Best place to fit Kenwood CD Autochanger in W210 E240 Est?

[wwgraham]

Hi, I've recently bought a 1998 W210 Estate which already has a Kenwood Mask head unit and CD Autochanger, the trouble is the autochanger is simply lying vertically in the rear o/s wheelarch of the car and so playback is jumpy, does anyone know the best place to position this or perhaps know of brackets that will allow secure fixing in the wheelarch?

Many thanks

Will

 

[JoshChambers]

I found if the autochanger is small enough mount it under the boot floor. It fits directly into the spare wheel well.

 

[Orlando 300E]

Hello Will,
When you say lying in the wheel well, do you mean only attached to the car by the cable? No brackets?
If you have no brackets, get some (Kenwood dealer should be able to get you some). Mounting the auto-changer solidly will stop skipping.
As for what to mount onto, I tried sticking peaces of MDF board to the inside of the boot wing, and then attaching the auto-changer to that screwing through the carpet liner (please make sure the scews are not long enough to go through your wing :wink: ). Unfortunately the glue I used was not flexible, so it eventually came loose; auto-changer flapping around on the boot liner carpet!
I was about to try heavy duty Velcro to attach the blocks of MDF, but did not get round to it. Got peeved with the trial and error, just drilled into the underside of the parcel shelf and mounted it there -not very subtle or hidden!
If your Kenwood changer is the same as mine, there should be a flat disc on each side of the box, with angles marked on them. This adjusts the changers internal suspension to whichever angle direction you mount it -make sure it?s set correctly.
Silly question, but have the "shipping" bolts been removed -the changer has 2 bolts that hold the suspension still during shipping. When the changer does finally gets used these should be removed.
Hope that helps
Orlando

 

[rockey]

Mine is an Alpine unit fitted under the rear passenger seat next to the battery, depends if yours is the type you can mount vertically or not. hope this helps.
John

 

[jaymanek]

Mines not an estate, but i put my pioneer changer in the first aid box.

When the car was broken into, they looked allll over for the changer, they broke into my glove box, boot etc, but they never found it!

Not really answering your question, but a great security hint...

 

[fuzzer]

Erm , i would prefer them to find the cd changer and bugger off rather than trash the car


The best place in a T210 to mount a cd changer is in the offside rear pannel of the boot. there is a small well which fits the changer perfectly. its also easy to run cables into as well

I would agree with the MDF and maybe some flexible silicon sealent to attach it onto the car , just something thats fairly sticky and will absorb the shocks and not come loose.

 

[wwgraham]

Thanks too all for the tips. Orlando, yes it's lying in the wheel well balanced on a soft toy (I kid you not), brackets are fitted but not attached to anything as there's no obvious places to do so. The changer doesn't have a manual but as you say it does have the small discs with angle adjustment but I'm not sure how to change these, can you elaborate? Looks like I'll try some MDF and or Velcro and let you know how I get on.

Many thanks in advance

Will

 

[wwgraham]

The alternative may be to use the MB Audio10 CD head unit I also have and buy a changer from ebay, does nayone know what changer goes withthis model and if the correct wiring is already in the car, it's a 1998 W210 E240 Estate?

many thanks again

Will

 

[Orlando 300E]

Hello Will,
First you have to remove the mount brackets, and then you just turn the discs with a flat blade screwdriver untill the arrow points to the correct mount angle -on each side.
Unlikely that the Mercedes disc changer will work with the Kenwood head unit.

Stick with the Kenwood, its probably newer & I would imagine better than whatever Mercedes fit.
If you have any doubt about the "MASK" system (yes it is a bit of a hoot!), the mechanics that turn the head around last years -a friend has had his for more than 4 years without any problems. That?s one of the reasons I went for mine.

I agree with Fuzzer, don?t start hiding it too well, not only to reduce the risk of your interior being trashed, but to make it possible to change the disk! :lol:
Best wishes
Orlando