Sirius radio installation questions

[jseabolt]

Here are some photos of my Sirius reciever I installed in my 96 Ford Explorer:

http://s222.photobucket.com/albums/dd14 ... 0Explorer/

I took the time to hide all the power reducer and the wiring under the center console so I don't have allot of wiriing hanging about. Notice where I mounted the antenna. The directions make a big deal about where to place the antenna but it works just fine in the corner of the dashboard.

So I bought a second docking station and would like to install it in my Subaru in the same fashion. One thought was to make a bracket and attach it between the cubby hole and the 6 disc CD changer. Then tap into the cigarrette lighter and place the power reducer behind the dash.

Although it would cover the CD changer, I seldom use it but once the unit was detached I could remove the replace CDs.

My question is how do you pull the large silver trim piece off that surrounds the radio? The Chilton's manual tells how to remove the radio and shows a breakdown of the trim pieces with screws
but doesn't tell exactly which trim piece to remove first. My guess is I need to pull the cover that surrounds the gear shifter off first which will expose a screw that goes in from the bottom of the cover. I can scan a diagram from the shop manual if this helps.

[YBajaSteve]

in the first couple steps here http://scoobytruck.com/bb/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=1077 i have pics of me taking off the radio surround, hope this helps!

[Sabber]

It is a pain in the butt Ill tell you that the link does show some of the steps, but as I recall when I went messing around with my stock stereo the center console had to come off as well. Here are the steps as I recall from memory, When I find my hayes manual I will update this, but I am not sure where to I put it.

pop offf the cover around the gear shift ( i have a manual, so mine may be different than yours) the trim is still held on by the shifter handle, leave it dangling or unscrew the knob from the shifter, no tools needed. There are some screws right there, unscrew them. go in into the little compartment between the seats and unscrew the screws in there as well, the center console should be able to be lifted out at least a bit, the whole shouldnt need to come all the way of, just be able to be shifted out of the way. Pull out the ash tray by pushing down on that little metal flap on top that keeps it from popping out. There are two screw underneath there that are a pain in the butt to get to, but have to come out, didnt actually put them back in when I reassembled, because i didnt want to go through it again. There may be some other screws underneath the dash next to the steering column, but I dont remember right of, but check under there. that should do it as far as the trim goes.

once inside there are something like 6-8 screws around the housing that contains the radio and various cubbies in the center dashboard. Unscrew those, pull it out and you will be able to unscrew whats holding everything in.

Hope thats somewhat helpful and as I sai I will update it as I verify.

[mikey6331]

I have an S-50 installed in my Baja so the orientation is more vertical than horizontal (I have it on a bracket just to the right of the radio), but most of the other install stuff would be relevant to you.
I only removed the trim, not the entire console (just the silver parts). Like Sabber says, the surround at the gear-shift just pops off. Then there are a few screws that affect the radio/hvac surround, including the ones in the top of the ashtray. Once you have all the trim off, I found enough space to stuff all the electronics and wiring back in under the cubby & such. I got a aux socket from radio shack and patched it into the existing lighter socket so that I wouldn't lose an outlet and also wouldn't have to cut the Sirius's power cord. To hide the cords, I took out the dummy plug next to the cubby (where the rally light switch would go) and dremeled a corner out of that for the cords to pass through, and finally I re-installed the cubby in upside-down so the plug/dummy switch is on the right-hand side right next to the radio. The antenna line goes through the console (it's pretty easy to pop off the right-hand side cover by the footwell on the passenger side if you need to get to that area), behind the glovebox, under the bottom of the passenger door trims, up the rear passenger side trim and out, behind the exterior plastic, and up out of the top of the rear brake light at the base of the am/fm antenna. It's been a couple years, but as I recall I didn't have to remove anything to do that - just tuck it all in with a plastic putty knife or credit card or whatever.
Another thing I would suggest while you are in there, if you don't have one already, is to get the adapter to physically patch your Sirius into your antenna, vs. relying on the built-in broadcast frequency. It accomplishes a couple things, at least for me: First, (and I don't know if you have a turbo or n/a, but...) my antenna is at the back of the roof, so I find the reception from the sirius back into the radio not to be very good - and Second, the adapter has a relay that disconnects the am/fm radio from your car stereo and pipes in the Sirius directly in its place; that way, if you have a hard time finding an empty frequency like we do here in Tampa, the problem becomes irrelevant because only the very strongest stations will come in anyway. Once you turn off Sirius, the relay flips back and your am/fm is normal. Well worth the $20 or so, if your radio accommodates the accessory.

[jseabolt]

Another thing I would suggest while you are in there, if you don't have one already, is to get the adapter to physically patch your Sirius into your antenna, vs. relying on the built-in broadcast frequency.

I know what your talking about. I ended up having to install one in my Explorer:



Without it, there is allot of static across the radio. But with it installed the reception is crystal clear.

Now winter is over, the Explorer is parked in the garage (drinks too much gas for just farting around town) so I bought a second docking station and I've got my reciever rigged up in my Baja. I have the reciever stashed in the cubby hole below the CD changer. For whatever reason, I'm not picking up as much static as I did in the Explorer. But from time to time, there is this classical radio station that over rides it. So the plan is to mount one of these splicers on the Baja.

The FM wire that comes with the reciever that is supposed to mount up along the windshield is junk. Dad ended up having to use one of these antenna splicers on his 98 Chevy van and that wire system was mounted as the directions said to and still didn't work right.

Supposably with the earlier systems, the FM transmitter were quite strong. I heard people were filing complaints with the FFC that Howard Stern was coming across their radios while sitting adjacent to other cars stuck in traffic. So they had to reduce the wattage.

I picked up this Delphi Roady XT at a thrift store:



The transmitter in this unit is quite strong compared to the Sirius Starmate 5 and is more compact. I think it will operate without interference within 3 feet of the radio. And it seems to be easier to operate but lacks some bells and whistles of the Starmate 5 unit.

Another idea of mine is to remove the CD changer and the cubby hole all together and replace it with a piece of sheet metal. I can bend the edges and drill some holes which will mount to the radio bracket. Then mount the docking place onto it. Maybe cover it with some carbon fiber laminate or just paint it black. Provided it looks nice.

But as of right now I just wanted to know how to remove that silver trim piece without breaking it.