Well, I have to say it wasn't as difficult as I'd thought it would be. I was amazed at how well the Metra kit hooks up to the factory harness....no cutting of the stock harness wires at all. You just solder the wires from the aftermarket stereo to the corresponding wires on the metra kit (wires are same colors on both for easy identification), and plug the harnesses into the factory harnesses and you're almost set.
There were two things that set me back a bit though (I started at 11AM, finished around 4!)
1. Since it's a DVD player, it had that safety lock on it where you have to wire it to the parking brake for it to play movies...I DON'T THINK SO! After doing 5 minutes of research, I found that you can just hook that wire to a toggle switch and flip it on and off when you please (No officer I was not watching a movie!) So I put a switch in the most discrete place ever...right in that little space in front of the shifter, on top.
2. The antenna harness on the car did not match up to the one on the radio. I heard there are adapters for this, but I didn't feel like searching around for them, so I just bent the elbow-shaped connector at the end of the factory antenna wire straight, and slipped it in to the Pioneer one, and taped it really tight. I have reception, but if it becomes an issue where it comes loose or something, I'll have to buy the adapter.
I always thought the stock monsoon system was loud...well...this stereo is ridiculously loud, and clear! There are so many things to adjust to get great sound quality...I'm actually afraid of blowing the speakers now. 12 is the highest volume setting I went to...and even then it sounded like the speakers were almost at their limit...but there was no distortion, it was all clear.
Oh, and the LCD screen on the dash kit doesn't look soo bad. It's white, which I think is the next best color after red.
Here are some pics, if anyone has any questions about anything related to installing an aftermarket deck, just ask!
And here's the toggle switch:
There were two things that set me back a bit though (I started at 11AM, finished around 4!)
1. Since it's a DVD player, it had that safety lock on it where you have to wire it to the parking brake for it to play movies...I DON'T THINK SO! After doing 5 minutes of research, I found that you can just hook that wire to a toggle switch and flip it on and off when you please (No officer I was not watching a movie!) So I put a switch in the most discrete place ever...right in that little space in front of the shifter, on top.
2. The antenna harness on the car did not match up to the one on the radio. I heard there are adapters for this, but I didn't feel like searching around for them, so I just bent the elbow-shaped connector at the end of the factory antenna wire straight, and slipped it in to the Pioneer one, and taped it really tight. I have reception, but if it becomes an issue where it comes loose or something, I'll have to buy the adapter.
I always thought the stock monsoon system was loud...well...this stereo is ridiculously loud, and clear! There are so many things to adjust to get great sound quality...I'm actually afraid of blowing the speakers now. 12 is the highest volume setting I went to...and even then it sounded like the speakers were almost at their limit...but there was no distortion, it was all clear.
Oh, and the LCD screen on the dash kit doesn't look soo bad. It's white, which I think is the next best color after red.
Here are some pics, if anyone has any questions about anything related to installing an aftermarket deck, just ask!
And here's the toggle switch:
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