I have been thinking about this ever since I installed my after market stereo a couple years back. This literally took me thirthy minutes and I'm pretty pissed I never took the time to do it sooner.
Basically if you have an aftermarket stereo it saggs because there is NO support whatsoever for it in the dual din opening. You can get the radio bar but that doesn't do squat for the back end which is where the problem is. If you ever looked at the back of your stock stereo you would see a big ass stud that rests on a steel bar in the back for your dash. Nice innovation mazda, too bad the other 99.99% of stereo's don't come with such a device.
So I made one.
1st Pic Supplies:
1 L corner bracket. Mine was exactly 1.5 in by 1.5in
1 machine screw (in the pictures I have a bolt but I had to use a machine screw because the bolt hit the back of my deck) basically something that can accept a nut that will be as flat as possible.
1 lock washer
1 nut (or two if you are crazy)
Electrical Tape
A hammer
A drill
2nd pic
Basically you are using the L bracket to support the underside of the deck. I slid mine into it's spot and then held the L bracket underneath at the point where I fealt the deck was sitting straight. Then I took my deck out and taped of the spot where the bottom of the bracket sat. There was some rusted mark about the spot where I drilled a hole, not sure if this is standard or not but anyway you can see where I made the hole. This was where the bottom bolt hole was on my bracket.
I used a pretty cheap drill and it reached the back so whatever you have should work. Feel around behind that metal stud cause there is a large vent behind it and you don't want to drill into that. But, when drilling into metal like this you want to make sure you keep the bit moving. If you slow down cause you think you are almost done your bit will seaze and your ears will hurt and hopefully that is all that happens bad. Basically you need to put pressure on early to start the hole going but back off later and count on the speed of the drill to do the work. If you see metal dust its doing its thing.
3rd pic
Ok, see above the hole there is a wide opening. I basically wanted to bend the top part of my L bracket into a hook to go in that spot since I couldn't put a bolt there anyway. Hammer time!
I held the bracket above the tape and estimated where I thought it would bend so it would curve over that spot. I hammered it a few times without the screw underneath. Checked the fit and when I thought the bend was in the right place I put the screw underneath to make the bend into a hook shape. Oh and I wrapped a good bit of electrical tape around the part that would support the deck as a damper
4th pic
bracket installed (note I realized after this pic that the bolt came out too far so I just switched over to a philips head machine screw and all was good in the world again.
5th pic
My rock solid stereo support installed. Drove around with it today and I couldn't be happier. I did buy the Mazda support bar and I do think it pulls the front together but you could probably get buy without it if you have an aftermarket din kit. the real problem lies in the back anyway.
Basically if you have an aftermarket stereo it saggs because there is NO support whatsoever for it in the dual din opening. You can get the radio bar but that doesn't do squat for the back end which is where the problem is. If you ever looked at the back of your stock stereo you would see a big ass stud that rests on a steel bar in the back for your dash. Nice innovation mazda, too bad the other 99.99% of stereo's don't come with such a device.
So I made one.
1st Pic Supplies:
1 L corner bracket. Mine was exactly 1.5 in by 1.5in
1 machine screw (in the pictures I have a bolt but I had to use a machine screw because the bolt hit the back of my deck) basically something that can accept a nut that will be as flat as possible.
1 lock washer
1 nut (or two if you are crazy)
Electrical Tape
A hammer
A drill
2nd pic
Basically you are using the L bracket to support the underside of the deck. I slid mine into it's spot and then held the L bracket underneath at the point where I fealt the deck was sitting straight. Then I took my deck out and taped of the spot where the bottom of the bracket sat. There was some rusted mark about the spot where I drilled a hole, not sure if this is standard or not but anyway you can see where I made the hole. This was where the bottom bolt hole was on my bracket.
I used a pretty cheap drill and it reached the back so whatever you have should work. Feel around behind that metal stud cause there is a large vent behind it and you don't want to drill into that. But, when drilling into metal like this you want to make sure you keep the bit moving. If you slow down cause you think you are almost done your bit will seaze and your ears will hurt and hopefully that is all that happens bad. Basically you need to put pressure on early to start the hole going but back off later and count on the speed of the drill to do the work. If you see metal dust its doing its thing.
3rd pic
Ok, see above the hole there is a wide opening. I basically wanted to bend the top part of my L bracket into a hook to go in that spot since I couldn't put a bolt there anyway. Hammer time!
I held the bracket above the tape and estimated where I thought it would bend so it would curve over that spot. I hammered it a few times without the screw underneath. Checked the fit and when I thought the bend was in the right place I put the screw underneath to make the bend into a hook shape. Oh and I wrapped a good bit of electrical tape around the part that would support the deck as a damper
4th pic
bracket installed (note I realized after this pic that the bolt came out too far so I just switched over to a philips head machine screw and all was good in the world again.
5th pic
My rock solid stereo support installed. Drove around with it today and I couldn't be happier. I did buy the Mazda support bar and I do think it pulls the front together but you could probably get buy without it if you have an aftermarket din kit. the real problem lies in the back anyway.
