For those of you that have an Eclipse HU, specifically the AVN5500, does the unit sit flush in the dash? Mine sticks out about 1/4". Want to know if it can be fixed to sit completely flush in the dash.

 

if you can post a picture, i can tell whether its flushed or not or if thats the limit it can go.
mine is completely flushed except the kit has a very very very tiny gap on each side.
i believe its cos of the wires at the back.
am going to take it out and rearrange the wires to give it more backspace to go further in..

 

i have a kenwood dual din cd player model dpx-501 and it also sticks out about 1/4 inch also

 

I used the double din dash kit from Carson, I don't know if that makes a difference. I will try to get pix up today.

 

I ran into this problem 2 days ago when I installed my Clarion. I used the OEM Lexus/Toyota kit. When I mounted the head unit using the stock holes on the sides of the metal bracket, the radio stuck out exactly 22mm. It looked pretty darn ugly... I immediately flushed it by re-drilling 4 new holes on each side further back from where the original holes were. So if your radio sticks out 1/4", you have to re-drill the holes on your bracket 1/4" further back. Here's the end result... I'm sure every radio will be different depending on the design of the face of the radio. Just take a measurement from the face of the kit to the front of the radio and you will have the amount needed to re-drill the holes. One thing you do have to work about though is how exactly the face opens up. Luckily the Clarion face opened up by pushing straight out from the bottom, but if your face tilts down, you may have a clearance issue if you flush it too much...

 

i've had to re-drill factory radio brackets to fit aftermarket head units before... depending on how far it stuck out, you could use a dremel and slot the holes...

 

Thanx for the info guys.

 

As a heads up, depending on how far the head unit stick out, when you re-dril l the brackets on both sides, there are some raised sections of the brackets. You will need to modify the raised sections or find some slightly longer screws. If you get slightly longer screws, be careful that they are not too long because you will damage your head unit. I was too anxious to wait till the next day to get some longer screws, so I modified the raised sections and flattened them out. It is a pain in the a$$ if you do it that way. You'll see what I'm talking about when you look at the bracket.

 

nice pix chin.
i tried moving some of the wires behind my unit but i still have that little gap. very little gap on both sides.
any other person might not notice or worry but it bugs me.
am going to try the redrill thing.
how about using the stock metal brackets for the sides instead of the aftermarket ones. would it help hold it down better?

 

You can't, the aftermarket bracket is what the face of the bezel snaps into. The stock brackets do not have any provisions to snap the bezel in...

 

What do you use to pull out the hu?

 

Gently pull straight back on the vents above the climate control. Gently pull straight back on the ashtray below the radio. This will reveal (4) 10mm bolts. Remove the 4 bolts and the radio/climate control will come out as one assembly. If you have a small pick tool, you can try to slide the pick tool behind the vents and or ashtray and the pull straight back. Of course you will have to unplug all the harnesses behind the vents and ashtray. Be gentle.

 

chin,
where did u stack all the wires to allow so much space for the head unit to go that farback, i have to force mine a lil bit to position. still have that issue of tiny space on sides. but i will take it out and try that drilling thing you said.

 

hey chin,
i just went through this post again and realized we might be talking about 2 different things.
correct me if am wrong , but your re-drilling was just to get theface of headunit to flush with the kit, right?
My problem is have little gaps/openings on both sides of entire kit.(like it needs to go back some more) to get that no-space on sides look.
let me know

 

As far as the wires, all I can tell you is that you have to be neat. Keep just enough wiring behing the radio in order to pull it out and unplug everything when you need to remove the HU for whatever reason. All my excess wiring is loomed and on the passenger side above the CD changer. It really depends on the layout of the headunit as well, all headunits have different setups in the rear and when space is tight, ever wire, ever rca connector counts...

I have the slight gaps on the side of my kit as well, although it is very slight. What I did was mounted the brackets to the radio and then I spread the front tabs of the brackets out ever so slightly and that improved the gap. If you have tons of wiring behind your radio, that will cause the gap as well. I also noticed that when you screw down the 10mm bolts in order to mount the bracket to the car... spread each side of the bracket away in order to reduce the gap then bolt down the 10mm's Hope this helps and hope it makes sense...