FirstSubaruGLwagon Posted August 18, 2005 Share Posted August 18, 2005 Ok so I won a NEW subaru stereo and CD player on ebay. got it and saw i needed to changer the harness. So I did that. hooked it up and it sounded like crap. Then I found out that the OEM speakers are 8om and the new stereo requires 4om. Ok well I went out and bought new speekers:rolleyes:, hooked it up and it still sounded bad! turns out the old speaker wires grounded the frount and rear speeker negative wires togather. So I rewired the speakers:banghead: Ok it sounds good now,,, but guess what?? The new radio is deeper than the old one and sticks out about 2 inches from the counsel because it is hitting an air duct or heater core. What do I do now guys,,, is there a kit that will look good? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
themixtoo Posted August 18, 2005 Share Posted August 18, 2005 Ok so I won a NEW subaru stereo and CD player on ebay.,, but guess what??The new radio is deeper than the old one and sticks out about 2 inches from the counsel because it is hitting an air duct or heater core. What do I do now guys,,, is there a kit that will look good? So what year radio to what year GL? Subaru made 'GL's for a long time. If you really like this radio mark the heater box where the interference is and cut it out, the heater core doesn't go all the way against the plastic heater box cover and that's what the radio is hitting. Right? If it's the air duct, REMOVE it, sound is more important than heat or A/C . Gary Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FirstSubaruGLwagon Posted August 18, 2005 Author Share Posted August 18, 2005 If it's the air duct, REMOVE it, sound is more important than heat or A/C . Gary LOL um,,,,,someday i would like to think the AC might actually be able to work Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
calebz Posted August 18, 2005 Share Posted August 18, 2005 Most aftermarket radios are deeper than stock too. So you may be able to get an aftermrket face plate and cut it to fit the double din size of the new stereo. Or if you are andy and creative, you could build your own faceplate extender thingy. Electryc_Monk has a newer subaru stereo in his 87 wagon.. maybe he would have some tips for you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
themixtoo Posted August 19, 2005 Share Posted August 19, 2005 um,,,,,someday i would like to think the AC might actually be able to work I only made that suggestion because I'm installing an Impreza trans tunnel in my Brat and part of it did interfere with the heater box. Out came my electric die grinder and wallla no more trouble, but I think it will still operate ok, maybe not perfect but hey it's 22 years old now....Gary Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alexx Posted August 25, 2005 Share Posted August 25, 2005 Most aftermarket radios are deeper than stock too. So you may be able to get an aftermrket face plate and cut it to fit the double din size of the new stereo. Or if you are andy and creative, you could build your own faceplate extender thingy. the farther the radio sticks out, the more annoying it must be for leg room. If the GL is a stick shift, it can even get in the way of that. It took me several months to replace my clarion radio in my subaru. Subarus need a "center-shaft" design, (is that the right description) and those are hard to find. The shop I found gave up on trying to fix the clarion and found me a pioneer radio instead. Due to some miscommunication (the cassette player was broken and they mistakenly thought that was what I wanted fixed!), it took a while before they realized the radio was not fixable. Before the replacement radio was installed I had considered having a more modern radio mounted vertically instead of horizontally, looks like there is more room top to bottom than when mounted horizontally. If one redesigns the install area for a vertical install at a slant, the choice of radios goes way up and it should be easier to find a radio. In my car, the console assembly contains a whole lot of plastic and empty space, if one wanted to design a new console with a vertically installed radio (probably slanted at an angle towards the driver), looks doable. Although I have a DL, maybe the GL's have more "stuff" on their consoles whereas I just have space. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flowmastered87GL Posted August 26, 2005 Share Posted August 26, 2005 I had an Impreza tape deck in my GL. what I did is alter the mounting brackets so the stereo sat as far back as possible (I think I drilled new holes a little back) My stereo sticks out about 1 inch. I enlarged the cutout from the black surround til it fit over the stereo. I then pulled it back off. I wrapped the unit (where you can see metal.... the non-black parts I guess you could say) with electrical tape. Make the tape smooth and put the seam at the bottom, put the surround back on and you cant even tell. I had it that way for YEARS and no one ever said it looked bad or anything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
samo Posted August 26, 2005 Share Posted August 26, 2005 Here's what'cha need: That's a Metra dash kit. Best Kits makes the same thing (actually, it's repackaged Metra). You can get it for about $12 at most stereo stores. It sticks out about 1" from the dash, making room for all but the longest stereos. You see that knockout plate under the stereo? Underneath there is a 1"x7" hole, spaced 1" from the stereo hole. If you were to cut the plate from the bottom cutout to the top, you'd have a 4"x7" hole - a double-DIN size. Then, just mount that sucker in there with some brackets and call it a day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
electryc_monk Posted August 29, 2005 Share Posted August 29, 2005 my two cents worth.... here is a link (i hope my bandwidth is still okay) to my geocities page with a few good images at 800X600(ish) window sized large images: http://www.geocities.com/electryc_monk/ http://www.geocities.com/electryc_monk/Headunit_mod.html the pic's will goto the larger sized images i was speaking of. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
electryc_monk Posted August 30, 2005 Share Posted August 30, 2005 Here's what'cha need: That's a Metra dash kit. Best Kits makes the same thing (actually, it's repackaged Metra). You can get it for about $12 at most stereo stores. It sticks out about 1" from the dash, making room for all but the longest stereos. You see that knockout plate under the stereo? Underneath there is a 1"x7" hole, spaced 1" from the stereo hole. If you were to cut the plate from the bottom cutout to the top, you'd have a 4"x7" hole - a double-DIN size. Then, just mount that sucker in there with some brackets and call it a day. ummm Samo, they will need "2" of those Metra kits..... for reasons that arevery visible on my dashboard images Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
samo Posted August 30, 2005 Share Posted August 30, 2005 Jesus Christ, are those stock stereos really that deep? I don't remember them being that big, and I've ripped out a few of them... but I also wasn't really paying attention. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheSubaruJunkie Posted August 30, 2005 Share Posted August 30, 2005 Alexx, this would solve your problem: As for 1stSubaruGL there... looks like you'd be best off making a plate out of wood or something. Stacking 2 adapters looks kinda botched and unproffessional, but then again so does a double din sized stereo in a EA82 -Brian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
electryc_monk Posted August 30, 2005 Share Posted August 30, 2005 ...(snipped)... As for 1stSubaruGL there... looks like you'd be best off making a plate out of wood or something. Stacking 2 adapters looks kinda botched and unproffessional, but then again so does a double din sized stereo in a EA82 -Brian yeah well i had fun and it was as clean a job as i could do at the time....... had i to do it over again i'd definately use the remote changer as it does reduce the distance to the knobs from the shifter handle that's for sure. For example I have in the past accidentally turned the volume down when down shifting do to a knuckles position just off the shifter so alls good in the game of life i believe too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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