Quick BRZ head unit update

"Dusty Ventures" (dustyventures) 01/13/2020 at 14:55 • Filed to: None

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First off, for those who missed my post last week I fixed !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! by replacing the factory head unit with an aftermarket from Pioneer.

In that post I mentioned that I wasn’t a big fan of the dash trim bracket from Metra and that I’d ordered one from Scosche. The Scosche unit arrived today and I tried it out. Fifteen minutes later it was back in the box with the return label on it.

This is the trim kit I ordered. The center pocket is optional and meant to fill the gap if you install a single DIN unit in a double DIN hole. Not sure why anyone would do that, but whatever. To attach the trim to a double DIN you just leave the pocket out and screw the side plates onto the head unit. So where’d it go wrong? Fitment. To get the holes on the head unit to line up with the holes on the bracket I had to have the face of the brackets forward of the face of the unit. The foremost part of the head unit roughly lined up with the flat rectangular pieces toward the back of the dash trim face. That meant there were these big hollow recesses on each side of the head unit. I didn’t even bother installing them into the dash once I realized this is how they lined up, just screwed the Metra back on and put the Scosche back in the box for a refund.

Good news is this little endeavor wasn’t a total waste. I found that the lack of bass and the at times rough FM signal was the result of a loose connection. Tightened that up and now the bass is heavy and the radio is HD and crystal clear. Not bad.

I’m going to live with the Metra trim for now, but at some point I’m probably going to try this piece from !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! This seems to be the one that the FT86 forum swears by, so it’s likely my best bet.

Arch Duke Maxyenko, Shit Talk Extraordinaire > Dusty Ventures 01/13/2020 at 15:11

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Just make one out of wood.

Dusty Ventures > Arch Duke Maxyenko, Shit Talk Extraordinaire 01/13/2020 at 15:57

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My brother would probably be down for that

HammerheadFistpunch > Dusty Ventures 01/13/2020 at 16:00

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“The center pocket is optional and meant to fill the gap if you install a single DIN unit in a double DIN hole. Not sure why anyone would do that, but whatever.”

pretty common in the off-road world.  I suspect its most likely because someone has a single din unit from another car and doesn’t want to pop for a new head unit.

Nisman > HammerheadFistpunch 01/13/2020 at 16:10

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Yeah and single DINs used to be a lot cheaper so for a shitbox it looked fine.

slipperysallylikespenguins > Dusty Ventures 01/13/2020 at 16:20

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I will always choose a single din with an extra cubby over a double din. A single din player with one physical knob for volume and one for tuning and that’s all I want.

Jim Spanfeller > Dusty Ventures 01/13/2020 at 23:07

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My first thought when I saw the top photo was that you had installed a giant model airplane launcher on the roof of your car, lol.

Dusty Ventures > Jim Spanfeller 01/13/2020 at 23:17

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That’s going on the list

Jim Spanfeller > Dusty Ventures 01/13/2020 at 23:54

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YES.

wafflesnfalafel > Jim Spanfeller 01/14/2020 at 11:40

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I believe you can get that off the Subiespeed website, “DC3 BRZ”