new HU can't be pushed back enough
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Joined: Sep 2009
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new HU can't be pushed back enough
hey guys, I got this HU from crutchfield
http://www.crutchfield.com/p_070XHD6425/Du...25.html?tp=5684
so i wired up everything and everything works, but I am having a world of trouble trying to push the unit back far enough to secure it with the stock screws. I think it's the extra wires in the back that's taking up space, but I am not sure.
the HU came with a crutchfield adapter so I didn't have to do any splicing, but that meant wires got longer, and there is an extra adapter about the same size as the stock on for the stock adapter to plug into, taking up space. Did you guys have to remove the entire dash to organize the wires as you push in the new HU? I really don't want to go to a shop to get this done because the new HU installation is basically done, everything is wired up and working.
thanks for any help. pretty frustrated at this point.
http://www.crutchfield.com/p_070XHD6425/Du...25.html?tp=5684
so i wired up everything and everything works, but I am having a world of trouble trying to push the unit back far enough to secure it with the stock screws. I think it's the extra wires in the back that's taking up space, but I am not sure.
the HU came with a crutchfield adapter so I didn't have to do any splicing, but that meant wires got longer, and there is an extra adapter about the same size as the stock on for the stock adapter to plug into, taking up space. Did you guys have to remove the entire dash to organize the wires as you push in the new HU? I really don't want to go to a shop to get this done because the new HU installation is basically done, everything is wired up and working.
thanks for any help. pretty frustrated at this point.
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Joined: May 2001
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From: Indian Land SC
There's no doubt it's a tight fit. Try to get the wires UNDER the head unit.
In the past I've used a long screwdriver or other stiff but thin tool to hold or pull the wires down towards the tunnel while the HU is put in. You can slide the tool into the slots that are cut into the plastic below where the HU slides in, that way you can fiddle with the wires without getting in the way of the HU.
In the past I've used a long screwdriver or other stiff but thin tool to hold or pull the wires down towards the tunnel while the HU is put in. You can slide the tool into the slots that are cut into the plastic below where the HU slides in, that way you can fiddle with the wires without getting in the way of the HU.
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Joined: Sep 2009
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hey guys thanks for the replies. I actually got things to fit another way, thanks to ace123! I actually pulled the stock adapter and after market adapter out of the small opening ace123 talked about, connect the two, then connect to HU, then push in HU while letting back in as little wire as possible into that cramped spot. ace123's tip is reproduced below. One question though, there was i think two small strands of wire plugged into a very small adapter taped to the stock adapter that I had to disconnect to pull the stock adapter out. does anyone know what those two or 1 strand of wire do? I just wanna make sure they are not terribly important
The fun part: I pushed it in most of the way. Didn't go. I let it slide out just a bit, then stuck my hand in from behind -- I tried to find a pic:
http://www.xlevelonline.com/img/forums/con...stall_after.jpg
In the top right are of the picture, just above the net there is that odd triangular shaped piece of panel. On the DRIVER's side, I was able to put my hand up behind that panel and sneak it around odd bits of metal. I then could use fingers to tug the wires when the HU was pushed in pretty far. There will be empty space for wires UNDER the adapter and HU, so if you can get your hand in there, try to push the wires around the HU that way so they don't just bunch behind it. If you can't get your hand in there, you could probably use a piece of coat hanger or something like that, get it in through that hole and somehow or another wrapped around the wires before putting the HU in, and use that to manipulate the wires. I used my hand, but this is where I got a few cuts. There are some pretty rough metal edges back there, so be careful. I'm a 6'2 guy 165 lbs, so my hands aren't particularly small if you're wondering.
The fun part: I pushed it in most of the way. Didn't go. I let it slide out just a bit, then stuck my hand in from behind -- I tried to find a pic:
http://www.xlevelonline.com/img/forums/con...stall_after.jpg
In the top right are of the picture, just above the net there is that odd triangular shaped piece of panel. On the DRIVER's side, I was able to put my hand up behind that panel and sneak it around odd bits of metal. I then could use fingers to tug the wires when the HU was pushed in pretty far. There will be empty space for wires UNDER the adapter and HU, so if you can get your hand in there, try to push the wires around the HU that way so they don't just bunch behind it. If you can't get your hand in there, you could probably use a piece of coat hanger or something like that, get it in through that hole and somehow or another wrapped around the wires before putting the HU in, and use that to manipulate the wires. I used my hand, but this is where I got a few cuts. There are some pretty rough metal edges back there, so be careful. I'm a 6'2 guy 165 lbs, so my hands aren't particularly small if you're wondering.
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Originally Posted by modifry,Dec 11 2009, 10:02 AM
There's no doubt it's a tight fit. Try to get the wires UNDER the head unit.
In the past I've used a long screwdriver or other stiff but thin tool to hold or pull the wires down towards the tunnel while the HU is put in. You can slide the tool into the slots that are cut into the plastic below where the HU slides in, that way you can fiddle with the wires without getting in the way of the HU.
In the past I've used a long screwdriver or other stiff but thin tool to hold or pull the wires down towards the tunnel while the HU is put in. You can slide the tool into the slots that are cut into the plastic below where the HU slides in, that way you can fiddle with the wires without getting in the way of the HU.
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lecter sent me a message asking me if there was a trick to getting the HU to fit in the dash. Unfortunately, if there is a really easy trick, I haven't found it, but I did manage to get it in without too much trouble. Here's the full PM I sent him:
Originally Posted by ace123,PM to lecter255
I'll be adding a 4 channel amp over xmas, so I'm going to have to go back in there and stuff a pair of RCAs in and see if I can get it back into place. It's tight! I never did find a great "trick," and I did cut my hands up a bit before all was said and done, but here's what I did to get it working...
The first thing I did was splice all my wires. I used the harness that came with modifry's DCI, which is basically the same as your crutchfield harness. Because the fit is so tight, it's nice to be able to squish, smash, and pull on the wires, so if you crimp everything, test it at this point by pulling pretty firmly on each wire to make sure nothing will pull out of the crimps and disconnect if the wires are tugged on. I was glad I did this--some of them came out pretty easy and I had to redo them. Better they came out now than after I get everything to fit!
Also, if you can shorten the harness wires from their original length it's less stuff to cram in and will make your day MUCH easier. I didn't but almost needed to. Connect it and see how much wire length you need. If you have to, redo the harness with the wire lenght shorter (meaning hook it up, measure and mark the needed length, then recut and resplice). Just make sure you can pull the HU completely out and connect the harness at the length you choose.
So at this point I had the HU connected to the harness, and all that was left was to clip the HU into the factory clip, plug in the antenna, and mount it. Then I took the factory HU out.
Just as you found, that's all very easy.
Next thing: You have the DIN sleeve like this, right?
I assume you did, and you probably put it in where it goes and found that the plastic in the S2000 that it's supposed to interface with is ridiculously soft and flexible. The engineers cheated and used the bolts on either side of the HU to mount it, but there's no way that will work for a lot of HUs, including the one I bought. That's a problem I didn't fix--I made the sleeve work.
I bent the tabs on that sleeve to get it as tight as I could WITHOUT the radio anywhere nearby. Once this was done, I connected the HU to the factory harness and radio antenna (not mounted yet) and powered everything up. I tested everything with the radio hanging because it's a PITA to get it in and I didn't want to find out my LR channel wasn't connected after the fact.
The fun part: I pushed it in most of the way. Didn't go. I let it slide out just a bit, then stuck my hand in from behind -- I tried to find a pic:
In the top right are of the picture, just above the net there is that odd triangular shaped piece of panel. On the DRIVER's side, I was able to put my hand up behind that panel and sneak it around odd bits of metal. I then could use fingers to tug the wires when the HU was pushed in pretty far. There will be empty space for wires UNDER the adapter and HU, so if you can get your hand in there, try to push the wires around the HU that way so they don't just bunch behind it. If you can't get your hand in there, you could probably use a piece of coat hanger or something like that, get it in through that hole and somehow or another wrapped around the wires before putting the HU in, and use that to manipulate the wires. I used my hand, but this is where I got a few cuts. There are some pretty rough metal edges back there, so be careful. I'm a 6'2 guy 165 lbs, so my hands aren't particularly small if you're wondering.
After trying to do it this way, it took me about 4-5 separate approaches (~15 minutes this way, ~1 hour of trying total) to finally get it right. I found through trial and error how to preposition the wires the best way and that did help. I used a fair bit of force to get the radio to clip into the sleeve, and that's how I got it to stay into place. Without the sleeve it wouldn't have worked. So get that sleeve in firmly.
I wish I had a trick to share, but that's what I did! Total PITA, but completely worth it a few weeks after.
The first thing I did was splice all my wires. I used the harness that came with modifry's DCI, which is basically the same as your crutchfield harness. Because the fit is so tight, it's nice to be able to squish, smash, and pull on the wires, so if you crimp everything, test it at this point by pulling pretty firmly on each wire to make sure nothing will pull out of the crimps and disconnect if the wires are tugged on. I was glad I did this--some of them came out pretty easy and I had to redo them. Better they came out now than after I get everything to fit!
Also, if you can shorten the harness wires from their original length it's less stuff to cram in and will make your day MUCH easier. I didn't but almost needed to. Connect it and see how much wire length you need. If you have to, redo the harness with the wire lenght shorter (meaning hook it up, measure and mark the needed length, then recut and resplice). Just make sure you can pull the HU completely out and connect the harness at the length you choose.
So at this point I had the HU connected to the harness, and all that was left was to clip the HU into the factory clip, plug in the antenna, and mount it. Then I took the factory HU out.
Just as you found, that's all very easy.
Next thing: You have the DIN sleeve like this, right?
I assume you did, and you probably put it in where it goes and found that the plastic in the S2000 that it's supposed to interface with is ridiculously soft and flexible. The engineers cheated and used the bolts on either side of the HU to mount it, but there's no way that will work for a lot of HUs, including the one I bought. That's a problem I didn't fix--I made the sleeve work.
I bent the tabs on that sleeve to get it as tight as I could WITHOUT the radio anywhere nearby. Once this was done, I connected the HU to the factory harness and radio antenna (not mounted yet) and powered everything up. I tested everything with the radio hanging because it's a PITA to get it in and I didn't want to find out my LR channel wasn't connected after the fact.
The fun part: I pushed it in most of the way. Didn't go. I let it slide out just a bit, then stuck my hand in from behind -- I tried to find a pic:
In the top right are of the picture, just above the net there is that odd triangular shaped piece of panel. On the DRIVER's side, I was able to put my hand up behind that panel and sneak it around odd bits of metal. I then could use fingers to tug the wires when the HU was pushed in pretty far. There will be empty space for wires UNDER the adapter and HU, so if you can get your hand in there, try to push the wires around the HU that way so they don't just bunch behind it. If you can't get your hand in there, you could probably use a piece of coat hanger or something like that, get it in through that hole and somehow or another wrapped around the wires before putting the HU in, and use that to manipulate the wires. I used my hand, but this is where I got a few cuts. There are some pretty rough metal edges back there, so be careful. I'm a 6'2 guy 165 lbs, so my hands aren't particularly small if you're wondering.
After trying to do it this way, it took me about 4-5 separate approaches (~15 minutes this way, ~1 hour of trying total) to finally get it right. I found through trial and error how to preposition the wires the best way and that did help. I used a fair bit of force to get the radio to clip into the sleeve, and that's how I got it to stay into place. Without the sleeve it wouldn't have worked. So get that sleeve in firmly.
I wish I had a trick to share, but that's what I did! Total PITA, but completely worth it a few weeks after.
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