Stereo Installation??

[Guest comeandzpa]

I went up to my crappy little circuit city the other night cause they were having one of their free installation deals if you bought a stereo from them. Naturally, they had nothing that would fit in my Z (81 280ZX) . How am I going to get a stereo in my car? I wouldn't be too upset except that my tape player is broken and so I cant even use an adaptor from my CD player to the stereo. I know that MSA sells a plate that converts the gap to a regular size; does anybody have one of these/know if they are worthwhile? Thanks!

[aviatorx]

...try Crutchfield

 

click here

 

or here for automotive fitment guide

[Guest greimann]

If you want to instal a single DIN style stereo, you are going to have to either make a face plate or buy one. A little surgery on the housing will be required too to open it up.

[BAlford]

Some ideas for you.

 

http://www.waskomtexas.com/zcar

[Guest Aaron]

Finally something I have done. I did this in '91, and I have slept since then, so the details could get sketchy. Remove the center pod that holds the radio from the car. Remove the old radio/tape deck from the pod. I used a piece of 1/8" steel plate (I would not go any thinner because it will flex too much, AL plate would probably be better/easier to work with). Cut the plate to fit the area, then cut the opening for your components. There should be room for a DIN sized head unit, and a 1/2 DIN unit below it, or as I did, a DIN head unit to the left of the pod, and a small EQ (about 1.5†high and 4†wide) to the right with an inch or so separating them. I bent strips of metal as brackets to go from the new faceplate to the factory mounts inside the pod. These were secured to the faceplate with 4 bolts (1 in each corner). It could potentially be welded for a cleaner installation, though I thought the bolt heads looked kind of cool. It was then painted black to match the other areas of the dash. Most head units come with some sort of back strap to secure the rear of the unit. This attached to the braces inside the pod. Don’t leave this out. Your new faceplate will not support the weight of the head unit alone, and a CD will skip very badly. The head unit and any other equipment must be mounted very firmly; it should not be able to move.

 

On another car, I had some strange CD skipping problems, and I guessed that is was caused by vibrations from the car. I fixed them by putting some rubber washers at the connection of the blackstrap to the head unit.