Here are 3 emails I sent to a friend describing my experience followed by 3 pictures. I installed a Clarion DXZ845MC deck because it matched the dash and Infinity Reference speakers because they sounded best to me when run on deck power. 4" in front and 6.5" in rear all coaxial.

Day 1

Started my stereo install last night. So far so good, last night I ran the speaker wire, wires from the radio receiver to the new deck, antenna extension,and mounted the new speakers in the Bose pods. When I get home today I will hardwire everything and should have sound tonight. Friday night I will install thedash kit and put the interior pieces back in the car.

You should here how loud my interior is with half the pieces missing. It sounds like a Winston Cup car inside. LOL Lets see the radio, speaker pods, sill panels, knee bolsters, are out and the console is disassembled. Hell, I driving around without even a shift ****. I better not get pulled over by the police, they will think an alligator was set loose inside my car. Well that's it for now, just needed to vent. This is a hell of allot of work! It better sound better than the Bose when I get done, that's all I have to say.

Day 2

We have sound! So far I have 8 hours in this install and the only thing I have left to do is the dash kit. Right now the radio is sitting on a towel in the dash for test purposes. Last night I hard wired everything and put the interior back in the car. Tonight I figure around 2 hours for fit and finish on the dash kit. Then I will need some time, maybe a week, to determine how I feel the system sounds. I'll keep you posted.

Day 3

Installation complete! First I would like to thank the man who developed the Dremel and kick the guy in the ***** who developed the Metra 99-3051 install kit. I took me 4 hours of cutting and shaping to get the radio to fit the dash correctly. I knew I was in trouble as soon as I read the instructions for 90-96 C4 install kit and all the pictures were from a C5. Anyhow it's done and it sounds great. 12 hours total install time.





Here is a pic of the same deck in vettewiesers car:

 

how bout some speaker pics?

 

 

Looks like it was factory installed

 

Looks great!!!

Although your rear carpet looks a bit faded

 

Yea, and it's only 2 years old.

 

That receiver really looks great in the dash. One of my concerns was getting a unit that looked like it came with the car. Yours does. Nice job.

 

Looks great! Are you serious that carpet is only two years old? That faded like mad!

 

looks good...i drove around for a few weeks without any carpet and sound insulation and it is damn loud inside the car....the ABS/ASR controler behind me scarred the crap out of me because of how loud it was when it activated without any carpet or insulation on top of it....

 

what did you have to shape? it took me about 45 min to get my double din to fit right and most of that time was making sure that it could open cause the entire front panel on my deck moves out and kept hitting the dash piece when it was mounted too low, but i didnt have to shape/modify anything, just had to keep adjusting until it fit exactly how i wanted it

 

 

great job looks like a pro did the job

 

The kit pushed the radio high and to the right. The motorized face plate touched the dash bezel and would not open. I had to shape the kits brackets to center the radio. It took 6 test fits to get it perfect. The kits are mass produced, and mine happened to be off. When I work with plastic I move very slow in fear of breaking something. I am sure that if I had as much experiance as you it would have gone much faster.

 

Looks good!! I have a similar model, the DXZ 835, in mine.

 

Could you post or email me some pics?

 

my god, where did you buy that carpet at? Please tell us so we can steer clear of that company! wow, id be calling them back b!tching about that one. Have you considering re-dying it?? it be messy as hell, but if the fibers are still good, you might do ok.


The head unit does look good. I would have gone that route too if I didnt already have a Alpine CD changer I got for free. I ended up installing an alpine head unit changer controller and totally hated it. Im one of the "I HATE ALPINE HEAD UNITS" crowd.

snoopdan

 

i really like alpines and their user interface...much better than Pioneers, i am just very disappointed in their lineup in the last 2 years...i had a 7998 which was a great deck if i wasnt doing DVD i would probably still have it...i also had an IVA-801, i just wish Alpine would make a double din LCD/DVD unit like Eclipse/Kenwood/Pioneer are making

 

yeah i have taken apart my dash too many times to count...if i wanted to i could pull the deck out in less than 5 min cause i have done it so many times

glad you got it to fit...that is the best way to learn anything is just to experiment and see what happens...

 

http://www.accmats.com/ I just called them, 1 year warranty.

 

Sure will, give me a bit!