I was asked to do a write up on this but just ran into a problem my camera doesnt work right now i guess i can just give a write up and show you final pictures. This is for mustangs that have two seperate dins for the stock stereo upper and lower not the double dins with the cd changer. **disconnect your battery to prevent damage***
**Note** how you want to mount everything is up to you its your vehicle you can tack the face plate on or put a second peice of abs in the dash and use screws to form clamp. Same for how you mount your inverter in the dash.
**NOTE**** I broke one of my own rules i didnt mark the ground to the inverter. I shot it for continuity and got it and assumed i had the right wire... Was wrong and messed a bunch of things up. I had a short down the line at the inverter so when i did hook everything up i blew the system. So Please Mark your ground wire with tape or something or youll do what i did even with my wireing experience.
First thing is first..... Parts
Make sure you have everything up front that you need to make life easier. You will need.
-Wire (gauge depends on what your inverter uses and how far you decide to route it i used 16 gauge its good all around)
-Crimpers or Soldering Iron or both (prefrence dictates)
-Wire Splices or solder or both
-Electrical tape
-Stero removal tool (pain in the ass enough dont use coat hangers)
-Razor and or Dremel.
-ABS plastic sheet (12'x12' sheets can be bought from local car audio stores)
-AC inverter (can be bought at most game stores like gamestop)
-Ok first thing is first you need to do is pull apart your inverter. Usually a few screws front and back. Some have ciggertte plugs as a pass through and some also have cooling fans, If you want to use these its up to you other wise after you get it appart cut them out and tape them off. KEEP TRACK OF YOU WIRES and cut the lines for your plugs, power switch and status led with enough room to splice on both ends.(youll need to add wire so you can reach your face plate i put about 5-6 inches for good play)
-Next pull the cd player out (Hope you have a new after market cd player ready to go into the upper din.) Dry fit the main body of the inverter into the din to see how your specific model will fit.(stripped from the case it should slide right in) If you have a fuse as part of you model dont worry about extending those wires unless you really want to, you can reach your hand around back of the console and pull it if necessary. Notice the amp for your stereo here as well, you must have something between the circuitry non conductive and any metal surfaces or you will short it out.
-Now we need to make a new face plate. Your ABS sheet shold have a grid on one side and normal texture on the other. Neat idea huh. What i did was place the face of the cd player on the ABS and added 3 extra squares to the top and right sides (bottom and left sides were the end of the sheet, dont cut what you dont need to) to give me plenty of play. After i cut it out with my razor and dremel i dry fitted it and it was too big so i cut one row of squares of and it fit good except for one issue your console is round corners the abs is square quick fix round your corners off.
-Next you need to cut a peice of the abs to mount your inverter on in the dash. You need to make sure you have it mounted to something so it doesnt move around or ground out on the stereo amp, your dealing with exposed circuitboard. I used the cooling fan from the Inverter in my set up so it sucks air out the side of the console into the din cooling the inverter and as a bonus that amp there gets a breeze too.
-Now you need to cut your abs face plate to fit your switch, plugs and status light. Use your existing parts if you have them IE the inverter plate as a template and the LED holder to use in the face plate. After you get all peices in place its time to extend wires. Cut your wire to the length you need and crimp it between the respective wires(as stated above i added about 5-6 inches just for good measure you can go way shorter then that) After you do all this its a good idea to bundle them with tape or zip ties (IE both switch wires one bundle led wires another etc) it just makes it easier and cleaner to install.
-OK putting power on your inverter... The easiest way is to remove your bezel to your shifter with a cloth and a screw driver. Slip the Screw driver under the molding and slowly work around popping it off. Have your shifter if you have a auto in the neutral postion. Use the ground (black) and power(blue/white stripe) from your Ciggerette lighter. Splice in respective ground and power wires from your inverter.
Now completely install your inverter. (For time i used tack tape and tacked mine in there very securely gave it a good shakeing its not going any where)
-Then complete your face plate install with what ever method you choose. IF you cut it good it should practicallay snap in and hold itself in.
-And your bezel...(Put your auto back in park)
-Reconnect your battery and enjoy.
-You might want to give it a test run before closeing everything up just in case something does mess up you dont have to take it all back apart.
When i get my pictures of the final install ill show you but like i said no camera right now sorry this is the best i could do in such a hurry, wish i couldve took step by step pictures.... have alot to do today. (it looks pretty good)
**Note** how you want to mount everything is up to you its your vehicle you can tack the face plate on or put a second peice of abs in the dash and use screws to form clamp. Same for how you mount your inverter in the dash.
**NOTE**** I broke one of my own rules i didnt mark the ground to the inverter. I shot it for continuity and got it and assumed i had the right wire... Was wrong and messed a bunch of things up. I had a short down the line at the inverter so when i did hook everything up i blew the system. So Please Mark your ground wire with tape or something or youll do what i did even with my wireing experience.
First thing is first..... Parts
Make sure you have everything up front that you need to make life easier. You will need.
-Wire (gauge depends on what your inverter uses and how far you decide to route it i used 16 gauge its good all around)
-Crimpers or Soldering Iron or both (prefrence dictates)
-Wire Splices or solder or both
-Electrical tape
-Stero removal tool (pain in the ass enough dont use coat hangers)
-Razor and or Dremel.
-ABS plastic sheet (12'x12' sheets can be bought from local car audio stores)
-AC inverter (can be bought at most game stores like gamestop)
-Ok first thing is first you need to do is pull apart your inverter. Usually a few screws front and back. Some have ciggertte plugs as a pass through and some also have cooling fans, If you want to use these its up to you other wise after you get it appart cut them out and tape them off. KEEP TRACK OF YOU WIRES and cut the lines for your plugs, power switch and status led with enough room to splice on both ends.(youll need to add wire so you can reach your face plate i put about 5-6 inches for good play)
-Next pull the cd player out (Hope you have a new after market cd player ready to go into the upper din.) Dry fit the main body of the inverter into the din to see how your specific model will fit.(stripped from the case it should slide right in) If you have a fuse as part of you model dont worry about extending those wires unless you really want to, you can reach your hand around back of the console and pull it if necessary. Notice the amp for your stereo here as well, you must have something between the circuitry non conductive and any metal surfaces or you will short it out.
-Now we need to make a new face plate. Your ABS sheet shold have a grid on one side and normal texture on the other. Neat idea huh. What i did was place the face of the cd player on the ABS and added 3 extra squares to the top and right sides (bottom and left sides were the end of the sheet, dont cut what you dont need to) to give me plenty of play. After i cut it out with my razor and dremel i dry fitted it and it was too big so i cut one row of squares of and it fit good except for one issue your console is round corners the abs is square quick fix round your corners off.
-Next you need to cut a peice of the abs to mount your inverter on in the dash. You need to make sure you have it mounted to something so it doesnt move around or ground out on the stereo amp, your dealing with exposed circuitboard. I used the cooling fan from the Inverter in my set up so it sucks air out the side of the console into the din cooling the inverter and as a bonus that amp there gets a breeze too.
-Now you need to cut your abs face plate to fit your switch, plugs and status light. Use your existing parts if you have them IE the inverter plate as a template and the LED holder to use in the face plate. After you get all peices in place its time to extend wires. Cut your wire to the length you need and crimp it between the respective wires(as stated above i added about 5-6 inches just for good measure you can go way shorter then that) After you do all this its a good idea to bundle them with tape or zip ties (IE both switch wires one bundle led wires another etc) it just makes it easier and cleaner to install.
-OK putting power on your inverter... The easiest way is to remove your bezel to your shifter with a cloth and a screw driver. Slip the Screw driver under the molding and slowly work around popping it off. Have your shifter if you have a auto in the neutral postion. Use the ground (black) and power(blue/white stripe) from your Ciggerette lighter. Splice in respective ground and power wires from your inverter.
Now completely install your inverter. (For time i used tack tape and tacked mine in there very securely gave it a good shakeing its not going any where)
-Then complete your face plate install with what ever method you choose. IF you cut it good it should practicallay snap in and hold itself in.
-And your bezel...(Put your auto back in park)
-Reconnect your battery and enjoy.
-You might want to give it a test run before closeing everything up just in case something does mess up you dont have to take it all back apart.
When i get my pictures of the final install ill show you but like i said no camera right now sorry this is the best i could do in such a hurry, wish i couldve took step by step pictures.... have alot to do today. (it looks pretty good)
