While waiting on parts.
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From: Oregon
'97 c36
While waiting on parts.
After putting in an order with durableswedish at Beaverton mercedes (fan support bearing, water pump, idler pulley) and the car is down. Figured I'd work on installing the new stereo/receiver. It's a double din Kenwood DDX770. Plan is to move the climate control down and slot out the console to make it fit. Crutchfield supplied the harness and I took a trip to the junkyard and got another spare trip plate to cut up for the filler panel.
Has anyone done this double din conversion? Post up pics of your install.
Has anyone done this double din conversion? Post up pics of your install.
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Joined: Oct 2013
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98 C43
Interested to see how this turns out and pitfalls to avoid. I want to add a double-din, too.
After putting in an order with durableswedish at Beaverton mercedes (fan support bearing, water pump, idler pulley) and the car is down. Figured I'd work on installing the new stereo/receiver. It's a double din Kenwood DDX770. Plan is to move the climate control down and slot out the console to make it fit. Crutchfield supplied the harness and I took a trip to the junkyard and got another spare trip plate to cut up for the filler panel.
Has anyone done this double din conversion? Post up pics of your install.
Has anyone done this double din conversion? Post up pics of your install.
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Joined: Dec 2011
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From: Oregon
'97 c36
Well first two problems already. First after hooking up the new deck I'm getting a popping noise out of all the speakers as the head unit turns off and on. Second I've lost the subwoofer. I called crutch field and talked to their support center. Basically he told me that mercedes are a pain and that he couldn't help me. It should be working and he didn't know why. I don't fault him for this as trying to fix something like this over the phone is a nightmare but was hoping they would be a little more help. After hanging up the phone and looking at the wiring harness and the pre-outs running to the amp. Looks like the wiring adapter is only controlling 4 of the 6 channels. I have two wires that are not connected to the wiring adapter.
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From: Oregon
'97 c36
They suggested running an additional ground wire from the frame of the radio to the body and install a ground loop isolator to the pre-outs to try to correct for the popping noise. As of right now I need to find a wiring diagram for the amplifier/radio circuits for our 202's and confirm my suspicion that their wiring adapter sucks.
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From: Oregon
'97 c36
Ok well found some wiring diagrams and I'm wrong. The two wires left over are for phone muting and the data link for engine read out. As far as the sub not working... Turned out to be a retard problem. I dug through a few menus on the head unit and bumped up the pre out voltage and its working better now. Just not at loud as before which I'm not totally sure about... but ill deal with that later. (Like a 10" sub and independent amp 
) ill swing by a stereo store tomorrow and buy some isolators.. For now though. Working on fitting the head unit.
Seriously though. Mercedes know how to build quality cars. Taking apart the console was a breeze and first class with the cast aluminum trim.
) ill swing by a stereo store tomorrow and buy some isolators.. For now though. Working on fitting the head unit. Seriously though. Mercedes know how to build quality cars. Taking apart the console was a breeze and first class with the cast aluminum trim.
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From: Oregon
'97 c36
After cutting the center support, I can see now that the the center is going to notched to let the bracket/trim sit flat. Also you can see the gap where the double din doesn't quite fill. That's why I bought the extra trim plate. With hopes of cutting it up for a filler piece.. See how it goes.
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From: Oregon
'97 c36
Had to scrap the idea of using junkyard trim. There wasn't enough material so i used some aluminum flat bar and roughed in a quick piece. It will be polished for final but that's for next weekend.
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From: Land of mountains, cheese, chocolate and watches
12' W204 C63 AMG coupe "T-Rex", 12' W451 Smart Fortwo Pulse (99' W202 C43 AMG + Ultima Can-Am sold)
You can read about the double din conversion and installation in a C43 in this thread starting at post #364
http://www.mbclub.co.uk/forums/mbclu...double+din+c43
http://www.mbclub.co.uk/forums/mbclu...double+din+c43
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From: Oregon
'97 c36
Thanks for the link. Ill have to check it out. I was just making this up as I went along. Good news is the parts for the engine showed up and got the water pump, fan support/bearing, idler pulley and tensioner pulley installed after work on Friday. So just a few loose ends to button up under the hood till I can get back to the stereo install. Since I'm doing this in the garage and not down at the shop where all the tools are. I got sick of using a damn dremel so I picked this up this morning. It's a cheap china made piece of crap. But its new and should do ok for the small stuff around the house. I looked on Craigslist and couldn't find any quality older tools near by so I settled.
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From: Oregon
'97 c36
Sorry bud I I knew you wanted pictures them out i would have gotten them for you. Here's pictures installed. But you can't see much. I also did some electrical connector repair on the connector to the air cutoff solenoid, a coolant flush with proper blue mercedes fluid, (note on this one, after taking the hoses off and seeing the metal transfer of aluminum to the rubber hoses, as well as metal particle slime in the coolant over flow. I am sold on mercedes coolant as it is designed to stop metal transfer). The head gasket was done just prior to me buying the car and who ever did the job poured in plain green coolant. Being this is my first mercedes I just didn't know better and left it in there. Wasn't until i watched a video from fupabox on youtube that i learned that green isnt spec coolant for the m104. So if you are running green coolant and you think that special coolant is a load of crap. Pull the transfer hose from the water pump to the head and have a look for your self.
Yeah I do all the wrenching on the car.. Well everything I have tools for. Mercedes and bmw are a breeze to work on. I turn wrenches and push buttons repairing/operating machines in the semi conductor field for a living. So I find turning wrenches on the car relaxing/fun. Although I wouldn't want to do it everyday and have mad respect for those who do.
Yeah I do all the wrenching on the car.. Well everything I have tools for. Mercedes and bmw are a breeze to work on. I turn wrenches and push buttons repairing/operating machines in the semi conductor field for a living. So I find turning wrenches on the car relaxing/fun. Although I wouldn't want to do it everyday and have mad respect for those who do.
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From: Oregon
'97 c36
Hey sorry for the updates guys.. The stereo project is still going but I pulled off for the last two days. After buying the sander I realized there really wasn't a good spot in the garage for it. So I ran over to the local fab shop and found a pile of scrap in the recycle dumpster. At first they said they don't sell to private people but eventually it got loaded into the truck with 40 less dollars in the picket. I spent another 100 on a metal chop saw from American liquidators (harbor freight) after being unable again to find any American made saws. I will say that the all black chop saw from harbor freight is a real bad ***.. Very nice saw for the money even though the angle guide is way off. I cut up the scrap into usable stock and painfully trying to weld it with the arc welder. It's thin walled tubing and the welder is as low as it goes. Im running 5/64 rod but its slow going with a lot of grinding and re-welding. The end goal is a metal topped welding/fab table than I can drive bearing on. I'm trying to keep the budget under 200 tools included.
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From: Land of mountains, cheese, chocolate and watches
12' W204 C63 AMG coupe "T-Rex", 12' W451 Smart Fortwo Pulse (99' W202 C43 AMG + Ultima Can-Am sold)
You need to get some bracing in between the legs for stability and strength
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From: Oregon
'97 c36
Ohh for sure, it's like only 40% done. It's going to have two shelves and a center support. 3/4 in plywood for a core for the top (which will be under 3/16 plate when I can find some) and shelves. Ill post pics as I go.
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'97 c36
Still waiting on the machine shop to call and tell me they got the plate top done but for now there it is. The eagle has finally given the look of approval. So feel pretty good about it. Lessons learned. You can make half way nice welds on thin walled tubing with an arc welder.. But I've come to the conclusion you don't want to. Using a stick welder for stuff like this is exactly the same as wiping your *** with paper towels cuz your out of tp. Sure it gets the job done.. But it's heavy duty and should be saved for the big stuff.
Last edited by Super B; Dec 17, 2013 at 06:32 PM.
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From: Oregon
'97 c36
If you MUST do it though.. And you can't afford the proper machine I found 5/64 ths rod 6013 on 40 amps will work with a drag method at a fast as the rod will burn. But gods speed is what you need, because if you pause for a second or haven't cleaned your metal to a shine and have to burn something your going to blow a hole in it faster than a knife fight in a phone booth. This will lead to flying chipping hammers and language that your mom would not approve of.
Ok enough with the table FINALLY back to the car project.
Ok enough with the table FINALLY back to the car project.
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From: Oregon
'97 c36
Aluminum filler piece is done. I was going to go polished but brush/satin finish just looks better imo. what do you guys think? i also drew up the AMG logo on auto cad and priced a laser shop to laser etch the aluminum. but now that its done im not sure if im going to do it. Looks pretty clean blank.
Time to move into relocation of the climate control. My plan is to make a housing for it out of aluminum so the keys still work for it so/when I convert all the lighting to led I can take is out easy.
Also I forgot to mention, I went to a stereo installation shop that deals with German and high in cars and told him about the pop with the unit powering up and down. Before I could finish my sentence he told me ill be right back and came out with these. Sni-1 group loop isolators. Apparently they sell them with all installation of aftermarket equipment running with Bose systems. He said he couldn't guarantee it would get all of it but said it will help. I also had to get an antenna adapter.
Time to move into relocation of the climate control. My plan is to make a housing for it out of aluminum so the keys still work for it so/when I convert all the lighting to led I can take is out easy.
Also I forgot to mention, I went to a stereo installation shop that deals with German and high in cars and told him about the pop with the unit powering up and down. Before I could finish my sentence he told me ill be right back and came out with these. Sni-1 group loop isolators. Apparently they sell them with all installation of aftermarket equipment running with Bose systems. He said he couldn't guarantee it would get all of it but said it will help. I also had to get an antenna adapter.
Last edited by Super B; Dec 17, 2013 at 11:49 PM.
