First, a huge thanks to Mo for cutting a piece of plastic last week and to everyone on Mud that's posted anything about radio installs and removal. Finally put my Uniden 520 in the dash.
I had a single din radio put in a little while ago and watched the installer like a hawk during the installation preparing for this. They had originally put in a single din storage tray under the radio. It was shallow and useless. I ordered a second one for all of $25 shipped to 'play' with the idea I had for installing the CB and it worked, so if anyone wants a cheap single din pocket for their cruiser, I've got one cheap.
What I did was cut out the top and back of the plastic pocket to fit the CB. First trial I flush mounted the CB to the pocket front and drilled into the sides where the screw mounts to the CB were. Very solid, but as I installed it in the dash I found that even with the right angle connector for the antenna wire there wasn't enough room, so I pushed the CB out to flush it with the radio front and test fit it before drilling a second set of holes in the side of the pocket. Worked like a charm. I had to dremmel out the holes on the metal mounting bracket for the radio, but it's very secure.
Mo had some plastic he'd purchased from Orvac that he used to finish trim his install. It had a smooth and textured side. The textured side matched almost perfectly to the pocket front. A little epoxy to the back of the pieces before the radio install and I had a very finished look.
Purchased a small Radio Trash CB speaker that mounted right under the dash on the center console. I also moved my outside temp/compass back to it's original location.
I also rerouted the power, antenna and aux input cables for the Streetpilot up to the top of the dash and am now using a Ram suction mount for that. GPS is also now hard wired with sound from the stereo system.
GPS antenna is now secured to the top of the snorkel using a flange mount from Garmin.
Last thing I did was install the IPOD adapter for the Eclipse head unit. It's under the driver's seat next to the alarm CPU.
Only bonehead move was breaking the back of the dash lights dimmer trying to remove a molex connector that hadn't been touched in 14 years.
One call to the shaman and $90 out of my pocket for a new switch.
Really like the clean rearrangement of things. The CB is no longer mounted under the dash and the GPS is off the center console as well.
Pics:
I had a single din radio put in a little while ago and watched the installer like a hawk during the installation preparing for this. They had originally put in a single din storage tray under the radio. It was shallow and useless. I ordered a second one for all of $25 shipped to 'play' with the idea I had for installing the CB and it worked, so if anyone wants a cheap single din pocket for their cruiser, I've got one cheap.
What I did was cut out the top and back of the plastic pocket to fit the CB. First trial I flush mounted the CB to the pocket front and drilled into the sides where the screw mounts to the CB were. Very solid, but as I installed it in the dash I found that even with the right angle connector for the antenna wire there wasn't enough room, so I pushed the CB out to flush it with the radio front and test fit it before drilling a second set of holes in the side of the pocket. Worked like a charm. I had to dremmel out the holes on the metal mounting bracket for the radio, but it's very secure.
Mo had some plastic he'd purchased from Orvac that he used to finish trim his install. It had a smooth and textured side. The textured side matched almost perfectly to the pocket front. A little epoxy to the back of the pieces before the radio install and I had a very finished look.
Purchased a small Radio Trash CB speaker that mounted right under the dash on the center console. I also moved my outside temp/compass back to it's original location.
I also rerouted the power, antenna and aux input cables for the Streetpilot up to the top of the dash and am now using a Ram suction mount for that. GPS is also now hard wired with sound from the stereo system.
GPS antenna is now secured to the top of the snorkel using a flange mount from Garmin.
Last thing I did was install the IPOD adapter for the Eclipse head unit. It's under the driver's seat next to the alarm CPU.
Only bonehead move was breaking the back of the dash lights dimmer trying to remove a molex connector that hadn't been touched in 14 years.
One call to the shaman and $90 out of my pocket for a new switch.Really like the clean rearrangement of things. The CB is no longer mounted under the dash and the GPS is off the center console as well.
Pics:
