Posted by: wfaulk
Toyota MR2 installation notes - 26/07/2002 19:46
I just helped a friend install a Mk2a into his 2000 Toyota MR2, and it went pretty easily. I just thought I'd write down a few notes about the occasional odd thing we had to do.
First, he decided to go with an additional head unit to work as an amp and radio. I can't imagine where in the car one could put an amp (there's no trunk to speak of); plus, he wanted the ability to play cassette tapes for reasons I can't quite fathom. So wiring was a no-brainer, especially since he ordered the head unit from Crutchfield and they supplied adapters.
The MR2 came with a factory double DIN stereo, and the stereo is attached to the center console with a bracket screwed onto either side. The brackets must comply to some sort of standard, as the little bumps on the brackets that fit into holes on the original stereo also matched up with holes on the new head unit, along with the screw holes, but the empeg's sled obviously doesn't have any of those holes. We'd obviously need the screw holes to mount the sled, but the alignment bumps were useless, so we just drilled them off of the bracket.
The empeg's sled is also slightly wider than the new head unit, which is the same width as the original stereo. So we bolted the brackets onto the new head unit and then forced the sled down between the brackets, spreading them out a little bit. Then we aligned the sled front-to-back so that the empeg would stick out from the dash as much as the head unit, bent the brackets back to lie flat on the sled and marked the screw holes with a permanent marker.
I remembered reading another thread here somewhere about someone also needing to mount from the side like this, and that he put nuts inside the sled to hold the brackets on, but that he had occasional problems with the screws on the sides of the empeg getting snagged, so I decided to go a different route. We purchased a tap from the local home center. A tap is used to cut threads to accept machine screws. The particular one we bought also came with a metal drill bit to drill the basic hole, and then the tap is used to cut the threads into the edges of the hole using a handheld wrench. This worked out really well. I wasn't sure about the strength of the metal the sled is made out of, so I didn't tighten the screws very hard, in order to keep from stripping the new threads, so I used some generic Loctite to keep the screw from coming out. Oddly, the hardest part of all fo this was finding a screw short enough. In the end, we never found one, and ended up buying some that were too long and then taking up space outside of the brackets with a couple of nuts. Then it turned out that that took up too much space outside and it wouldn't fit past the rails onto which everything was bolting. We still haven't solved this problem, but cutting the screws to the proper length seems like the next step. (I think a Dremel cutting tool should work; these aren't exactly hardened steel screws we're taking about here.)
The next step is in fixing the reveal of everything. The original stereo had an overwide fascia. About an inch wider than the empeg and the new head unit. Toyota apparently sells filler blocks to make up for this, but I have the feeling that they'll need cutting away around the empeg, since it's a little wider. Anyway, all of this sits inside a frame that is part of the dash trim. It normally attaches at the top to the rest of the dash and then clips onto the front of the factory stereo. I'm not sure how it's all going to fit on now, especially since the empeg is also a little taller than this trim piece wants it to be. I'll follow up if and when I have more info.
All in all, though, the install was pretty simple. The only real problems will be in getting the trim to fit well over the empeg. Actually getting it mounted in the dash is fairly simple, and I think using a tap to cut threads in the sled worked out pretty well.
Sorry that there are no pictures, but there is a pretty good gallery of someone installing a different stereo in the same model of MR2 here.
First, he decided to go with an additional head unit to work as an amp and radio. I can't imagine where in the car one could put an amp (there's no trunk to speak of); plus, he wanted the ability to play cassette tapes for reasons I can't quite fathom. So wiring was a no-brainer, especially since he ordered the head unit from Crutchfield and they supplied adapters.
The MR2 came with a factory double DIN stereo, and the stereo is attached to the center console with a bracket screwed onto either side. The brackets must comply to some sort of standard, as the little bumps on the brackets that fit into holes on the original stereo also matched up with holes on the new head unit, along with the screw holes, but the empeg's sled obviously doesn't have any of those holes. We'd obviously need the screw holes to mount the sled, but the alignment bumps were useless, so we just drilled them off of the bracket.
The empeg's sled is also slightly wider than the new head unit, which is the same width as the original stereo. So we bolted the brackets onto the new head unit and then forced the sled down between the brackets, spreading them out a little bit. Then we aligned the sled front-to-back so that the empeg would stick out from the dash as much as the head unit, bent the brackets back to lie flat on the sled and marked the screw holes with a permanent marker.
I remembered reading another thread here somewhere about someone also needing to mount from the side like this, and that he put nuts inside the sled to hold the brackets on, but that he had occasional problems with the screws on the sides of the empeg getting snagged, so I decided to go a different route. We purchased a tap from the local home center. A tap is used to cut threads to accept machine screws. The particular one we bought also came with a metal drill bit to drill the basic hole, and then the tap is used to cut the threads into the edges of the hole using a handheld wrench. This worked out really well. I wasn't sure about the strength of the metal the sled is made out of, so I didn't tighten the screws very hard, in order to keep from stripping the new threads, so I used some generic Loctite to keep the screw from coming out. Oddly, the hardest part of all fo this was finding a screw short enough. In the end, we never found one, and ended up buying some that were too long and then taking up space outside of the brackets with a couple of nuts. Then it turned out that that took up too much space outside and it wouldn't fit past the rails onto which everything was bolting. We still haven't solved this problem, but cutting the screws to the proper length seems like the next step. (I think a Dremel cutting tool should work; these aren't exactly hardened steel screws we're taking about here.)
The next step is in fixing the reveal of everything. The original stereo had an overwide fascia. About an inch wider than the empeg and the new head unit. Toyota apparently sells filler blocks to make up for this, but I have the feeling that they'll need cutting away around the empeg, since it's a little wider. Anyway, all of this sits inside a frame that is part of the dash trim. It normally attaches at the top to the rest of the dash and then clips onto the front of the factory stereo. I'm not sure how it's all going to fit on now, especially since the empeg is also a little taller than this trim piece wants it to be. I'll follow up if and when I have more info.
All in all, though, the install was pretty simple. The only real problems will be in getting the trim to fit well over the empeg. Actually getting it mounted in the dash is fairly simple, and I think using a tap to cut threads in the sled worked out pretty well.
Sorry that there are no pictures, but there is a pretty good gallery of someone installing a different stereo in the same model of MR2 here.
I started typing my post and then had to answer the phone, so I did not submit it until 15 minutes later or so. Quite a coincidence though.
