StevenK

iTrader: (1)

Hello All, just getting back into the site. Now that the car moves again, and my phone no longer has a headphone jack, I needed some better tunes in the beast. I decided on the Pioneer avh-w4500nex for the wireless android auto/carplay features. It has GPS and backup cameras and all that stuff too, should be exciting to get this all in here.

First up, the old Pioneer Premier 930, the best of the best back in the day, time to go buddy



Man that iPod really puts it into perspective. Also note the red carpet the car came with, gross.

Now thanks to one of the amazing members here, @7thdarkangel I was able to get printed the two face plates he is working for us. The prints I have are PLA and minimal fill, while they are strong enough, they will not look completely stock like he is going for, these were just for test fitting and I fully intend to get his final product.

I saw a lot of photos of finished products, but I never saw how people were mounting the head unit, and I wanted to share my red neck engineering with others

Todays post will just start with pulling the old giant pile of wires out, and test fitting the radio and 3d printed bezels


Look at all those wires. I had an amp, so some RCA wires, and then a unit that converted an iPod cable to the CD-Changer. That was a big deal back then.

Giant Pile.

Here is the stock, bottom, location of the radio.

Here is what it took to get the radio to test fit on top. Have to pull the console and remove the metal mount for the A/C. In my opinion, this puts too much stress on the A/C controls, I do not like this option.

This is what it looks like with the radio and the center console still removed.

85Z28NOS

iTrader: (2)

I like the flipped look having the heater controls on the bottom. Moving mine were a bit easier as I had all electronic ones with my digital dash. Love the 3D printed radio plates to allow putting a double din in easier now. I had trouble putting my first pioneer in the car. Had to trim some plastic to get that big unit in there. The little android units are tiny in size and have as many if not more features than my previous units and fit so easily.

StevenK

iTrader: (1)

Just curious, what did you have to trim, the face plate?

Today's post is going to go over the part that was unknown to me, sure I can rest the radio in the hole and test fit, but how do make it stay since there are not kits for this combo. I used my old single din as an example and made some aluminum brackets that had angled holes to allow me to move the radio around to the exact spot I needed.



I started with some really thing aluminum, this was originally from a cheap wall socket box I didn't need. Use thin metal so you can bend, and cut easily. Use a ruler to make sure the radio is centered, then bend the metal so you have more than enough space to reach the center console holes.

Once you have the genera shape, lay it on the radio, make sure there is plenty left over to get to four screws, this piece was just barely wide enough. My bracket is 3 inches wide x 5.5 inches long.

The mount was cut from .025 thick 12x8inch aluminum sheet from Home Depot. Its thicker than what I started with, but still durable.

Put it in the vice and use metal cutters to make your piece.

Here you can see the line I made from my test fit bracket. I left extra on the bracket side and then trimmed it down after test fitting.

Use a board and a vice to make a nice 90 degree bend

Next I took the bracket to the car and got a rough feel for where the holes should be. I actually learned a lesson here. Make sure to put a certain amount of space on the bottom, for example my finger. When I did the right side, I didn't use the same amount of gap at the bottom, which was a mistake.

Here is where I took a lesson from Metro using my old kit

Using a dremel, I then created the holes, ugly as sin, I'm not great with a Dremel

Here it is being test fit on the right side. Notice the holes are not in the right place. I ended up taking my original test aluminum, and then recreated the 2nd bracket using the same steps again. Had I been better about the gaps from the bottom, I suspect the same part should have worked. Also note I will need to trim the edges into a round shape so that it clears the face place mounting holes


Always file down the edges and corners, this will protect your hands during the test fitting

Final part. Overall, not too hard, first time I've ever really made something out of aluminum before

85Z28NOS

iTrader: (2)

I had to dig back in my threads to see if i posted a pic, found it back from 2012 but no pic of what i removed. If memory serves me it was parts of the bracket for the vents out the side of the console on the firebirds and a little of the control mounting as it was higher in the console. Looks like you have room in the Camaro compartment. Next you can see if you like the idea of a back up camera on your thirdgen, haha

StevenK

iTrader: (1)

For sure, backup camera is going to be on the list, I just need to figure out whats the best setup for these cars. I'm also not sure how to hookup the reverse wire so that'll be a "fun" time I'm sure.

StevenK

iTrader: (1)

Next up, I made the bend about equal with the black plastic. I did this because the 3d printed faceplate I havedoes not fit over the larger metal body.

Made some guesses on the holes, turned out alright.

Flush mounted screws from my old radio kit.

Here is a test git. Notice how much lower the right bracket is, this is because I didnt put my finger or something under when making my marks, so it wasn't at the same height as the left one. Did mention this was my first time doing this kind of stuff

During my test fitting, I ended up trimming all of the support metal out that would interfere with the radio moving upwards, this was needed to get the radio high enough to fit into the faceplate.

Test metal marked on the new piece

Right side made

And mounted, I ended up trimming this one to be rounded as well

Reused the harness off of the old radio. I'll probably revisit this to re-enable the remote wire if I ever put an amp back in. The wires are long enough that I can pull the bulk forward below the ashtray instead of trying to pack everything behind the radio

Next up, I have to do some routing of wires in the dash and a-pillar, this required I remove my dash. It has a couple cracks against the front glass, but overall considering the age of the car, its in great shape. Note the slight dimple from the triple gauge pillar.

While pulling the dashpad, this report fell out. 1990. Definitely keeping this in my paperwork bag.

At first I thought the speakers had gone bad from sitting, a visual inspection finds no problems. These are Pioneer 4.6 2-way speakers. I will probably replace them with Infinity Kappa 64CFX 4x6 2-way components in the future. However, with the new radio they light right up and sound great, not sure why the old head unit sounded like trash.

StevenK

iTrader: (1)

Next up, the reason I pulled the dash is this head unit has GPS, and a microphone. At first I was going to ship the mic, but then I realized it was needed for the voice controls. The mic is mounted on my visor and the wire runs up the driver side pillar. The GPS goes right in the middle of the dash pad. All these wires have room to run right down the middle of the dash in to the radio area. Fishing this wires can be a pain, but eventually you will get them to drop in the right place.


In the middle of the dash is a lot of room above the radio, just drop the wires here over and over until you can see them show up in the console.

Here I am pulling the first wire

I wrapped all the extra GPS wire around this foam block, I left enough wire for the GPS to go to the windshield and then back half way up the dash pad

Here is the mic I needed to run up the pillar

Here is the mic clipped on for test fitting the wire length

Again, I wrapped the extra wire on the foam block and dropped the wire down

Now here is the part of thread where we take a small detour. This really isn't Car Audio, but I dont know where else it would go.


Installing my Dash Cam and Radar Detector.
The wire for the head unit microphone goes up the a-pillar, this was the perfect time for me to install the dash camera and radar detector I had from my previous car. Both of these are wired together using tap a fuse, and hard wire / battery saver kits. The detector is a Max 360c, and the Dash Cam is a Street Guardian 2 camera kit.


Plugged in on the floor to make sure everything powers up

Holy mess of wires from the 90s alarm installer. One of my projects is going to be removing this

After you tap the fuses pull the wires to above the hood release and into the trim outside the dash. I ran it on the outside of the trim, there is tons of room.

at the top, clip it to the dash side


Up the a-pillar and then tuck all the extra wires into the head liner

drop the wires down in the middle to test fit

StevenK

iTrader: (1)

Done, but not done. I took the car for a spin and the radio was great. Dash cam video came out clean and it looks great. The radio needs to pull out of the dash more to allow the face plate to open for the CD and memory card access, this will require trimming of the 3d printed part. I've never done that, and I'm not sure I am up to it, so it might stay this way.



I use this for network wire bundling, its really helpful in cars as well.

keeps the wires nice and tight going up the a-pillar, I have a lot of wires here due to the triple gauge pillar

Here is the detector with the mirror mount, and the front dash cam installed. I'm waiting until I can get new back window tint before mounting the back camera

The view from the front

all the wires tucked up

pro-tip, when putting the dashpad screws in, lay a towel down so you don't drop the screws in your carpet

Final mounting, Its hard against the screw holes on both sides and its still a snug fit

to get it in position I had to reach under the radio and push up as I got the screws tight

Final product, Got my new shifter plate and boot from Hawks, as well as the 6-speed sticker.

I also installed a wireless charger for my phone.

I hope you enjoyed my internet ramblings.