Motors Fitting A Stereo In A 03 Fiesta

Hi Everyone,
I am attempting to remove the 4500 standard Ford stereo out of my fiesta tomorrow and replace with a nice new Pioneer head unit. Has anybody had any experience doing this?? Any hints and tips will be gladly received!
I got all the bit I need (I think) facia adaptor, iso adapter, haynes manual....
Cheers

 

How are you covering the large gap? The 4500 is quite allot larger than your normal head units you can buy down Halfords.

 

tbh most likely the stereo connectors jsut clip in most cars they pretty standard, if not get yourself some crimpers and few male/female conenctors

 

he does say hes got a fascia adaptor in the first post....


should be a fairly easy job mate.
The hardest thing when i upgraded my head unit was getting the original head unit out which is meant to be done with some sort of special tool but i just used a couple of tabke knives

 

that 'special' tool is basically very much similar to those 'tabke knives'! they're just a little more flexible and they have little dimples which are used to pop out the clips which hold in the original unit

good luck!

 

The only tip is, if you're missing a connector put the old radio back in, buy the connect connector/adapter and try again.

 

I did it. Thanks for the responses guys. It was fairly tricky. Had to take the whole heater/blower panel off to get at the stereo. That was straight forward. Putting the thing back on was a nightmare however. No special tools were needed luckily, just 4 screws holding it in place. Although I did have to dremel off a couple of bits of plastic so the fascia fitted. Very pleased with the result. Originally I went into Halfords and asked them to fit it for me, but they said it was not possible to change the stereo in a Fiesta of that age..

 

Halfords are famously useless when it comes to a stereo fit that isn't a straight swap, the heater control cables on those fiestas can be an absolute b'stard to get back into the weird coggy arrangement on the back of the controls

 

Which is fair enough really: semi-trained staff can't be expected to start taking dashboards to bits while the company is liable for damages. If you want it fitted on a tricky car, go to an audio specialist - they'll know how.

 

Krikket thats how i used to make my living, I was one of those specialists, that said I seemed to spend a lot of my time fixing the butchery that halfords had performed on seemingly straight forward cars too, they advertise their fitting service as professional.. it should be just that.

 

So, I am happy with the stereo now. Time for the speakers to be changed. I got some autolead adaptors supposedly for a Fiesta but on removing the door panel these are no good. Looks like 5 x 7 or 6 x 8 are fitted in there. So, got to return my 13cm Pioneers I got now! There is so much mixed information about what to get. Been told to get 5 x 7 from one company and a different size by another. Anybody know for sure what I need???? Also I never took the rear door panel off, am I to assume they are the same size speakers in there??

 

I had 5x7's in my KA, you can get 13cm adapter panels for them, I assume you can for the fiesta too

 

If they're the same size speaker as the mondeo .. and knowing ford they are, you may well be able to squeeze a 6x9 in the door panel, I've seen it done on a ka and its cheap, but nasty imho

The right speaker adaptor is Autoleads SAK-1513, lets you put a 6 1/2 inch speaker in the hole, alternatively people like alpine make 5x7 replacements like the SPS 57c2 .. first one i pulled from google

should be 5x7's all round as far as I can remember

 

Cheers unluckyfriedkitten for your advice, has been well received. I am sending the 13cm's back and getting some high end 5x7 Alpines instead. Not too bothered about the rears at the moment. Looks like taking the window winder off will be a nightmare.

 

I cant speak from experience with fiestas, but as far as the Ka goes id never fit 5x7s to it (even though they fit). In my Ka i have/had 13cm components with teh tweeters mounted up near the mirror adjusters. I now have a focus as well and its still got its standards but they will be replaced once ive fitted the 2500wrms sub i have :d

 

Nah taking off the window winders is usually really easy. Pop off the plastic cover on the front with a small flat head screwdriver, unscrew the Phillips head screw underneath and it comes straight off.