Need help with aftermarket audio

[wshowell]

I have a base 1991 Miata that was my first car out of college. Just 53K miles on it and it's been sitting in my garage for too long. I'm finally restoring it. Since the base Miata didn't come with a stereo I had one installed in 1991 at a Best Buy type place. The original Best Buy install was crap and the dash bezel and everything else cracked. I just bought a new dash bezel from you all and I picked up a new cubby. The cubby I got was the 1.5 DIN and looks to be just a bit too big for the new head unit. The old cubby was trash and ugly so I am looking for the best fit. I have this one.
http://www.finishlineperformance.com...cat=296&page=2
The last thing I want to do is go back to Best Buy and have another bad install job using their stuff.

my new head unit is Kenwood
http://www.kenwoodusa.com/Car_Entert...ver/KDC-MP342U

Anyone have a shop they can suggest or offer up some ideas on how I can use this aftermarket head unit with as many OEM dash parts as possible? I'm up in Frisco. Thanks so much everyone.

Shawn

[sxk122]

couple links from the pointy board that may help in your endeavor.

http://forum.miata.net/vb/showthread...t=NA+head+unit

http://forum.miata.net/vb/showthread.php?t=254458

hope those help a bit with giving you fitment ideas...

[Radio-Active]

When I installed the one in my mom's miata after best buy screwed it up, I found that the radio had screw holes on theside of it for mounting to the original factory brackets of Nissan's, Mazda's and Toyota's. This eliminates the pressure put on the bezel like what the standard best buy mounting method did. Being that you do not have the original factory stereo bracket available, you might be able to find soneone here that could get you one, or you could look into a scosche or metra kit that would allow the same mounting method. Make sure you use the correct length screws in the side of the radio so that you don't damage it internally(ususally 4-5mm long).

As for the cubby, a 1999 Nissan Frontier had a cubby that would probably mount perfectly. Alpine also made a center speaker that would mount in a single din slot as well.

[wshowell]

Thanks for the responses. I'm probably in over my head with a self install. Anyone have a good shop? I prefer someone that knows their way around a miata interior. I wish I had found this community board long long ago....great info throughout!

[sammm]

Go to Crutchfield.com and check it out. There are wiring adapters that are plug-n-play. (You may already have them from the Best Buy install. Hopefully they didn't hack your wiring.) There are also mounting kits that use the OEM center bezel without having to modify it a bit. They aren't the cheapest, but supply great instructions and customer support. It's not hard if you use that method.

[Yeller90]

I put that exact radio in my 1990 last month, I had same problem, I used the original mounting brackets from the stock radio and went to car toys for a Mazda install kit, it has a combination of blanks that I had to modify by cutting to fit the single DIN radio. I super glued and hot glued the parts in. I had to add some black weatherstripping behind the panel as a filler on the sides. it came out pretty good. If I could figure out how to post the picture you could see.

[wshowell]

Hey Yeller90,
I'd love to see it. Sounds like you did the job yourself. Probably beyond my abilities. Stevan is putting on a new top for me next week and I am hoping he can install this unit for me. He seems to be the man to see for all things Miata and has a great reputation for the quality of his work.