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

 * 1) Take the screwdriver and wrap the tip with a single layer of electrical tape
 * 2) * Make sure that your screwdriver is thin enough to fit between the edge and the trimming
 * 3) Stick the screw driver in between the faceplate edge and the trimming and pry off the edges
 * 4) * This should not take much force, I found best results when prying from the top and bottom
 * 5) * If you do not have the tape player or the MD then do this for the small plate as well
 * 6) 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.*
 * 1) * If you only have two keys, do one side first then the other side next
 * 2) Now pull the radio out while applying force on the keys towards the door
 * 3) * If you removed the small plate, this should be pretty easy, if not you will have to be creative
 * 4) 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

 * [[Image:Mazda Guide-Protege 5-Removing Factory Stereo-Unit.jpg|640px]]
 * Notice the small panel has been removed
 * [[Image:Mazda Guide-Protege 5-Removing Factory Stereo-Dremel.jpg|640px]]
 * The disc was used for cutting, the cylinder was used for tapering
 * [[Image:Mazda Guide-Protege 5-Removing Factory Stereo-Key1.jpg|640px]]
 * [[Image:Mazda Guide-Protege 5-Removing Factory Stereo-Key2.jpg|640px]]
 * [[Image:Mazda Guide-Protege 5-Removing Factory Stereo-Key3.jpg|640px]]