Aftermarket Head Unit Installation

[BoBaa904]

Hi, I got a sony headunit off ebay, but my friend is saying I'm going to need a billion (well 3) different parts to hook this up:

One is a $20 harness which I can understand.

The other is a motorola antenna something something, costs like $3

the last is a PAX or something stereo something something, its like $30 on crutchfield.

Do I really need any of this crap? I know I don't need the harness at all, as I can just wire it directly to the car, but what about this antenna thing and the other thingy? I think the other thing has something to do with speaker output, but I'm not sure... did you guys need anything extra like this when installing your head unit? thanks.

[BMWhellrot]

The first two things you probably do need for these reasons: the wiring harness simply allows you to connect the wiring harness to the CD player harness before putting it in the car so you can just plug it in. Although you might be able to chop the existing harness off the factory radio but that gets messy. The second thing, the antenna adaptor, is needed because the car is European (of course) and has a Euro antenna, so you need a antenna adaptor to make the Euro plug fit the American plug on the sony. I've been through that about 3 times on my '94 325i, and its really not that bad at all. And on the wiring harness everythings color coded, just match the colors. But one thing you need to beware of on BMWs is that you'll probably have two blue wires coming off of the CD player and only one blue wire coming off the car harness... just connect both blues to the one blue and you'll be good. I have a sony as well and thats the only trick to it. Hope all that craziness makes your life easier.