Mazda Guide/Protege 5/Removing Factory Stereo
< Mazda Guide | Protege 5
What You Need
edit- Small flathead screwdriver - This is used to pop off the faceplate edges
- Electrical Tape - This is used to prevent scratching
- Ford Key - This is used to pop the stereo out
- Don't have one? don't worry, you can easily build one
Steps
edit- Take the screwdriver and wrap the tip with a single layer of electrical tape
- Make sure that your screwdriver is thin enough to fit between the edge and the trimming
- Stick the screw driver in between the faceplate edge and the trimming and pry off the edges
- This should not take much force, I found best results when prying from the top and bottom
- If you do not have the tape player or the MD then do this for the small plate as well
- Use the ford key by sticking it into the hole and the slot as shown
- Note: The photo shows the key in the middle and lower holes, but the key must be used in the upper and lower holes.*
- If you only have two keys, do one side first then the other side next
- Now pull the radio out while applying force on the keys towards the door
- If you removed the small plate, this should be pretty easy, if not you will have to be creative
- Tada! your factory stereo has now been removed. Just unplug and do what you want with it.
Building A Key
editAll you need to build your own set of keys is a metal coat hanger and some tools
I used a Dremel to do the work, but I'm sure there are many other ways to go about building the key
- Measure the bottom of the coat hanger into four approximately equal sized pieces
- Use the Dremel (with a sandpaper disc) to cut the coat hanger at the leftmost and rightmost edges
- You should end up with a piece falling off from the middle
- Now try and cut the hanger again so that you will have a U-shaped key with segments of equal length
- finally, sand down the sharp edges and taper the points on one side
- for the straight piece that you cut first, you can either use this to build another (just use pliers to fold it into a U) or you can toss it.