Well my friend and i decided to try a headunit to see if that solves our problems, and guess what it did!Well here are some pics tos how yall. If you guys need help just ask


Pic with the secreat comartment out.


here is a wider view of the taking part things. So If you want to do it you cans ee what you gotta do.



This is the secreat compartment out of its pain cover.The next few pisc will show you how to sorta remove it.. well give you an idea


Here is one of the tabs holding the compartment in. You will need something small to get this out from the front. I used tiny needle noise pliers. You might be able to remove this area with out taking everything out.... MIGHT


Here the other side. If you see how I broke the croner. This is how i found out about it.


That hole you see is where the locking pin goes in.


The otehr one


Our alpine into its hole. IT FITS IN WITH NO BRACKET!


Pic of the cage... I had to brake of two pint abs at the top to hold it in...



testing the unit out beofre everything goes back.


Put it back in nice an snug. Tip for those thinking of this you might want to remove the conecter in the back (ipod cable?) An stick it in the upper holes.



Everything working!

 

So you put an Alpine in the secret compartment to replace the main head unit. What about the main headunit - I'm guessing its non-functional now. Can you elaborate on why you did this.Thanks

 

Ever seen Spinal Tap? The Alpine is essentially "11."

 

One it solved our little static noise that we were having, and second it sounded a hole lot better . Factory h.u can still work if you want to run a LOC and use a aux on the h.u

 

Of course aftermarket h.u are so much better

 

Cuz the mini is stoopid. We've tried everything. We can't seem to get rid of the "noise." The noise still buzzes until we hook the RCA to the back of the Alpine....only then will it finally shutup. If you pull the RCA out in the back of the Alpine...the noise will buzz. It's weird. I hate this Mini.

 

i love it. sept for all those cuts it gave us

 

I don't have any "noise" from my basic stereo setup? I agree that the basic mini HU is not the best out there, maybe actually below par, but its still adequate. I've installed an Alpine system with sub in one of my cars, and thought it was a good system. ...and I'm not saying you shouldn't upgrade to make it a great system, but just that I don't have the noise you are referring to? I'm assuming that this isn't a new mini, otherwise you would have taken it to the dealer and had them fix the noise problem on their dime. Have you done a bunch of other mods (amps, rewiring, speakers, sub...) and created noise generating ground loops yourself?

 

hmm.... So are you going to manually reach over and control that head unit while you drive? I realize you can use a remote control but that seems like a hassle with the unit all the way over there. Of course to each his own so if you like it great! But having to leave the cover open all the time to change volume/tracks doesn't make sense to me (plus losing the MFSW)

where did you tap off for constant 12V / acc

 

Yes. At first we used the stock Boost CD player with JL 450/4 and Focal speakers. The signals were tapped from the driver's side panel via the infamous X9331 connector. The power wires were ran on the passenger side. We got engine noise and buzzing noise just turning the stereo on. We tried different grounding points...didn't help. We measured the grounding voltage...it was perfect 14.5v. We tried running a different RCA wires...didn't help. We tried running the RCA down the center of the car..didn't help either. We tried swapping out different amps...no go. The sound only goes away when we unplug the RCA from the amp. So we felt that the only option left is to try an aftermarket headunit (alpine). For some reason, the second we hook the RCA to the alpine, it shuts up. So my problem is still there...we're just masking the symptoms. Somehow the alpine is able to negate the "noise." i hope none of you will ever have to go throw what I went through. My car is brand new as I'm the original owner on this 09 JCW.

 

Yeah, unfortunately...it's the only way we could come up with to resolve the noise issue. Believe me, i'd much prefer the stock stereo if I didn't have this noise problem. We tapped the remote wire using the fuse box on the passenger side panel.
The alpine still stays on even when i remove the key. I'm still wanting to ask which fuse I should tap into that would be like the stock stereo....off when the key is out.

 

tap into the cig lighter , or the orginal head unit turn on

 

dont forget that we took it to best buy too.

 

The original Head unit Voltage is on for approx 15 minutes after the cars is turned off.

Using the Cig lighter will do you best.

lilgrasshopper - When you stated " We measured the grounding voltage...it was perfect 14.5v." I hope you were not measuring 14.5 volts from ground to ground because if you sere that is your problem. If you were measuring from + to ground then that is okay but you need to measure with a volt meter from the gound of the OEM head unit to the ground of the Amp. THe ideal voltage there will be 0 volts.

Ground loops are caused by body panels not being connected together well, rust, other contaminants. This si a large problem in all cars and can be fixed by grounging the amp to the exact same point the OEM head unit is grounded to.

 

Where is the stock stereo grounded at?

 

It is grounded behind the stereo somewhere. You would have to pull the center stack apart to get to it. If my memory serves me correctly there is actually three possible ground points i could go to, you would have to look to find it.

After i get home i could look up the info for you as i do not have easy access to the wiring diagram here at work and need to see those to be of more assistance.

 

Most likly it would be to the back . They usualy ground stuff close to each other. Most ground points for items that are in a general area are grounded to the same point. As you can see with the breaks and what not.

 

Actually my memory was incorrect.

The ground for the radio goes thru the main connector on the back of the radio down to the X9331 connector Pin #1 (should be a brown wire) and then grounds to the Ground Point X2042 under the drivers door.

As shown here:

 

ok ill check it for him onhis week off

 

Here some instal pics of the optehr stuff.



strip down




wire through gromit first time (he didnt like it this way)

so


He was happier doing this way


Focal kp woofer


the access that most others have



running wire through the tailight area....


random junk from the first time install. no more red wires, or the 360.

Next few pics are the tweeter brackets we made





Our amp rack

We tossed the sub into the trash can literally.

In the car. The amop rack holds the amp really snugish.


the amp cover

 

 

Thanks man :D. Im happy i wasnt the one who did the dynamatt tho . First thing we ever did togetheir where i didnt get injured

 

For anyone who still thinking about it, or getting noise(rattleing). Get a tiny peice of dynamatt or a 3m double side foam pad thats small. stick it above the cage and underit as well.

 

I plan on doing this when I get my MINI. My question is regarding the Alpine head unit. How did you attach the antenna to the Alpine head unit? Did you have to splice into the antenna wire or do you not listen to radio?

 

We didn't do the antenna b/c I don't ever listen to the radio. But I'm sure Phoboi can tell you how.