Fitting a headunit

[Podie]

I need to fit a headunit to the S, and happen to have a Pioneer MiniDisc unit lying around that still works.

Last night I had a quick butchers at the wires... to find that there is no ISO connector. Nuts.

Is it just a case of buying a ISO connector block (to fit the back of the head unit) and matching the wires up (colour wise) or is this going to be a headache...?

Thoughts / suggestions on a postcard to the usual address...

[robdabell]

I'd be interested to know whether all S's are without ISO connections.

What was the general quality of the wiring (especially speakers and power), as I'm wondering whether it will all need re-doing at some point in mine.

[Paul V]

Mine didn’t have an iso connector but they are only about £10 from somewhere like Halfords, better than cutting the wires on the stereo!

[Podie]

Wiring seems to be of normal quality, as provided by the OEM - whether a Ford, Audi, Beemer, Fiat or whatever... best described as "doorbell wire".

I know that ISO connectors are availble from Halfords, but was wondering if there was anything I needed to watch out for...

[shnozz]

yeah, they do sell them in the Pax Mower section of Halfords. I just cut mine and wired in the new one.

[Podie]

I've got a wiring block (looks a bit 80's at that!) in there at the moment, wich seems to be connected up to a load of wires... so I'm assuming that I just wire in an ISO jobbie to this block... and match the colour of the wires...

[funbobby]

recently had a stereo put in mine by local company and the horn and hazards stopped working after that,had auto lecy look at it wires had been knocked,easily done apparantly-so be carefull!!

[rustoni]

Podie said: I've got a wiring block (looks a bit 80's at that!) in there at the moment, wich seems to be connected up to a load of wires... so I'm assuming that I just wire in an ISO jobbie to this block... and match the colour of the wires...

Podie,

The ISO connector blocks assume that the manufacturer wires all stereos with the same colour wiring etc....now as we know nothing in a TVR is standard. I would suggest you wire you stereo the long way round using a multimeter as using iso connector block could lead you to connect the wrong wires to the stereo and end in a blown head unit etc.
Normally you can make a guess at some of the wires - i.e speakers - 2 wires the same colour etc. Once you work out the live and earth etc and are left with the speaker cable you can use a 9v battery to determine the polarity of the speaker (which one is + or -).

Hope this is of some help.

Ian

[Podie]

I was afraid I was going to have to do it the long way round... damn.

[RichardR]

I also don't have a ISO connector, and ended up doing away with the ISO connector on the Pioneer head unit I installed.

I found that a combination of reviewing the wiring to the existing stereo (old Pioneer, but with a different colour scheme) and checking supply with a meter did the trick.

The only problem I ended up with is that my guess on the speaker wiring resulting in using front and rear connections instead of left and right. However, with only 2 speakers installed, this simply means using the fader control instead of the balance (couldn't be bothered to rewire).

[RedTeg]

I'd agree that the long way is a must if your not sure what wire is what. An example being me wiring in a stereo in an old Shitreon AX (or mibbies it was a Pug 205 - too many cars that boys had) for a mate and finding that the main live was a green wire.

[Podie]

Nuts. Ah well... multimeter will have to be dusted off it seems.

[JSG]

Podie,

What stereo and/or connecter have you got at the moment?

I've got a diagram for a Pioneer cassette tuner that used a 9 pin 'D' shape connecter.

Cheers,
JSG.

[Podie]

JSG - It's a Pioneer of a 1999 vintage... has a socket at the back for a standard ISO connector.

Connectors... er an old manky white-ish wiring block, that the wires go into... and nothing comes out from!

Any diagram would be of use though - something to go on! If you wouldn't mind, could you ping it over to [e-mail]

Cheers!

>> Edited by Podie on Wednesday 4th December 14:16

[RedTeg]

Is this whitish wiring block an actual OEM type connecter or just simply a screw terminal block.

If its an OEM connector what did TVR base their wiring/parts on in 1991? I assume if it was ford wiring you'd recognise it. Could it be Rover wiring?

Halford do have a good range of OEM to ISO pre made adaptor kits. One of their useful guides should be there but if it lists TVR S3C 1991 I'd be suprised.

[Podie]

RedTeg said: Is this whitish wiring block an actual OEM type connecter or just simply a screw terminal block.

If its an OEM connector what did TVR base their wiring/parts on in 1991? I assume if it was ford wiring you'd recognise it. Could it be Rover wiring?

Halford do have a good range of OEM to ISO pre made adaptor kits. One of their useful guides should be there but if it lists TVR S3C 1991 I'd be suprised.

Halfords never list TVRs... unsurprisingly. I didn't recognise it as a Ford part.. and even back in 1991 the Blue Oval was using standardised parts (according to the my information). It looks like a wiring block as it has two sets of screws opposite eachother and there are around ten or so wires going into it...

I'll have a dig around at the weekend (when it's light!) take a photo or two for reference and post them up.

[S2 Giles]

I generally dislike the Block approach as at the end of the day its just wire & connectors.

I use the old stereo to help identify which wires perform which function & then manually wire those onto the new units wiring.... However on the S, it wasnt as easy as the Pioneer unit required the block connection & it was easier to pay £10 then cut all the wires & start again!!!

Good luck, just take your time.

[JSG]

Podie said: JSG - It's a Pioneer of a 1999 vintage... has a socket at the back for a standard ISO connector.

Connectors... er an old manky white-ish wiring block, that the wires go into... and nothing comes out from!

Any diagram would be of use though - something to go on! If you wouldn't mind, could you ping it over to [e-mail]

Cheers!

Sorry I meant I had a diag for the original Pioneer unit that was fitted to my car. I'll dig the book out and post the colours and a pic of the connector attached to the cars wiring if I can sort it.

I had a quick look in Halfrauds for a converter but they didn't have many as I'm about to fit a CD / tuner head unit.

[Podie]

S2 Giles said: I use the old stereo to help identify which wires perform which function & then manually wire those onto the new units wiring....

All very well... but if you don't have the headunit in the first place...

[peterc]

A tip for potential head unit installers, following own experience with S3 and fitting alternate radio/cassette player.
If you are planning to go down the route of using an adapter kit with ISO connector these take up a lot of space at the back of the unit and with some of the larger (higher powered) head units you will not have much space to play with.

You may find it better to simply use individual connectors to link each wire, which is then much easier to work with and to hide away.

>> Edited by peterc on Friday 6th December 13:54

>> Edited by peterc on Friday 6th December 13:55