Technical Removing Alpine Stereo to Wire Rear Speakers

[Soulistic]

Hey guys...

I must thank a bunch of you for placing so many posts in this forum... It has been a great source of information. So much so, that I have successfully replaced the head unit in my 2000 Punto to an Alpine head unit.

Unfortunately, this car only came with the two front speakers and tweeters mounted in the doors (near the mirror control). It's quite the base model, so, I have decided to put in some 6x9's.

Now, the problem is, there is no wiring to the rear speakers, and so, I have to do this myself. I have found some great posts like this one with illustrations for cabling the wires:

https://www.fiatforum.com/showthread.php?t=22454&highlight=wiring+guide

So, I don't think the wiring should be that great of an ordeal. What I really wanted to know was how to remove the Alpine unit without causing damage to access the ISO so that I can connect the wires I need? I tried to fiddle with a little, but, everytime I try, I feel like I'm gonna break something.

If you have any suggestions/advise, it would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance!

 

[activematt]

Surely if you use the keys to remove the head unit then theres no reason why you should damage anything? or have i got the wrong end of the stick on this question?

 

[Soulistic]

If you are referring to those DIN removers that are used to remove the original radio, then, I'm not sure that would work. Otherwise, I'm not exactly sure what you mean when you say "keys".

I guess I could try the car keys, but, not sure if this will avail to any success. I was reading somewhere about trying two butter knifes.. not sure about this either.

 

[activematt]

Did the head unit not come with some form of metal strip key thing which separate the head unit from the cage?

 

[Soulistic]

Oh, yeah... it did... now, i have to find it... Thanks a lot mate!

 

[activematt]

No worries fella, all part of the service!

 

[wolfracepunto]

Which Alpine have you got?

My new model Alpine doesnt come with keys to remove the unit. Behind the cover (Rectangular shaped thing that wraps round the face plate) there are two clips which you have to pull up and this will pop the unit out.

(BTW that is a very good thread with the wiring 'how to' pics )

 

[Soulistic]

Well, I have finally got the wiring done... It didn't take any time at all once I knew how to take out the stereo... now I have reason to keep those keys... always wondered what they were for.

I actually had to replace one of the ISO plugs since it didn't have any connections for rear speakers. But, it was well worth it.

Now what's left is tucking the wire, and final location for the speakers! Must say thanks again!

 

[wolfracepunto]

Nice one

Ive always wanted to know how you wire up rear speakers from scratch. So whats this ISO plug you had to buy? Did you just have to connect up your speaker wires to this?

 

[custard]

when i did the old cinqs wiring on the ISO adapter it has 2 plugs.one is unused with the standard cinq wiring as it only has front speakers.
i found a plug(halfords maybe)that fitted this second plug on the adapter meaning i could make an OE style connection for the rear speakers

 

[Soulistic]

Nice one

Ive always wanted to know how you wire up rear speakers from scratch. So whats this ISO plug you had to buy? Did you just have to connect up your speaker wires to this?

When I removed the head unit from the Punto, I saw that the ISO Connector for the speakers had only four wires, 2 for the front right, and 2 for the front left. So, I was missing the connectors for the rear left and rear right speakers. And there was nothing I could to the original adapter to add the wiring to this connector. I did think about feed the new wires in this old adapter, but, after I was done! :bang:

Well, I was fortunate. Alpine ship a ISO connector in case your car doesn't support it. And thankfully, this connector has the wires for all four speakers. So, in the end, I clipped the wires from the old connector and connected them to this new connector with the space for the rear speakers. Just gonna figure out what's the most optimised way of wiring in the Punto.

I will post a picture of the old connector later this weekend to illustrate what I mean...