Does double din head units fit the 98 Continentals?

[Terrapin88]

I'm looking to replace my factory HU with a double din. I've been all over google and the forum and can't seem to find a definite YES or NO. Crutchfield says yes. Sonic electronics says no.

Can anyone please put this to rest for me? Will a double din fit in my 1998 Continental?

 

[cadillacdude]

Yep 2.0DIN

 

[Terrapin88]

Thanks. You have one installed in yours?

 

[MooJohn]

Technically, no. Realistically, yes.

The opening is about 1/8th inch too short for true 2 DIN. You have to cut away the trim across the top of the front trim piece. The location of this cut means you'd have to be on the floor to see where you cut so it's easy to do with a Dremel and still look OEM.

There is nothing to trim on the sides or the bottom. If you pull the radio and insert the new 2DIN cage, you'll see exactly where you have to cut to make things fit. You'll notice there's a larger gap on the passenger side and that's on purpose; the electronics are slightly angled toward the driver's side.

 

[cadillacdude]

Thanks. You have one installed in yours?

Nope. I m using a 1.0 DIN JVC I ve had for some time. BUT...I had to order Double DIN mounting bracket and wire harness from eBay for a flush fit in the dash.

 

[Terrapin88]

Thanks guys. Looks good MooJohn. I've got no problem doing a little dremel work. Now if you were to reinstall the factory radio would you then see the cutting you did?

I have an amp, sub and 4- 6.5" alpine and infinity speakers left over from a previous car. I'd like to use them with a new head unit. The sound with the JBL factory system is OK, but I am dying without an AUX/USB input. For what it would cost me for an adapter harness for an AUX/USB connection I might as well get a new HU with bluetooth and other goodies.

This is my plan: JVC KW-R900BT http://mobile.jvc.com/product.jsp?modelId=MODL029017&page=1 hooked up to my Alpine MPR F300 amp. I want to run the front door speakers and a 10" Infinity sub in the trunk off the Alpine amp. Then I'd run the rear door speakers off the factory JBL amp just for some fill. I've tried fading the back speakers all the way off and I barely notice the difference, so if worse came to worse I could live without using the factory amp to run the rear speakers. Might not bother connecting them. Not sure yet.

 

[cadillacdude]

I like the JVC KW-R500, R600. But right now...I have to.use my KLX-111 chameleon until whenever.

 

[MooJohn]

You'd have to work hard to see the cut even if you put the stock radio back in place. That trim piece sells on ebay for around $40 so you're not hacking up an expensive part anyway.

The factory JBL door speakers are the best part about that sound system. They're light years ahead of what came later in the "Alpine" system. In fact, if my car had come with JBL, I wouldn't have touched the door speakers. Ford/JBL tweeters are titanium where the Ford/Alpine speakers are just paper w/ poly tweeter. Put yours on an amp with a crossover killing the bass to them and they'll sound better than speakers that cost hundreds of dollars a pair. Test-listen after installing your new head unit & amp but before cracking the doors apart. You'll be surprised! They are already a 5 1/4 separate setup in a custom 6x8-shaped housing.

 

[Terrapin88]

I might just do that.

 

[cadillacdude]

you wont consider using the factory amp just because it is already in line and wired?

i also have a chrysler town & country minivan and i replaced that stereo with a low power Dual unit(17W/channel). Now on a Chrysler the amp ground and the radio ground can use the same cable so I used that and it sounds just as good as the factory setup was.

I havent pulled out the Ford radio yet in the Continental because it still works and I just use the tape with the wire on it in the tape drive to connect it to my phone and play that way. I was using it this way in the Chrysler until the tape mechanism kept clicking.

 

[Terrapin88]

I just realized I do not have the 4 speakers I thought I had. I have 2 Polk 6.5" speakers and my Infinity 10" sub. I must have never removed the Alpine 6.5" speakers from the car they were in before I sold it. The Alpines had better specs but the Polks will do for now. I am going to just pop in the new HU and run it off the factory amps and speakers for a few days. Then I am going to swap out the front factory speakers for the Polks in the front doors to see if there is a difference. From there I will install my Alpine amp and run the Polks in the front and the 10" Infinity sub I have off of it. I will leave the rear factory door speakers running off the factory amp. Not sure about the rear deck factory subs yet. See what happens.