Hey all. I'm attempting to install a double DIN stereo in my 96 XJ. So far everything went smoothly. I moved the a/c controls down to the vent, bought a shallow mount radio that fits in without having to modify the defroster tube whatsoever with plenty of room for wiring and everything is ready to be mounted up. My only issue is figuring out how to remove the little bar that opens the vent door and how to just seal it up so that the vent is always closed and the air just passes by it. I would just seal it up but it needs to be open about 45 degrees to fit the a/c controls. Any tips?
Pic related

 

Good Luck...sounds like a lot of work for a radio....

 

Eh. Just some screwing around with a dremel and a drill. It's actually going a lot easier than I thought it would save for the vent door blowing air on my a/c controls

 

Why not get a block of very dense foam/sponge material and just put it in there to block flow ???

May not block all of it, but you should be able to block 99% of it.

 

You know thats a great idea. It would be way easier than my original thought of trying to shape some kind of plastic or sheet metal. Thanks

 

Got everything hooked up. Still need to block the vent but everything works fine. I dont really care about cokd air blowing on the radio so at least I have until winter to come up with a solution

 

Do you mind posting up make and model of that stereo, I like.

 

I'll have to find the pics of mine. I put a double din in my 99 a while back with navigation.... it was a task..but not as bad as I thought it would be.

 

I've put this one in mine without a lot of cutting.
It has a single din rear section and a double din screen.
I've got a friend that owns a stereo shop molding everything in. I'll post pics when it's done if you want.

 

If you want to go the easy route, no cutting, here's what I did:






The receiver is a . I went with this one because the housing behind the LCD is actually single DIN, and the LCD protrudes beyond the dash bezel so there's no need to cut it, and the A/C controls are still quite accessible. I'm all about Apple CarPlay, and that unit has two USB cables (mounted in the back) which I ran down the dash, into the center console, and up through the ashtray. I'm planning to convert the ashtray into an iPhone "slot", with a magnetic lightning adapter, so you drop your phone in the slot and BAM, Carplay.
I used the $15 , thanks to someone else's post. The one difficult part was the assembly order, which makes reinstalling the retaining screws for the radio pretty much impossible. So instead of putting them back in, I loosely routed zip ties from the unit to the mounting holes, pushed the radio and dash bezel into place together, then tightened down the zip ties, cut the loose ends, and pushed the zip ties just behind the bezel.

 

Only problem I see with making the ash tray a charging dock is that it may interfere with the shifter when shifting to 1-2. I know that if I stand my phone in the front cup holder the shifter hits it. But I also shift automatics manually more often than most people so it may not be a frequent problem for you.