Sublimewinds, Head unit install tutorial
Posted: Fri Nov 02, 2007 3:47 am
Hi all,I thought it was about time that I finally posted my own install tutorial... I looked around and didn't see one... So, here goes... First off, taking the dash apart is EASY, no screws to remove.. You simply pull on the bottom of the trim panel and it pops loose... just don't keep pulling once it comes loose, cause you have to remove other things to get it off the car...it pulls toward you at the bottom and kinda swings up, then there is 2 tabs at the top of the panel that hold it, you just pivot it up and then pull it down... Tabs at top.. You have to detach the harnesses from the panel before it will come off completely... They are all specific to their plugs, so mixing them up is a non-issue... There is ONE oddball though, it's like a cable and it is a little tricky to get off/on, so take your time and make sure you understand this one... Cable thinggee, shown in upper left of pic... There are 4 bolts that hold it in.. IIRC they are 12mm but could be 14mm, it's been a few months, so I'm not 100% on which, but one of the 2... NOTE: a little tip on NOT losing the bolts, put a piece of electrical tape (loosely) over the nut driver/socket whatever you use and push it down on the bolt and it'll hold the bolt till you can get it out of the dash..!!!Once you have the stock stereo out, unplug it and lay everything out... make sure you don't lose the antenna wire, it's easy for it to kinda fall into the dash, and make you wonder where it went...(antenna wire lower right of pic)Now it's time to get out of the car and head for the bench.... This is a pic of the Metra products that I got for the car... it took 2 tries to get the "proper" dash kit, so beware.... you also MUST have a GM antenna adapter, GM uses a smaller that normal antenna wire/plug... Better pic of parts and Metra part numbers...Better pic of the dash kit, itself... We will be using the 1/2 DIN pocket and ISO mounting the HU... Partly assembled kit...The mounting tabs that come with the kit are tricky... You have to BREAK parts off to make them work for the car, no worries though, this is somewhat "normal" from an installers standpoint... You can see the top and bottom leading edge of the mount brackets have small white lines where the part of the bracket was removed for this particular install.. and the brackets screw into the side of the "pocket"..Ok, setting that aside for now, it's time for the harness... many people don't like this part because it seems so confusing... Again, no worries, 99% of harness are color coded anymore and as long as you are not color blind, it shouldn't be an issue... I will be soldering, which IS the best way, followed by crimp connectors and then ending with the old TNT method (Twist n Tape) so a soldering lesson is coming...Ok, so to begin, you need to shorten the harness, depending on how much room you have, for this install you can see, I went rather short... some need to be longer some don't... try and get all the wires from both harness parts the same lenght...This will help later... Strip all the wires, just over 1/2", more if you have fat fingers, because you'll need to do some twisting that many are not used to... Now you want to make what is called a "barrel" knot, this is where you take the 2 wires and lay them across one another in a X and then twist them around each other... This could take a few tries if you have never done it, but in the end you'll come out with something like this.... Sorry, I suck at Macro shots, you get the idea though...The barrel knot "usually" allows you to solder without and "sharp" points sticking out, I say usually because in most cases it'll require a little trimming. You don't want ANYTHING sharp sticking out or you are asking for problems when the sharp point cuts it's way through the tape/shrink wrap... Now, the SOLDERING LESSON.... First and for most, it needs to be HOT, the hotter the better, plug it in before you begin and by the time you are ready to use it, it'll be GOOD and HOT... Next, the soldering iron needs to be in good shape for good soldering, NEVER, NEVER file or sand a soldering tip to clean it... once hot, a damp paper towel or sponge "should" clean it, if it is in half way decent shape... If you can't get a nice bright silver/chrome look from it, consider some fine seel wool, if that doesn't do it, a new tip or iron... Now, you need to "tin" the iron, which is nothing more than melting some solder in the tip, this needs to be done often to keep a thin layer of solder on the tip. The tinning acts as a conduit for heat transfer. Clean the tip often on the damp whatever you have and re-tin after each cleaning... Depending on the wattage of the iron and the thickness of your solder this can be easy or difficult... Thick solder for sweating copper pipes is not recommended because it removes a lot of heat from the iron... It CAN be used, but it's better to have thinner "electrical" solder.... And "flux core" solder is a good idea as well... Flux it a acid/rosin mix that helps strip impurities from the wire and solder and makes the job LOADS easier... if you don't have flux core solder, little tins of flux can be bought near ANY solder in the store... Now, now that you have your first pair of wires twisted and your iron ready, get set to solder... Tin the iron and give it a quick "flick" toward the floor (doing this in the house in the carpet/vinyl flooring NOT recommended) to remove the excess...Place the tip of the iron on the wire for a few seconds, let the heat rush into the wire, now touch the solder to the iron, right where the iron and the wire meet... If you are hot enough, the solder will melt and start flowing INTO the wire via capillary action... once you see the solder flowing, you can move it (both the solder and the iron) around a little on the wire, feeding in solder until you see the connection is completely silver, remove the heat and let it sit for a few seconds...If done properly, you'll look like this, at this point....Again, I'm sorry, the pics didn't come out so well, but you should get the idea.. There are some things that need to be said right now... 1. When soldering, MORE heat IS better. It allows you to get in, flow the solder, and get out QUICKLY. If you are melting wires, you ARE NOT HOT ENOUGH2. If you can't get the wire hot enough, fast enough, your iron wattage is to SMALL3. The whole time you are doing this the wire is "heat sinking" away heat up the length of the wire, it's all goin
g to get warm/hot, get in, get out, quickly. 4. Soldering irons are DANGEROUS, do not treat them like they are not, they will sizzle skin faster than just about anyhting..5. A soldering iron is your friend, treat is as such and care for it properly, again DO NOT, sand or file a soldering iron. If you find you have stuff on the tip that will not come off when hot, at the MOST, wipe it into some fine steel wool, if that doesn't work, you either need a new tip or a new iron (the better ones have replaceable tips, the cheaper ones don't) 6. A soldering GUN will work, it's just not as easy as an iron, harder to control7. when you are done soldering, unplug it and TIN the tip one last time, leaving the excess in place, it will protect it till next time... Ok, moving on.... make up all of your connections, same as the first.... let it cool.. Now, heat shrink is the best, but GOOD electrical tape works well to, BAD electrical tape is the culprit in MANY units blowing up... BAD tape, gets really stiff when cold and doesn't stick well, bad tape also doesn't stick well when warm/hot, so consider that on a 100* day on the inside of your dash after a 2hr drive with the stereo cranked... I like 3M super 33 tape myself, but as long as it's nice and plyable, it should be fine... Dollar store tape NOT recommended... I have a way of taping that may seem odd to most, but after the first 2 connections, it makes perfect sense.... You pull off about 1-1.5" of tape and set it on the wire, leinght-wise all the way to one edge, like so...Then you fold the short side up and roll that wire like a cig/joint...lol Try to get the tape as tight as possible and it's a GOOD idea to wash your hand prior to this to get as much oils off your fingers to keep it from messing with the adhesive... Ok, you should be looking like this at this point.. Any left over wires and there WILL be some, tape off so they don't short to anyhting and then wrap the wires as such...You have just completed your wiring harness...!!!!!! WHEW... Now, back to the dash kit and the head unit... there ARE many different ways of mounting the HU, this install uses an ISO mount, where the "cage" of the HU is put into the dash kit, the retaining tab are bent into place to hold the cage to the dash kit... then the HU is slid INTO the cage until it locks and a trim ring slides over that to finish the look...Thinking like an installer, I forgot to get a pic of the "cage" mounted to the dash kit, sorry, but it is explained in the install guide that comes with ANY aftermarket head unit, do yourself a favor and read AND understand the instructions on both the install guides of the HU and the dash kit before starting.... Believe it or not, this dash kit was "tricky" for me... Ok, this dash kit also cam with a nice "back brace" which is used to keep the unit from BOUNCING inside the dash, which is important, unless you DON'T like listening to your CDs...There are also, many different ways to back brace a HU, this is just one of course.Well, remember that GM antenna adapter, it's time to find it and plug that in to the antenna wire in the car... you NEED this part or you DON'T hook up your antenna..This is a shot of the kit, sans the HU to show that there ARE alignment pins for the kit to slide over...Now, plug in the harness you just made, take the HU/kit to the car and plug in the HU and the antenna and carefully slide the HU into the dash... This make take a few tries, depending on if you have to bend/move the harness out of the way.. It WILL go.... once you are in and lined up on the alignment pins, REMEMBER my electrical tape trick, for the bolts so you don't end up looking for them for an hour down in the dash, screw her in place... Now, fire up the unit... go straight to the audio settings... fade it all the way forward, then all the way back, leave it all the way back and use the balance control to balance to the left and right... Are all the speakers in the proper places??? Good, YOU DID IT.... If not you need to look at the harness, are all the colors with the black stripes lined up?? Prolly not, re-do and you should be good to go... Grab the trim panel, re-connect all of the panel harnesses, careful with that odd cable thinggee, get the panel in place, remember the tab's at the top they go in first and then the panel pivots down and snaps in and YOU ARE DONE...!!!!!!ENJOY THE SWEET SOUNDS OF NOT PAYING FOR AN INSTALL.... Cheers,Aaron
g to get warm/hot, get in, get out, quickly. 4. Soldering irons are DANGEROUS, do not treat them like they are not, they will sizzle skin faster than just about anyhting..5. A soldering iron is your friend, treat is as such and care for it properly, again DO NOT, sand or file a soldering iron. If you find you have stuff on the tip that will not come off when hot, at the MOST, wipe it into some fine steel wool, if that doesn't work, you either need a new tip or a new iron (the better ones have replaceable tips, the cheaper ones don't) 6. A soldering GUN will work, it's just not as easy as an iron, harder to control7. when you are done soldering, unplug it and TIN the tip one last time, leaving the excess in place, it will protect it till next time... Ok, moving on.... make up all of your connections, same as the first.... let it cool.. Now, heat shrink is the best, but GOOD electrical tape works well to, BAD electrical tape is the culprit in MANY units blowing up... BAD tape, gets really stiff when cold and doesn't stick well, bad tape also doesn't stick well when warm/hot, so consider that on a 100* day on the inside of your dash after a 2hr drive with the stereo cranked... I like 3M super 33 tape myself, but as long as it's nice and plyable, it should be fine... Dollar store tape NOT recommended... I have a way of taping that may seem odd to most, but after the first 2 connections, it makes perfect sense.... You pull off about 1-1.5" of tape and set it on the wire, leinght-wise all the way to one edge, like so...Then you fold the short side up and roll that wire like a cig/joint...lol Try to get the tape as tight as possible and it's a GOOD idea to wash your hand prior to this to get as much oils off your fingers to keep it from messing with the adhesive... Ok, you should be looking like this at this point.. Any left over wires and there WILL be some, tape off so they don't short to anyhting and then wrap the wires as such...You have just completed your wiring harness...!!!!!! WHEW... Now, back to the dash kit and the head unit... there ARE many different ways of mounting the HU, this install uses an ISO mount, where the "cage" of the HU is put into the dash kit, the retaining tab are bent into place to hold the cage to the dash kit... then the HU is slid INTO the cage until it locks and a trim ring slides over that to finish the look...Thinking like an installer, I forgot to get a pic of the "cage" mounted to the dash kit, sorry, but it is explained in the install guide that comes with ANY aftermarket head unit, do yourself a favor and read AND understand the instructions on both the install guides of the HU and the dash kit before starting.... Believe it or not, this dash kit was "tricky" for me... Ok, this dash kit also cam with a nice "back brace" which is used to keep the unit from BOUNCING inside the dash, which is important, unless you DON'T like listening to your CDs...There are also, many different ways to back brace a HU, this is just one of course.Well, remember that GM antenna adapter, it's time to find it and plug that in to the antenna wire in the car... you NEED this part or you DON'T hook up your antenna..This is a shot of the kit, sans the HU to show that there ARE alignment pins for the kit to slide over...Now, plug in the harness you just made, take the HU/kit to the car and plug in the HU and the antenna and carefully slide the HU into the dash... This make take a few tries, depending on if you have to bend/move the harness out of the way.. It WILL go.... once you are in and lined up on the alignment pins, REMEMBER my electrical tape trick, for the bolts so you don't end up looking for them for an hour down in the dash, screw her in place... Now, fire up the unit... go straight to the audio settings... fade it all the way forward, then all the way back, leave it all the way back and use the balance control to balance to the left and right... Are all the speakers in the proper places??? Good, YOU DID IT.... If not you need to look at the harness, are all the colors with the black stripes lined up?? Prolly not, re-do and you should be good to go... Grab the trim panel, re-connect all of the panel harnesses, careful with that odd cable thinggee, get the panel in place, remember the tab's at the top they go in first and then the panel pivots down and snaps in and YOU ARE DONE...!!!!!!ENJOY THE SWEET SOUNDS OF NOT PAYING FOR AN INSTALL.... Cheers,Aaron
