dash with any tool (see #2 on the pic.) cuzz you are going to damage the soft surrounding. I tried with that little green plastic tool and still ripped off a small piece. Fortunately it’s not noticeable.

Here is how your car is going to look like after your are done taking it apart! Scary, eh!

STEP 5

… After you are done taking apart your vehicle dashboard, you can take the whole console home and continue there … Next what you should do is to remove the OEM radio unit from the console itself. I don’t want to say too much about it cuzz it’s very simple and straight forward procedure, just unscrew a few screws on both sides of the unit and pull it out. Here is what you’ll get as a result.

STEP 6

Now there are two options of how to install you radio … first option is just do the easy way (default), just assemble the installation kit and your HU into your console, fix it with screws supplied and your are done. Here is how it’s going to look like (see sample picture). But, In my opinion, the “default” installation looks a bit “unfinished” and the radio unit itself doesn’t fit naturally into the console. So i decided to go another way and here is how I installed the stereo in my car. Compare the two and choose the one that you like the most … With the second installation (the one I did) HU sits there more naturally … Anyway choose what is the best for you and do it.

Now compare the two results:

The “DEFAULT” installation pictures can be seen here (http://www.acurael.com/carpages/wills2002.html):

vs. my own installation:

In order to do the installation the way I did it. Take the installation kit …

… and shave off the edges from the inside along the all 4 sides to fit the HU installation cage, by doing this the HU will advance a bit forward, so you can use the silver frame after, the one that you snap on after you secured the head unit in place with screws! Make sure you can fit the cage easily, without forcing it, otherwise the plastic plate from the installation kit will be mishaped and it willl not fit properly into the hole in your console. The one thing to watch out for is to make the unit fit into the dash console first and then cut the plastic, to make sure you cut it even on all 4 sides and all the angles are correct, I did a little mistake and now one corner doesn’t sit exactly the way I wanted (it is minor and I was too lasy to fix it, not a big deal, but if you do it properly in the first place you won’t have any problems). My mistake I should of cut 1-2 mm more at the bottom side form the inside, so the unit would fit slightly lower … but it’s still good …

STEP 7

After all the fitting is done, install the plastic frame with the metal cage into the console along with the head unit and secure it in place with two or more screws on both sides … you will have to remove the small climate control box from one side in order to get access with a screwdriver to tight a screw, that is very easy to do and you will figure that out yourself … just don’t forget to put it back after . Here is what your end result is going to look like

and here is the look of the front side:

So that’s it, you are pretty much done … put the console back, don’t forget to plug back all the control wires and stuff ….Oh, yes, one more thing to do, is to connect the new HU to the existing wires: power, speakers and so on … that’s is not hard to do … I will put up wiring diagram separately

Here is all the pictures together so its easier to follow them through.

Enjoy!