A weird one for sure... '95 240 Head unit transplant into a '93 626

[ari]

Hey all,

Lemme explain this situation. I have a 1993 Mazda 626 (duh ) with a factory stereo. Being a poor high school student, I can't afford any kind of stereo upgrade, so I'm trying for the next best thing.

A RL buddy of mine (kilipo4 here on the forums) was kind enough to scavenge the stereo out of his 95 240 when it got wrecked. He mentioned something about it not being amplified and maybe not working without one. As far as I can tell, my Mazda has an amplified head unit.

My question is then, will this head unit (Panasonic part 28185 0J200 Model RM-V15PA1) work in my Mazda without too much trouble on my part, other than a wiring harness adjustment? I'd rather find out here than after spending a day ripping up my dash, if ya' know what I mean.

Oh, and if it will (might) work, if you guys have any links to wiring diagrams, that'd be great. I have the Chilton's guide for my car already, but not the Nissan.

Anything's gotta be better than this tape deck that squeaks with my CD to tape adapter plugged in.

Thanks a bunch!

--Ari

[MaineExport]

First:

The Nissan stereo will not have the proper bolt pattern to fit into the Mazda mounting bracket. This is not TOO difficult to overcome, but it takes some creativity and know-how.

Second:

The wiring will be difficult to say the least. You will NEED the harness from a Nissan with that same stereo. Reason being, there is NO wires from the back of the Nissan stereo. All you will have is the female receiver mounted in the back of the deck. Your best bet is a junkyard... find a car with the same stereo, and cut the wiring harness. Then you will have to buy an after-market wiring harness for the purposes of matching the Nissan wires into a Mazda wiring harness. You will need a wiring diagram for the Nissan so you can match the wires to the new harness.... sound fun yet? Or if you're feeling especially intrepid.... cut the Mazda harness and get a wiring diagram for both cars and match up wires from Nissan directly to Mazda!

This isn't a hard project.... but it will be time consuming. Feel lucky that you can easily gain access to wiring diagrams (on the web). I put a Toyota tape player in my Mazda truckyears ago. Back then I had to test every wire one at a time. Also, the toyota deck had the wiring out of the back of the head, so I didn't need te Toyota wiring harness. I just clipped the Mazda harness and spliced the wires directly. Mounting it was a nightmare!

[ari]

Thanks for the quick response!

I did some searching on this site and found some wiring diagrams via drinstall.com.

It looks like a trip down to the junkyard for the wiring harness for the Nissan. I really would rather not cut up anything in the Mazda... being as I have no replacement if I FUBAR it hehe.

I had this crazy thought... and it probably is just that. Could I solder the Mazda leads (or some extentions from the mazda harness) directly to the Nissan head unit? The harness is there to keep the wires from moving around and to facilitate easy removal...right? Maybe I could rig something up with some electrical tape and some foam?

I assume the aftermarket harness you are talking about is something like the ones available from Crutchfield for something like $9?

Sounds like a little more work than I was planning on, and I'll only do this if the Nissan deck is amplified, otherwise I'll just keep using my little tape adapter

Thanks again!--Ari

[NISMO24096]

just so you know the cd player from the nissan has NO built in amp, and you would be wasting your time cause it will not produce any sound, a friend of mine tried it with my cd player from my 96, into his nissan pickup....just thought i would share that with ya so you dont wast a day and cut up what ya have.....

[MaineExport]

Oh crap! I forgot to answer the amp part of the question!

If the stereo was from a car with the active speaker sytem (as I believe every 95 240sx was) then the Nissan CD player isn't amplified.... (well it actually is.... but just not enough to push ANY speakers). You will need to invest in a small 4 channel amp. For your purposes, an adequate amp can be purchased at Radio Shack for less than $40.... but then you need to find a good place behind the dash to mount it.... otherwise you'll be running wires to the back.... and then front again.... no fun!!! This will also add an extra step in your wiring process.

As for making a wiring harness (I think this is what you were trying to say), that is a headache that is NOT worth the $5 the junkyard will charge, or the $9 that Critchfield will charge.

If it was me... I'd buy both harnesses and do your splicing between them. This way your car wiring is still intact, and the Nissan head will still be intact. This gives you room for error, keeps everything in stock form, and keeps the jimmy-rigging to a minimum.

Yes, you were right about the purpose of the wiring harness. It keeps everything universal, keeps the wires neat and orderly, and most importantly it allows the techs at the dealership garage to swap in new stereos without having to tax their brains. It's quick and foolproof!

[ari]

Thanks for all the advice... I have a feeling it might be easier to just get a Sony head unit with a built in 50x4 or something for under $100 (somehow I doubt I'll get a Sony for that, but the factory outlet isn't that far away...)

@maineimport: I wasn't planning on making my own harness... I was just gonna get some wire and solder it to the Nissan headunit and then plug it into the Mazda harness. Now that I think about it though, that's probably a pretty crappy idea.

Now I just have to find something to do with this head unit.

Thanks again!

--Ari