Whats up guys?

Is it normal for the JDM double din conversion kits to have the DD radio slot bigger than an actual double din radio? I just installed a Pioneer Avic-F900BT in my G35 sedan using the JDM DD Kit and got a small gap/opening on the sides and an even bigger one under the radio. I havent gotten a chance to take a picture but I've been looking into this today and found this picture of another setup which also shows a gap.

http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/mp3c...initi-g35.html

I used some foam I had from a computer motherboard i had purchased in the past and inserted in the gap, not the best looking setup but it beats the gaps i ended up with... anyone else had this problem when installing a dd kit?

... I'll post pictures of my setup tonight just in case anyone wants to see it

 

It depends on your headunit.. You more than likely will have to trim the border that comes with radio because none of the double dins I have seen completely fill the gap. Even my Alpine has a small but unoticeable gap.

 

Hey williamjv -

I can give you my input on this. Funny, I started with ordering the Metra kit, but with everyone telling me how nice the JDM one looked, I thought I'd order it and see how nice it was myself.

Well, the buttons for the climate controls are definitely OEM - VERY nice. But the double-din opening was REALLY lousy! Too small side to side in my opinion, and waaaaaay to big top and bottom! I was even contemplating trying to use the buttons from the JDM on the Metra dash piece as it fits the F90BT PERFECTLY and figured I could sell the JDM dash portion by itself if that worked! But to no avail - the buttons are juuust different enough to not fit from one to the other.

So as it turns out, I will be returning the JDM stuff in it's entirety and using the Metra kit, saving myself over $100 in total cost while NOT having to mess around with the whole dual climate control button/solder thing!

True the buttons don't look as trick on the Metra piece (sadly, as it is the only thing about it that isn't great) but the exchange of the slightly less "cool" buttons is fine to me in exchange for:

- perfect radio sized opening
- $100 savings
- no dual climate control hassle

Cheers,
Kevin

 

I too went with the JDM as most of the people i've seen talk about the JDM DD kit, all say how great the quality is. Well i must on agree on that; however, I am pretty disappointed at the fact that now i have this ugly looking gaps (having to come up with ideas on have to cover them).

I also agree that the AC controlls on the Metra kit look pretty cheap unlike the JDM which even has the chrome ring around the temp up/down buttons...

Not a bad idea to keep the JDM AC control and use the Metra kit but you're saying that you already tried it yourself and it didnt fit?

 

Correct, they do not fit - veeeery close, but no go.

Funny, the fit and finish of the Metra kit was identical to that of the JDM one (with the exception of the climate control insert which DOES look OEM) You do of cource have to go through the hassle of opening it up and dealing with the whole dual control deal though)

The one thing I'm using to rationalize the look of the buttons is that, once you replace the single din dash area, there aren't any buttons for them to match anyway!

I just thought the buttons on the Metra kit looked better than the weirdly shaped opening on the JDM one - I suppose other makes of headunits may fit differently, which would make me more likely to go with the JDM. But, since the Pioneer unit fit so badly in it, it wasn't worth the extra effort and fundage to keep it to me.

Cheers,
Kevin

 

I'm debating whether to buy the metra kit and see if any "dremel" work can be done to make the JDM controls work on the metra panel. I am very annoyed myself with the way it looks. (i'll post a picture later on tonight)

 

my Kenwood unit fits perfect with JDM kit, unfortunately i didn't do the install myself so I can't tell how much work it took to get there

 

Slavik,

In my case is not a matter of making it fit... there isnt really a way to get it done (in my case that is) the double din slot on the JDM kit is simply a lot bigger (from top to bottom) than my Pioneer head unit.. which makes it look pretty bad

 

william,

It's possible to perhaps work away at the Metra openings for the buttons, but even if you have "mad Dremel skillz" I am thinking that you would then have some unsightly gaps around the buttons themselves after doing so.

Trust me, I had the same hopes that you do, but after looking at them both, I decided that it was a sort of "pick your poison" type of deal:

Either have wonky looking buttons or a wonky shaped opening. A lot of it (for me anyway) came down to A.) not having other buttons to make the Metra ones look all that bad, B.) saving about $125 in total cost, and C.) not having to hassle with the climate control soldering deal.

In the end I guess I just said to myself - there just some dash buttons!

Cheers,
Kevin

P.S. Looks like it's going to be more like tomorrow for my F90 install, but I'm hopeful it will go smoothly due to your help! Check in on this or the other thread to help out in case I have another "Q"!

 

Hey william,

A site you might want to check out (if you haven't already done so) as a fellow AVIC F owner is AVIC411.com. Tons of great suggestions, troubleshooting, hacks/mods for the unit.

They JUST released a 2.0 operating system for these units that fix LOTS of bugs, etc. and improve performance!

Cheers,
Kevin

 

Yeah i've been there for a few days already (great forum) got the mod for parking brake bypass for my F900BT works sweet!

 

I thought you had already installed it. No worries man, I'll check the posts but worse case scenario just shoot me a PM. (I sent you one myself earlier today with a question i had LOL)

 

hey what's up guys, I'm installing my JVC nx-7000 this Saturday, I've got both DD kits metra and JDM, what other products do I need? Besides the head unit and the DD kit, it's an 06 coupe no navi

 

any pics with the jdm dd kit installed ???