custom hu mounting in a G2 -- any advice??

ASSISTANCE Electrical & Entertainment Systems
1

I have tried and installed several kits with various different decks in my '93 over the past several years and have almost never been completely satisfied. I have come to realize that Scoche kits are a complete joke (poor fitment, weak bracing, etc.). Metra kits are far better but nothing is offered for a double DIN or 2 single DIN mount option. Scoche has a kit like this but the fitment of my DIN cage or radio itself isn’t to my liking and the brace that separates the 2 single DIN cavities is like a piece of plastic spaghetti. Ok then… let’s move on from the kits and into some dialogue regarding custom ideas…

I would like to retain the use of the DIN mounting cage that comes supplied with my radio (Blaupunkt San Francisco). My problem is that without one of these useless trim kits, the tabs on the mounting cage really have nothing to hold on to. I want that cage to be mounted like shxx on a blanket. I have thought about a few ideas and have had advice from a few pros…

Here are some ideas – please let me know if you have better ones or it these help you out…

all of these proposals include the radio upper DIN location with the rear sitting on the dash radio brace and backstrapped to the cross brace…

  1. using the DIN cage and the ISO screws that came with the radio…
    i) mount the cage behind the front of the trim of the dash with the ISO screws by drilling through the cage and through the sides of the metal trim beside the radio cavity.
    ii) this would allow me to push the radio maybe 3/4 of the way into the cage and allow me to ‘control’ the depth of the flush mount
    ii) the radio, cage and backstrap would all be secured exceptionally well
    iii) the face of the radio would be taped off (masked) and Bondo would be applied to fill in the gaps around the face – levelling off right at the front of the trim ring of the deck itself (then it would be sanded and dyed or whatever)

  2. using the DIN cage and ISO screws, the cage itself would be mounted to the side framing of the radio cavity allowing the radio to still be removed with the supplied ‘removal’ keys.

  3. no DIN cage used but instead maybe a 1/4" piece of ABS or aluminum cut to size to hold the front of the hu and a backstrap for support in the rear. I don’t know if I’d need angle brackets behind the face to hold it securely to the trim panel or whether or not the backstrap alone would have enough tension to hold it in firmly…

If you have a nice head unit installed and you DIY’d it without a kit, please let me know what you think of these ideas or assit me with ideas of your own.

Thanks guys!

Andrew
aka neex.

2

hers a pic of mine

it is 1/4 inch black arclyic. I iso mounted the deck and there is no back strap. Its pressure fitted into the stock opening and is a bitch to get in and take out and the screw hold it very vell so it does not need the back strap in my case.

i glued 1/8 inch plexi to the back of the accrlyic and made a cage then drilled holes for the iso mount screws

a router was used to cut this out so that a little could be shaved off so it fit very tight.

if you have question feel free to email me
teg2nv@aol.com

HTH

3

5 hours of fiberglassing and relocating the vent and the heated controles, and i now have a deck in the dash looks good, but i wanna redo it again

4

I replied similarly to Mango’s thread about this, and included a crappy pic.

I retained the basket that came with my deck, as well as the clips that hold the surround. Then I just used metal strapping to hold the deck in place from the sides, it looked like the easiest solution for me and it involved the least modifications to the car (I want to be able to revert it back to stock easily).

It allowed me to place the deck perfectly, and in a year of driving it hasn’t budged at all. I’d assume it’d take a bit of effort to steal as they’d have to smash up a fair bit of the dash trim to get to the screws/strapping.

Is there an issue with the USDM dashes? Even without securing, all the decks I have tried in the car have fit well just resting on the little 1 DIN storage tray, with very little movement.

I thought I had it easy with the teg, I had to hack half my dash in my other car just to make the deck sit flush.