Radio finally replaced

[johnsoncp]

My radio was completely dead. Absolutely nothing.

I made the decision to replace it with a new modern one and spent hours studying all the necessary actions. You never quite know what's going to happen until you finally try. So I did. I picked a JVC radio, the Autoleads ISO adapter and a fascia plate. It took about 3 hours to replace as I was being very cautious!

This is the result.

If anyone wants any details I would be happy to provide more information.

[Brakebuster]

lookin good


and i expect you can now connect an ipod to ?

BB

[johnsoncp]

Thanks BB.

I never saw the old radio working. It was dead from the day I got the car. This new one plays and charges iPods, plays from USB, bluetooth, aux, CD and it even has a radio I generally like to keep the car as original as possible but this new stereo was a fraction of the price of various reconditioned units that I've seen. I still have the old radio so perhaps I could get this fixed so that any future owner can revert to the original spec. (including the cassette tapes!)

What appealed to me is that the lighting on the radio can be completely customised, the colour of each zone and even various light patterns. I wanted to try and match the display lighting on the car already. Still not spent much time playing with the colours but managed to take this one photo.

Chris

[andypryce]

Hi Chris,

I would be interested in doing this on my X300, can you list the parts you needed please, if it's easily available?

Thanks,

andy

[johnsoncp]

Hi Andy and sorry for the delayed reply as I was away for a few days.

Stereo JVC KD-R841. £115 from Amazon
Fascia adapter FP-14-00. £21.95 from eBay.
Harness adapter autoleads pc2-55-4. £5.20 from eBay.

I chose the stereo as it is a DIN fitting and has an ISO cable. It is also programmable for day and night colours.
The harness adapter plugs into the ISO cable and straight to the white Jag adapter.
The fascia panel fills the triangular gaps around the rectangular stereo.

There are a lot of wires to fit behind the stereo now but it fits with a squeeze. The aerial plugs straight into the stereo and the earth strap bolts to the unit chassis by removing an existing screw and refitting same.

The only problem I found was that the day / night wire seems to work in reverse but as the stereo colours and brightness are programmable it's easily resolved.

Good luck, Chris

[andypryce]

Many thanks Chris, will have a go!

andy

[andypryce]

Ordered ! Will let you know how it goes, thanks again.

andy

[johnsoncp]

Excellent! Any questions, please ask. I look forward to finding out how it goes.

Although not quite the same as our car this video is very helpful.

http://youtu.be/vpAIdr6V3iE

Chris

[thejpster]

I am working on a process whereby a broken radio can have its faceplate reused over a new MP3/DAB system. I would be interested in the front plate from your old radio if it is available. They are relatively simple to disassemble.

Cheers

Jonathan

[johnsoncp]

Hi Jonathan,

I still have the old radio but wanted to keep it so that the next owner of the car would have all the original parts so that they could try and fix it if they were able to.

Good luck with your project though as I expect you may have a lot of interested customers.

Regards, Chris

[andypryce]

Jonathan,

Happy to send you mine once I have done the job, it will only join the pile of stuff already sitting there! PM me your address. You just want the fascia?

andy

[andypryce]

Chris,

When you write: "the earth strap bolts to the unit chassis by removing an existing screw and refitting same", do you mean just attach it to an existing earth point or does it attach to the radio itself? I am presuming it is the former? Sorry to be dense...

andy

[johnsoncp]

Hi again,

When I initially removed the original radio I unbolted the large earth strap from the chassis to the radio and actually took it out. The radio worked fine but I kept reading how the strap must be attached so I took the new radio out again and put the earth cable back in. The large 'strap' is bolted to the car chassis under the radio. I removed the screw holding the rear USB cable from the radio and using the original screw and washer fixed the earth cable to the new radio. I think that the aerial outer sheath is actually earthed to the chassis of the radio and that is why the radio worked.

You will find a few 'spare' wires behind the radio. I just taped them to insulate them. You only need the white Jag harness plug, the aerial and the earth strap.

Please feel free to keep asking questions as I know how frustrating it is trying to work these things out.

Regards, Chris

[andypryce]

Many thanks. One last (?) question, the old radio obviously slots in and is held in place by the tabs on the top of it, is there anything similar to hold the new one in place, or does it just sit in the aperture? Does it need anchoring in some way?

andy.

[johnsoncp]

The reason you have to remove all the jag 'ski slope' is to allow you to press the two clips to allow removal of the original radio. I removed the silver aluminium sleeve originally holding the radio. The new stereo comes with a new purpose built sleeve which goes into the slot (please remember to put this through the new fascia adapter first, unlike me ) The new sleeve has cutout areas around it and the idea is to press these down to firmly grip the plastic jag surround. This sounds complicated but it explains this in the stereo installation manual. A mixture of doing this, tightly grouped wires and the sheer weight of the stereo has kept mine firmly in place. In future you can remove the stereo by using the two release keys supplied with the stereo so hopefully no longer having to dismantle the jag first.

Chris