howdy all

I'm a empeg newbie, got a 20gb Mk2a the other day. It's great sitting at home and I've spent several days sorting out music on it how I like it.

It is still a car stereo though, and that's where it needs to go!

I've got a 1993 Nissan Skyline (R32 shape) which has an old Alpine HU running the stock speakers.

I have all sorts of plans for the speakers, an amp, sub(s) and so on, but I'm stuck at this early stage where the sled doesn't fit. :-(

The dash surround is a perfect size for the player and sled, but the mounts behind are not.

Like many japanese cars the stereos (and trays) are held in by two small (<8mm deep) screws on either side. To make things a little more difficult the holes in the mounting bracket are tapered inwards which reduces the space between them even further.

I saw Tony Fabris's Honda Accord install in the gallery which seems to have addressed this to a point, but I can see no way of securely mounting the sled without having screws block the player from sliding in.

The best I have come up with so far is to cut holes in the sled that will take the tapered screw mounts and hold the sled in place by 'squeezing' it.

I don't have a digital camera so I can't illustrate very clearly, sorry!

Has anyone encountered this installing the sled in a japanese car?

Help!

Duncan
NZ

Did you see this picture ?

The empeg is narrower than the sled so it will clear the screw heads. You could even get ones with heads smaller than tony used.

Yeah, I did, thanks.

It seems the brackets that hold the AC controller, tray and stereo are going to need some modification. I'll probably have to drill holes in them too in order to reverse mount screws like that.

<sigh>

duct tape

Plumber's strap - the real man's duct tape.

I'm having the exact same issues in my fiance's Nissan Altima. If you don't mind doing a little dremelling to your mounting brackets, here's what I'm doing. I'm stacking the empeg on top of a pioneer head unit. I'm putting some washers in between the pioneer head unit and the brackets, to make the brackets spaced far enough apart to accomodate the empeg sled. Then I'm going to grind down the brackets where they indent so that the sled will be flat against the brackets. I will then proceed to mount the sled to the brackets using flat screws as pictured above in Tony's gallery. Next, I'm widening the holes in the bracket where it screws to the dash to allow for the brackets being further apart. This is the current plan...I'm halfway through the install...but I've seen this procedure done before in a Mitsubishi, so I'm trusting it will work. Unfortunately, she lives 7 hours away for the next twenty-some days until we get married, or I'd get some pictures.

Warning! Avoid the temptation to just crank the bracket as tight as it will go. You'll end up making the sled bow, which in turn will make it difficult or impossible to slide the player in and out. If you are installing only the empeg sled, the simplest thing to do would be to widen the holes in the bracket as pictured here:

(excuse the sorry photoshop usage)

Hope some of that makes sense. If I'm misinterpreting the problem...ignore all of the above.

looks like a good idea to me, meatballman!

Nothing's ever easy, I guess... Might see if I can get some spares from the wreckers - can practice - and if I get it right, keep the factory ones for when I sell (or crash) the car.

So now I need a grinder, some drill bits for metal, and some files. The missus will be so pleased to have me buy more power tools.

Looks like your best bet might be to remove the metal cage holders and cut off the indentations for the heater controls , when you put it back together put the heater controls at the bottom and the empeg in the center so that the heater controls give it some support and also the vent on the top of the empeg won't be convered by them.

The metal frame is used for the earth on my 200sx/silvia (for my other head ,not the empeg) so it all might only work once it is back together.

I assume that this is the same as your interior?

you might also want to ask the same question on stereo mounting on the UK skyline board www.gtr.co.uk

C.

Might see if I can get some spares from the wreckers - can practice

That's exactly what I did. Of course, I had to modify the radio trim panel too, to allow room for the empeg to slide in and out, so I definitely didn't want to take a dremel tool to the factory piece. I got the panel and stuff from a totalled Altima at a local junkyard for just a few bucks.

yeah, that's pretty much my interior, although it's not a GT-R, only a GTS4, so I don't have the three gauges at the top of the centre console, the heater controls live there. There are two DIN slots below that - the Alpine is in the middle and the DIN pocket in the bottom.

Am still debating whether to leave the Alpine in and run it into the Aux in on the empeg or just have the empeg on its own. No way I can afford a tuner off ebay and the pcats website has been down for the last two or three weeks, and I'll miss my radio!!

Plus the dash has been cut to fit the alpine, so if I remove it I've got a bloody gap.

The UK chaps might be able to help - there aren't too many empegs down Australia or NZ, so no advice on skylinesdownunder or skylinesaustralia.

The heater controls are only about 1.5" - 2" deep anyway, I'm not too concerned about the vent being covered with the empeg directly under them.

Thanks,
D

Sound like your best bet is to remove the pocket and mount the empeg there.

i remember the trick where you can mount the cadge behind the facia and if you take the wiring loom off the back of the sled and refit from the inside , you should gain enough depth so that it will still fit ok.

Any spare skyline bits especialy dash trims are going to be rare, in the uk you have no chance what so ever of finding a skyline at a breakers and if you did not with any useable parts left.

My mate has the R32 GTS? (2.5 NA RWD), nice cars.

C.

When I installed my empeg in my Isuzu Rodeo, I ran into the same thing. The head unit is attached using two L shaped brackets which are then screwed into the dash framing from the front. What I eneded up doing, was getting two pan head bolts that had a low profile, and mounted the brackets to the sled. To prevent the bolts from blocking the empeg, I just put the assembled sled on the vice, and wacked the bolt with a hammer from the inside until it was flush..

No trouble getting wrecked Skylines in New Zealand. I've got a GTS4 and a GTS (cos I can't sell it). The market is flooded with the low end ones, they're going for about $3500-$4000 NZD (which is about $15 USD, isn't it? )

Lots of 18 year olds buy them and crash them 6 weeks later.

From my preliminary play I don't think getting the player past the dash should be too much of a problem - the edges are very thin (I have cuts to prove it), I think the player will lock in place with the edges of the sled behind the trim.

That'll be a GTS25. They're good them. At 1380 odd kilos, the 2.5's extra torque makes it a much better car than the standard GTS with a 2 litre.

Thanks again