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Pic Tutorial Of Hu Install In 850 New!


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Installing an aftermarket Headunit is one of the easiest upgrades to the audio system of a car. Many people prefer to have a professional perform the install, not aware just how simple it is. The volvo 850 series is perhaps one of the easiest cars to install an after market headunit in. This post will provide detailed instructions with accompanying pictures on how to perform such a task in a volvo 850 with out a premium sound system, but the whole process is easily applicable to other vehicles.

lets get started shall we?

Step 1

Disconnect the negative cable of the car's battery. This should be the first step whenever working on the vehicle's audio system. Is it possible to install a headunit without doing this? Of course, however, I have seen freaky accidents occur and there is absolutely no need to run the risk of a shorted out headunit or vehicle wiring.

Step 2

Once the battery is disconnected, we can start removing the factory headunit. On the 850 this is very simple. Look at the bottom corners of your headunit, you will see two long, recessed surfaces. Show in yellow circles in the picture below. Take a thin object like a flat head screw driver and push these indentations in, they will pop out. When both sides are released, grab them and pull the stock headunit out. it is as simple as that. At the back of the headunit you will find some connections, now it is time to disconnect them...

step1.jpg

Step 3

The main connections you need to take note of are the two rectangular shaped connectors, circled in yellow below, and the long pin shaped antenna cable, circled in red below. There may be another cable for the stock cd changer, this you can disregard unless you plan to install a headunit that works with the stock changer. Pull the three connectors out and keep them in plain sight, so they dont fall back and get lost in the bunches of wiring behind the opening.

step2.jpg

Step 4

Now we need to take our attention away from the car. Ther are TWO parts that you need to buy in order to complete your install. The first is the vehicle wiring harness adapater. Simply go to your local stereo store and ask for a wiring harness for a volvo 850. it should come in a bag and look something like the picture below, basically, two rectangular connectors with wires coming out of them.

step3.jpg

The other item you will need is a Pocket to fill the opening, since the new headunit is most likely half the size of the stock unit. Ask for a Metra Turbo Pocket, it will come in a bag, with the pocket itself, and a bunch of snap on pieces. There are different size trim rings that snaps onto the front of the pocket, simply pic the ring that best fits the dash opening of your 850. You may also have to clip on little plastic clips onto the side of the pocket so it clips and locks into your dash opening. the pocket, with the correct trim ring installed, should look like the picture below:

step4.jpg

Step 5

Now, take your brand new heaudnit out of its box and locate the wiring harness for it. It is should look something very similar to the harnesses we mentioned before, a rectangular plug with different color wires coming out of them. Some headunits will have one such plug, some will have two. My alpine came with one harness, and it looks like this (without the wire ties):

step5.jpg

now, place this harness with the aforementioned adpater harness together, cause its time for the most important step...

Step 6

So here comes the most important step of the headunit installation so pay attention. What you have sitting infront of you are two sets of harnesses, one came with the headunit, and the other set is the adapater harness. If you look at the wires coming out of them you will realize that their colors match!!! Yup! You got it! You need to match the colors up and connect them.

When connecting wires, its very important to do so securely, dont twist them together and leave them. I like to use nylong crimp connectors, but screw caps, butt connectors and other connectors that securely attach two separate wires are acceptable. Make absolutely sure the connection is strong and throughly protected from accidental shorting.

The bag that came with the vehicle adapater harness as well as your new headunit's instruction manual will tell you what each color of wire means. sometimes the color maybe a little off, so be sure to match not only the color but also the decription when connecting. Be sure everything is correct, for example, a colored wire can sometimes be mistaken for a colored wire with a thin white line on it...

Once you have secrurely connected the two sets of wiring harnesses together, use wire ties to cleanly secure all the wires so you have a bundle rahter than bunch of loose wires tied togehter at one end. The end result should look something like the picture below, circled in yellow:

step6.jpg

Here is another shot of the whole finished wiring harness in side the car. Circled in red is the plug that goes into the back of the new headunit (the pic in step 5), circled in white are the vehicle adapater harness (seen in step 4), and the yellow circles show the nylong crimp connectors I used to secure the two sets of harness together.

step7.jpg

Step 7

Okay, the most difficult part is done. Remember those two rectanguar harnesses you laid out in plain view in step 3? Of course you do Now, take the connected harness combination you just completed, and grab the two vehcile adapater harnesses (circled in white in step 6). Simply plug this into the harnesses coming out of the car. They will match perfectly, click and lock together. The end result is circled in yellow below:

step8.jpg

Step 8

Now its time to drop in the Metra Turbo Pocket from Step 4, simply push it into either the top or bottom opening (depending on where you want to mount the new headunit) until it snaps into place. The end result looks like this:

step9.jpg

once this is done, you can install the cage for the headnit. The cage is most likely already mounted onto the body of the headunit when it came new. slide this cage off, and push it into the remaining dash opening, besure that the wiring harness that plugs into the back of the headunit, circled in yellow and the antenna connetor, circled in red are fished out first. once the cage is positioned properly in the opening, take a small screw driver and bend the various little metal cut out tab on the cage outward, what this will do is lock the cage inside the dash opening. when its all said and done, it will look like this:

step10.jpg

Step 9

okay, we are almost at the end! Now, take your headunit up to the dash opening, and plug in the antenna (circled in red), and the wiring harness (circled in yellow). The connection looks something like this:

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step11.jpg

Once this is done, slide the headunit into the cage cavity, but do not push it all the way back yet. First, run up front and reconnect the negative battery lead. And turn the key onto the acc. position and power up the headunit. Check to make sure it works properly, fade it and balance it to ensure the speaker wires are hooked up correctly. Once you are sure all the wires are properly connected and the headunit works perfectly, turn the car off, and push the headunit back until you hear a click and it locks into the cage. there may be stray wires back there that prevents it from going all the way back so just reach back and push them out of the way and try again, it may take a few tries to get the wires all sorted out back there but eventually, you will end up with something like this:

step12.jpg

step13.jpg

and you are done! congrat yourself on a job well done! First timers expect to take up to an hour doing this, but once you get the hang of it, you should able to do it in about 30 mins. Now you have just saved yourself 30 bucks, go get youself a nice steak dinner!

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