Installation of touch screen DVD receiver

These are always fun..until you realize what a challenge it can be to remove the interior panels needed (nervous)
With a little patience and a careful hand this is easier than people think.

The first step in any car audio install is to remove the negative battery terminal. I learned this the hard way, but before killing power, shift the van into drive. You'll see why later...

So, unscrew the shift knob and pry off the trim surrounding the shifter. I have a set of plastic automotive interior removal tools i bought from harbor freight for a whole 5 bucks. Go get a set then come back or you will be gouging your interior up with a butter knife.


Next i pried the cupholder of off the center console.



Now you can pry off the small change pocket/12V that's right below the shifter. There are connectors behind it so pull carefully. Remove the connectors and set the piece aside.



Move to the rear of the center console and remove the rear A/C controls, if you have them. They pry off as a single unit, no screws. Careful with the connector. Also remove the screws at the bottom as shown in the pic.



The console has a two more screws right at the base of the dash before you will be able to lift it up and back. Great time to deal with any coffee stains


I didn't completely remove the console but you can if you want. I just didn't want to deal with the other screws required to remove the whole thing. Tilting it back and over the e-brake gave me enough clearance to work. To remove the final, LARGE piece of the dash you must locate the screws on the side of it, at the base. The big red dots show where the two screws are. are Note the blue interior removal tools on the seat.



another angle taken from outside the car looking in. Pop the caps and and remove the screw. one on each side.


There are yet two more screws at the rear of it near the gas pedal and in the same are on the opposite side. There are panels covering it that quickly pry off. Here's a shot with the panel already removed, showing the screw that needs to be removed from both sides



now with the all the screws removed, you have to carefully pry it from the bottom of the hvac controls. it's a force fit that needed some serious lovin in my case. One side of it just wouldn't let go. I ended up sticking a flathead into the snap to release it. Lift the whole assembly up over the shifter. This is why you put it in drive first. You will also have to remove the wiring harness from the front of it or it will snag. You'll know what i mean the moment you pull on it.

You will now have access to the two screw holding the radio/hvac trim piece in place. With the screws removed, use you interior removal tools to pry at the top of the trim piece. The radio and trim will come out as one piece. Be sure to disconnect the wiring harness before yanking too hard on the radio.



And you should now look like this


I went a step further and removed the hvac controls. The more room the merrier. Just gently pry it off and remove the two connectors on the rear of the unit.



Quick test fist of the Metra dash kit. Crutchfield includes it for free. It's crap but better than nothing. i may swap to the Scosche kit come summer.



All panels fully tilted back, awaiting a shiny new touch screen

Now the truly fun stuff. Wiring up the harness. Crutchfield included the harness adapter as well. With the Crutchfield instructions on one side and the JVC manual in the other, i soldered and heat wrapped every connection. Twist and tape method has failed me in the past and so i solder every radio install now.

Using this...


...to wire up this


I won't make this a soldering tutorial as there's thousands on the web already. But here are a few shots for those who've never even seen the word solder before

Radio Shack sells this awesome lil soldering stand. Soldering without one is just an exercise in insanity. A wire from the Crutchfield adapter on the left and a corresponding wire from the JVC harness on the right.


soldered


wrapped. that's not going anywhere!


Mad scientist status


Ok back to the van! Grounding the stupid DVD nanny wire, I found the perfect spot near the side panels, by the gas pedal.
There's the screw hiding waaay back behind a bunch of stuff looking all impossible to get at.


It's behind this hvac vent


vent removed, screw exposed


crimp a connector onto the nanny wire like so


and clamp it down with our conveniently placed ground I suggest dropping down from the dash opening.


placing the the head unit into the dash kit is pretty straight forward. The instructions that come with it are good enough so i won't repeat them here. Just be aware that the trim piece that came with your unit will probably not fit. The kits provides it's own that clips onto the sash kit. In my case there was a small gap between their trim piece and my head unit. It wasn't a problem though as it can only be seen during installation. Also remove the installation cage that came with your unit as the kit provides the required hardware


Here you can see the Metra trim piece. Not as shiny and pretty as the JVC one but its neat & cleans up the install well enough


wiring in the dash, ready to go. Notice i ran in BEHIND the support to allow clearance for the head unit. Now is a good time to run any other wires like USB connections, mics, or wires for amps, etc...I ran my USB into the glove and the mic rests right behind the steering wheel (and sounds great)


And the finished job. Just install everything in the reverse order. I cleaned up the years of gunk first though...So we're VERY pleased with the unit (JVC KW-ADV65BT). The dash kit, while not perfect, still allowed me a very clean and sturdy install. The head unit woke up the OEM speakers a TON. It's night and day. I was going to order speakers but it sounds so good that it can wait. Maybe I'll sneak that mod in this summer (bolt)

Moved to the how-to section

Good write-up. I find it very odd that Mazda has designed the interior such that you have to have to disassemble so much just to remove the radio. I have removed radios in LOTS of cars and never had to remove floor console, and shifter surround, and center console, and HVAC, and instrument panel trim around gauges (2nd gen)...

Thx Phunky.

sac, I felt the same way. I've NEVER had to pull apart so much of an interior to get a head unit in. I sat there for a looong while just staring in disbelief before tearing into it. The center console is a single, large piece that is affixed to the floor console. No choice there. And the A/C controls clip into the radio cage. While i could have done the install without removing the a/c, it was pretty much dangling there without the radio surround, etc, to secure it so i just removed it to get more space to work in.

Yer welcome. And I still don't particularly like the fitment of my Scosche kit.

Hi there, very nice write up, been searching for this. If I may ask, if one were to purchase this item: https://www.ebay.com (commissions earned)
would this write up still work? Any reason I cannot add this unit to my non-Navi/Sat model, such as incorrect wiring, etc?

Excellent write up


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Do the steering wheel volume controls still work with this unit?

I would not think so
Unless there is a aftermarket connection cable




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