This thread is more of a rant, but I would appreciate any help you may have. I probably could have posted this in the Electronics section, but it is somewhat S2000 specific with the confined quarters in the headunit area.

What I have:
Alpine CDA-9885 headunit
Infinity Reference 6.5 front speakers
Alpine iPod connector cable
Alpine MRP-F450 4 channel amp

All this going into a 2007 S2K. Figured today was a somewhat nice day at ONLY 45 degrees and got started working at about 2pm. Unfortunately I forgot that the damn sunlight disappears at like freaking 2:45pm and I ended up not getting anything at all done.

Got the center console and headunit area apart within 30 minutes, but the damn wiring of the stereo harness took like at least an hour. This is why I remembered I hate working with wires. I realized I didn't have any wire connectors so I drove to the only Radio Shack I knew within my area. It was shut down. I went to another one, it was ALSO shut down. I called my dad to look in the phone book for another one, but he was absolutely no help at all. I finally found one about 30 minutes away. Came back home almost an hour later and finished up the wiring and realized I had no more electrical tape. Went to CVS and bought two TINY rolls for $4 a piece!!!

Put it all together and tested one more time. Good, it still works. Now I can't fit the damn headunit in the S2000's headunit space because there is absolutely no room in there because of the ginormous ABS module. I must have spent over an hour trying fruitlessly to shove it in there. No go. At this time, the convertible top is open and the center console's wiring is all apart so I can't just leave everything for another day. It was barely light enough for me to plug the center console's harness back in to close the top. Eventually I did.

So this entire day, what did I get done?
1. Removed center console and headunit cover
2. Completed radio wiring harness
3. Realized that the iPod connector doesn't work because the damn display just reads "Searching....." all the time.
4. I can't get the new headunit in because of the mess of wires.
5. Gave myself a massive headache and wanted to drive my car off a cliff.
5. Realized that because of the work week starting tomorrow I won't have another chance to work on the car until NEXT Saturday because as said earlier, it gets dark so damn early that when I get back home from work, I can't do ****!
6. Didn't even START on the new speakers and amplifier.
7. Still so mad that I didn't realize I repeated #5 twice.



So please help me:
1. What can I do to make room to shove the new Alpine headunit into the S2000's small-*** radio compartment?
2. Why does my iPod connection just make the headunit say "Searching...."? I have a 4th generation iPod without the color screen. It's a 15GB unit. Is that too old? Did I waste $30 on a cable for nothing?

I'm about to drop my car off and get the damn thing installed.

 

Relax and take your time. When you feel frustrated take a break, car is not going anywhere. Do you have a nice worklight so you can work when it's dark? Very useful to buy if you dont have one.

One thing I dont understand though.. did you solder the wires on your harness or use connectors? My opinion you need to solder or eventually you will start having connection problems. First time I did a harness I used the plug type connectors and always had intermittent problems until I removed them and soldered.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by ramstrung &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Relax and take your time. When you feel frustrated take a break, car is not going anywhere. Do you have a nice worklight so you can work when it's dark? Very useful to buy if you dont have one. </TD></TR></TABLE>

Yep, unfortunately with the little daylight and cold weather, I have to wait until at least next Saturday to work on this again. I guess I can use this time to relax and look a bit online to find some other workarounds.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">One thing I dont understand though. did you solder the wires on your harness or use connectors? My opinion you need to solder or eventually you will start having connection problems. First time I did a harness I used the plug type connectors and always had intermittent problems until I removed them and soldered.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Yep, I used connectors. One end of the harness had one type of connector. The other side had another that slid in. After that I taped up each connector junction with electrical tape. It all seemed to work out pretty solid, so I hope it's fine. I'm going to eventually have to get in there again to work in the RCA cables/speakerwire for the speakers and amp. Hmph!!

As for the iPod connector, this is what I found:
<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Crutchfield &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
iPod Full Speed: The KCE-422i allows you to connect your Apple iPod to any 2006-up Full Speed-compatible Alpine head unit. It has an iPod dock connector on one end and a "D-shaped" 10-pin DIN plug on the other end. There is no hideaway box to deal with as with many other iPod adapters.

iPod Compatibility: This adapter cable can be used to interface a compatible receiver to any iPod with a dock connector. The cable gives you full control and full sound at full speed. You can quickly and easily search through all of the music contained on your iPod through Playlist, Artist, Album or Song searches. You can view Artist, Album, Song Information and Song Number right on the head unit's display. The cable will also power the iPod and charge the battery. The adapter can be used with virtually any dock connector-equipped iPod, including the following versions:

* Fourth generation iPod: Ver.3.1.1
* Fifth generation iPod: Ver.1.1.2
* iPod photo: Ver.1.2.1
* iPod mini: Ver.1.4.1
* iPod nano: Ver.1.2
* iPhone: Ver. 1.0.1

Note: The cable cannot be used with iPod software versions earlier than "2006-06-28". For details about "iPod Software Update", refer to the iPod's Instruction Manual. </TD></TR></TABLE>

So I might have a useless iPod too. Damn thing was over $300 when I got it several years ago.