Bongo Fury

My first post...please be gentle!

We are the new proud owners of a converted bongo and extremely happy. We are in the process of kitting out our pride and joy with all things we want to make it our own....or as my son called it....”pimping it out!”

I wonder if anyone can help.

Does anyone have any recommendations for 2 din audio equipment. Ideally we would like a touch screen with possibly gps on it. Without taking out the current radio I’m unsure of the exact size the unit has to be, and therefore can’t buy one just in case it doesn’t fit. There are that many different sizes its making my head melt! At the moment we have a mini disc option or the option of radio 2....which doesn’t sit well with my teenage son! Does anyone have any idea what dimensions I should be looking for?

I've also read that I may need a conversion ISO lead. Is this the case...and if so any ideas which one?

Sorry for the barrage of questions.

Thanks in advance for any help...please help my head from exploding!

Hi, and a warm welcome to the Forum.

The lead you require is this type of thing:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Mazda-MPV-CD- ... 0651522845

Halfords also stock them.

Can't recommend a particular set up but Double DIN is the standard size, any audio equipment thus described should fit.

Bongy is fitted with a Single DIN radio from the factory so fitting a double will mean loosing the little cubby below it.

There's You Tube videos on removing the existing radio and I found it fairly simple.

Thanks for the reply Bob. Mine has lost the cubby hole already and is already a double din unit.

Any idea if the changing of the leads is difficult?

Hopefully I might impress myself and be able to do it myself......however, I wont hold my breath!

If it's already an Aftermarket unit then it probably won't need the lead as the existing stereo will likely use the same ISO connecter as any replacement will.

Its a japanese frequency radio. Im not sure if this means it is aftermarket or not....

We have an Alpine double DIN unit in our tin top. It has very limited frequency range indicating that the original owner in Japan had it fitted in place of the single radio/CD. We left it in as it gets the stations we like and it has a CD and minidisc player. Our other van had a single DIN unit fitted which we replaced with a very expensive pile of c*#p purchased at the caravan show in 2015. The unit flattened a starter battery overnight even when turned off and the screen was so poor you could only see it a night. The single DIN went back in! I now have a useless satnav/cd/DVD/radio in my loft! Make sure you buy a good make!

The adapter lead just plugs in, 10 seconds or so.

Your current stereo will be a standard double DIN unit so there should be no problems finding one to fit. It's fairly simple to replace but be aware there are two types of ISO adapter leads depending on what year your van is. Some point just before 2002 they changed to this type shown at the top of the picture. The second loom below that is the one that tends to come with the head unit (in this case for a Pioneer).

I am looking into a Pioneer double DIN stereo from Halfords (and will ask them to fit and connect to the existing rear view camera) Are they likely to have the correct ISO adaptor lead for my 2002 Bongo. I see that the link from Bob's post is for the Bongo 1991 -2001.

We decided to save up for a touch screen double din with gps etc, so have been putting up with an old naff stereo.

However I've struggled to justify the cost of the touchscreen stereo. Based on the following I've decided not to bother:

1. It would play videos but it is in an inconvenient place for when we are setup as a campervan.

2. You could add secondary monitors for the back of the Bongo but these add more cost and will only work for DVDs - they don't appear to work for locally stored video files.

3. It would give GPS but we don't need GPS that often and we have a whole array of tablets and phones which all have GPS and copilot installed.

So I ended up buying a half decent second hand JVC double din for £50 from ebay. It has front and rear usb, bluetooth, radio and CD.

The only consideration for fitting is the depth of the unit. Some of the fancy units are too deep to fit properly. Also watch out for where the cables come out. If they come out of the center they will probably foul the vertical metal bar at the back.

I am still keen on the Pioneer unit as I would like the Bluetooth faculty but would like to retain the rear camera operation. In discussion with Halfords at the moment but unclear on which ISO lead is required

I believe this is the one you need for 2002 model: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Mazda-6-2002- ... SwPcVVgYUu

For the older models it should be this one: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/PC2-10-4-MAZD ... bx5nloAzUQ

Thanks Simon. i'll see how I get on.

sotal wrote:We decided to save up for a touch screen double din with gps etc, so have been putting up with an old naff stereo.

However I've struggled to justify the cost of the touchscreen stereo. Based on the following I've decided not to bother:

1. It would play videos but it is in an inconvenient place for when we are setup as a campervan.

2. You could add secondary monitors for the back of the Bongo but these add more cost and will only work for DVDs - they don't appear to work for locally stored video files.

3. It would give GPS but we don't need GPS that often and we have a whole array of tablets and phones which all have GPS and copilot installed.

So I ended up buying a half decent second hand JVC double din for £50 from ebay. It has front and rear usb, bluetooth, radio and CD.

The only consideration for fitting is the depth of the unit. Some of the fancy units are too deep to fit properly. Also watch out for where the cables come out. If they come out of the center they will probably foul the vertical metal bar at the back.

You beat me to it on the caveats. Watch out for depth fitting whatever you do. I think a more heads up location is better for satnav reading plus i love the power of google maps / android over conventional satnav (provided there is data connection!). I find touching anything accurately while driving can be tricky - how do others find it?

This is the connector on the van for the 2001 > models:



This is the ISO lead that connects to it: