Hello.

Want to install a new headunit but am wondering how much hassle it will be.

Are there any obvious routes/channels that I should look out for, or is just just a case of finding an appropriate grommet, and shoving an extra cable through?

Thanks,
Chris.

What model is it?
U should only need to uprate the power cable to the HU if u intend to give it some serious punishment! normally the standard power allready wired in should be fine.

If you've got a 200, 25 or zr there should be a gromment under the header tank which you can ram a cable through.

Yes, sorry, it's a ZR! Should have mentioned that really.


I'm not sure how thick the original wiring is, as I haven't had a chance to look yet, but when I had the h/u in my previous car, I had to feed an extra cable through, as the standard one looked woefully inadequate.

I'll have a proper look at the weekend, and keep an eye out for that grommet under the header tank.

Thanks,
Chris.

IT might look inadequate, but it takes feeds from your ignition too. That littl wire can power 4 speakers quite well :) YOu risk burning out your head unit using a higher drawing cable. If you want to make it louder inside, i would consider amping the speakers that you've got and a sub.
All IMO :bgrin:
Ste

Changing the Head-Unit on the MG ZR is simply a "Plug and Play" job. Simply slide the old one out, swap the cages over, connect the new one, and slide it in....

It's that simple...

When I saw the car on the forecourt, it didn't have a stereo fitted, and it looked like a standard ISO fitting.

However, with the Alpine headunit I've got the arrangement of the wires seems to be slightly different, and has a permanent live wire seperate to the two connector blocks.

By the sounds of things, my best plan is to locate the permanent live wire, cut it from the connector block and reattach it to the seperate wire. :)

Should be nice and easy.

A decent feed to your hu is a worthwhile mod, especially on the Alpine's as there onboard amps are quite powerful so tend to have quite a high current draw.

If you take a feed off the battery though make sure it's fused as close as possible to the batt.

Yeah the built-in amp is pretty powerful for a h/u amp (60W per channel).

Think I'll run a new live through.

Thanks for the advice.

I also have an Alpine HU (60w per channel), due to the large internal amp you definately need it to be wired direct to the battery, as Nathan said make sure you put a fuse in very close to the battery, but make sure it's easily accessable in case you need to change it.

Wire it direct off the +ve on the battery or if easier wire to the +ve of your electrics box next to the battery.

The passenger side of the car seems to be more forgiving for space, so look for a way through there, depending on what model you have, if you have air con there should be a plastic pipe running through the bulkhead which allows a wire to be passed next to it, make sure you check the grommet has sprung back into place correctly or you'll endup with a wet carpet. :beer:

Nope, don't have aircon, but I'm sure there'll be somewhere to get the live through.

I've got the model down from your h/u, the CDA 7893 R, and I love it! :D

Me to, it's a good unit, has every thing you need and looks the dogs :cus:

Gets a bit confusing though when you've got 150 tracks in ten folders and you can't remember what you put where :doh:

Uh huh.

The ID3 tag is great!

See your song titles scrolling across the screen as you're driving along!

I've got my entire CD collection converted to mp3 now too! 15GB worth. Aaaah. :)

The ID3 thing is doing my head in, spent four hours one day sorting out all my tags, put the disk in and half the :cus: tags are screwed up and i'm getting bizarre names :confused:

Heck.

It's only a basic tag, so it won't support any special characters.

You can download software that writes ID3 tags for you, based on the filename. It's called mp3tagedit.

You can get it here:

http://www.dilawri.com/software/MP3TagEdit/default.asp?ver=23

Splendid.

Just downloaded it, i will try that later.

Got my last one from www.download.com it has worked on some of the tracks though :confused:

had a good route around under the dashboard last night and found a perfect hole that was blanked off with a grommet.

The down side is that it's right over on the driver's side, but I can't see that as a big problem.

Gonna buy cable + fuse holder this afternoon and hopefully fit the unit tonight.

Job done. :)

Installed the new unit last night, and it worked first time!

I'm becoming quite competent at this stereo install lark. :)

Glad to hear it went well.

Don't ever rush a job though, take your time, plan it well and you'll find it so much easier in the long run.

;)

Yeah, I planned it so that it started raining and went dark as soon as I started! :D

:lol: :lol: :lol:

Yeah, laugh it up fuzzball!

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

I bet the standard speakers aren't going to last too long with the new headunit in!

I just need to convince my girlfriend that she needs my sub installed in the boot now aswell!

Get the speakers done asap.

Is it easy to replace the standard ones?

Can I buy a set of components that will fit snuggly in the existing mounting holes? :)

They are easy to replace, but, you need spacer rings to attach them to the doors properly. Most 6 1/2" components will fit no problem, but watch out for where you will mount the crossovers, some attach to the back of the door cards, some put them in the footwells, it's all down to personal taste.

Most people just take out the existing speakers and make an MDF spacer the same shape as the standard fitting (depth to your own requirement), fix the speaker the MDF, then attach the whole assembly to the door. I did this, it's a bit of a pain but the only way i'm a fraid.

There are several posts on this i think, with some diagrams, have a hunt round, i would but i'm at work and would be shot if caught surfing :toastie:

My advice would be find some components, then take it from there.

Argh. Sounds complicated! :S

I'll hunt around for some examples.

Thanks,
Chris.

Originally posted by christaylor
Argh. Sounds complicated! :S

I'll hunt around for some examples.

Thanks,
Chris.

Did you find any?

Yeah I did actually, and I was right!

Lemme see if I can find them again...

Follow this link for a pretty useful guide:

http://www.nn-y.co.uk/car/zr105/ICEInstall.htm

:)

wow - lots of work, lol ...... thanks for digging it up - i wonder if all the cutting out was because of the speakers being non standard size or something? Mebee the 820s are different, im sure they were round.

yeah, I think the standard speakers have unusual fittings, so you need to make an adapter mount to fit aftermarket ones. Typical.