I just purchased this stereo... http://sonicelectronix.com/item_8520.html
and I want to install it myself if I can. it comes with the car kit and harness, and cables I need..

how hard will it be to do myself? is there some sort of walkthrough, or advise someone can give me? thanks so much

 

it isnt that hard....
id say the hardest part is getting every back together nicely.

but once you remove the dash panels, remove the old deck, you'll most likely have to do some wiring, cuz the plugs are never the same (the part that plugs into the back of the deck)
the wires are all colour coded, so it isnt that hard. (blue, blue with white line, green, green with white line, etc, etc)

so cut the plug part off of the stock wiring, and attach the after market wiring harness to it (by connecting blue to blue, white to white, etc)
the black wire is the ground (important)
and the yellow ( i think) is the power source
baby blue is for subs (i believe, so just tape the end off)
dont forget about the antenna

so once all the wires are connected (and at least e-taped), plug it in, and turn the ingnition to the accesory setting and make sure everything works, if it does, turn the ignition off, and then proceed to installing the deck and dash panels, etc.

this is way easier to explain with pics, so maybe some else can help you out more if your still confused

 

Or instead of cutting your harness to pieces you could just get an aftermarket wiring harness that would plug into your existing wiring and then you splice that into the new HU's wiring. That way the car can still be put back to stock easily.

 

i didnt know they made those....
sweet, that cuts about 15-20 out of it....

but those also cost money, i just cut my friends harness, and the harness for the deck, and connected the wiring...

 

ya i did that when i had my dodge neon. I think i got the wiring harness at Radio shack for about $20

 

and im assuming your putting an aftermarket deck into your mazda3??
if so, you'll also need a single din dash kit

 

I recently bought one for my brother for about $7 I think. I decided that was the way to go after I bought a vehicle and went to change the stereo only to find that the original harness had been completely butchered by the previous owner. Infact he'd cut the wires off right against the plug itself, so there was no way to splice them back in. It took some time with a multimeter and a bit of trial and error to figure out which wires did what as they were all odd colors.

 

thanks for the tips everyone. I was able to get it installed, with the help from a freind at work. I need the wire butts and a wire cutter, but we were good to go. Did it on our lunch break in less then an hour.

I have not had time to dive into the deck yet, but it is super sweet that I can charge my ipod and all the info gets displayed on the deck, from the ipod!!

Next purchase will be the pac steering wheel controls.. so I can use the steering wheel controls with the aftermarket deck

By the way, the company I bought the deck from, threw in the dash kit for free