Replace the stereo in a 97

[StressPuppy]

I have factory stuff still in the truck. I have a friend that has a brand new Alpine head unit he wants to make me a deal on. I would like to put it in as a start to upgrading the stereo. What problems will I run into?

I have read some here and elsewhere, and had a local installer try to talk me into $3000 worth of stuff ( ).

Long term goal is to replace it all (HU, speakers, sub, amps), but I need to do the "phased" approach so I can stay married.....

1) can I just replace the unit and still have all the speakers work?
2) are there special wiring considerations?
3) will the sub woofer still work?
4) when I get to the speakers, what do you recommend (I know they are shallow. Alpine? Kenwood Excelon)


I have read so much tonight that I can't think straight. I can't remember what I have read where, so please don't flame me and tell me to search. I just want a couple of straight answers from someone that has done this in their rig (or a friends) so I can know first hand (well, second) what I am up for.

Thanks!!

 

[DRTDuck]

Stress-

There is pretty good thread in the FAQ on speaker replacement. It references some Eclipse that will give you a guide on size that will fit. Yes, they need to be shallow. I have Alpines in the front, Eclipse in the rear, Sony in the Cargo, and replaced sub with and 8" Fostgate, factory head and amp.

I know that some head units have built in amps that allow you to bypass the factory amp. Not sure how an aftermarket head unit affects the sub. I know others here will know.

AFAIK from reading hear, aftermarket head units are pretty much plug and play, not issues with wiring.

 

[lurker]

I have factory stuff still in the truck. I have a friend that has a brand new Alpine head unit he wants to make me a deal on. I would like to put it in as a start to upgrading the stereo. What problems will I run into?

I have read some here and elsewhere, and had a local installer try to talk me into $3000 worth of stuff ( ).

Long term goal is to replace it all (HU, speakers, sub, amps), but I need to do the "phased" approach so I can stay married.....

1) can I just replace the unit and still have all the speakers work?
2) are there special wiring considerations?
3) will the sub woofer still work?
4) when I get to the speakers, what do you recommend (I know they are shallow. Alpine? Kenwood Exelion <sp?>)


I have read so much tonight that I can't think straight. I can't remember what I have read where, so please don't flame me and tell me to search. I just want a couple of straight answers from someone that has done this in their rig (or a friends) so I can know first hand (well, second) what I am up for.

Thanks!!

Hi Stress,

I wish to do the same thing, but like you mentioned there really isn't any clear cut directions in the FAQ. You are in a fork in the road, either 1) pay someone else to figure this mess out or 2) piece mail the FAQ and hope that you purchase the correct parts in the correct segmented order.

I attemped to go in the 2nd direction and thought that I could reverse engineer what has already been done, but unfortunately some of the stated products are no longer available.

I'm most interested in.

1)Can we just swap a new head unit in using the existing AMP? I suspect that this is a yes, but you'll need x and x and x. And does x and x and x apply to all head units?

2)What amps have people used and is there a seperate one for the sub? Does a 93 even have a sub? If we have 8 speakers how do you wire an AMP up for that, are some speakers lines run at 8 ohms and others at 4 ohms? I mean typically all you have is left and right and a bogus fader option so exactly how are 8 spears run? See the problem, without tearing the FSM or wiring manual apart?

3)Has anyone "staged" their speaker work out, as in doors first then rears.

4)I think that we have 8 speakers including a sub. Can't we just get away with 4 doors and 2 rears? Has anyone tried this?

5)Where are people putting the aftermarket Amp in? Under seats?

6)Anyone had to use Caps and or circuit brakers?

As we all can see it's pretty hard to answer these specific questions using the search engine alone.

But like you said, after chaising your tail around for a bit, it's mind numbing.

Please keep us informed.

 

[StressPuppy]

Stereo Install Specifics!!!!!

Here are specifics I have compiled so far (last updated 10/13/2004 5:33pm EST):

Speakers - Sizes and Mounting Info - 1997

Front Speakers, Dash: Can fit 4" round. Bottom Mount. Need to watch mount height so you don't hit the grill.

Front Speakers, Doors: 6 1/2" round; Mounting depth is 1.444"; Mounting height is 0.775".

Rear Doors: 4" round; Mounting depth is 1,293"; Mounting height is 0.225".

Third Row Speakers, up high: No information

Subwoofer: In the rear behind the right third row seat. It is a 6" woofer floating in free-air, driven by a 15 watt amp that is located in the same panel. Enclosure space is 48" long, 26" high, 8" deep (top), 10" deep (bottom).

(With no modifications...)​

General notes

1) The 2 front door speakers with the 2 dash ones and the 2 rear door with the 2 overhead rear compartment. They are 8 ohm speakers wired in parrellal giving a total resistance of 4 ohms. The dash speekers have a cap wired in them to better match them to the door speakers as tweeters. I'm not sure about the ones above the hatch but my guess would be they are also.

2) Most people I have talked to or things I have read say forget the two speakers above the 3rd row seat.

3) Sub space is big enough that you can possibly make an enclosure in part of it and then mount the amps in the other part, still leaving it stock from the outside (see measurements above).

4) The head unit can be replaced without problem, but there is an issue with the newer high power units and current draw. Essentially, the fused always on power supply does not have an adequate power supply since it was designed to run the factory low power deck only. The way to fix this is to run a new seperate fused power link from the battery.

5) The wiring harness adaptors are designed to bypass the factory amplifiers.

6) There was a rumor that the MTX 8" subwoofer enclosure for a ford explorer fit perfectly behind the stock panel in the right rear.

7) It seems the 95-97 LC's have a bit more room in the doors for speakers.

8) On the 91 (and maybe others), amp only pushes 60 watts.

9) One reason many people use the Eclipse speakers is the efficiency. They are 3-6db than some other speakers.​

Wiring - Stereo - 1997

Constant 12V+, Blue/Yellow
Switched 12V+, Gray
Ground, Brown
Illumination, Green
Dimmer, n/a
Antenna Trigger, Black/Red

Front Speakers - 6 1/2" Doors
Left Front (+), Pink
Left Front (-), Purple
Right Front (+), Light Green
Right Front (-), Blue

Rear Speakers - 6 1/2" Rear Doors
Left Rear (+), Black
Left Rear (-), Yellow
Right Rear (+), Red
Right Rear (-), White​

Equipment used successfully

Alpine SPS-130A, 5 1/4", 92dB, 30w RMS
Alpine SPS-100A, 4", 92dB, 25w RMS
Alpine SPS-120A, 5 1/4"
Eclipse SE8253, 5 1/4"
Eclipse SE8243, 4, Mnt Depth: 1 5/8"
Eclipse SE8353, 5 1/4, Mnt Depth: 1 7/8"
Pioneer TS-G1640R, 6 1/4"
​

 

[StressPuppy]

It references some Eclipse that will give you a guide on size that will fit. Yes, they need to be shallow. I have Alpines in the front, Eclipse in the rear, Sony in the Cargo, and replaced sub with and 8" Fostgate, factory head and amp.

DRTruck - Could you share the models and size info for the speakers you mentioned? I would like to add that to my above post. Trying to get one with as much detail as possible.

 

[Heffenoche]

Stress I'm planning on replacing my door speakers on Friday and I'll take some measurements for you. The Eclipse speekers I have for the front have a depth of 1 7/8" but believe I'll have to use a 1/4" space to make them fit. I'll try to take some measurments to see if anything deeper will fit. The rear door speakers I have I believe are around 1 1/2" deep, don't need to be spaced but the rear OEM housing needs to be cut out. Check out the speaker fitment in the fax section, that is what I'm going by.

I'll let you know more when I'm done.

 

[NovaFZJ80]

Just in luck....a couple weeks ago i got an Alpine 9821 unit installed by Circuit City.. after 4 days, they finally figured it out and it works....
1. they plugged and play (using the wiring harness kits (2) ) and it kept on blowing the dome light fuse....

2nd day found some stuff on here and printed it out and brought it with them....installer read the stuff and didnt' think a need to run a relay or not to plug the power antenna wire into the head unit. Worked for 5 min then blew the 10A fuse....

3rd day decided to run the constant power and piggy back from the ignition's constant power from the batter....but still plugged the power antenna from the harness...this time cd mode, but would not play continuously , but off and on...

4th day, decided to not use the power antenna wire, since the LC has its own antenna control...duh.basically if the installer would have gone by the printout on Day 2, everything would be nice and dandy...

replaced the Front doors: Alpine SPS-130A, 5 1/4;, 92dB, 30w RMS, $55/pair
Rear doors : Alpine SPS-100A, 4, 92dB, 25w RMS, $49/pair

Free shipping on orders over $100, no tax (outside calif), www.onlinecarstereo.com....

just need some longer screws (run to the local Home Depot) and it should fit without any problems...

haven't put in the rear doors yet...sound from front speakers very clear and crisp...not that much bass, since its from 5 1/4....believe the wiring harness bypasses the sub/amp..

so have to run a sep amp from batter and upgrade the sub in the back of the LC...

 

[Dino]

1991 LC Radio & Speaker Swap

I recently switched to a Sony head unit and some Jenson Speakers in the front doors. planning new speakers in the rear doors. I ran into a problem when I looked for a harness. My LC caem with 7 active speakers and a sub in the rear. The onboard amp only pushed 60 amps. My new head unit pushed more. Only problem is it is designed to rum four speakes. Also has two amp outs. I had to cut the harnes and extend it to reach past the amp(behind glove box) where the harness going into the amp pluged right in. I didn't worry about the antyanna because it was broke anyway and am going to switch to a TV tuner antanna that fixes to a inside window. I won't have to worrie about breaking it again. When I switched out the speakers in the front doors the new ones where a little to deep for the opening. I just screwed them dowm as good as possible. I needed to bend two of the flanges to get htem to fit. Now my system sounds better than ever with only running four speakers. My plans are to ad a couple of amps and replace the tweeter throughout and run them off of one. The other will go to the back. I have considered building a box to fix in the tool compartment in the back. I use my rear jump seats so, I can't pull them out and use the area for a storage/Speaker Box. I'm still working on those plans right now.

 

[StressPuppy]

Mounting kits and wiring harnesses

What have you folk done about mounting kits for the stereos? I have seen a couple of different kits out there. What have you used? What are the pros and cons of the kit you used?

How about wiring harnessess? Have you used one from a particular company, or made your own?

NOVAFZJ80 - Where did you get the info on the wiring? If you still have it could you pass it along? Don't want to spend hours looking for it - call me lazy!!


Keep the info coming!!

 

[cary]

I'll just spit out what I know from memory, hopefully my memory is correct:

1) The head unit can be replaced without problem, but there is an issue with the newer high power units and current draw. Essentially, the fused always on power supply does not have an adequate power supply since it was designed to run the factory low power deck only. The way to fix this is to run a new seperate fused power link from the battery.

2) The wiring harness adaptors are designed to bypass the factory amplifiers.

3) The "subwoofer" in the rear is a 6" woofer floating in free-air, driven by a 15 watt amp that is located in the same panel. If you lose it upgrading the head unit, it is in reality no loss.

4) THe best place to mount an amp is where the stock subwoofer is. You can then use a small box to hold the sub. If you want, you could also eliminate the stock compartement on the right and do a custom sub in the stock slot.

5) There was a rumor that the MTX 8" subwoofer enclosure for a ford explorer fit perfectly behind the stock panel in the right rear.

6) There would be a real market for a production run of 8" custom enclosures for the stock compartment in the rear if someone had the drive to design and manufacture them. I don't have the time to go and hunt down a builder to do it.

7) I recommend the entry level eclipses over the other speakers because 1) they are much more effiencient, so they work well with the stock deck, and 2) they are good sounding for the price (this is comming from a home audiophile background with a $15,000 + two channel system, and a full Nakamichi/ADS/Infinity Beta system in my Pathfinder).

8) It seems the 95-97 LC's have a bit more room in the doors for speakers.

Cary

 

[NovaFZJ80]

the info i got regarding the wiring was from the forum here...don't have it with me, but at work i do...the wiring harness can be purchased at circuit city/best buy or any audio place....you can also get the mounting kit there as well.. they'll look up the model,make, year of your vehicle and based on that get you what you need....

 

[StressPuppy]

cary - great info, thanks!!!



All - As I gather info, I am updating the 4th post of this thread so it is all in one spot.

PLEASE KEEP THE INFO COMING!! I am looking for specifics (make, model, size, etc) of what you installed in your FZJ80 as well as any mods you had to make to get things to work. I want to put it all in one post so it is easier for people to find and determine what to do (or what is possible).

 

[ginericLC]

I've done my 91 and my 94 with aftermarket head units. There are actually 3 plugs in your factory system. One works with the factory unit and uses the factory amps. The second two actually work with aftermarket units and the generic Toyota wire harness adapters (not LC specific). These are available anywhere: Circuit City, Best Buy, Crutchfield, and even Walmart. There are two types of mounting systems I've seen. Those with a pocket below and those with a flat panel below. Really these are only trim pieces. Your factory headunit mounts are removeable and bolt right into the new headunits. My Sony instructions actually had a diagram of how to mount it to Toyota factory brackets. In both units (91 and 94) by using the non factory headunits and the 2 plugs instead of the factory one plug I've lost my subwoofer in both but retained power to all the other speakers. In the 91 I've removed the factory sub and replaced it with a Peerless Free Air unit and I run a dedicated aftermarket sub amp to it and another sub mounted in a box. The 94 is currently subless but still sounds deeper than the factory unit and speakers. I like the Infinity Reference Series 6.5" speakers and I've found that they will fit in both the front and the rear. I haven't swapped the dash speakers or the cargo area upper speakers. They don't seem to clip or cause any distortion and I don't believe they are audible over the new 6.5s elsewhere, but they do work. I like the Reference Series speakers because of their price, sound, and durability. I could have purchased speakers that were more expensive (I actually have more expensive speakers the same size sitting on a shelf in the garage) but really with the stock sound deadening and the tires I run it would be pointless. I'm not building the stereos in these Cruisers to win competitions. If I was, I'd never use it the way I do. What I recommend is a good 2 way speaker with a rubber surround and a poly woofer. These give a good service life and are fairly durable in the elements (snow, mud, water, or spilled toddler stuff). My other big beef for 4wd applications is the actual headunit. I use a flip down face which helps keep dirt off of the laser. Both of mine are mechanical. I avoid the electric powered headunits like the plague. We have too much dust on the trails I run and its up the electrical powered faces. I would also suggest spending the extra $20 or so to get a headunit that plays MP3s. I have some MP3 CDs that I have more than 120 songs on them. Our 91 has a 10 disc MP3 changer and I have over 1300 songs in that 10 disc magazine. Needless to say, I never flip through a CD wallet on a trip. And XM and Sirrius fees don't apply and mine works in canyons and tunnels. No silly antenna to mount or extra wires to run. Anyway, I know I'm a little rusty on the car stereo stuff. I haven't installed professionally since 1993 and a lot has changed. But I still think in a 4wd it is best to keep it simple.

 

[Cruiserdrew]

Eric-This is a very good post. Will you install a stereo in my FJ60 when you come for Rubicon next spring? I will supply all the refreshments you can consume, and put you and your family up overnight if needed!

 

[Rookie2]

Well all I've done is wire a Fosgate amp and 12" subs to the factory system in my LX450 and it was trying to get it to work, and somewhat of a rig-a-ma-jig job as you may see.

I first tried to get my on/off signal from the antenna - No joy. I ended up tapping into the accessories wire for the on/off signal. I then tried to connect an RCA converter to the back of the factory unit for the R and L speaker signals to get the signal directly to the amp before it runs through the factory amp - again no joy. May of had something to do with the common ground loop. I ended up picking up the speaker signal into the RCA converter at the left and right rear door speakers, and running RCA's to the amp. Joy! But I think since the signal is being picked up post factory amp, the sound is not perfect, but not bad after playing with the gain and power settings on the amp. I ended up putting the amp under the floor mat just behind the second row seats. There just isn't anywhere to put it without doing some custom work.

So this is the amature bush league version.

My desire for load music NOW, outweighs my wiring enginuity and my stubborness to take it somewhere. It's been a year and nothing has blown up yet .

I've got the wiring diagram and color codes for the 97 LX450 if anyone needs them posted. Helped me alot, otherwise I wouldn't have had a clue.


Rookie2

 

[big worm]

I have a 93 that I am about to put a new cd player in. All that wiring info is great! The question i have is how do you get the dash apart without breaking it into pieces? I know there are some screws, but where is the best tension point to pull the dash from to make it snap out? also, exactly where and how many screws are there? What are the tricks? also, what kind of fuse should I put on that power wire to run the cd player? will you guys go into detail about setting up the power wire? thanks.

I already installed my speakers in the doors. what a pain!! I know the eclipses are well known for their shallow magnet, but i had to have the polk speakers. I have had all different types of speakers, including infinity, sony, pioneer, and alpine, but polk blows them out of the water! just go to a store and compare. They have a really crisp, deep sound, and they weren't too expensive. The deep magnet is a pain for installation, however, but it was worthwhile. I ended up having to use the polk grill, but it looks a lot better than I thought.

 

[NovaFZJ80]

there are quite a # of screws you need to take out to get the dash...from the left side (DS) a few there...then towards the middle 3 up top, then pull the ash tray, a few there....the installed slowly pulled from the left side and moved his way to the stock player, first pull is hard one, then slowly undue.. make sure you have a small pick to remove some of the harnesses for the heater, ac, lites, cig lighter, etc...a bunch of harnesses you need to disconnect...then get the 2 piece wiring harness and attach to the new unit.will not use the orig harness... but the to other ones will connect to your new unit....might have to cut the power antenna on the old harness , since you have a separate antenna up/down....


installer ran the constant power from headunit to the ignition constant....which went to the battery

 

[DRTDuck]

Stress-

Good job on itemizing the specifics above. Yes, there is a great deal on the forum, but not collectively as you are coordinating.

One suggestion, under the equipment used, it might be helpfull to categorize by front, rear, cargo.

Here is what I did.

Front door speakers - 5.25in Alpines (SPS-120A) with built in tweaters (sound great). Only needed a 1/2 spacer due to slightly deeper mounting depth.
- you can then disconnect the tweeters in the dash and put speakers in for you CB!

Rear door speakers - Eclipse SE8243- Had to do some cutting on the plastic holders and speaker basket for the speakers to fit in hole.

Cargo area speaker - 3.5in Sonys (sound okay). Has to bend the metal mounting brackets a little to accomodate larger magnet.

Sub - Rockford/Fosgate 8" (does a good job, would be better if in full box). Mounted it with 3/4" fiberboard utilizing the stock hanger.

All were installed so that factory covers are used. Not extremely high tech, but it is leaps and bounds better than stock and only cost about $120 plus my time.

Also, as noted above, since most new speaker have tweeters built in, most foks disconnect the tweeters in the dash as they tend to interfer.

And if you put in a single din unit, you can get a cool little compartment with door that is used in Camry's, p/n 55521-33010, $33.55 full retail, cheaper for smart shopper.

 

[StressPuppy]

DRTDuck - Thanks for the info. And I will categorize even more.

All - Thanks for the info!! And keep it coming. I'll keep the one post above updated as you post here. If I screw something up, just let me know and I will correct it!


Boy, many heads are sure better than one!!! (especially if that one is mine! )

 

[ginericLC]

Eric-This is a very good post. Will you install a stereo in my FJ60 when you come for Rubicon next spring? I will supply all the refreshments you can consume, and put you and your family up overnight if needed!

I highly doubt I will make Rubicon next year. I'm doing a 25+ day LC adventure in July and August that will take all of my pennies plus a few more. I would be happy to install a stereo for you though. There is a possibility that I might make Cruise Moab 05, but even that is sketchy at this point. If for some reason my big trip plans went south, I might just have to make it to Rubicon next year. Not only would I like to hit the trail with the norcal80s but I'd also like to do the TLCA Rubithon (sort of like a pilgrimage to Mecca). I do stereos for free now, it is relaxing compared to real work.