I know there's plenty of stereo threads for Cruisers on this site (I'm pretty sure I've read nearly all of them), but my hope is that this post introduces a different approach.
I've been wanting to put in a new stereo to our '85 Land Cruiser for a while but have always been intimidated by what I assumed would be a long and drawn out battle of custom fitting and wiring a new head unit in the dash. After looking through some threads on this site and others, I wasn't exactly impressed with the results other people were having. That's not to say that their installs were sloppy or un-professional, I guess I just didn't like the look of a shiny new head unit sitting were that awesomely vintage radio used to be. So at that point the goal became to install a new stereo without making ANY changes to the dash (keeping the old stereo in for aesthetics) and only making minimalist alterations to the rest of the interior. Oh, and the whole project would ideally cost less than $200.
This narrowed down the options quite a bit however... I started looking into products by Secretaudio SST, the Parrot CK & MKi series devices, and considered mounting the new head unit in the glove box. The glove box option was quickly thrown out though because I already considered the reach to the original stereo to be a stretch and the other options were way too far out of my price range. So, after being slightly discouraged by those options, I spent the next few weeks looking down dead ends and not finding much.
Finally, I came across a few forums about remote mounting those detachable faceplates seen on a lot of the newer head units out there. The faceplates are detachable as a sort of theft deterrent. Even cooler than that, you can wire a bundle of cable (CAT5 or ribbon cable) between the faceplate and the head unit as a sort of DIY remote panel. Unfortunately, the forums I was reading were saying that it wasn't quite that strait forward.
First of all, it seemed to be hit and miss with whether or not the make and model of stereo would actually allow for this kind of operation. Beyond that, many people were having trouble with using CAT5 claiming that its small gauge wires were dropping too much voltage and were unable to supply enough power to the faceplate.
Ignoring all these warnings, I set out to Best Buy and picked up the cheapest unit they had, a Pioneer DEH 150mp. It was simple, had what I wanted (CD player, AUX input, radio), and had a detachable faceplate. I also ordered 10 feet of PC ribbon cable (20 conductors) from Amazon hoping to avoid the issues seen with CAT5 cable. I still wanted the faceplate to be removable so I also picked up a 24-pin, MIL spec connector. To be honest, I'm very competent in soldering but after soldering directly to the PCBs of the faceplate and head unit I was very skeptical that it would actually work. So, after checking for shorts and continuity in the connector, I plugged the unit in to a 12V DC adapter. And it worked!! In disbelief, I just sat there staring at it for a good 5 minutes before realizing I should test functionality of the buttons and AUX input. Luckily those worked great as well.
With proof of concept out of the way, I went ahead with making a "holster" for the faceplate. At this point, I had decided that mounting the faceplate at the front of the center console and the head unit under the passenger seat was going to be my best bet. With my not-so-great wood working skills, I was able to make an angled mounting bracket that would sit on the floor. Using some hose clamps and L-brackets, I was able to mount the head unit under the passenger seat while only making two small slits in the carpet. No drilling or gluing required!
Unfortunately, school had started back up and that's where the project was left for about 2 weeks. Just yesterday, I found the time to wire it up. I was worried that I'd need to take the dashboard off in order to get access to the ACC power that the old stereo was running on. Luckily, I was able to reach up behind the dash and pull the plugs from the stereo and wire directly to those. There were also plugs at the driver and passenger door for each speaker as well, making the entire wiring process MUCH easier than I had expected. After about 2 hours of wiring, the stereo was up and running!
For now, I'm still using the original speakers until I have the time (and money) to upgrade. But to be honest, I was quite pleased with the sound quality that the new amp brought to those 30 year old speakers. Something I'll definitely be able to live with for a while.
That's about all I've got for now. If there's any interest in detailed pics of the installation and fabrication, I'm more than willing to post those when I have time. Also, if you guys have recommendations for speakers I'd love to hear them. Don't forget to look at the pictures!!
Cheers!
Pictures!!!
Final Install:
Head unit:
I've been wanting to put in a new stereo to our '85 Land Cruiser for a while but have always been intimidated by what I assumed would be a long and drawn out battle of custom fitting and wiring a new head unit in the dash. After looking through some threads on this site and others, I wasn't exactly impressed with the results other people were having. That's not to say that their installs were sloppy or un-professional, I guess I just didn't like the look of a shiny new head unit sitting were that awesomely vintage radio used to be. So at that point the goal became to install a new stereo without making ANY changes to the dash (keeping the old stereo in for aesthetics) and only making minimalist alterations to the rest of the interior. Oh, and the whole project would ideally cost less than $200.
This narrowed down the options quite a bit however... I started looking into products by Secretaudio SST, the Parrot CK & MKi series devices, and considered mounting the new head unit in the glove box. The glove box option was quickly thrown out though because I already considered the reach to the original stereo to be a stretch and the other options were way too far out of my price range. So, after being slightly discouraged by those options, I spent the next few weeks looking down dead ends and not finding much.
Finally, I came across a few forums about remote mounting those detachable faceplates seen on a lot of the newer head units out there. The faceplates are detachable as a sort of theft deterrent. Even cooler than that, you can wire a bundle of cable (CAT5 or ribbon cable) between the faceplate and the head unit as a sort of DIY remote panel. Unfortunately, the forums I was reading were saying that it wasn't quite that strait forward.
First of all, it seemed to be hit and miss with whether or not the make and model of stereo would actually allow for this kind of operation. Beyond that, many people were having trouble with using CAT5 claiming that its small gauge wires were dropping too much voltage and were unable to supply enough power to the faceplate.
Ignoring all these warnings, I set out to Best Buy and picked up the cheapest unit they had, a Pioneer DEH 150mp. It was simple, had what I wanted (CD player, AUX input, radio), and had a detachable faceplate. I also ordered 10 feet of PC ribbon cable (20 conductors) from Amazon hoping to avoid the issues seen with CAT5 cable. I still wanted the faceplate to be removable so I also picked up a 24-pin, MIL spec connector. To be honest, I'm very competent in soldering but after soldering directly to the PCBs of the faceplate and head unit I was very skeptical that it would actually work. So, after checking for shorts and continuity in the connector, I plugged the unit in to a 12V DC adapter. And it worked!! In disbelief, I just sat there staring at it for a good 5 minutes before realizing I should test functionality of the buttons and AUX input. Luckily those worked great as well.
With proof of concept out of the way, I went ahead with making a "holster" for the faceplate. At this point, I had decided that mounting the faceplate at the front of the center console and the head unit under the passenger seat was going to be my best bet. With my not-so-great wood working skills, I was able to make an angled mounting bracket that would sit on the floor. Using some hose clamps and L-brackets, I was able to mount the head unit under the passenger seat while only making two small slits in the carpet. No drilling or gluing required!
Unfortunately, school had started back up and that's where the project was left for about 2 weeks. Just yesterday, I found the time to wire it up. I was worried that I'd need to take the dashboard off in order to get access to the ACC power that the old stereo was running on. Luckily, I was able to reach up behind the dash and pull the plugs from the stereo and wire directly to those. There were also plugs at the driver and passenger door for each speaker as well, making the entire wiring process MUCH easier than I had expected. After about 2 hours of wiring, the stereo was up and running!
For now, I'm still using the original speakers until I have the time (and money) to upgrade. But to be honest, I was quite pleased with the sound quality that the new amp brought to those 30 year old speakers. Something I'll definitely be able to live with for a while.
That's about all I've got for now. If there's any interest in detailed pics of the installation and fabrication, I'm more than willing to post those when I have time. Also, if you guys have recommendations for speakers I'd love to hear them. Don't forget to look at the pictures!!
Cheers!
Pictures!!!
Final Install:
Head unit:
