Aftermarket Head Unit Installation Walkthrough

[daryncox]

Last night I installed a new aftermarket head unit in my 2011 Fusion SEL. I thought I might as well take pictures of the process and post them here. Hopefully it helps somebody else out who needs to do something similar.

 

1. Open the door to the storage box at the top of the console. Remove the rubber mat that's in there, it's secured to the front of the box opening (nearest you) just mess with it and it will make sense.

 

 

2. Remove the two bolts that hold it in place.

 

 

3. Then Slide the box towards you, the vents sometimes come with the box and sometimes stack back connected to the venting. If you need to adjust or fix the fins now would be a good time. You can unhook the Hazards button and Passenger airbag light at this time but I chose to just keep it connected as I can access the face panel screws with this piece loose.

 

Not pictured: Many Fusions have a plastic strap connected to the bottom of the box which goes down above the gas pedal and is bolted down. I removed this from the previous time I disassembled the dash. To get to the other end of it you need to remove the panel below the steering wheel to give you some slack to get the box out and be able to access the bolts on the console.

 

 

4. Next we need to remove the center console piece with the cup holders and cut out for the shifter. To do this, pull the parking brake and then open the arm rest. Use a flat head screw driver to pry it upwards. I always wrap the tip of the screw driver with a couple pieces of electrical tape to give it some padding and avoid scratches or cracks from sharp edges. Keep carefully pulling up from back to the front and it should also pop the chrome ring from around the shifter out of place. If your car has the lighting kit, disconnect the wiring from underneath the cup holders. At this point I took these pieces in the house and scrubbed them up good in the kitchen sink with a mild detergent. I bought the car pre-owned and there were some smudges I wanted to get off.

 

 

5. Once that has been removed and put aside in a safe location it's time to remove the coin tray at the front of the console. Just wiggle it and pull up and towards you and it should come out without much effort as there are no screws holding it into place. Once you have the coin tray loose, disconnect the power cable for the aux power jack and set it aside. (Note this pic is actually from after the install, I didn't take one of this part before but wanted to show what it looks like).

 

 

6. This is what it looks like with the coin tray removed.

 

 

7. Back up at the top of the console, remove the two bolts that hold the face panel (I don't know a better name to call it) in place. The bolts were hidden behind the lip of the top console storage box. Pull the face panel towards you from the top to bottom. There are 6 clips (3 on each side) that will pop loose. Be careful as the stereo, HVAC and other button controller boxes are actually attached to the back of the face panel and not to the inside of the dash like every other car I've ripped apart a month after buying it.

 

You will need to remove 4 wiring harnesses (maybe more or less if the car has different options) from the back of several control units on the back of the face panel. They're pretty easy, press the tab and pull away, you could mark them if you like but the only two that look the same are color coded so I didn't bother.

 

The CD player unit will remain bolted into the dash.

 

 

8. Next remove the 4 bolts that hold the CD player unit in place and remove it by pulling it out towards you. Unhook the wiring harness and remove it from the car.

 

 

9. Here's what the open dash cavity looks like with the face panel and CD player removed. Here you'll see multiple wiring harnesses from the vehicle as well as my RCA cables and amplifier remote turn on wire that I ran previously. These can be run down the drivers side of the car underneath the plastic trim panels in the door openings.

 

 

10. Remove The HVAC and other control boxes from the stock face panel (left) and re-install them on your aftermarket face panel (right). I left the factory stereo controller box attached for now and will probably just store it until many years from now when I'm ready to sell the car and want to put it back to stock.

 

Anyway, the controller boxes were attached with star-screws, but a small flat head screw driver worked fine for me as I was too lazy to go grab the star drivers. The bottom control box with traction control and lighting buttons just popped out with some tabs and had no screws.

 

 

To Be Continued...

[daryncox]

11. The aftermarket panel I used is made by Scosche - Silver FD1443B http://www.scosche.c...io/product/1884. I think it fits pretty well, the paint color matches but the finish is a little rough compared to the factory pieces.

 

I really wish I could have found one that replaces the metallic mesh pattern that's on part of the original as well as the strip above the glove box but I searched everywhere and couldn't find one. Maybe I'll try to modify the stock one one day as it's of noticeably higher quality.

 

This Dash panel will accomodate a double-DIN receiver, the head unit I purchased is single-DIN receiver so I attached the pocket that comes with it. I also ran a scrip of 3M tape to the bottom of the pocket where it meets the face panel plastic just to make sure there wasn't a gap in there that would drive me nuts once I got it back together.

 

This model didn't give the option of putting the pocket on top but if I had to choose I would have put it on the bottom anyway. At this point there is nothing else to attach to the face panel, the aftermarket stereo attaches inside the dash with some brackets that came with the face panel.

 

 

12. Now comes the really fun part. The wiring harnesses. I used the PAC MS-FRD1Ford Factory Radio Interface which lets you keep SYNC. I don't think I'll be using SYNC much since the aftermarket head unit I bought can do most of the things I ever used SYNC for but I wanted the option just in case. To keep my steering wheel controls I also purchased the PAC SWI-JACK Steering Wheel Remote Interface.

 

The directions for either aren't great but here's an overview of what I did.

 

First I put the SWI-JACK (steering wheel controls adapter) and the black SYNC display box (at the top of the pic below) and wire aside. I connected the harnesses that came with the MS-FRD1 to the blue controller box you see in the middle of the pic below. Only two jacks are the same size and which one you plug that one into depends on if your car came with the regular audio system or one with external amplifiers and they're labelled. The other end of these harnesses have the factory harness plugs you see on the right of the pic below.

 

Next I connected the harness that came with the aftermarket head unit to the speaker wire harness from the MS-FRD1. The PAC instructions didn't label any of these wires but luckily they match the aftermarket head unit colors and are pretty standard. You can see the wiring and head unit plug on the left of the pic below.

 

Next I tackled the SWI-JACK. At first it wasn't very clear but it turns out if you are connecting the SWI-JACK to the MS-FRD1 you don't need the wiring that came with the SWI-JACK, instead there is a harness that came with the MS-FRD1 and it plugs right into the main controller box in the middle of the pic. This is good because the wiring for use with just the SWI-JACK was pretty complicated requiring you to attache a 100 ohm resistor and cut some more wires.

 

One set of RCA's will not be used for my install and the other connects to the back of my aftermarket head unit to the AUX input.

 

Anyway. This was by far the most complex part of the install but not too bad.

 

 

 

13. Next up, attaching brackets to the sides of the head unit. This is pretty self explanatory but the face panel came with instructions. The screws don't seem to fit all that tight after being removed once though. I had to adjust my brackets so that they are all the way towards the front of the head after I did a test fit with the face panel.

 

In case you care, the head unit I went with is a JVC Arsenal KD-A95BT I purchased for about $250.

 

 

14. Next I plugged the car end of the wiring harness. Then the head unit plug and the Head unit in place. It bolts right in where the factory CD player went. I ran the USB cables out the back and behind the glove box. Attached the AUX cable. I attached the microphone above the rear-view mirror and ran that cable down the drivers side A-piller, underneath the steering and plugged into the jack.

 

I usually like all my wiring to be MUCH cleaner than this but i did the best I could with that mess of wires I was left to deal with.

 

 

15. Once the wiring was stuff in there it was time to program the SWI-JACK, again the directions from PAC weren't the best. It's set for mode 9 but if you're plugging it into the MS-FRD1 you have to change it to 2. It took me a few tries but now the volume up/down and tracks next/prev both work. I wasn't able to map any of the SYNC buttons for use with my JVC head unit but that's ok. Follow the instructions and it shouldn't take more than a couple tries to get it. Just make sure you have the dial on one side set to the correct brand of head unit.

 

 

16. Once the SWI-JACk was working properly it was time to put everything back together basically just go in reverse of the way you took it all apart.

 

Connect the HVAC and other controller boxes to the back of the face panel. Put the face panel in place and starting bottom of it . Line up the tabs and then press in as you move your hands from bottom to top.

 

 

17. Put the screws back in the top of the face panel.

 

 

18. Place the top console storage box back in place. Put the 2 screws back in and replace the rubber mat Make sure everything is all lined up before you get any further.

 

 

19. Grab the coin tray, plug in the wiring harness and pop into place.

 

Take the center console panel and plug in the wiring harness for the lighting. Pop that back into place starting at the coin tray and working your way back to the arm rest.

 

Put the chrome ring back around the shifter and you should be done.

 

 

A couple of notes:

 

1. My SYNC doesn't seem to work as expected. I connected the display box that came with the SWI-JACK and ran it into my glove box because it looks cheap and I don't think I'll use it that often. I haven't had time to trouble shoot this issue yet.

 

2. My stock display at the top still shows compass, temperatures etc. but no time. The middle of the display shows "DVD" and "Blue Tooth". No idea why DVD is displayed but I imagine the SYNC system is confused.

 

3. The sound is WAY WAY WAY better than factory. The highs don't get all shrill and hurt my ears and the lows don't sound like a muddy mess. I'm very happy with the new system. I think I'll look into the SYNC issues but honestly it's not that important to me that it works. If anyone has some suggestions for me that would be great.

Edited May 18, 2012 by daryncox

[bigreggie221]

hey man thanks for the steps in doing this i have a 2011 fusion se without the sync and all that would it be easier to work on that this to have it with the sync and all ?

[norbs8]

Great tut. FYI you should hit that dash panel with a few coats of clear coat to give it a much better and more stock look. Run down to wally mart and pick up some krylon clear gloss.

[daryncox]

@bigreggie221 - I'm not sure but I think if you don't have SYNC you can get a cheaper wiring harness and have a few less things to deal with. I'm actually not using SYNC now at all and don't miss it. I ended up sending the JVC head unit back and replaced it with an Alpine that has voice commands for the phone.

 

@norbs8 - That's a great idea. The worst part of the aftermarket install is the poorly finished replacement dash pieces, I should have taken the time to finish it a little nicer before I put it all back together.

[coldconfession13]

The pics don't show

[Fusion_Federate]

I also don't see any pictures...

[drocpsu]

I also don't see any pictures...

same here. I was disappointed to see that.