Avic Z2 into 2000 Ram 1500
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04-08-2008 | 01:14 AM
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Avic Z2 into 2000 Ram 1500
Finally got my Z2 into my ram. Since the information is very lacking for any double din into a 2nd gen ram, i decided to post it all up. In glass, it looked perfect, but then once i got it painted, there are quite a few small imperfections that IM going to have to resand and repaint, but I have way too many projects going on to worry about getting it perfect just yet.. lol. It really wasnt that bad to get it in there, and it is by far my absolute favorite screen!!! This will probably be a long post, but Im gonna post up the step by step process I took to do it so that if anyone else wants to give it a whirl, it will be as easy as possible for them...
1. In order for the screen to fit in the inner dash, I had to cut out the top piece of plastic just underneath the vents. Once that was removed, it fit in there perfectly.
2. To secure it, I simply used "cheese strap" as it works quite well as a mount. I was originally going to do 4 straps, but 2 proved to be plenty to keep the screen secured into place. I used the top right factory screw hole as my right side bolt, and carefully put a screw in the left side. There is only about 1/4" of plastic, so be careful to get it perfectly centered or you will break the plastic on not get a good hold.
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f3...roadzj/118.jpg
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f3...roadzj/120.jpg
3. Once the mounting was done I put the plastic trim on as far as I could so I could mark where I had to cut out of the top and bottom in order for the screen to fit through. basically if you look at the plastic, you have to cut right at the start of where the dash starts to curve in for the factory radio. You will also have to trim some of the plastic that holds the vents in. But do it carefully because if you go too far the vents will not stay in place. They are not screwed, but simply glued into place, so if you break the glued area, they will not stay in place.
4. I was very careful to cut and made several trips to and from the truck to consistantly check fitment before cutting to make sure I didnt cut too far.
5. Once it was finally cut, I test fitted it and made sure the screen was out far enough and had enough clearance to open. The left and right sides were quite a bit wider than the deck but other than that, it fit very well The right side stuck a little further back so i put a small washer in between the "bracket" and the dash to allow it to stick through a little more. This proved to work perfectly.
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f3...roadzj/123.jpg
6. Once everything fit perfectly, I continued with the wiring aspect of the install which I'm sure everyone knows quite well... but for those who dont, basically i put the microphone on the headliner by the center overhead console. Both the GPS antenna and the sirius antenna I fed through the rear taillight and onto the roof above the taillight. I added some silicone to make sure the light would not leak. I have a small overhead that I mounted the control box (allows multiple inputs/outputs) in the glove box. In order to mount the sirius tuner box, I removed the cupholders (6 screws holding it in) and there is a perfectly sized spot that matches the tuner box dimensions almost to a "T". The VSS wire is located at the PCM on the pass. side firewall behind the fender (very open and easy to access). It is white/orange in the center connector (C2). The reverse signal was a little tricky. The easiest place was underneath the truck on the driver's side. If you get under and watch as the underbody starts to go upwards to the firewall (basically just behind the left front tire) there is a small plug with about 12-15 wires coming off of it. The wire you need is i believe violet/black, but im not 100% sure. You may need to spray some water or electrical cleaner on the wires to clean them up a bit to see the colors. Then both the VSS and the reverse wires i brought right through the factory grommet easily accessible on the driver's side firewall. I also put the NDBT1 in, but that just got stuck behind the dash as there is quite a bit of room back there. I will be adding the GEXP10XMT navtraffic box soon, and am not quite sure just yet where I will put it... probably behind the glove box somewhere... although space is quite limited since I already have my converter mounted back there. Basically that is it as far as the wiring is concerned.
7. Once the wiring was done and I tested everything it was now time to start making it look good. I found it a lot easier to use the 2din trim ring found in the MET 992003 dash kits. I save almost every one that I do so I have them when I need them. It fits perfectly around the Z2 and proved to be a perfect piece to base the glassing off of. I lined it up and marked the dash where I would need to finish trimming to allow it to fit in. This step would probably be easier to do when the original dash is trimmed, but I was pressed for time the first go around, so I just did it in 2 separate steps. Once I got the main shape down I trimmed the back off of the top and bottom of the trim ring so it would sit flush with the dash. this then allowed me to hot glue the trim ring to the dash to keep it held in place.
8. Once the glue dried I took another trip to the truck to check the fitment prior to glassing to make sure it was still lined up perfectly. This is when I found that the trim ring was a little too perfect and didnt allow the screen to open... I didnt worry about it for now b/c I knew I could just trim it after it was glassed.
9. Once the fitment was verified, I started glassing it. Due to its small size, I picked up some Bondo-glass b/c I have used it in the past and have always found it to work quite well on small projects. Using the bondo-glass I shaped the dash to how I wanted it. Then of course came the sanding, re-bondoing, sanding, etc. until it was perfect (or so I thought).
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f3...roadzj/124.jpg
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f3...roadzj/131.jpg
10. Once it was all sanded and appeared to be perfectly smooth I hit it with a couple coats of primer, using the primer to find any imperfections and sanding them back down and re-primering. Once it was all primered I hit it with some krylon for plastics paint for a couple coats and let it all dry. Of course the glossy paint brought out quite a few imperfections, which i will have to resand and I will probably use some finishing compound (forget the name, but similar to bondo, just mainly used for finishing) to help make it perfectly smooth. Once it was dry, I put the panel back in place and it looks beautiful in there. later on I ended up painting my plastic airbag cover b/c with the gloss black dash panel, it looked a bit out of place, so now it looks much more even (OCD sucks).
Finished pics as of now:
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f3...roadzj/133.jpg
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f3...roadzj/135.jpg
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f3...roadzj/134.jpg
Sorry for the long post, but hopefully this will help some people in the future. overall it was a fairly easy install... maybe a 4 or 5 out of 10, just quite time consuming.
Kenny
My truck: http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f3...CarsMorphe.jpg
Edit: sorry for the links, but it wont let me hotlink, and it takes to long to attach them all
1. In order for the screen to fit in the inner dash, I had to cut out the top piece of plastic just underneath the vents. Once that was removed, it fit in there perfectly.
2. To secure it, I simply used "cheese strap" as it works quite well as a mount. I was originally going to do 4 straps, but 2 proved to be plenty to keep the screen secured into place. I used the top right factory screw hole as my right side bolt, and carefully put a screw in the left side. There is only about 1/4" of plastic, so be careful to get it perfectly centered or you will break the plastic on not get a good hold.
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f3...roadzj/118.jpg
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f3...roadzj/120.jpg
3. Once the mounting was done I put the plastic trim on as far as I could so I could mark where I had to cut out of the top and bottom in order for the screen to fit through. basically if you look at the plastic, you have to cut right at the start of where the dash starts to curve in for the factory radio. You will also have to trim some of the plastic that holds the vents in. But do it carefully because if you go too far the vents will not stay in place. They are not screwed, but simply glued into place, so if you break the glued area, they will not stay in place.
4. I was very careful to cut and made several trips to and from the truck to consistantly check fitment before cutting to make sure I didnt cut too far.
5. Once it was finally cut, I test fitted it and made sure the screen was out far enough and had enough clearance to open. The left and right sides were quite a bit wider than the deck but other than that, it fit very well The right side stuck a little further back so i put a small washer in between the "bracket" and the dash to allow it to stick through a little more. This proved to work perfectly.
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f3...roadzj/123.jpg
6. Once everything fit perfectly, I continued with the wiring aspect of the install which I'm sure everyone knows quite well... but for those who dont, basically i put the microphone on the headliner by the center overhead console. Both the GPS antenna and the sirius antenna I fed through the rear taillight and onto the roof above the taillight. I added some silicone to make sure the light would not leak. I have a small overhead that I mounted the control box (allows multiple inputs/outputs) in the glove box. In order to mount the sirius tuner box, I removed the cupholders (6 screws holding it in) and there is a perfectly sized spot that matches the tuner box dimensions almost to a "T". The VSS wire is located at the PCM on the pass. side firewall behind the fender (very open and easy to access). It is white/orange in the center connector (C2). The reverse signal was a little tricky. The easiest place was underneath the truck on the driver's side. If you get under and watch as the underbody starts to go upwards to the firewall (basically just behind the left front tire) there is a small plug with about 12-15 wires coming off of it. The wire you need is i believe violet/black, but im not 100% sure. You may need to spray some water or electrical cleaner on the wires to clean them up a bit to see the colors. Then both the VSS and the reverse wires i brought right through the factory grommet easily accessible on the driver's side firewall. I also put the NDBT1 in, but that just got stuck behind the dash as there is quite a bit of room back there. I will be adding the GEXP10XMT navtraffic box soon, and am not quite sure just yet where I will put it... probably behind the glove box somewhere... although space is quite limited since I already have my converter mounted back there. Basically that is it as far as the wiring is concerned.
7. Once the wiring was done and I tested everything it was now time to start making it look good. I found it a lot easier to use the 2din trim ring found in the MET 992003 dash kits. I save almost every one that I do so I have them when I need them. It fits perfectly around the Z2 and proved to be a perfect piece to base the glassing off of. I lined it up and marked the dash where I would need to finish trimming to allow it to fit in. This step would probably be easier to do when the original dash is trimmed, but I was pressed for time the first go around, so I just did it in 2 separate steps. Once I got the main shape down I trimmed the back off of the top and bottom of the trim ring so it would sit flush with the dash. this then allowed me to hot glue the trim ring to the dash to keep it held in place.
8. Once the glue dried I took another trip to the truck to check the fitment prior to glassing to make sure it was still lined up perfectly. This is when I found that the trim ring was a little too perfect and didnt allow the screen to open... I didnt worry about it for now b/c I knew I could just trim it after it was glassed.
9. Once the fitment was verified, I started glassing it. Due to its small size, I picked up some Bondo-glass b/c I have used it in the past and have always found it to work quite well on small projects. Using the bondo-glass I shaped the dash to how I wanted it. Then of course came the sanding, re-bondoing, sanding, etc. until it was perfect (or so I thought).
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f3...roadzj/124.jpg
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f3...roadzj/131.jpg
10. Once it was all sanded and appeared to be perfectly smooth I hit it with a couple coats of primer, using the primer to find any imperfections and sanding them back down and re-primering. Once it was all primered I hit it with some krylon for plastics paint for a couple coats and let it all dry. Of course the glossy paint brought out quite a few imperfections, which i will have to resand and I will probably use some finishing compound (forget the name, but similar to bondo, just mainly used for finishing) to help make it perfectly smooth. Once it was dry, I put the panel back in place and it looks beautiful in there. later on I ended up painting my plastic airbag cover b/c with the gloss black dash panel, it looked a bit out of place, so now it looks much more even (OCD sucks).
Finished pics as of now:
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f3...roadzj/133.jpg
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f3...roadzj/135.jpg
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f3...roadzj/134.jpg
Sorry for the long post, but hopefully this will help some people in the future. overall it was a fairly easy install... maybe a 4 or 5 out of 10, just quite time consuming.
Kenny
My truck: http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f3...CarsMorphe.jpg
Edit: sorry for the links, but it wont let me hotlink, and it takes to long to attach them all
