Removing Stereo and Replacing It Inside the Dashboard:

This procedure is not for factory stereos (obviously). This procedure will probably work only on cars that do not have cup holders in-between the 2nd and 3rd vents in the dash, but who knows, it will probably work if you take the cup holders out. First things first, remove your CD/tape player from it's current location in the middle console. There should be 4 screws around the outside of the installation kit. Next, remove the black dashboard vent cover. To remove this, just carefully pull it towards you and the retaining clips will pop out. When this vent cover is off, you will notice your three vents exposed; two on the left and the far right one towards the passenger door. Now you can see the space in-between the 2nd and 3rd vent. And that space is where we are going to put your CD player. Take your CD player steel positioning cage ( the piece that slides over the CD player that has a bunch of prongs that you press down to lock it in place) and place it in the middle of the 2nd and 3rd vent. Take a marker and trace around the cage. now we have a guideline to follow when we cut the hole. This is the only hard part, finding the tool that will cut through that small space deep enough to insert the whole CD player. I work at a detail shop, so the tools were easily available. I used a small pneumatic circular saw that is hooked to a air compressor. Another tool that can get the job done is a hand held horizontal JIG SAW. Take the saw and carefully cut along the line that was drawn around the cage. Once you get through the front then you can cut in different directions to make the process easier! Just keep cutting a little bit and then place the steel cage and or CD player up to the hole to see if it is big enough yet. As you cut through the front wall you will notice the black air vent leading to the far right (3rd) air vent. You will need to cut through this until a steel piece is exposed. I found it easier to remove the glove box to gain access underneath the dash. Once the hole is big enough for the CD player to fit in snugly, take the factory plug that was hooked up to the back of your CD player and pull it out from the old stereo compartment up to the back of the hole you've cut. It doesn't look like it will reach, but trust me it DOES! Along with the factory plug, don't forget to pull the antenna cord as well. Now, place the steel cage into the hole and push down on the securing tabs to lock the cage into position. Pull the factory plug and antenna cord through the cage. Now, insert your CD player into it's cage while connecting your plugs!! There you have it! After Your CD player is in and running, you can now take your black vent cover and jig saw a hole, the size of your CD face, in the front of it. I chose to leave a tiny bit of the cover on the top of the CD player there so it looks good. For the big gaping hole now in your middle console, I removed the face of the old stereo kit, heater part only, and hooked it up to my heater controls. On the sides of the kit there are two screw holes that match up perfectly to the top left and right screw holes of the old CD player face kit. I took the heater controls and just simply moved them up to the top where your CD player used to be. Then I sawed off the old heater control box where they used to be. After this is all done, you should have your heater controls where your CD player used to be and a convenient shelf/box to put things in underneath the heater controls. I chose to fill the hole with a 3 guage chrome console that has oil pressure, voltmeter, and water temp gauges on it. If you don't get any ooohhss and ahhhhhsss from this then something is definitely wrong with them! I can send pics in a while of both the CD player in the new position and the heater controls in their new position once they are developed. Any questions or comments, contact me at ChippedTeeth@hotmail.com - 32nd member. Thanks, I hope you all try this at home!

Webmaster Note: If you wanted to leave your headunit in its stock location, you could still use this procedure to put an equalizer or something else in the grill area.