Mazda Guide/Protege 5/Removing Factory Stereo

What You Need Small flathead screwdriver - This is used to pop off the faceplate edges Electrical Tape - This is used to prevent scratching Ford Key - This is used to pop the stereo out Don't have one? don't worry, you can easily build one Steps Take the screwdriver and wrap the tip with a single layer of electrical tape Make sure that your screwdriver is thin enough to fit between the edge and the trimming Stick the screw driver in between the faceplate edge and the trimming and pry off the edges This should not take much force, I found best results when prying from the top and bottom If you do not have the tape player or the MD then do this for the small plate as well Use the ford key by sticking it into the hole and the slot as shown Note: The photo shows the key in the middle and lower holes, but the key must be used in the upper and lower holes.* If you only have two keys, do one side first then the other side next Now pull the radio out while applying force on the keys towards the door If you removed the small plate, this should be pretty easy, if not you will have to be creative Tada! your factory stereo has now been removed. Just unplug and do what you want with it. Building A Key All you need to build your own set of keys is a metal coat hanger and some tools I used a Dremel to do the work, but I'm sure there are many other ways to go about building the key Measure the bottom of the coat hanger into four approximately equal sized pieces Use the Dremel (with a sandpaper disc) to cut the coat hanger at the leftmost and rightmost edges You should end up with a piece falling off from the middle Now try and cut the hanger again so that you will have a U-shaped key with segments of equal length finally, sand down the sharp edges and taper the points on one side for the straight piece that you cut first, you can either use this to build another (just use pliers to fold it into a U) or you can toss it. Images 640px Notice the small panel has been removed 640px The disc was used for cutting, the cylinder was used for tapering 640px 640px 640px