How To: Stagea Headunit/stereo Removal

[AlexCim]

Thanks to STAGE-A for the wiring

12V ------- Brown with white stripe

Ignition -------- light blue with yellow stripe

Lights -------- Red with blue stripe

Earth -------- Just use the stereo metal brackets

and heres the speaker connection wires (stagea s1 at least)

left front ---- blue (+) black with white stripe (-)

right front ---- brown (+) black with red stripe (-)

left rear ----- mint green (+) black with yellow stripe (-)

right rear ---- orange (+) black with pink stripe (-)

Useful tip guys and girls:

Always use a circuit tester as opposed to a test light, and always be very careful when doing so!

Test lights, when used incorrectly, have been known to trigger air-bags, leading to a hell of a lot of wasted cash and a big clean-up, not to mention any personal injury that may occur when a bag goes off while you're in such close proximity to the dash and/or the steering wheel.

The force and speed at which an air-bag inflates is not something you'd really want to experience first hand.

Tip if your hookin up a DVD playa as i did and want to be able to play when your driving (not just when you have the foot brake on) simply connect the hand brake wire from the deck with the earth wire from the deck and earth them both together. simple!! WARNING technically this is illegal and im not advising you to do this if your screen is in the front.

So lets get started ripping that sucker out!

Pull out the ash tray and remove the screw from behind it

Remove all your stuff from your centre console.

Stick in the screw driver here. You can also pull from the indent thing where you put things, pull up. Make sure the car is not in park, otherwise it wont come out. I just put it in N or something

Now that your console is off, unplug the ciggie lighter plugs from the back of it

Edited January 2, 2006 by AlexCim

[AlexCim]

Move the console off to the side, no need to unplug anything. I have extra stuff down there (hi/low boost switch)

If you have two hands, i didnt (camera) put the screw driver in the two locations. Put them pretty deep so that they get behind the vent.

The vent will just pop off once you have done that

Remove the screws that hold the stereo surround on. Also there are some clips. On my car, they were really loose and easy to pop off

It will just slide off now.

There are screws under the above the frame of the units. Make sure you remove the lower ones first. be careful not to drop any. If you do, when you remove the whole unit you will be able to grab them. Once the screws are out, the unit will drop a bit. Its fine, dont get scared.

The unit will now just drop off.

Pull it out and do what is desired

Screws for the stuff are on the side. When you remove things there are also "indents" that hold the units in. You MAY need to flex the frame a little to pull anything out (i was like wtf when i had to remove my DIN slot)

To reinstall, follow the reverse. All the screws are the same, so dont worry about mixing them up.

Good luck. I cant offer wrie diagrams as i didnt install the headunit myself, maybe someone else can post them here and ill update the post.

[ICE12]

Great post Alex

Cheeers ICE

[muck]

thanks alex.. worked a treat

[Sydneykid]

See the 4 way (hazard) flasher switch, top right of the picture. if you flick that out you can get your finger behind the vent and push it out, doesn't leave marks like the screwdriver can.

cheers

[AMS]

Good work AlexCim!

[sy300]

I have the factory stereo installed and found that the surround was screwed to the stereo frame at the bottom on each side.

I had to remove the unit with the surround attached, then unscrew the surround from the unit.

[-FUZZY-]

Do l seriously have to do all that to put an fm convertor thingy in so l can listen to australian FM stations?

if so damn.......l think l better start backing up some of my cd's, or add more songs to my Iriver.

Edited August 28, 2005 by NRGIZD

[AlexCim]

Man, do aftermarket headunit.

Decent JVC mp3 headunit like mine is only ~$200-250

[AMS]

Hey Guys,

Sorry to post here, but I'm having a bit of trouble getting the rear speakers out...Cant remove the mesh cover thingy, any suggestions? Need some help pretty quick guys. I know it has clips on it, I have already broken 2! Any help would be appreciated.

Cheers,

Chris

[Terminal]

take the door panel off, the mesh doesn't come out. there is a screw behind the handle, and another in the armrest. it should just pop off

[AMS]

thanks champ. I'll have a go now

[illusiVe]

thats not tooo bad to get install wise.. great write up

my mazda626 (88) was a bitch about 20 screws lol..

[AlexCim]

Ditto with the door removal.

Havnt done it myself yet, but going by how i did to my celsior, it will be exactly the same.

Thanks for the comments, good to see this helps people out

[Terminal]

i've completely rewired and reinstalled all speakers/splits/tweaters and also installed a sub box in the boot, so i know how the stagea pulls apart. if anyone needs help give me a buzz

[-FUZZY-]

i've completely rewired and reinstalled all speakers/splits/tweaters and also installed a sub box in the boot, so i know how the stagea pulls apart. if anyone needs help give me a buzz

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

x2 here!!

even know how to get 0 guage wiring through the firewall!!

Back speaker set up is awesome ... fronts were a pain as hoped not to have to make a custom pod behind the skin, but either way came up looking good (and still stock!! )

[Terminal]

hehe, 0 gauge. i only used 4 gauge for mine, goes through the drivers side qtr panel to the battery, and all the way to the boot behind the seats

[AMS]

lol Im using 8 gauge...Dont even get me started on how I got it through the firewall! Taking doortrims off is easy as piss Thankgod

[STAGE-A]

k im just installing my head unit so i'll post up the wires from the wiring harness as i go .. so far

12V ------- Brown with white stripe

Ignition -------- light blue with yellow stripe

Lights -------- Red with blue stripe

Earth -------- Just use the stereo metal brackets

Id advise still using a circuit tester just to ensure yours are the same as mine before you hook up your head unit, if unsure how to check just pm me.

Tip ..With these ones always use female connectors, incase the connection becomes loose the "hot" wire will always be insulated.

Ive installed my boost guage at the same time making it easy to use the same connections.

I'll post up the speaker connections as i do em ... unless anyone knows em and can post em up an save me some time too

Lee

k heres the speaker connection wires (stagea s1 at least)

left front ---- blue (+) black with white stripe (-)

right front ---- brown (+) black with red stripe (-)

left rear ----- mint green (+) black with yellow stripe (-)

right rear ---- orange (+) black with pink stripe (-)

Tip if your hookin up a DVD playa as i did and want to be able to play when your driving (not just when you have the foot brake on) simply connect the hand brake wire from the deck with the earth wire from the deck and earth them both together. simple!! WARNING technically this is illegal and im not advising you to do this if your screen is in the front.

Lee

Edited January 1, 2006 by STAGE-A

[GoldZilla]

Useful tip guys and girls:

Always use a circuit tester as opposed to a test light, and always be very careful when doing so!

Test lights, when used incorrectly, have been known to trigger air-bags, leading to a hell of a lot of wasted cash and a big clean-up, not to mention any personal injury that may occur when a bag goes off while you're in such close proximity to the dash and/or the steering wheel.

The force and speed at which an air-bag inflates is not something you'd really want to experience first hand.

Cheers,

Nick T.