bill mcdonald

here is my AVIC D1 installed 1/2 way.

I opened up the radio area both above and below. I put in some plastic behind the radio opening, superglued them in place, then used abs plastic pipe melted in acetone to make a goop to fill in the cracks.
I sanded on it a while and this is what I got.

Oh yeah, I removed all of the painted on coating with acetone and a rag. It rubbed right off doing this for about 20 minutes. Doing this also left most of the stock molded in lines that simulate that leather look.

I bought a used console piece from the forum to do this to. When I got it is was in really bad shape. it was cracked in several places and the coating was halfway pealed off. I also managed to break the top piece that goes across the top radio openeing. all of it was glued back together using the acetone and abs goop, (original owner tried using epoxy that was just pealing off because it does not stick) and sanded back to shape.
I after I completed all of this I saw a plastic epoxy at the store that might of been easier to work with.

I finished it off by painting the console with the rubber paint used to make grips on your tools.

I have not had the console piece in since the pictures were taken, so I dont know how well the paint will hold up to daily abuse.

scott_fx

that is the nicest implementation of a a double din h/u installation w/o moving the ac controls.

I'm also using the acetone goop in my project...it's a pain but it's solid

knewblewkorvette

awesome looking
good job

Cajundude

Great job! How did you remove the extra material from the top and mid section? Dremel with grinding stone?

bill mcdonald

Thanks for the comments guys! It is my first time doing this as well, and your write up helped a bunch Scott.

Cajundude. I bought one of those cheap soldering irons, mine was 99 cents, and started removing material from the top and bottom. it was a bit of a mess, but worked out. I then used a hand file and cleaned it up to make it straight. then I used sand paper to get the final clean lines, then added the plastic, goop, and started over with the sanding.

I was looking for my dremel but missplaced it somewhere. it would of made things much easier with shaping the curves.

Cajundude

Excellent! Thanks! I didn't even think about removing the material with heat. Makes sense. Would it be possible to get closer up pics of the sides and corners?

kandied91z

looks great! how do you like the unit so far? i've always liked pioneer products, i wish they made the video line in premier.

AMGPilot

Awesome job Bill!!

Do you have any high res pictures of your install. I would love to see them since I am considering doing a similar install in my C5 soon

If you have higher resolution pictures and don't mind sharing you can email to me at vette.pilot@gmail.com

Thanks

RED99

You are just the person I need to ask a question! I am wanting to put this same unit in my 99. Are you still using the factory Bose Speaker system? IF so, how does it sound compared to the stock head unit?

FreddyG

BEAUTIFUL job! That looks better than OEM!

04c5ragtop

Looks very nice. When you said you put plastic pieces behind the opening, where exactly or for what purpose ? Just not following.

Where did you use PCV goop other than repairing the damaged dash piece ?

I would also be interested in hi-res pictures if you have any: twalker@qis.net

Thanks.

0Tony Mamo @ AFR

Awesome install....Congrats. Looks factory I must say...

I think EVERYONE would be interested in some higher res pics that maybe you could post for all of our benefit. Also, did you only modify (thin) the lower plastic between the radio and the climate control or did you aslo slightly modify the top as well?

Again...great job. Seriously thinking about that install.

Tony M.

knewblewkorvette

I can anwser this.
Please, for your ears sake, upgrade the speakers too. If you don't you will need to buy an adaptor to make the 8" woofers in the doors work. IMO, spend that money on better speakers. You can get very good speakers in the factory locations in the doors and look completely stock, it just won't sound stock It will only cost you an extra $150-$250 (depending on how "good" you want to go) which is nothing compared to the cost of the Pioneer HU.
Also, IMO, rear speakers are not needed but if you feel you want them just use the factory rears off the HU.
Best wishes

wicked 98z

looks real good. my local car audio shop just installed one in a vette and it looks damn good.. Ill see if i can get some pics.

Albert

bill mcdonald

I have not hooked the pioneer to any speakers. I called it my 1/2 way installed because I took it back out after I took the pics.
I have lots of stuff to build for all new speakers/subs before I even get to putting it in for good. Currently I am back to stock so I can drive the car. I wont be running any of the bose stuff. I think it sounds horrible.

bill mcdonald

I will try and get you guys some better pictures when I can get a chance.

bill mcdonald

The pioneer unit is something like 1/2 an inch shorter then the stock stereo opening. I put a piece of plastic on each side of the openeing to fill in the 1/4" gap in the dash piece.


I actually used ABS plastic for the goop (incase you try to make some and buy PVC instead), and I put that in the gap between the plastic I added and the modded dash piece. it fused it together, so it is now one piece without a gap.
I also added it to the corner pieces, as I had to shape them back in.

bill mcdonald

trying to see what I can do with the pics, some I didn't post because they are too dark. I am going to have to take new ones when I shove the head unit back in.

AMGPilot

Thank you for all of the information Bill

Do you have the original pictures that were taken at a higher resolution before they were resized to post online?

I would love to see them

You can send them to me via email at vette.pilot@gmail.com and I can host them for you if you want to share them with everyone here

Thanks again Bill

bill mcdonald

Im going to add some notes here about the install.

You have to bend a bit of the metal that holds the stock stereo out of the way. I had the whole dash out 2 days before to install the HUD. I didnt even think putting the pioneer in there would be an issue. after I put the whole dash back together I saw the head unit would not fit. I drilled a bunch of holes into the crease of the metal to weaken it so I could bend it back to fit the double din unit. I actually ended up using a small hammer, and got the claw end on the metal and used it as leverage to bend it down. I broke the upper taps off that block the way with pliers. Once I did this the unit fit pretty tight.

The pioneer has a case on it for normal installs. I removed it by pulling off the 4 screws per side, and built brackets that went into the front 8 holes and into the stock mounting face metal. I will have to take pics at some other date if this is confusing to anyone. it will basically determine how far left and right the unit fits and keep it from comming back out.

the last hurdle has been the fm antenna adapter. when you plug it in the unit, it hits the back of the dash, I think it is going into the AC housing. At this point I was debating on taking the dash back out and making a hole in the AC vent box thing so it would fit, and possibly pick up some cool air for the fan on the pioneers head unit. I decided not to, and cut the adapter to pieces, basically soldering wires from 1/2 the adapter in the pioneer unit, to some pieces of the adapter that slide over the stock antenna piece. this is pretty ghetto, but it fits. I have no idea what it does to reception, I will post more on that later. if it is crap, I guess I will pulling the dash and drilling a hole for this thing to fit.
I have been debating on doing some hud experiments too, such as adding a numeric tach display, and playing around with the idea of trying to shoot an LCD image out there to see what it will do. I guess I will try and see what the antenna and the hud can so at the same time.