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Guatemala, Guatemala City
1 Level
775 Review
58 Karma

Review on πŸš— Enhanced Double Din Dash Kit for Ford by Will Porter

Revainrating 5 out of 5

Used in Ford E450 RV and made all new stereo look factory

I replaced the cheap dashboard entertainment system that came with a Gulfstream bus in my RV. I didn't like that and opted for the Pioneer 4500BT DVD. Now I can play DVDs on a flat screen. The USB stick contains 15,000 songs. The blue tooth is all the system does. In any case, I was very concerned about the finished look of the Ford Econoline cockpit dashboard when I put it to use. Which in my RV is the wood grain look they use in the Ford RV which is basically a wood grain that comes on the regular Econoline. hurry I had to shave the top and bottom edges of the opening to fit the 2 din block into the dash with the entire kit, the edge was behind the opening and was fairly easy to remove with a small round cutter. (((((NOTE I LEFT THE SIDE ROUGHS IN PLACE IN THE PANEL HOLE))))) because the unit slides over them without removing them and if I want to put the original radio back in if I ever sell the camper. Lips, I would easily be able to do it. (((((I ONLY RECOVERED THE UPPER AND LOWER LIPS))))) Well, my installation I did it my way for several reasons and the end results were perfect and I will share them with those who did the same RV or RV I built. If you want to use the kit as instructed, that's cool, it's your RV or RV. I have used some parts from this kit that fit me perfectly an end piece that comes with the kit or you can probably reuse that from the factory radio which you remove if it works with the radio you are installing or (you may have to find a way to add it to your new radio somehow) ((((but this part is the key to a solid setup))). This is a standard part from Ford in their radios and is the key to this setup! If you pull out the factory radio you will see a metal bracket at the bottom opening, this is a rail system for the radio, this back piece connects and slides the radio down to hold it in place, mine slides down the rails really well, so good that I didn't have to do anything to hold the block firmly in the hole.(((((I didn't use the side mounts with the kit)) )). The reason I didn't have to do this is because of the back side and the attached rail that holds the radio in place so firmly and I was afraid that if I used the included side locking plates it would lock the radio in place. The second reason I still attached the side lips is like this tight that those side mounting plates don't go past the lips I left when opening. I felt like I was removing exactly what I need to push to reach the radio, but that's how I approach this type of setup. The bezel trim from the kit covered the opening perfectly so you couldn't see an open gap R. Also, over time I've been able to add all sorts of extras to the radio (like Pioneer factory GPS) and I didn't want to get too attached to this radio Locking in place, remember that the bottom rail took over the support and just held the device. good, and the radio itself has been inserted, but the opening is fine. ***** Now a note about my stereo. The double-sized Pioneer 4500BT unit I installed has a full front that opens and closes to accommodate a DVD or CD slot, so I had to make a small change. Fascia panel supplied with this installation kit. I had to cut off the bottom thin piece of plastic to allow my stereo's shutter to open and close freely. You really can't see the track as it will be under your stereo. I removed it so it doesn't spoil the look. If you don't have a moving face on your stereo, you don't need to. Remember I told you I left the side lips on the beat if I ever wanted to get my old radio back when I sell the RV? Well, leaving the lips intact, I also had an important option. As I explained, I wanted to be able to remove this block to add options to the radio. So where is the bulk part of the installation kit that attaches to the side parts of the kit as I explained. Can you fix it in a hard-to-reach place? Well I needed something to attach the bulk and the side cleats I left in place, well they were the perfect finishing touch to a perfect setup. I applied four tiny dabs of insane glue to the four ridges of the piping and gently pressed the piping around the front of the device where it made perfect contact with the side lips and it held up well for 30 seconds. I later had to remove the stereo after installation because I forgot to put the antenna in the radio and I just popped in a credit card and pressed on the adhesives which came off easily as planned. I re-glued and glued the antenna and everything worked like clockwork, just use a tiny dot of glue and that's all you need to keep the surround sound from the kit in place nicely but for me it looks factory. If you decide how I installed my dual din block and I think the same feature is present in all 1998-2008 Econolines. I don't know if it will work the same in the new style after 2008 when Ford completely updated the dashboard and front of the current Econoline style. Now I've taken my time and thought a lot about how best to do this in a very expensive motorhome and my results have turned out to be perfect for me. Knowing I was moving slowly, I found that the other way of working with this kit worked best without removing the entire dash hole, rather than removing the side tabs. I always felt that if I had to go back and remove that side lip I could always do it and stick with the dash kit plan. ((((Remember that once you remove the parts from the dashboard hole, they are gone forever))) ). I shared my setup to help others with Econoline vans or RVs. My approach is a surefire way to see if it works for you too. If not, then follow the original kit, but you won't lose anything by trying my way first. Much luck!

Pros
  • Great design
Cons
  • Vulgarity