Fitting a new stereo in my old Corsa

Well, no reply yet but I've found this -

It converts the connectors in a Vauxhall car to some ISO standard connections. So that could come in handy.

Peter Smiths> Hi,

Yes, you still need a cage, and possibly a fascia adapter. If you're not into cheap items online, go to halfrauds and see what's suitable.

There's usually a converter available for most cars to ISO. EBay is a *lot* cheaper if you have the patience.

There are some (usually higher-end) stereos that will drive the dash displays.

Also for some reason Vauxhall put the standby and ignition-on power lines the other way round to the standard ISO way. You sometimes get those two power lines with bullet connectors in on the converter so you can fiddle them if you need to.

I've got an L-reg Corsa, and fitted a cheapo mp3-capable stereo to it last year. The connectors are the usual ISO ones, plus an extra bit that controls the dash display. I had to swap the cage, as the connectors didn't line up with those on the new stereo. This is relatively straightforward, if you can get a socket over the nut at the back of the existing cage to unscrew it.

If you disconnect the 'accessory power' wire (as used to control electric aerials and external amps), the dash display will continue to display the date while the stereo is on, otherwise it will blank.

The permanent and ignition lives are the wrong way round - you'll need to swap them over for the stereo to maintain its settings. Halfords do a short Vauxhall-ISO to ISO-ISO adaptor that will do this bit for you, if you like. I found that I needed one anyway to get a bit more slack on the cable.

The only real problem I had was the complete lack of slack in the aerial wire, for which I ended up having to cram my (thankfully smallish) hand through the gap in the passenger footwell to plug it in from behind.

Kim.

Thanks for the info.

I might try ebay as someone suggested.

The cheapy mp3 players on-line seemed to be about =A360. The one in halfords was =A380 so it might be worth getting just to avoid the hassle

- assuming they fit it correctly. Hmmm - maybe I'm better off doing it myself.

Cheers

Think, they charge at least £40 for stereo fitting usually, or more for a complicated stereo.

F**k sake, they charge £3 or something to fit a windscreen wiper. I mean that's nearly an hours wage for one of them, it's insane! DIY's the best idea.

That's true but I was attracted to that particular =A380 one as it had free fitting. (and a USB port that might be handy for reading from my Mp3 player)

It's not really 'free' fitting, it's included in the price. If you check the same stereo on the 'net, you'll prob find it up to half price.

I found cheap stereos and USB ports can be a bad combination, in terms of actual usability. Take your mp3 player into halfrauds directly, and have a mess about. Imagine you're driving, and if the stereo's a good un, it should speak for itself.

What kind of MP3 player do you own? I've found varied problems with some of the cheaper brands, mixed with cheaper stereos. Certainly consider an internet purchase once you're sure which stereo you like the feel of, could save you a lot.

Indeed. My cheap stereo has a USB port (and SD/MMC slot), but only understands FAT16 filesystems, which effectively means it's only any good for USB memory keys (any hard disk based MP3 player will use FAT32 or something more exotic for >2GB storage capacity). Not a problem for me, as I use SD cards for compatibility with my PDA, but I'd think twice if I owned an high-capacity MP3 player.

I'd also want something that could navigate vast numbers of tracks in an intuitive and non-distracting way. A simple skip-ahead-10-tracks button is adequate when you've got maybe 150 tracks on a memory card, but you'll want something cleverer if you're got a whole ipod full of music to wade through.

Kim.

Seems to be a very rare model. Roadstar CDUSB650. I found it on amazon.co.uk. You put in "CDUSB650" and it finds a roadstar stereo but it's really weird as it doesn't show the model number or much in the way of detail once you get there. It also has a 1-2 week delivery.

It's =A362.58. I might go for that as I'm in no rush.

I take your point - probably a bit of a gimmick.

Some terribly cheap 512Mb USB pen type one off e-bay. It doesn't even have a brand name!

Cheers.

Peter

Me too. Mine will not read from a USB key without restarting every time you go over a bump. It reads from an SD card just fine, except that it only deals in whole tracks, no FF/REW, so if you take the card out while listening to an audio book you can only step about in file sized chunks (often 15 minutes or more - and yes I have got splitter software to get round this).

Personally I'd just look for something with a jack input and get a plug-plug cable to go into the headphone socket on the MP3 player, then use it's interface to set up what you want to listen to.

FM transmitter, got one off ebay about 8 quid delivered, 1p + 7.99 P&P or someat, steps in 0.1Mhz increments 88-108 runs from 2 AAAs range

8-10 feet max, built in LED torch and thermometer, handy ;-/, slightly lacking at the bottom end ok stereo otherwise, ability to listen to mp3 player on any radio is handy. Heck one year they`ll even be legal in the UK, saw Pissy World punting something similar for about 30 quid.

Adam