Base Radio Upgrade

bbensern

New member
Hadn't seen too much detail on this yet, so I thought I'd show my learnings.

I went with a 5.25" component system for the door/dash speakers. These speakers are slightly deeper than stock, so I needed to undermount them behind my plywood adapters. I tried to put thinsulate behind the door panel when re-attaching, but it seemed like getting every snap to reattach was going to be difficult, and I hate a rattle in door panel.

I ran power, ground, and ignition from the driver's seat over to the amp mounted upside down below the passenger seat. I added a MIDI style fuse to the large distribution block. I then ran ignition hot and ground through the plastic wire run and up to the head unit area, as there is no ignition hot in that area, and I wanted to avoid ground loop issues as well. I ran the RCA patch cables in the same fashion.

I was super pleased with the fit and finish of the head unit adapter from Crutchfield. Highly recommend. They also sent this adapter, which I assume might work with older models, but beyond constant power and ground, the other features didn't work because I'm assuming the CAN sniffer they use is out of date. Did not verify if the speaker outputs work as I'm using the external amp.

I routed the USB bulkhead for android-auto to the center glove box. I really like how hidden this is, and it also keeps the phone out of your hands and cables tidy. I also installed the subwoofer volume knob in the same area.

I don't really mind having the rear view camera go through the rear view mirror, but I figured why not try out the screen now that I have one. Rather than buy the $80 cable from midcity, I purchased a $9 cable and found the proper pins at the connector for the video signal and reverse-on. These arduino breadboard connectors mimic the factory male pins well, and have a secure fit. I would still tape them up well to keep them from separating. I did attempt to source the proper connector, but that seemed like a long road that was probably expensive.

I pulled the factory microphone and moved it to the passenger side slot, and installed the head-unit microphone in the driver-side location, with some light foam to keep it from rattling. Routing down the A-pillar isn't as scary as it sounds. Just always be sure to disconnect the battery.

Anyhow, reach out if you have any questions on details. The system is already incredibly loud, and after a lot of tuning is sounding awesome. I'm very impressed with the range of the 5.25" speakers. I'm also adding two 6x9" speakers, as well as a 10" subwoofer eventually. Just need to finish higher priority build projects first.

Happy Vanning!

B
 

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bbensern

New member
I've been pretty happy with the function of it. I mainly use it for Android Auto, and that functionality works well.
 

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