Decided to keep the original head unit because it sounds good enough for me and looks right in the car. But I wanted to play iphone tunes and couldn't find an FM transmitter (the wireless type) that worked well. Also they usually plug into the cigar lighter and that's in an awkward spot on the ski-slope, what with me shifting gears all the time.

I bought an iSimple Tranzit IS77 which is an FM transmitter that plugs into the head unit's antenna connector at the back. Had to:

1. remove the radio (which meant drilling out four rivets).
2. splice the IS77's power switch into a wire that's hot with the key on, and hook up the ground wire.
3. put the radio back in and find a place to mount the power switch.

While I was at it, I added a second switch to stop the antenna going up when the radio is on but I don't need it because I'm using the iphone/ipod.

All in all I had to splice into two wires. I cut into the little harness that joins the radio to the car's wiring harness. The white/blue wire is power (on-off with ignition) and the yellow/green goes to the antenna relay.

Luckily, the IS77 came with a little round power switch that just happened to slide neatly into the ashtray. I secured it in place with a twist-tie believe it or not. I was also lucky to find the same switch on eBay so I got one to put in the other ashtray for the antenna.

And it works great. Same sound that I'm used to, but bigger selection of tunes and the car still looks stock. Also it charges the iphone. The IS77 also lets you choose to plug in other mp3 players through a 1/8" jack, but you have to decide whether you're going to do that or the iphone/ipod jack when you're installing it. Can't have both. You also have to pick an FM frequency and stick with it, unless you install the IS77 module where you can get at it. Mine is hidden under the ski slope.

 

wow, that's cool...I just got a cassette adapter for my iPod for $5 and called it a day :-). But then, I have zero mechanical ability...