aftermarket headunit install tips / parts you need
 

so the last time i installed a stereo was in 2001 and i forgot how i did it. just posting up a few things i ran into / figured out as i continue the install process.

1. pulling stereo - remove the 2 small trim pieces on the sides of the unit by using a flat tip screwdriver wrapped in tape or something similar, they should pop off easily. then use U shaped stereo removal keys/tools to unlock and yank it out, or do what i did and fab your own U tools with wire clothes hangers. more discussion here https://www.rx7club.com/showthread.p...center+speaker

2. what aftermarket stereos fit? - for some reason if you put in FD in crutchfield/best buy website it eliminates a lot of stereos, saying they won't fit. i haven't heard of any single din sized stereo not fitting the FD, so get whatever single din unit you like, ignore what their website says :egrin:

3. radio wiring harness mazda male to stripped wires - i went with the metra 70-7901 wiring set, wiring sets for fd come with 2 plugs, 1 with 9 wires, the other with 4. i purchased mine off ebay, about $5-6 shipped. local stores like pepboys/car audio places also carry it but at $15+. and don't forget to get some crimp connectors or whatever wire connectors you prefer.

4. antenna adapter - what a pain.

the fd has 2 antenna leads, 1 mini-motorola female for diversity/hatch glass, and 1 standard motorola female for the telescoping antenna.

option 1 - if you have a working main antenna and would like to use that you need a standard size male to male motorola connector since all aftermarket stereos have a female motorola tail. i couldn't find 1 car audio store locally that carries male to male motorola. online its easy at$5, but if you prefer to do it local, you will have to pick up 2 no-solder motorola male plugs at radio shack, $2.99 each. and some coaxial cable.

option 2 - if you have a broken main antenna(like me) you'll have to use the diversity antenna, which unfortunately terminates in a mini-motorola female. also this antenna has pretty bad AM reception but FM is decent. finding mini motorola connectors for sale ANYWHERE is impossible, I tried. so i rigged up my own mini-motorola to standard motorola male to male cable using the antenna tail of the stock headunit. this is what it looks like:

http://img694.imageshack.us/img694/6...cf2022q.th.jpg


and its easily reversible if you need the harness back to put the stock stereo back in. best part its free :lol:

option 3 - my original plan was to repair the the mast of my main antenna and combine it with the hatch signal using "Y" type connector ultimately terminating into a standard motorola male. but the guy at the car audio place said it was a bad idea to combine them, so i listened. however i've found a few references on the club with people that have done it though, and reception seems fine.

5. under radio din pocket/cd holder - bought a metra 88-00-9000, its identical to the metra 99-7501 except the 88-00-9000 has 3 different interchangeable trim rings, and has interchangeable mounting points for other makes of vehicles. not bad. scosche also makes a similar kit, but i wasn't able to see it in person before buying so i went with the metra, quality is great, and costs $10 shipped. this is also available at pepboys for $14.99 or most car audio installers from $15-20.

for the radio harness here is a good guide for the wiring https://www.rx7club.com/interior-exterior-audio-26/fd-bose-non-bose-factory-wiring-code-763311/

few new notes:

i switched to a scosche wiring harness ma02b instead of the metra, metra is actually missing some of the pins i needed.

FM radio reception is great with just the hatch glass antenna hooked up.

i haven't been able to get the aftermarket headunit to switch on the center amp/speaker. i connected pin 1J (listed as amp control 13.2V in the fsm) to the headunit's external amp control wiring, didn't work. so i swapped it for the headunit's motor antenna control. still didn't work! maybe i'll figure it out the center speaker in the future. the speaker is pretty busted anyway, its falling apart.

wiring the scosche ma02b
 

Controlling the Center Amp

i had issues with getting the center amp working in the previous post, because the amp wasn't even plugged in LOL.

so the wiring i had between the car and aftermarket radio was correct, after i plugged in the amp it works.

i've seen people claim that center speaker/amp isn't usable with aftermarket headunit because it requires a headunit with a 5th channel. wrong . the center speaker/amp uses a combined signal from both L and R front channels, from any basic stereo. there's no reason you can't get the center speaker/amp working too. all you need to do is to get a signal to the same amp control pin that the stock stereo uses to switch it on. it just takes 1 simple step.

refer to this diagram: http://www.tobias-albert.de/ta_rx7/r...ng_dia_big.gif

so we need to get a signal from the headunit's amp control wire to the 1J pin (amp control) on the 12-pin harness of the car.

the key step is to take the 5th pin in the 8-pin harness of the scosche, i don't remember what position this 5th pin is originally occupying(i think maybe 2C), but it is sitting in a place where it is useless. remove this pin carefully by backing it out of the harness plug. do this by positioning a small micro screwdriver from the front of the plug to push on the retaining clip/tab to release the pin. thats the hard part.

then install that pin into position 1J on the 12-pin connector. splice to the appropriate external amp/remote switch on wire on the aftermarket headunit. you're done.

wiring the scosche ma02b
 

Scosche Wire Harness Pins/Color Codes + Grounding your stereo

here's a list of the pins on the scosche harness, it is better for reference than post #2 above.

notice there isn't a ground pin on the scosche harness. so to ground the stereo find the ground wire on the headunit's harness and attach a flat spade connector. then plug this into the female ground connector that used to be hooked up to the rear of the stock stereo.

12-pin harness:
* Yellow – 12V Constant
* Red – 12V Accessory
* Blue - Power Antenna
* Blue with White Stripe - Remote Turn On 12V -----> to 1J aka amp control **transplanted from the 8-pin
* Orange – Dash Light Dimmer/Illumination
* White – Left Front Speaker (+)
* White with Black Stripe – Left Front Speaker (-)
* Gray – Right Front Speaker (+)
* Gray with Black Stripe – Right Front Speaker (-)

8-pin harness:
* Green – Left Rear Speaker (+)
* Green with Black Stripe Left Rear Speaker (-)
* Purple – Right Rear Speaker (+)
* Purple with Black Stripe – Right Rear Speaker (-)

installed with metra pocket (pocket wobbles :( and broke a tab during install)

http://img375.imageshack.us/img375/3439/dscf2038y.jpg

this is the blue/white pin you need to take out to put int 1J amp control position on 12-pin connector, showing it at original location in 8-pin connector.

http://img690.imageshack.us/img690/8...f2032ax.th.jpg

Are the bose/non bose wiring the same? I've been tempted to buy a new head unit, but I know I will have to replace every bose speaker along with it :/

sorry to rehash an old topic - but what do you mean by "plug into the female ground connector"... I couldn't find it anywhere...

is there somewhere else I could easily attach the ground wire to?

thank you

There's a ground wire along side of the 12pins and 8pins connector, it's a female slip fit connector and the wire bolt to the back of the metal frame behind the head unit.

Oh, so I just need to connect that to my ground from the harness and its good to go?

Yes, you can just attach that wire to the frame if you are missing the factory grounding wire.

hopefully this picture attachment worked....

as you can see - the 12 pin and 8 pin are there, and then there is this wire that looks like it was cut off - with a red and gray/black wire... not sure what it is attached to, its coming from the right side..

is this the ground by any chance? what could this be?

thank you

That's not the ground, not sure what that is but if I have to guess that might be your antenna wire with the connector cut off.

Here's a picture of my wiring, that black connector next to the 12pin is the ground.

http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q...psadb7c675.jpg

Hey guys,

I'm going to bump this thread instead of starting a new one because nycrx7 ran into the same thing as me. I pulled my non working bose head unit and cd player today, and found these two wires were cut:


https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...d157253347.jpg

I pulled the following diagram from the service manual for a bose-equipped rx7, specifically the part for the head unit:


https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...8161fdf203.png

I don't see a red wire + grey wire coming off the head unit in the diagram, so I'm a little confused. The full diagram is on page 9 here: http://www.rotaryheads.com/PDF/3rd_g...20Diagrams.pdf

Here is an illustration of the wires, as well:


https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...ec4a61ce9e.gif

They are the two leftmost large wires. I can't find these represented in any of the wiring diagrams, unless I'm reading them incorrectly (highly likely). They aren't the black ground, and they're not a part of the DIN connector, or the 8 or 12 pin plugs. It's a separate, very small two pin plug.

Alright, after spending an hour searching it would appear, per this thread, that these wires are for the antenna: https://www.rx7club.com/3rd-generati...cation-384478/

I'm a little bit confused because the wiring diagram lists those as green/orange rather than the red/gray that I have, but hopefully this will help anybody who comes across this thread with the same question in the future.

What if you are looking to install a single DIN head unit in the bottom and the Defi DIN gauge on top in the double DIN slot? Effectively, installing two Single DIN units. How do you install these securely so they don't flop about and find the right trim piece which likely needs to include a spacer between both units?

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...9fdadd083a.jpg

Prior to purchasing the DIN gauge above I merely had the single stereo head unit in a steel cage and had it in the bottom with a stereo delete trim piece above it. None of it was secured or anything and you could wiggle the head unit which wasn't ideal, although it never went anywhere.

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