You can generally make any radio fit any car... it's just a matter of how much wiring, hacking-away etc. that you want to go to!
I do sympathise with your position though. May I suggest that, with a Tipo, any standard DIN radio will fit. I presume that it's just a 'standard' 89-94 Tipo? I fitted a Blaupunkt stereo into mine, but I decided to do a little 'custom wiring' (see below). I suggest you pick out a nice CD unit (MP3-playing, perhaps) and doesn't Halfords offer free installation? Of course I'm in New Zealand but I think that's what they were offering when I was over there.
If you decide to go it yourself, it's pretty easy to do a better job than the pros will bother to do! Here's how:
Most stereos come with two ISO (standard) plugs with wires. That means the plugs will later fit other stereos just as well. Use a terminal block to connect the relevant wires to your car (you won't need them all). My advice: just cut off the plug (if any) that you find in the car.
I can already hear the knashing of teeth coming from the purists - the simple problem is that the car's own plug (a) isn't standard anyway, otherwise you'd just be able to plug it in!, and (b) doesn't have all the wires you need anyway (if the car is older than 1994 or so; I understand that newer FIATs are better.) Once you have fitted the standard plugs that come with most stereos, you've made it easier for future upgrades. Some cheap stereos (e.g. Sony - sorry I don't like them!) come with a single, non-standard plug. Never mind, the terminal strip will still be there anyway and make the next set of wires easier to connect.
Here are the wires you need:
You need a wire live all the time. FIAT provide this. It's usually brown, and you (or whoever's helping you) will find it hooked up to the existing radio.
You need a ground wire - usually black. The cigarette lighter, near the radio, is a good provider of this, though of course the existing radio should have this one too.
You need wires to the speakers. FIAT *should* have provided these but possibly not - it's a case of disconnecting the wires from the back of the existing radio - OR just run new wires, really not difficult with the speakers in the dashboard.
You need the aerial wire. Simple this one - it's there already and it just pushes in.
This is where most installers would stop - but you can do so much better!
Now you need a wire (for the pin marked ACC) that only gets power when the ignition key is on. I tend to use the supply to the heater fan switch. To attach a wire without cutting/breaking the existing wire, use a 'wire tap connector' (usually blue, sometimes called ScotchLoks, get them from car stereo shop/Halfords again). (Techie note: the stereo does not draw much current from this wire - it's just to 'enable' the unit, most power comes from the permanent 12V connection).
Why bother? Well with most better stereos (European stereos anyway
this will mean that the stereo goes off when you turn the key off - worth having! Also you can still turn the stereo on without the key being on - the Blaupunkt stereos are clever enough to do that, though I think it's pretty standard.
One final refinement - really easy to do - the pin marked 'illumination' in the stereo's plug takes a signal from the instrument lighting circuit of your car. Again the cigarette lighter provides rich pickings - the yellow/red wire goes to the bulb that illuminates it. You just connect the wire, again using a wire tap connector.
This last one does not, as you might suspect, light up the radio at night - most of them glow all the time anyway. What this wire does is that it dims the stereo's display when the car's lights are on at night. Very good in the Tipo, with the angled mounting liable to reflect in the windscreen!
As for mounting the stereo - it comes with a metal bracket with tangs that you bend over to secure it in the slot. I find it always pays to have some dark-coloured foam on hand (computer parts packing material etc.) to fill any small gaps and prevent rattles. You may also find that the housing is cracked - use Araldite etc. to build it up. Recently I used car body filler to reinforce the cracked housing on my Uno Turbo - very, very successful (probably more solid than it was when brand-new...)
The stereo just pushes in with a click - only do this once you have tested all speakers by using balance/fade controls. Also have some more foam handy to stuff under/over the unit to prevent rattles (but make sure that no ventilation slots are covered).
So there you go, that's how I put in car stereos, I'd hate to have to pay someone else to do it, as I just know they wouldn't do it 'my way'. They'd look for a wiring adaptor which they can sell to you at a profit, yet which won't actually give you any more than the above (and usually less, because FIAT don't provide illumination or ACC wires).
I encourage you to look into 'doing-it-yourself' or getting someone to help install a stereo, it's much more satisfying, and only takes a couple of hours.
Thanks and best wishes,
-Alex
p.s. my email address for any car stereo queries:
[email protected]
