Radio Installation help?

A thread on this most likely already exists but the search bar is returning nothing.

Iv got a ex MOD 90 300tdi that’s never had a radio installed, electrics isn’t a strong point of mine but I can follow directions easily enough with a little help.

I would be starting an installation from scratch, so I’d need a radio facia mount, holes for speakers cutting into the lower dash, an aerial, speakers and cable and obviously a car radio.

Firstly before any of that the wiring needs to be done, I was thinking that surely most wiring looms would be standard regardless of spec, so there must be a stereo harness ISO tucked away somewhere. Iv had the fuse panel off and the rear wash/wipe, lighter plate out to have a good rumage but I can find anything.

Might it be tucked away somewhere else? Or does it simply not have one? If that’s the case I’m guessing I’ll have to hardwire an ISO connection by piggy backing off of something nearby.

So where do I start and how do I go about it?

A basic radio need an earth wire to the chassis, a permanent 12v (maintains memories and settings) and a switched 12v (so it turns on/off with the ignition) that all go into one of the ISO plugs (this plug sometimes has options for phone mute etc depending on spec). The other plug is usually speaker outputs.

You can buy plastic housings that will fix on a flat surface to fit the radio into if you don’t want to hack your dash about.

You can get an ariel that will stick to glass which will save drilling holes in the wing/roof etc although these often require power too.

Fitting a radio is a fairly straight forward affair and any new radio will come with full installation instructions. I’m sure there are people/companies on the net that will sell a kit to do the job including ariel, radio, speakers and wiring kit if you look around.