HELP! Radio removal - dashboard built like Fort Knox!

[Bad Manners]

Does anybody know if the 6x9s at the back are just woofers, or if they\'re a two-drivers-in-one-package kind of thing?

[Silverstone]

Gazzaman

I noticed from your excellent pics that the night illumination on the MINI is orange and your Sony is green.

Last time I had a Sony, you could change the colour of the illumination from green to orange. Worth a look on yours.

ICEMAN used to monitor the ICE section - he was the actual BMW engineer responsible for the kit - he told us changing the rears was not too difficult. He deliberately \"toned-down\" the rears to give the sond a front bias, claimed they were mainly there for Bass.

[gazzaman28]

Yes silverstone, I thought about that tonight actually and changed it to amber - looks better now!

I\'m wondering about whether to fit the remote now. My friend has got the same stereo and he got an adapter for his Rover Coupe so that the steering wheel controls could control the stereo, so maybe that might be an option in the future... I see from the recent postings that a R/C steering wheel will be a dealer fit option which is good. It looks like the boost stereo will be as well - just a shame there\'s not more choice for stereos.

Rear speakers are dissapointing cos of lack of bass more than anything else. The fronts are really punchy wheras the rears are dull and boring in comparison.

[Bad Manners]

I hope the dealer fit RC steering wheel includes the cruise control buttons, coz I want I want I want :9

I expect it\'ll cost though, coz I bet any new steering wheel comes with the airbag already in. The dealer won\'t want to be transferring my existing airbag into a new wheel would they?

[gazzaman28]

I\'ll be at MINImeet01 in Gaydon Martyn, i\'ll park next to Amy and we\'ll do a quick test...! I might have a CD changer in by then as well, so we can do scientific things like using the same disc, and stuff like that!!!

[BristolMini]

Gazzaman - first off, cheers for all the pictures and info. Really useful.

I was going to get a third party CD player and install it myself but after seeing the pictures I\'m not so sure! It would break my heart if I b###ered up the dash on my new Mini.

Does anyone know if Mini dealers or someone like Halfords will do the installation and give a proper tray for the stereo to sit in? (Rather than having to use cardboard an sticky tape - sounds a bit Blue Peter to me.) I know Halfords offer free installation on stereos over £175 but whether they would mangle your dash or not is an interesting question. Also, they currently don\'t list Mini as a make (as with many online insurance comanies).

The reason I\'m looking at stereos is I wasn\'t impressed by standard the CD player with boost. I\'m not a complete music snob but I thought it wasn\'t up to much. Any other opinions on that front from those that already have them? :)

[Silverstone]

My dealer would not touch a non BMW stereo! They politely declined to offer a fitting service for my Alpine mega system.

[gazzaman28]

There isn\'t currently a 3rd party adapter available for MINIs, but myself and another MINI2-er are planning on getting some professionally made in metal. Which reminds me I have to measure my old stereo and get a template made for the adapter... There\'s a possibility we could have some available for MINI2meet at the end of this month, so watch this space...

Aside from the adapter issue, wiring is easy enough, I got a BMW 3-series wiring harness for £12.99 which works fine.

I\'m contemplating a CD changer now. Currently my favourite position (no this isn\'t the karma sutra!) to mount one is in the boot, either velcro\'ed onto the back carpet or screwed into the back seat vertically. I\'ve decided that putting one under a front seat will be too much hassle, plus it\'s liable to get kicked a lot.

[Sniper]

Gazzaman - In case you haven\'t looked, has your car got CD prep under the boot carpet? might save you some time. You can\'t miss the two small wires if they are there.

[gazzaman28]

Yes Sniper I did notice those and I guessed they were for a changer of some sort or other. In order to use a Sony changer though, I\'d have to cut the current plugs off, strip the wires and attach them somehow to the Sony plugs. That is unless an adapter has been made, and I very much doubt that. I think the Sony changer control plug is 3-pin, and then there\'s the 2 RCA plugs for the sound, so that\'s 4-pin. Should be enough, I\'m pretty sure the 2 leads for the MINI CD are 3-pin and 4-pin as well. I will investigate further tonight.

[tcjohnsson]

HELP!!

I cant get the 4 screws on the silver vertical thing because the big grey plastic thing (under the steering wheel) is blocking the way to the top left screw. Any ideas of how to get this thing off? I'm surprised nobody ran into this problem. Is it just the US models?

[3GGG]

Originally posted by gazzaman28

To remove the radio do the following:
1. Remove 4 bolts either side of the silver vertical pieces

- Main problem was finding a short enough Torx driver to get into the upper right bolt. Had to use a Torx bit and a spanner.

2. Remove 2 screws in cupholders

- Yes, no problems there.

3. Carefully pull out shiny rim surrounding gearstick

A bit tricky but managed to prise it off with fingernails.

4. Put your hand under the mirror adjuster dongle and pop that up out of it\'s fitting

This is where I failed - could not get it to budge and didn't want to break anything. My MC has grey panel with silver dongle and switch - the reverse of yours.


5. Remove screw(s) (sorry forgotten!) that are now visible

Could not get to them - see above.


6. Lift up whole unit to reveal polystyrene pieces under each silver vertical piece, and carefully remove both of them

Couldn't because of the darned screws at the rear of the gearstick console.


7. Silver pieces can now be moved out of the way

I wish...

8. Remove 4 screws holding front of radio in place

I hope this helps! - it did but ...

I then tried the other advice about undoing the two screws under the centre part of the silver dash (below speedo). I found my car only had 1 screw fitted, the other was "missing".

Managed to pull the dash forward enough (the black rings around hazard warning switch flew off as well. Finally managed to get the top of the silver vertical piece foward enough to extract it from the lower black polystyrene insert.

Finally got the dashmount bracket fitted to the radio mounting screws and put it all back together just as I got a call from work to go in.