Intro + After market stereo Q

[GBPaterson]

Hi all,

First of all I'd like to say hi! Having just moved to Calif and got myself a 98 M Roadster (S52) in excelent condition (well maintained, 62k miles) to knock around in.

Always been a huge roadster fan, used to have a 06 MX-5 (NC) in the UK but it lacked the horses that I truly sought after!

Anyway, ended up here as I have spent the last 3 days researching pretty much every aspect of the Z3 M and almost always seem to end up on here.

So, with a running-like-new stock 98 M Roadster, here I am. My plans for the car? Well being in California its a bit tricky (damn CARB emissions) but lets just say Dinan all the way for under the hood. Not sure for the rest, will watch on here and keep an eye for good ideas and suggestions. Dinan seems to offer the whole package but I don't really want to be limited to just one company as it kind of removes the ability to be unique.

Anyway on to my first ever question...

First thing I wanted to do was replace the stock tape deck. Having ploughed through the forums here I ordered up the head unit, the wiring harness and the antenna adapter. Also read up on the whole oem amp bypassing e.t.c.

What I'm trying to figure is much more simple though; do I require a bezel / DIN sleeve / pocket to fit the stereo in? I have the stock system (non-HK) but my measurements would lead me to think that the stock system is a little larger than standard DIN measurements. If so, is there a good one to use, crutchfield do a universal one but the word universal scares me a little since that lends me to think it would not take into account any specific peculiarities of the Z3 M.

So hopefully a quick answer from the many who seem to have done this already, but not something I was able to easily identify from the forum searches.

So, to re-iterate, for my standard 1 DIN aftermarket stereo should I get some kind of mounting kit or should it attach straight in (using the appropraite harness / antenna adapter.)

That's it! Please don't flame me if this has been answered before, I genuinely have tried searching for an answer on this in here and can't seem to get a direct yes/no. In my support I hadn't even ordered the harness or antenna adapter until I read here

All the best,

Gareth

[bhurley]

Gareth,
I bought an Alpine unit from crutchfields and it came with everything I needed the alpine unit slips in with a little gap al the way around, but it looks great.
http://i245.photobucket.com/albums/g...3/P8120025.jpg

The wiring harness is about 10 wires that you hook up to the new head unit and that plugs into the car. This gives you the ability to replace the old one if you sell.

Crutchfields also has a great tech support if you run into trouble.

Let me know if you have any questions.

Good luck Bill

[dkindig]

I just installed an Alpine CDA-9833 and it fits the DIN opening perfectly. I was able to mount the black piece that goes in the disable switch on the back using an existing mounting hole on the back of the Alpine.

I used a Metra adaptor that bypasses the existing amp and ran new wiring for my components (mid-range, tweeter). I did this since the amp puts out a REAL 26W per channel as opposed to the inflated numbers for the car's amp (Alpine V-Drive head unit).

I'm running the head unit in active crossover mode (front left/right to the tweeters and rear left/right to the mid-range). This gives me 26W PER DRIVER and I can hear it distortion-free at 70MPH with the top down.

All I have left to do now is sort out the mid-range mounting (drivers will have to be surface-mounted on the kick-panels due to clearance issues) and run a 10-gauge power lead from the battery to the head unit. The V-Drive amp requires a more serious power lead to run at its best.