Hello members of mazdaforum. This is my first post. I recently bought a 1993 Mazda 323. The car still has the original tape deck stereo in it. I would like to pull out the stereo and install a 1 din stereo (or the most modern cheap deck that I could get at the junkyard). However I am having a couple of problems.

1. Once I remove the car's bezel trim (by simply pulling it towards me and off), and then I remove 4 screws to loosen the stereo, the stereo only slides out about 1 inch or so. What is preventing the stereo from sliding the rest of the way out? (about 11 more inches or so?) It is like the stereo is hung up by a wire or something? I don't want to pull too hard and break something.

2. What type of stereo face plate do I need to convert the larger hole down to the 1 din size? Where can I get such a face plate? Can I get one at the junk yard off of virtually any car that has a 1 din stereo installed in it? Or does it have to be just certain specific cars?

Below is a picture of what the stereo hole would look like (once I can figure out how to entirely remove the stereo). (The picture is from another 323 at the junk yard.)



For instance, this stereo is installed in a 2006 Chevrolet Aveo parked at the junkyard. Would this stereo and faceplate be able to be installed in my 1993 Mazda 323?



And then what about this stock stereo which is also installed in a 2006 Chevrolet Aveo which is sitting in the junkyard. Would this stereo be able to be installed in my 1993 Mazda 323? As long as the deck plays "data CD's" I would be happy. (But obviously if the deck had a USB port that would be better.)



You can search for specific vehicles (complete with pictures) using their search feature at their pick a part website @
http://parts.pickapart.ca/

Thanks for your help.

 

And what about this stock stereo installed in a 2003 Mazda Protege? Would this stereo fit nicely inside my 1993 Mazda 323?
Or would it need a special faceplate adapter? (I'm not sure a stock 2003 stereo would play Data CD's however, so I would probably have to find a 2008 or newer stereo.)

 

How to remove the radio / stereo faceplate in a 1993 Mazda 323 / Protege

There are two clips holding the faceplate in, one on each side, about halfway between the top and bottom of the faceplate. You'll want to pull the faceplate out straight (that is, directly towards the back of the car) rather that upwards, downwards, or sideways...but that's not easy to do, since the only decent place to grab the faceplate is the little "shelf". So grab that, and pull it until the plate pops out a bit.

Pull out the bottom of the faceplate a bit.

Now that you've gotten the top loose, the bottom needs to come out. There's not much leverage to be had, but if you slide out the ashtray a bit and put your finger between the ashtray mount and the cigarette lighter socket, you can get some leverage. Pull there, and the bottom should come out -- at which point, you can lift the whole thing out.

To help you visualize what you're doing, on the back of the faceplate there's two clips about halfway up on each side, and two "pins" at the top. The "pins" help guide the faceplate when you put it back on, and don't have any screws or whatnot.


A picture of the original 1993 Mazda 323 tape deck stereo, which I wanted to remove.



Well, I got an older FREE 1 din deck/stereo installed (which doesn't play mp3's/data CDs. (It will have to do for now, until I find a more modern deck. I am now pretty sure any 1 din deck will now be able to be installed in my 1993 Mazda 323.)

I managed to remove the deck from the Mazda 323 without having to tear the whole dash apart (like Martiniac had to do) which was great. (I was kind of scared there for a while as the deck wouldn't pull all the way out as it was caught on something behind the deck. With the faceplate removed and the 4 screws taken out, I managed to lift the deck up about one inch, and poke my long screw driver behind the deck, and was able to free up the deck, by pulling on a piece of wire (or a small rubber plug) or whatever the deck was caught on. Once this obstacle was pulled forward (out through the deck opening) I was able to pull the factory deck all the way out and removed the attached wires.

However, when I went to wire up the new deck, trying to figure out which Mazda 323 wires went where was a bit of a challenge (as the wires are strange confusing colors). Essentially through trial and error I was able to figure out which wires were the speaker wires. (Perhaps I will soon add a post listing what the colored wires actually were? I found a chart on line, but the labeling was incorrect. I would have to pull the deck out once more and write down which wires ran to where. Something I should have done yesterday. I did however internally label the wires with small pieces of paper and plastic transparent tape, so the next time I replace the deck with a more modern deck, I will know which wires go where.)

The factory faceplate for the stereo was able to be used once again, except the faceplate required an additional horizontal plastic piece added to it, to fill in an approximately 1 x 7 inch horizontal hole, which I found at the junkyard. Perhaps this 7 inch long faceplate piece of plastic could have been purchased at Canadian Tire or some other stereo shop?

At the junkyard I also found two small mounting brackets which attached to either side of the deck via one small short special Phillips screw, (sorry I don't know the actual name of the screws - pan head screws perhaps?) which screwed a 1/4 inch into the sides of the deck.)



Once the mounting brackets were screwed into the sides of the deck I was able to push all the wires back through the deck hole. (I didn't have a wiring harness. I attached the wires via electrical marettes.) I was then able to screw in the 4 mounting Phillips screws, securing the deck to the car dash.

The trick was then getting the face plate to fit all the way on though, as it kept wanting to fall off the deck. The faceplate had to be maneuvered over four little front metal tabs attached to the deck (two tabs on the left side of the deck and two tabs on the right side of the deck. See picture below). It was a VERY tight squeeze (I thought the plastic faceplate might snap). In fact I had to slightly bend the four tabs inwards a little with my flat head screw driver to make the deck small enough to fit through the faceplate opening.

With a little maneuvering however, I got the face plate on, and the finished result looks pretty good. See below.



Now I just need to post the 1993 Mazda 323 stereo wiring color codes, to make wiring in a stereo easier for the next guy.

 

The STEREO wiring colors for the 1990 - 1994 Mazda 323 (and probably also the 93 Mazda Protege) are as follows:

1. Black wire = Ground Wire (which is also normally black on virtually all decks)
2. Blue wire with a Black stripe = the accessory ignition power wire (normally red on most decks)
3. Blue wire with a Red stripe = the battery wire (normally yellow on most decks)
4. Red wire with Black dots = I'm not sure. Possibly the "illumination" wire. (In many cases you don't need to hook up this wire.)
5. Orange wire with Black dots = Front Right (+) speaker wire
6. White wire with Red dots = Front Right (-) speaker wire
7. Violet / purple wire = Front Left (+) speaker wire
8. Blue with orange stripe wire = Front Left (-) speaker wire
9. Blue wire with red dots = Rear Right (+) speaker wire
10. Blue with White stripe wire = Rear Right (-) speaker wire
11. Black with Green stripe wire = Rear Left (+) speaker wire
12. White with Blue stripe wire = Rear Left (-) speaker wire

 

Yep, I think it can be installed since they looks the same. However, you'd better check it by asking the dealer where you buy this Stereo system.