rabidbasher
New member
I WILL BE ADDING MORE TO THIS AS THE TEAR-DOWN COMMENCES...
I tore out a large portion of my interior trim to work on my stereo install. LOL...it looks so bad right now. Driving to work is going to be interesting the next few days. As promised, here's a few odd notes that I hadn't seen elsewhere in the threads:
The front door-jamb/kick panel trim is held on by a fastener in the carpet way up under the dash. Get a panel puller under there and yank that sucker off. It MIGHT unscrew but that proved unproductive for me. The rest of that trim just pulls straight up and out. Start at the back--but be careful where it connects to the B pillar trim, the two trim panels adjoin with clips.
The back seat removes pretty easy-- lift the seat up in the rear and pull the seatbelt fasteners through. Pull the seat cushion up to about a 40-degree angle then give it a good yank at the front to pop the seat cushion off. You have to give that yank at the front on both the driver and passenger sides.
The rear floor/door-jamb trim is easy to remove after you get the back seat out. Start at the outsides and work your way to the middle, make sure to pop it off the adjoining trim bits before moving on. Be careful of the clip in the middle, that sucker's really in there! I almost broke one of the trim pieces in half. LOL!
The B-pillar trim is easiest to get out after you get the front and rear door-jamb trim out. It pulls straight OUT (to the interior of the car) on a series of six-seven clips. It's going to take a fair bit of wiggling and jimmying to get it out from between the seat and the body. BE CAREFUL OF THE WIRES...the clips like to catch on the wiring.
The sail panels (on the opposite sides of the door mirrors) pry out super easy. Use a panel tool or bare hands, work from the window side and just pry it out. It'll go flying once enough pressure is applied.
The rear door trim (behind the rear door handles) pries right out just as easy as the sails. Work from the window side, you might need a trim tool or a taped screwdriver to get at it just right.
The doors are pretty easy surprisingly! Once you get the upper trim off pry the little false backer in the handle well out. There's a notch for a screwdriver in behind the door handle hinge, you might need a flashlight to see it! Pry that out, as well as the cover behind the door pull handle, and you'll have two 7mm bolts. Undo those, then run a trim tool around the sides and lower part of the door. Once all your clips are undone pull the door UP!, unhook the wire plug, and the door latch cable. You'll need a screwdriver for that last part to get the clip off. Then rotate it around (away from the door panel) and slide the retainer ball out of its slot. Procedure is the same for all 4 doors with the exception of the driver's door. There's two plugs in that one.
Speakers are all pretty simple. Undo the 7mm bolt, pry it out with a screwdriver or panel tool. It's actually adhered to the inside of the door...I won't be reusing this piece, I got some Scoche mounts for the new speaks.
A-Pillars / Tweeters haven't been touched yet. I'm only going to be disconnecting them if I notice them after I get the rest of the system together. Won't bother removing them.
Stereo trim is a pain in the butt! It's really, REALLY on there, at least it was for me. Tightest out of all the panels. Popped the little lower trim bits off the cubbies, and that opened up two holes on either side. Got a screwdriver in there and used it, in conjunction with a panel tool to, after much effort, pop a corner free. The rest went pretty easy, but the top two clips are finnicky.
The MyLink stereo is a piece of cake! Undo four 7mm bolts around the perimeter of the screen and give 'er a tug. It's a pain to undo the clips but I didn't need to do anything but the main harness to get my LOC in there.
The cubbyholes beside the radio are pretty simple. Two 7mm bolts need to be undone and they pop right out. There's an upper and lower clip, just pull them out away from the dash and they'll give.
LOC Placement THERE IS NOT ENOUGH ROOM TO FIT A LINE-OUT CONVERTER AND A LOT OF WIRES BEHIND THE MYLINK STEREO. I actually wedged my LOC in between the reinforcements behind the left cubbyhole and it only just fit. Threaded the wires into the stereo cavity and with some great difficulty got the MyLink radio back in. I'm going to be drilling that left cubbyhole tonight to get my sub amp remote wire through it. I like that placement for some reason...out of the way but still right there.
Just chatting below:
I probably won't take out the rearmost door-jamb trim, instead I'm going to fish my wires up under the carpet and under the back seat, into the lower trunk area. I don't want to mess with the airbags and it looks like the rear airbags pin that trim in. My grounding point is still undecided, I might go for the middle seatbelt bolt.
I'm taking it slow since I'm doing a lot of this in an apartment complex parking lot and my neighbors give me **** about working on my car. Tomorrow is going to be (with any luck) power wire and ground for the amps, and maybe signal hookups if daylight allows after work. :banana:
I tore out a large portion of my interior trim to work on my stereo install. LOL...it looks so bad right now. Driving to work is going to be interesting the next few days. As promised, here's a few odd notes that I hadn't seen elsewhere in the threads:
The front door-jamb/kick panel trim is held on by a fastener in the carpet way up under the dash. Get a panel puller under there and yank that sucker off. It MIGHT unscrew but that proved unproductive for me. The rest of that trim just pulls straight up and out. Start at the back--but be careful where it connects to the B pillar trim, the two trim panels adjoin with clips.
The back seat removes pretty easy-- lift the seat up in the rear and pull the seatbelt fasteners through. Pull the seat cushion up to about a 40-degree angle then give it a good yank at the front to pop the seat cushion off. You have to give that yank at the front on both the driver and passenger sides.
The rear floor/door-jamb trim is easy to remove after you get the back seat out. Start at the outsides and work your way to the middle, make sure to pop it off the adjoining trim bits before moving on. Be careful of the clip in the middle, that sucker's really in there! I almost broke one of the trim pieces in half. LOL!
The B-pillar trim is easiest to get out after you get the front and rear door-jamb trim out. It pulls straight OUT (to the interior of the car) on a series of six-seven clips. It's going to take a fair bit of wiggling and jimmying to get it out from between the seat and the body. BE CAREFUL OF THE WIRES...the clips like to catch on the wiring.
The sail panels (on the opposite sides of the door mirrors) pry out super easy. Use a panel tool or bare hands, work from the window side and just pry it out. It'll go flying once enough pressure is applied.
The rear door trim (behind the rear door handles) pries right out just as easy as the sails. Work from the window side, you might need a trim tool or a taped screwdriver to get at it just right.
The doors are pretty easy surprisingly! Once you get the upper trim off pry the little false backer in the handle well out. There's a notch for a screwdriver in behind the door handle hinge, you might need a flashlight to see it! Pry that out, as well as the cover behind the door pull handle, and you'll have two 7mm bolts. Undo those, then run a trim tool around the sides and lower part of the door. Once all your clips are undone pull the door UP!, unhook the wire plug, and the door latch cable. You'll need a screwdriver for that last part to get the clip off. Then rotate it around (away from the door panel) and slide the retainer ball out of its slot. Procedure is the same for all 4 doors with the exception of the driver's door. There's two plugs in that one.
Speakers are all pretty simple. Undo the 7mm bolt, pry it out with a screwdriver or panel tool. It's actually adhered to the inside of the door...I won't be reusing this piece, I got some Scoche mounts for the new speaks.
A-Pillars / Tweeters haven't been touched yet. I'm only going to be disconnecting them if I notice them after I get the rest of the system together. Won't bother removing them.
Stereo trim is a pain in the butt! It's really, REALLY on there, at least it was for me. Tightest out of all the panels. Popped the little lower trim bits off the cubbies, and that opened up two holes on either side. Got a screwdriver in there and used it, in conjunction with a panel tool to, after much effort, pop a corner free. The rest went pretty easy, but the top two clips are finnicky.
The MyLink stereo is a piece of cake! Undo four 7mm bolts around the perimeter of the screen and give 'er a tug. It's a pain to undo the clips but I didn't need to do anything but the main harness to get my LOC in there.
The cubbyholes beside the radio are pretty simple. Two 7mm bolts need to be undone and they pop right out. There's an upper and lower clip, just pull them out away from the dash and they'll give.
LOC Placement THERE IS NOT ENOUGH ROOM TO FIT A LINE-OUT CONVERTER AND A LOT OF WIRES BEHIND THE MYLINK STEREO. I actually wedged my LOC in between the reinforcements behind the left cubbyhole and it only just fit. Threaded the wires into the stereo cavity and with some great difficulty got the MyLink radio back in. I'm going to be drilling that left cubbyhole tonight to get my sub amp remote wire through it. I like that placement for some reason...out of the way but still right there.
Just chatting below:
I probably won't take out the rearmost door-jamb trim, instead I'm going to fish my wires up under the carpet and under the back seat, into the lower trunk area. I don't want to mess with the airbags and it looks like the rear airbags pin that trim in. My grounding point is still undecided, I might go for the middle seatbelt bolt.
I'm taking it slow since I'm doing a lot of this in an apartment complex parking lot and my neighbors give me **** about working on my car. Tomorrow is going to be (with any luck) power wire and ground for the amps, and maybe signal hookups if daylight allows after work. :banana:
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Pretty sure it just pops right up. Typically (at least in my experience) it's best to work from bottom up with this sort of thing. Should be digging into that tomorrow.
