fitting an aftermarket cd player?

[E30_320i]

hi ppl, im bk on the internet for a few months!

its a flying visit for now but ive decided to install my alpine cd player in the e30.

after taking out the original tape player i noticed that there is a chip at the back of the tape player which slots straight into the head unit.

the problem i have is that the alpine cd player has an ISO connection and a socket for the arieal, aswell as a few amp connections, well how do i install the alpine cd player if it dosent have the necessary connections in the e30?

im sure someone else on here has put there own after market cd player in the e30 such as "alpine"

im sure someone knows what im talking about lol.

Lee

[nav786]

you can get an adaptor from Halfords. that will work or its cutting wires time.

[notsofast]

Have a read of Placey's excellent article (in the Articles Archive), which shows you how to connect up the wires. Here's a link:

http://www.e30zone.co.uk/modules.php?na ... echice.htm

Oh, and get a voltmeter/multimeter as you'll need to check which wire is live!

I'm also trying to rewire the stereo in my 320 - it wasn't done properly by the previous owner.

Cheers.

[BrAdZ]

lol i too am currentley rewiring it, the last owner had wires going everywhere!

[E30_320i]

cheers lads for the replies.

think ill pop into halfords and buy an adapter rather than cut the wires, ive already got to attach a wire from the battery to the Headunit, aswell as an earth. so dont really want more wires being stripped.

does anyone know what the name of the adapter that im looking for is?

i need an adapter to convert the standard "push in the back of the headunit" pin, to the dual connector needed to attach my female speaker and power connector for an alpine cd player. (i think its called an ISO connector)

Lee

[BrAdZ]

it will be a an off the shelf thing, just tell them you have an e30, and the will give you an adaptor that pugs into the old plugs and gives you an iso plug to plug any moden head unit in

[Andy_magic]

What headunit is it mate.

If it's a V-drive 60w x 4 model you need to run a hefty supply an earth cable to the headunit.

[E30_320i]

yep thats the one andy, i had to do it before in my old car

Lee

[Andy_magic]

I ran all new cables, power, earth, speaker cables. all I used from the BMW loom was the switched +ve and electric aerial ouput.

I took the electric aerial output in the boot and added it to the amp, saves running one wire down the car.

Just for info I've got some Alpine components in the kick plates and Alpine 6.5" in the rear shelf, set the headunits Hi and Low pass crossover to 100hz. It sounds superb. I can drive at 70mph with the drivers window open and not hear wind noise!

[E30_320i]

thanks for the info andy, sounds like a good setup you got there!

i wasnt to bothered about bearing wires, so ive just purchased the ISO connector for Ԛ£10.99 at halfords.

the thing that i am a bit miffed about is the fact that the outer casing of the head unit is enclosed and there is no room at the back of the dash board for me to attach the amp cables into the head unit, also unless i get the original harness out, i wont have enough room to fit the alpine head unit as it will be crushing all the wires and hanging 1/4 the way out of the dash.

how did you go about this andy? did you take the outer casing out the car?? bcuz the original connector is some what sealed into the casing!?!??

Lee

[placey]

lee

didn't quite get what you meant in your last post - is the cage stuck in the dash? if so it need not come out - see below. if you decide to remove it anyway then there maybe one nut at the back that needs to be undone (but there probably won't be) and then you just need a small flat blade screwdriver to straighten out the tabs that locate it at the front. when it comes to re-fit time simply push them back to secure it with your trusty flat blade.

or do you mean the multi-pin connector in the head unit itself? if so look for a pinch tab that will release it - with pliers if necessary.

as for rear room there's loads available. trick is to remove the lower centre console. start from the rear ashtray and carefully remove all the trim until you've got the centre console out and clear. don't force anything as it will break surprisingly easily, especially the tabs that locate the gear stick gaiter, although these are only Ԛ£8 from the stealers. there's a bolt under the heater controls and push and twist fasteners by the clutch pedal that are easy to miss - you may have to drop down the under steering trim to get to this.

with this removed you can put your left hand up behind the heater controls and see your fingers through the stereo hole. now you can push the headunit back with your right hand while drawing all the cables in and downwards with your left hand. they'll all hang in the void behind the centre console quite happily.

paul

[E30_320i]

what i meant placey was, my e30 comes standard with a pioneer tape player which you just push into the casing and it works. it has at the back of the pioneer head unit a small hole, which this little pin goes in.

now the head unit im installing has two connectors, 1 for power and the other is for speakers. ive bought an adapter from halfords which the bloke says attaches to the original harness and connects to my alpine head unit connectors.

ive had a look at the back of the casing (where the head unit sits) and the little pin connector is secured into the casing, also the casing i completly sealed (i mean there is no way of getting behind the casing without removing the whole metal frame). its sort of like a metal box with a solid back (where the pin is secured).

so would you sugest completly removing the old metal surrounding and buying a new surround which is hollow at the back?

because i dont think i could fit all the wires and the headunit into the metal console.

i think im probably saying this in a really diffiult way so not many people will understand. if this is the case lol. could someone tell me how they installed there new head unit, by using the adapters??.


cheers.

Lee

Lee

[placey]

i'm a little clearer - but a picture would make everything a lot easier to understand...

i'm guessing that your pioneer tape head unit is one of those that used to be removable as an anti-theft measure? before removable front panels (nose pieces) came along?

sounds a lot to me like the casing that you speak of has to be removed. if not can you get to any wires to make a connection?

paul

[E30_320i]

spot on there placey mate! it was an anti-theft device that they came out with, you just push a buton on the headunit and a handle pops up, and you can just pull it right out. ive had a look buddy and i cant get to any of the wires.

so it looks like ill have to get the casing out....how im going to do this without making a mess i dont know! lol.

cheers for your help mate, ill have a look at what i can do. i cant take it out yet as the adapter ive ordered wont be in stock untill next wednesday!

so at the moment instead of listening to tapes ive just put the window down and listening to the 6cylinder 2 litre engine roar, which is music to my ears hehe

Lee

[placey]

lee

i had a couple of those removeable units when they were current. if i recall the cages were held in with the tabs arrangement that i spoke about above, along with a central rear nut sometimes.

jap cars have the bolted in at the sides - a much better arrangement but not relevent here.

paul

[placey]

been thinking - you might want to hold fire on your adapter plug purchase until you've removed the cage and seen what's happened to your wires - there's no telling who's done what behind there to get that pioneer in.

paul

[E30_320i]

hi placey

im afraid ive already paid for it lol. fingers crossed everything will be ok as far as wires go. im gonna be inspecting it 2morrow, so if it does go tits up ill be back on to pester you bud hehe

just a little different for me as ive never installed head units with the old type plugs.

cheers

Lee

[Andy_magic]

It does sound like you've got a "pull out" stereo, I can remember when they first came out and were all the rage.

The cage itself should be held in with metal tags that stop it moving forward. You know the new headunit has a metal 'hlaf cage' if you look at that you'll see what I mean about the tags.

You'll probably find that the wiring loom isn't needed too, time will tell.