Changing the stock radio with a stock Navigation Radio: Pics

[kcrnmale]

Here goes:
Factory manual suggest to disconnect the negative battery cable which I admit, I didn't. You need to remove the silver plastic radio bezel by opening the tiny storage bin that looks like an ashtray between the heated seat switches. Grab the bezel here by the edge and pull: should come away fairly easy. Gently remove the bezel from the dash completely. Unplug all the electrical plugs attached to the bezel. This includes the clock, ESP/Airbag module and climate control center as these items are still connected to the bezel. Basically, everything is connected to the bezel except the radio itself. The plugs are all different, so don't worry about labeling them. http://www.300cforums.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=4589&stc=1[/IMG]
Remove the 4 black screws that hold the radio in place. You may need to shift your car into drive now to give you more room without the shifter knob in the way. The radio slides out and you need to unplug the 2 connectors on the back and the antennae cable.
Remove the white plastic support bracket by removing another 4 black screws. Discard. Not needed for the Nav radio. Reach through the dash between the AC vents until you feel the center speaker tray (cars without a center speaker). Push upward and the speaker grille will pop out. Grab the black cardboard tray in the speaker well from the top of the dash and mount your GPS antennae using double sided tape. Poke a hole in the tray and pop your GPS antennae cable through and place the tray back into the speaker well and snap the grille back into place. I apologize for no pics here, but this is very simple. If you have a center speaker, you will need to mount the GPS antennae elsewhere inside the dash. Reach back through the dash between the vents and pull the cable through. Take your new Nav radio and connect the two plugs, main antennae and GPS antennae to the back of the radio and slide into place. If you didn't disconnect the battery like me, you will hear the CD changer cycling. Reinsert the 4 black screws. Turn the radio on and grin.
Take your old bezel and remove the climate control panel, clock and ESP/Airbag module using a 4mm socket (Sears) on the tiny black bolt head screws. Transfer each to your new bezel plate and reattach. The AC vents are held in place by tension clips. You simply gently pry away the clips to remove the vents. It's easier to do with a second person helping. The tabs will snap right in to the new bezel. Place the new bezel plate in place and gently snap into place starting from the top. Finished! I hope this helps.

[kcrnmale]

Any questions....just ask. Anybody want to buy my old bezel and/or stock single disc radio? Both in excellent condition.

[HaTaX]

Awesome writeup! This should go in the FAQs section as well!

[rogue]

Yes. Please do post this in the FAQ section! Nice job!

[majestic]

Where did you get the following:

1) Nav unit (I've seen em on ebay.. but don't have the balls to ask the dealer how much!)

2) GPS antenna

3) Nav Disc

4) New Dash Bezel to fit around Nav unit

Thanks in advance,

Nick

[kcrnmale]

Rogue:
Can you move it for me....I don't know how to do it.

Nick,
They run at least $1700 bucks at the dealer. Our supporting vendors are dealers too. I bought my Nav bezel from MoparSuper center. I bought my GPS antennae, manual and AC version DVD disc as a package from Mr.CD1 on ebay for $88 and it arrived in 2 days.

[MTL300C]

Excellent how-to! I just installed mine over the weekend and it took me about 40mins! Awesome!

[Hershal]

Thanx kcrnmale, I installed my nave system in about 15 minutes yesterday. I was really nervous about it until I read the post. I picked up the Bezel, a/c unit, and Nav off of EBay. I had a weird issue though. When I tried to eject the DVD it wouldn’t come out. I removed the unit and found not one but three nav disks shoved into the nav slot! I have one AC version, one AE version and a totally different one for the Crossfire. Now everything works great. I guess if all else fails just shove more DVD’s into the unit. Yeah that’ll fix it.
One big question though. My 300 came with the stock low end, single a/c controls. I have the upgraded version for the dual system (as seen in the previous photos). Is it possible to swap the two units? The connectors are different but I was wondering if maybe they make a pigtail for it. Any ideas?

[Chaoss]

Does anyone know if the stock Nav unit has a slot for a headphone jack?

If it does, I would want to put the jack on the Navi end and the opposite jack on the ipod.

[jdiddy101]

Originally Posted by Chaoss

Does anyone know if the stock Nav unit has a slot for a headphone jack?

If it does, I would want to put the jack on the Navi end and the opposite jack on the ipod.

No it does not have a headphone jack.