Okay after 2 days of thinking of how to get a double din a mini I finaly came up with a solution... I am not 100% done with finished with the detail work but will post some pics. I have to say mini cooper console is the tighest I have work with..

 

Wow, a double-din in a cooper?

When I had my Altima, it was very kind of them to have used a standard double-din opening, even when you had their 'upgraded factory audio' (bose).

OTOH I almost couldn't imagine myself tearing apart the design of the mini to put a double din in!

 

Well it was hard for me to do such a things (tearing apart MCS for double din) I got the Radio for $250 so that influenced me to try. I also did not like the idea of flip out blocking part of my gauges on my center console. I am not 100% done but here is some pics. I talked to a guy that does custom dashes from fiberglass and he told me if setup the dash how I want he could make me a fiberglass center console. So this is the route I am going with it. (in a few months) If any one is interested in a fiberglassed center console let me know so I could have him make a mold of the dash.

I have to finish trim work but this kind of the idea I a thinking of.

 

Great Job! just have several questions here:
1. Was easy job to lower the A/C module in order to have double din space? any mechanical linkage attached behind the A/C module or any adjustment need to be made?
2. I know the Pioneer unit comes with Vehicle Speed Sensor (VSS) input wire, would you be able to find the connection?
3. Do you need to retain the factory in order to have vehicle computer working properly?
Thanks,

 

I just started this project. You beat me to it! Dammit lol

 

here is finished product. It looks good so no fiber glass for me. lol






Well I will post some better pictures when I get my card reader working.

 

[quote=gigigugu;2957579]Great Job! just have several questions here:
1. Was easy job to lower the A/C module in order to have double din space? any mechanical linkage attached behind the A/C module or any adjustment need to be made?
2. I know the Pioneer unit comes with Vehicle Speed Sensor (VSS) input wire, would you be able to find the connection?
3. Do you need to retain the factory in order to have vehicle computer working properly?
Thanks,[/quo

1. To lower A/C was easy it has cable control that can be moved. Their is enough slack on the 2 electric cables and 2 wire cables to move down. The trick is the Depth part of the radio. you have to trim a lot of plastic to get the radio in as far as I did..

2. VSS wire never installed it.. I have the bypass hooked up with my car so i figured i did not need it.

3. factory radio was not kept in my install. If you have H/K radio you will need to bypass your amp.







Going Up?

 

update on VSS wire... Well for some reason I did not have a problem using gps the first time but after a few miles I was starting have a problem. It was showing I was driving on a 90 degree angle and It could not figure out what road I was taking. Now after much research I did find the VSS wire. ( i hope this is the correct wire. ) I hooked up the wire and now its working fine. The only thing is when I look at the settings under hardware VSS pulse is not shown. Does anyone know how long does it take to learn the pulse. I was reading on a different forum that the pulse is 20,000 and some times you need to split pulse by 10 or 8 so the computer can read the pulse. Now that being said how can I divide the pulse?

 

This is as far as it will go in without loosing A/C

 

Well anyone doing this I recommend a few things
radio kit
http://www.amazon.com/Pioneer-ADTVA1...8276839&sr=8-5

Then sheet plastic 1/8"
http://www.amazon.com/Acrylic-Sheet-.../dp/B000FPC3CI

Then Comes in a can. Buy it at advance auto or harbor freight.

http://www.amazon.com/Dupli-Color-Ae...8277286&sr=1-3

Then adhesive

http://www.amazon.com/3M-8609-Windo-...8277387&sr=1-9

What you are going to do is. cut the plastic to wrap the outside of the sleeve. I am using 1/8" plastic because the radio is about 1/4 narrower than the the 2 towers. So this makes up the difference.
Once plastic is cut use the adhesive to glue the plastic around the radio. make sure you but the plastic to the lip of the sleeve. Once dry and the corners where the sheets meet each other. Take the adhesive and fill the cracks in the corner of the sleeves. once dry paint the sleeve with the duplicolor paint. this give it that OEM look. Once that's done you now have the completed sleeve.



Its hard to explain the trim work of the a/c blower box. All I have to say is trim very little at a time. This way you will not mess up your air box. once I installed the painted sleeve and seen the radio would slide in with all cables I filled in all gaps with the black adhesive. This way you can't even tell if its after market. I have had many people sit my car and say wow that's amazing this car came with a double din. I would say plan 2 days of cutting and gluing and painting. It just takes time. Like I said before cut easy and double check before you cut this way it does not cost you money to repair. If anyone needs more details let me know and I will PM my phone number to talk about install.

 

Awesome post. *Exactly* what i was looking for.

Thanks PinesMini!

 

Did you finish your install yet?

 

Sorry bring this back alive. Some of the photos don't work. Anyone care to upload again?

 

A double din is a lot harder to fit in a Mini with automatic climate control than it is with standard A/C.

Still possible though. I did it back in 2006.

 

Can anyone bring the pictures back they seem to be gone.