Problem fitting head-unit

[Petros 0]

Apologies up front if this is a stupid/frequently asked question but...

 

I have a JVC LHX601 head unit that I'd like to put into my Corrado. I claim absolutely no expertise in ICE, but I installed and removed the unit from my previous car, so I'm not totally incompetent (I hope!) :-)

 

Anyway, the unit doesn't seem to want to fit into the C. There are a ton of trailing wires coming from the back of the unit that I have, as best I can, managed to tuck out of the way, after removing large chunks of the passenger side dash trim. Even with the wiring pushed as far out of the way as possible, the unit will not sit flush with the dash, its sticking out at least a cm or two. It feels like the stereo is pushed up against something solid - probably the metal support shelf.

 

My questions are; do head units come in wildly different sizes? Will the unit I have simply not fit the C? Can the metal 'shelf' that the head unit should rest on be safely hacked about to make the unit fit?

 

(Or is there someone local-ish I who can help me?!?)

[Guest]

all the units I have dealt with have been a pretty standard size.

 

I think you'll probably get longer units nowadays, what with all the screens etc they add to them, but I couldn't tell you if this is one.

 

can you get behind and feel if the strut is hitting the back of the unit?

 

It could be a wire/cable pinched in there, A wire/cable snagged and holding it, or several other things.

 

best/simplest thing to do would be measure the unit against the depth to the strut, and see if it fits.

 

my guess would be that its something blocking it, as they are usually pretty standard lengths

[Guest]

here ya go

 

Dimensions: 157 x 50 x 178mm.

Weight: 2.5 Kg.

Size code: DIN

 

get ya tape measure out, or compare it with a unit that fits

[Kevin Bacon 5]

Yeah DIN is DIN.... the part of the unit that sits inside the dash has to be the same size as Dave's dimensions above or they can't sell it as a DIN unit and all h/us are either DIN, or double DIN. I haven't yet seen anything wildly different from that apart from specialist kit.

 

The bit that pokes past the dash (face plate, screen etc) can be as big as it likes!

 

Unfortuntately space is tight in the C and it butts up against the heater duct permanently, so h/us tend to run hot in Rados!

 

I would drop the passenger shelf and pull the wires down through the gap at the back until it slots in. I've installed 5 different H/Us in mine and they all went in - eventually!!

[Petros 0]

Thanks for the quick replies folks, much appreciated.

 

I'll measure it up once I'm home and check that its a suitable size (tho from reading the comments, I'm pretty sure it will fit 'on paper')

 

Assuming it measures up I'll have another go at fitting it and pulling the wires through.

 

Like I said, I'm no expert - I didn't know if head unit were standardised sizes or just made roughly the same shape, and I didn't want to waste a whole weekend trying to fit a quart into a pint pot :-)

[Petros 0]

Thinking ahead now... assuming that I can get the head-unit fitted, next thing I'll need to do is wire up a DAB arial. These are typically an L-shaped wire loop embedded in stick-backed plastic.

 

On my last motor, I had the arial in the top left-hand corner of the windscreen, with the cable routed up the A-pillar.

 

How much of the dash am I likely to have to remove to get a cable from the back of the head unit to the left-hand A-pillar?

 

(PS, don't worry, I've worked out that I should at least connect the arial lead to the back of the unit before fitting it - I doubt I'm going to want to fit the head twice given the grief 've had with it already!)

[Guest]

I'm sure you'll find it was a mischievious cable getting in the way mate, but good luck :)

 

as for removing he A-Pillar, i've never had to, so have no idea

[bcstudent 0]

Are you sure the depth of the head unit is covered in the DIN specification? I'm gonna have to go and look that up! I wouldn't be surprised if the DIN standard only covers the slot height and width or something stupid.

 

* EDIT *

 

The "dimensions of the installation space for a car radio and its electrical connections" would appear to be standardised in DIN ISO 7736:1984 but everywhere wants to charge $29 for the pleasure of reading it. Gits.

[Guest]

well the details/dimensions I posted above were for the headunit, not the space :)

[Petros 0]

Just measured up, and its exactly 157x50x178, so in theory it should fit perfectly.

 

I'll have a good stab at this over the weekend and post back my results/horror stories :-)

[Kevin Bacon 5]

Are you sure the depth of the head unit is covered in the DIN specification? I'm gonna have to go and look that up! I wouldn't be surprised if the DIN standard only covers the slot height and width or something stupid.

 

As mentioned ealier, I've tried 5 different units in mine and the cases were all exactly the same width, height and depth. There is as much freedom as you like, within reason, for the exposed part of the stereo, but the main unit has to comply to those DIN dimensions, or it's classed as something else. Can't remember what tho.

[Petros 0]

Hey folks, took a little longer than planned to get round to this, but tried again & with a little perseverance managed to get everything fitted perfectly. No DAB arial yet, but I now know that I can take the head in and out without too much bother so I'll get round to that some other time!

 

Managed to track down & cure a rattle that had been driving me nuts at the same time, so time well spent by all accounts :-)

 

Thanks to everyone who contributed, your advice was really helpful.