QuestionQUESTION: Hi Scott. My husband's middle name is Scott so I am taking that as a sign from the universe. We bought a used 1997 Ford Mark III Econoline conversion van. We are swapping the radio in the dash for a radio/cd player. JVC KW XG500. It was purchased from eBay by the van seller. We went to Best Buy as it is all kitted up, but we wanted the install to be professional. BB Installer said it should have a cage. Of course, we only brought the van and the player to BB, not the instructions, thinking they would know how to install it. The how-to-install instructions say to use the mounting brackets and the screws from the radio you remove, plus the 8 screws that come with this unit are to be screwed to the top and bottom of each mounting bracket - 4 on each side. I searched the web for a JVC cage, but can't find one for this model. Should I go back to BB with the instructions or is there something else? Help! Any suggestions? Thanks.
ANSWER: Marie,
I looked up your stereo and van model, and I see the problem. Your van will not accept a double DIN stereo without a Euro-DIN sleeve. They do not make an adapter to go from the Ford opening to the Double-DIN mounting system. Your JVC radio does not come with and cannot be mounted with a Euro-DIN sleeve. Most double-DIN radios come with a euro-DIN sleeve, so they can be mounted either way. Unfortunately, your radio is one that does not, and if you did find a sleeve to fit, it would probably break the radio trying to secure in that fashion. You can, either buy a single-DIN radio and use the adapter kit that is made for your model of van, or you can find another double-DIN radio that comes with the Euro-DIN sleeve. I know that is not what you wanted to hear, but that is the problem. If your husband really likes the radio and really wants to use it, and he is somewhat crafty like me, he may be able to make his own brackets to use to mount the radio properly to the available Ford mounting holes. Hope this helps, Scott
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QUESTION: hey Scott Thanks for the fast and furious reply! Yeh, exactly NOT what I wanted to hear. Good to know that the BB Tech knows his stuff. Technologically challenged here, so what is a double DIN - what does DIN stand for? Could a sleeve that fits around the JVC body be drilled with matching holes to mount? Because I asked the BB Tech to look in the discard sleeve pile I noticed there and he found one that slid right on but of course the holes didn't match and it didn't quite cover the whole body but it was like 1/2 an inch back. Could we morph that, do you think? Cuz it seems like that is the best we're gonna do. Is there a place on the web that explains how to change out the radio in this van? Thanks, you are helping alot.
AnswerDIN stands for Deutsches Institut fur Normung, who came up with a standard for stereo sizes. A DIN sized radio is the thinner sized radio that we've had for the last twenty years. A double DIN sized radio is like two old sized stereos stacked on top of each other. The thickness of your JVC. Yes, it could be possible to drill holes in a sleeve to attach it to your stereo. Then, you can use that sleeve to attach to the van. I don't know exactly how solidly it would mount, but it sounds like it should work ok. There really isn't any specific place on the web to find installation instructions based on models. However, you should have wiring instructions with the adapter to get the wiring done. Let me know if you need any more help. -Scott
