ALright, there is what I'm dealing with, and I'm sure many of you have had the same if not, very similar problem. THe head unit has about a 1/8 gap around it, and it is driving me insane. NOw, I'm not the best at interior design, but what would be the easiest way to get rid of this? Any ideas, or pics that someone has done? I noticed the brushed aluminum which looked good, but I doubt my *** could do that.

PRoblem #2

The power wire... I need to get it from the battery all the way to my trunk to power the amp. I heard you can remove the glovebox and there is a gromit behind there, there is also a hole by the battery above the wheel weld. WHIch is the easiest, and best looking? I mean.. I don't want a big 4 gage wire running under my carpet. I heard the door sills work nicely. Main problem is getting it through that firewall. Once agian.. any suggestions or ideas? I appreciate the help.

THanks.


Damn, we're ****ing up Iraq... and to think, I'll be there on the 1st of April =/

 

They have plastic molds that fit around the HU to cover that 'gap'. Check crutchfield or a local audio store. Should be able to get one pretty cheap too.

As for wiring power .. I'd say that you are probably gonna need to run it under carpet or under the door sill. Check the FW and see if there is an exisiting hold your 4g wire can fit through. If so, push er through and wire to the back. If not, you can drill a hole and push the wire through .. or you can get a rubber stopper thing to seal the hole and then run the wire through it. Try using exisiting hole if possible ..

I'd recommend unbolting the passenger seat and rear seat and then pulling up the carpet and lay the wiring exactly where/how you want. This will allow you to fit it in there perfectly and not haveta work to get the wire under the rear seat.

 

I ran my power wire on the driver's side. There's a plastic boot just above the foot rest, where the hood release wire also runs. I popped that plastic out, drilled a hole through it, and ran the power wire through there.

 

I went through that big rubber boot on the passenger side firewall engine side. I made a little cut (make sure it is little so it will more or less seal around the wire and not stink in the car) in it and rigged up a coat hanger to hold my power wire and used the coat hanger to push it through the little cut and into the car. Then I took the front seat out, the bottom half of the backseat (just pull up on it) and pulled up all the carpet to run the wires back to the trunk.

EDIT: I got gap too, you learn to live with it. Everyone that has been in my car doesnt even suspect there isnt supposed to be one.

 

i ran my power wire through the side of the car in between the body, through the wheel well, into the cabin through the rubber stopper that connects to the door (i just pryed it off, stick the wire through, and put it back on, it kinda sticks out a small bit cause of the wire but....eh), under the door sills, and under the rear seat into the trunk. just open your driver door and look through the body and you'll see what i'm talkin about.

or you could drill a hole somewhere.

 

I couldn't get anything for the trim around my headunit, so I made a brushed aluminum trim (maybe the one you referred to).

Anyway - it wasn't hard. The metal cost $8 at Home Depot and I cut it with my Dremel and a small hacksaw until it fit how I wanted. As for brushing it, that really is just taking a steel brush to it - in this case, I just used a Dremel attachment, but there's no magic to brushing metal.
-N

 

I'm just brainstorming right now, because I'm waiting for my deck to get here... But what if you took a bit of heavier guage speaker wire, one of the ones with a coloured clear sleeve on it, and wrapped it around the deck as close to the dash trim piece as possible. it would give it kind of a cool industrial look with the colour and the braiding of the wire.... Just a thought... What do you guys think?

 

well, I havent tried installing a new HU yet, but have you guys tried painting the trim ring that coems with the HU, to match the dash.. or maybe to match trim colors, or the red of the gauges, etc? it ike look ok.. if you're going for the flush look, i dunno, I'll have to experiment when I strt trying to do that myself... But I feel thet the only HU's that look better flush are ones that have a flat display panel, with no buttons or dials sticking out. If they do, they look just as well with that trim ring 1/8 of an inch out of the dash.

 

what gap just take themetel flanges off the old deck ond bolt it into the new and ajst it till the plastic trim fits snug all the way around.

 

no if u use stock side holders there is a gap if u use the din holder like i did there is no gap but sticks out a bit

 

no gap in mie ad i use the stock ones

 

I wanted to mount mine flush...
Anyone with no gap got pictures?

 

is that too big of a gap for you?

 

not at all.... thats nice.

anyone know if the trim ring that comes with clarion decks will let me mount it nice and flush like rhyzin's?

 

heres what mine looks like .. I dont mind it sticking out a bit. When the face is off its flush and looks as if nothing is there. No gap i believe ..