I have a Clarion VRX935VD headunit in place of the original stereo on my '02. Have had it for some time and love it but have never been satisfied with the obvious aftermarket look with my plain faceplate that converts the 2 DIN hole to a single DIN unit. Other than some serious mods, does anyone have Suggestions? Pics? Parts/Vendors? for a better way?

do you have your headunit in the top or bottom half of the slot?? and how does the monitor fit with relation to the top of the dash?? like, does it go above where the top of the dash is??

Pics are worth a thousand words. Any suggestions with this?

that's tough. i don't know of anything short of tearing the whole dash apart and rebuilding. i'm going through the same thing. i want to upgrade my headunit, but don't know how to do it without going all out. at least for right now the benefits of keeping my stock headunit outweigh the drawbacks in having a less 'clean' look of an aftermarket.

if i can think of anything i'll let you know and if you do figure something out, let me know. i'd love to see it.

If i dont have any pics at work, i will take a few and post.

After change my head unit from stock to Pioneer 6500, the small gap that was left was filled with a "blank" space. Its basically a little pocket that i use to put the remotes in to keep them out of the drink holders. If it was a true 2din spot it would have more options, but its at most 1 1/2, so if you go single din, the "pocket" isnt a bad option for storing stuff.

How about taking it off and sanding it smooth maybe Body color or interior color
or maybe adding wood grain cut to cover the surround...



Just some ideas!!



Adam Morales
2004 Red Escalade on 22's

body color would be cool if you have anything else in your interior at body color. other wise i'd match the same color as the interior. or see if you can move it a little and maybe paint the cadillac emblem on the blank space.

I am still on the lookout for something that would look a little more "clean". You are right, it is not a double din it is about a 1 1/2+ odd size. There are now some nice 2 din units but the would required some cutting.

I have recently come across a kit with small pocket underneath.

Check it out at http://www.metraonline.com/product.aspx?sku=99-4000 , looks like it may look a bit nicer.

Has anyone used the Metra 99-4000? Let me know your experience.

I had the dash bezel on my tahoe molded down to be single DIN size. It was a denali dash bezel but that makes no difference. All you gotta do is epoxy in a din size opening then fill it in with bondo or duramix. Sand it down and paint/dye to your standards. I'm going to have this done for my escalade when i start to put the stereo in it. You can see kinda what im talking about in this picture. It looked factory after the dash was textured and painted

http://pic11.picturetrail.com/VOL387/751695/1299535/52682997.jpg

Looks excellent, nothing will look more factory than that. Nice job, but probably too involved for me.

That is a good and clean job, Bogeyboy. Congrats.

Kenwood makes a really nice unit thats in dash DVD, CD and its double din...its on ebay brand new from a powerseller for only 950.00....

No offence, but that install kit looks like a Metra 2$ universal. Any real custom installer wouda done much better. That factory hole is a 1 and 1/2 DIN and Clarion should have a 1/2 din signal processor you could use to fill up the space or as someone else said, a custom kit fabricated by a good installer would do the trick. You know what would really impress me on an install?, a head unit like yours modified to control the fact changer. I know it can be done- who has done it? P.S. Stay away from the big franchise shops because the installers don't have a clue.

I completely agree that it looks bad, that is why I posted this issue in search of something better. I am not that interested in a severe dash mod, cutting. I will look for a Calrion 1/2 din signal processor. In the mean time, I have found at least an upgrade that looks way better and will probably keep it. The Metra 99-4000. It was about 15$ and is thousands times better. I will plan to post before and after picks when finished.

Here is a pic of the Metra 99-4000 faceplate. It looks much nicer than the old standard. It has a small 1 cd jewel case pocket below. Also check out the universal pocket where the cd changer was. Compare to before above.