Hey, as you can see, first post. I just bought my first 8! Been looking at them since i was like 14 years old, and im 20 now. Now this might be a very stupid question but anyways, whats so special about the metra kit? every other kit for any car is like 30-70$ (The trim, mounts and wiring). Now i'm not by all means an expert on the rx8 or cars in general, but i know a good amount of things here and there (with the help of google ofcourse) but this one question doesn't seem to have an answer in the forum, if you know a link that will help with this, it would be nice if you could link it below instead of the classic "Do you know how to google?" (I've a long time lurker and I've seen it alot of time), now lemme cut to the chase.

From my understanding, the Metra kit is the Trim, mounts, adapter, extensions and wiring harness. I've ordered a double din stereo before and put it in and it came with a wiring harness.

If i buy just the trim and order a stereo would that work? assuming the stereo comes with the harness. Or i could just cut the trim already in there (which i probably wont do but dont know for sure).

 

It interfaces with your AC controls. I don't think , short of some serious and in depth reconstruction, any other double din kit will work.

 

Go here and look at the PDF instructions....it explains a lot of what you need to know.

Metra Part # 95-7510 | Mazda RX8 Dash kit | Metra Online

 

The little black box part replaces all the electronics in the face plate that are not AC controls.
The Face plate makes things fit.

And, double DIN is not all the same size. See this. https://www.rx8club.com/series-i-int...t-size-268831/

I can share that the radio I used is great, except for when it is hot (car sitting in Florida sun), then blue tooth quits.

 

Okay i see, so the adapter that it comes with isnt necessary?

 

I was able to pick up the corksport (Mazda oem jdm) faceplate myself but it didnt come with any wiring or hardware...

 

Not sure about the S1, but on the S2 the adapter is what makes the LCD and steering wheel controls continue working.

 

I just decided there was no point in doing this. I'd rather spend my money on performance or reliability upgrades

 

If you take the radio out for a race car etc. the HVAC mode controls are all disabled. It also defaults to full hot in the vent mode. Nothing worse than trying to race on a hot summer day and have full hot radiator temp air blowing out at you. So you either have to install one of these black boxes to restore the factory controls in the panel or rework the hvac controls wiring to either default differently or install DPDT throw toggle switches into the wiring to restore mode control manually.

I seem to recall that disabling the AC system under the hood creates a similar situation because some of the control wiring in the engine bay is all tied together with the panel mode controls.