Replace the stereo in a 97

[Beowulf]

SP,

All I can add is that you can use super-glue to repair a broken volume knob on the OEM unit. I'm tone deaf so all this work for music is lost on me.

Looks like this is shaping up to be another FAQ or an addition to the other one on speakers. Nice work!

-B-

 

[Heffenoche]

This weekend I installed 5 ¼” Eclipse SE8253 and 4” Eclipse SE824 speakers in my 94 FZJ-80 with the stock head unit and here are some of my observations and techniques I used.

On the fronts: the hole diameter was 5” and the depths at the top of the hole was 1 3/8” and 1 9/16” at the bottom. To mount the 5 ¼” SE8253 I cut ½” pieces of ¼” fuel line (thanks for the tip DRTDuck) as spacers. I then used 3/8” thick x ¾ width self adhesive marine and auto weather-stripping tape cut in half and stacked to file in the gap between speaker and the door. I picked up #14 x 1” “metal” screws from Home Depot to replace the stock screws that were too short to use with the spacers.

With the window rolled down and the door panel off you can look down the in the door to see how far to tighten the speakers before the magnet on the back of the speaker hits the window track. This is the beauty of using the fuel line, it can be compressed. On the drivers side the door panel fit back on with very little bowing of the door panel so I just popped it back into place. On the passenger side this was not the case. I had to trim part of the particle board to fit over one of the mounting screws that was causing the panel to bulge out too far. I was a little concerned about cutting too deep and cutting through the vinyl on the door panel. Luckily you can just scour half way through the particle board and tear the rest out with needle nose pliers.

On the rears: the hole diameter was 3 ¼” and 1 3/8” deep. On top of that is a spacer that adds 13/16” to the depth 3 13/16” in diameter. Per DRTDuck’s instructions in the Speaker Sizing post in the FAQs section you have to cut the back the space off to allow other speakers to fit and you also have to cut one of the four corners off the new speaker to allow the speaker cover to clip back onto the spacer (on the rears the speaker cover is not attached to the door panel). Once the new speaker is in place it is held in place by the speaker cover, I guess you could glue it to the spacer like the factory speaker was but I saw no need for that.

A few hints to removing the door panels, the door switches are held on by a single clip on the forward leading edge. Pop that with a tape covered screw driver, then push the switch panel forward and the whole thing will pull out. There are three mounting screw holding the door on. One visible under the top of the pull handle and two under the arm rest. Use the tape cover screw driver to pop the arm rest off. The only real tricky part is getting the rear door panel back on under the rubber trim at the rear of the door. I stuck an envelope under the rubber trim before putting the panel into place and then pulled the envelope up that popped part of the rubber trim above the door panel. I was then able to pull the rest of the rubber trim over the door panel. There is probably an easier was to do this.

If I were to do it over again I would have put 6 ½” speakers in the front. There is room as I hade an old cheap pair around and they did fit. The speaker grills for the 5 ¼” Eclipse were identical in size to two different 6 ½” speaker grills I had laying around. So as long as they fit a 5” cut out and mounting depth doesn’t exceed 1 7/8” they should fit.

My impression of the Eclipse speakers is very good especially since my total price for the speakers delivered was less than $75 delivered from Ebay. They are much crisper then the stock speakers and handle a lot more load. This may have had a lot to do with the fact the ¾ of the rubber ring around the old speakers were gone. All in all I can’t beat it for $75, now I can’t wait to replace the head unit and find a reasonable solution for a sub woofer in the stock location.

 

[lurker]

Anyone with experience with the stock AMP?

Can it be replaced with any => aftermarket AMP?

Or is it some special 6 or 8 channel AMP?

 

[StressPuppy]

Heffenoche --

Great info, thanks!!!



All --

I have decided to go all out. I will be putting in the following:

Alpine 9827 head unit with Aux In adapter (for my iPod)
Eclipse PA5532 5 channel amp (960watt)
MB Quart PCE216s 6.5" in the front (not sure if I will do coax or sep setup)
Not sure about back door yet
JL Audio 10w3v2-D4 Sub in a small sealed box

The plan is to not use the factory grilles in the front so that I might gain a little bit of room. For the back door, I am still undecided on speakers. I am thinking MB Quart 4", but we'll see. I will be mounting the amp where the old "subwoofer" used to be, fabricating a bracket to hold it (gotta use that welder for something!). The sub box will sit in the back right next to the old location, and the wires will simply run under the panel and be terminated with banana plugs so I can take the sub out should I need that space. As for the amp, I am looking to either run it 4 channel and the sub channel, or use the 4 channels to bi-amp the front MBQs and then run the 4" off the HU power (since they are really only filler).

If I go with mounting things separately for the MBQs up front, I'll post more about what I do with the tweeter incase anyone is interested.

This is a bit more extreme than I wanted, and I will have to dig a little deeper as the gear costs a bit more than I was originally thinking, but the sound of the MBQs is amazing.

This will take a couple of weekends to wire everything, so bare with me. And please keep giving input. My plan is to take it all and great a new thread called "Stereo Information for 80-series" or something like that with the hopes that it will help newbies and that it might become part of the FAQ. So keep sending info.

THANKS!!!

 

[97cruiser]

Yo StressPuppy, Glad to hear you are going with the 6.5". IMHO they blow away any 5.25" (fine for lesser systems) when installed with a upper echelon amp such as the one you have listed. Here is what I did just to give you another angle on possibilities. My setup: Alpine 7892 HU, Adire Audio's Koda components up front, CDT cl6x in 2nd row, 2 JLAudio 12WO's in cargo along with a Alpine V-12 5 channel amp hidden under cargo mat to power everything.

The part that may be of interest to you is my front component install. Basically, I removed the magazine-map compatment on the door. I then carpetd that whole area with some tan rear cargo carpet from a '99 4runner so the carpet runs at a slight angle with the vynil on the door. Where the carpet meets the vynil I used some darker brown tube-like trim from a fabric store (used for borders when sewing) to give it a nice finished look. Then used 3/4" MDF cut into an elongated triangle shape with rounded corners to mount both my mid and tweet. The crossover is mounted inside the door. This install looks like factory. I am very pleased with the results and get compliments all the time on the install. Oh, I did have to cut a bit of metal on door frame to get the magnet to fit.
Wish I had a digital camera. Will definately post some pic's when I can. You do the same.

Good Luck, Vince

 

[Montana Cruiser]

Yo StressPuppy, Glad to hear you are going with the 6.5". IMHO they blow away any 5.25" (fine for lesser systems) when installed with a upper echelon amp such as the one you have listed. Here is what I did just to give you another angle on possibilities. My setup: Alpine 7892 HU, Adire Audio's Koda components up front, CDT cl6x in 2nd row, 2 JLAudio 12WO's in cargo along with a Alpine V-12 5 channel amp hidden under cargo mat to power everything.

The part that may be of interest to you is my front component install. Basically, I removed the magazine-map compatment on the door. I then carpetd that whole area with some tan rear cargo carpet from a '99 4runner so the carpet runs at a slight angle with the vynil on the door. Where the carpet meets the vynil I used some darker brown tube-like trim from a fabric store (used for borders when sewing) to give it a nice finished look. Then used 3/4" MDF cut into an elongated triangle shape with rounded corners to mount both my mid and tweet. The crossover is mounted inside the door. This install looks like factory. I am very pleased with the results and get compliments all the time on the install. Oh, I did have to cut a bit of metal on door frame to get the magnet to fit.
Wish I had a digital camera. Will definately post some pic's when I can. You do the same.

Good Luck, Vince

Would love to see some pics of the front door install when you get them up, sounds like a nice set-up

 

[StressPuppy]

97cruiser - GREAT info. Boy I wish you had some pics. Think you could bum a camera from someone? I would love to see what you did before I get started.

What size are the CDTs you put in the rear? I am thinking of just getting a set of 4" MBQs for back there.

And can you share how you wired it all up, with how much power you have going places?

The V12 5channel was my 2nd choice!!! So it sounds like we are on the same page. Any details you are willing to share, I'd love to hear. You can post here or PM me. And, again, pics would be fantastic.

Thanks!

 

[97cruiser]

Well my buddies comin over from Seattle this week for some hunting and fishing ,he may have a digital. As far as that Eclipse you are considering Stresspuppy, I would think it's a better amp than the V-12 but much more expensive also. I have never heard an Eclipse amp but I have heard good things about them.

The CDT clx6 is a 6" coaxial (not 6.5) and cost about $50 from TheZeb.com. Don't let the price fool ya, they are sweet speakers. The Adire Audio Koda's are in another league ($350) and I originally was gonna only have front speakers but after sitting in the back a few times I realized the balanced sound just was not there. I ran all new 16 gauge speaker wire to all 4 speakers and 8 gauge I beleive to the subs. I used 4 gauge for the power and ground. The V-12 I think is rated at 35w rms @12 voltsx4 + 150w rms x1. Remember these are real numbers and not inflated ones rated at 14 volts or something silly like that. I used to love loud music and this amount of "true" power is plenty in my opinion. It will make your insides shake a bit. Definately check out the Koda's if they are in your price range. Also, front stage is where it's at. Spend your money there and you will be happy.


Vince

 

[StressPuppy]

Great info, thanks again!!

Sounds like other than exact components, we will have just about the same thing. I will be re-running power and speaker wires. No sense limiting things. I am looking forward to hooking up the amp and stuff, but I want to do it right the FIRST time, so I am trying to be patient.

Couple of quick questions:

1) Did you run new power to your HU, or use the factory harness?
2) Did you modify the rear doors to get the 6" to fit?
3) If so, what did you have to do?
4) Where did you run your wires? Through the looms to the door, or next to it? Was it a difficult task?
5) Where did you put the amp and what did you ground it to?

Pictures would be great, but don't stress it. That is MY job!!!!

 

[97cruiser]

StressPuppy,

1) Plugged into factory harness using aftermarket harness. Mounted with aftermarket kit that gives me a lil cubby below the HU. Since I dont use any of the HU's internal power I don't think I don't think a dedicated power source is necessary, never had a blip with this config. and lights do not dim.
2) Yes.
3) I mounted to 3/4" MDF and bolted the MDF, with lock nuts, to the metal door frame. A lil cutting of the door frame was required. If you drive on gravel roads with washboard freuently like me then I would definately bolt whatever spacer you use to the metal door frame and then screw speakers into that. 2yrs of washboard and no problems yet (knock,knock).
4) I started my 4 guage amp power from battery with a 25amp fuse 1ft. from battery (very important to be within 2 ft. FIRE), your Eclipse amp's fuse may differ , check manual. I ran it through an existing grommet in the firewall and down into the DS kickpanel then down under the trim where door meets floorboard. There is a loom under there but I had no luck getting 4 guage or 16 guage speaker wire in there so ran right along side it. So power finally came up under that lil plastic step in rear door and under the carpet to the corner of cargo area right beheind 2nd row seat where amp is located. Speakers wires took same route and PS speakers wires went through dash and to respective speaker. RCA's went down the passenger side. I'm sure you know to keep RCA's and power wire away from each other. Ground for amp is connected to floorboard about 2ft. from amp. Be sure to sand down to bare metal at connection point. This all was a bit of a PIA but well worth the effort. My only mistake was running out of power wire and splicing it, this splice eventually corroded and the wire completely seperated at this splice, :whoops: . If I were to do it again I would fabricate a mount for amp using existing subwoofer mount located in rear cargo kick panel on PS. I originally passed on this location due to fear of amp overheating, it gets well over 100 here in the summer.Well its under a cargo mat now and has never overheated so I think the kick panel would have worked. Alpine's run cool, not sure about Eclipse amp's.
5) Well in all my rambling I guess I already answered this one.

Hope this helps you, Vince

 

[lurker]

Well my buddies comin over from Seattle this week for some hunting and fishing ,he may have a digital. As far as that Eclipse you are considering Stresspuppy, I would think it's a better amp than the V-12 but much more expensive also. I have never heard an Eclipse amp but I have heard good things about them.

The CDT clx6 is a 6" coaxial (not 6.5) and cost about $50 from TheZeb.com. Don't let the price fool ya, they are sweet speakers. The Adire Audio Koda's are in another league ($350) and I originally was gonna only have front speakers but after sitting in the back a few times I realized the balanced sound just was not there. I ran all new 16 gauge speaker wire to all 4 speakers and 8 gauge I beleive to the subs. I used 4 gauge for the power and ground. The V-12 I think is rated at 35w rms @12 voltsx4 + 150w rms x1. Remember these are real numbers and not inflated ones rated at 14 volts or something silly like that. I used to love loud music and this amount of "true" power is plenty in my opinion. It will make your insides shake a bit. Definately check out the Koda's if they are in your price range. Also, front stage is where it's at. Spend your money there and you will be happy.


Vince

Just so everone knows he ment CL-6x http://www.thezeb.com/p-CDT-Audio-CL-6X-6½-inch-Full-Range-Speakers-101087.htm $50.04

 

[lurker]

Vince,

Would you consider running the CL-6x in both the front and rear doors, instead of the eclipse's?

 

[StressPuppy]

Just so everone knows he ment CL-6x http://www.thezeb.com/p-CDT-Audio-CL-6X-6½-inch-Full-Range-Speakers-101087.htm $50.04

Price is $59.95. You save $50.04 off MSRP. Still a good price!!!

Hope this helps you, Vince

You bet!!! Helps me, and when I get all the stuff from this and other threads compiled, I bet it will help MANY!!! Still interested in pics if you can swing it.

I am trying to do as few permanent mods as I can, so I may stick with 4" or maybe try 5 1/4" in rear. We'll see.

As for the amp, the factory subwoofer location is exactly where I am planning on putting my. Two built in vents should help. I could add a DC fan if absolutely necessary, but I doubt it. I figure I will fabricate a bracket to hold an amp in there and see what happens.

Thanks!!!

 

[lurker]

Price is $59.95. You save $50.04 off MSRP. Still a good price!!!




You bet!!! Helps me, and when I get all the stuff from this and other threads compiled, I bet it will help MANY!!! Still interested in pics if you can swing it.

I am trying to do as few permanent mods as I can, so I may stick with 4" or maybe try 5 1/4" in rear. We'll see.

As for the amp, the factory subwoofer location is exactly where I am planning on putting my. Two built in vents should help. I could add a DC fan if absolutely necessary, but I doubt it. I figure I will fabricate a bracket to hold an amp in there and see what happens.

Thanks!!!

 

[Heffenoche]

For bass I was looking at the Infinity BassLink. It's a 10" sub & 10" passive sub with a 200w amp in an inclosure 14 1/2"x 13 3/8" x 9 7/8". It's pretty small and hase good owner reviews. Crutchfield advetises it for $350 but I've seen it for $100 less and the Circuit City guy said they had it on sale for $238 last week. So if you taske into account it comes with 200w amp it's not a bad price.

It soumnds good in the store, anybody have any experience with this?

 

[ginericLC]

I've installed one. Actually, I installed the same one 3 times. In a Saab, in a Blazer, and then in an Eclipse. It sounded pretty good in the Saab. OK in the Blazer and personally I thought it sounded like crap in the Eclipse. Too much plastic in the Eclipse. Lots of vibrations. I think they are OK and they don't take up too much space. I've been contemplating whole new rear cargo panels for some time. If I do that I'll mount free air subs in one of the panels with a lining material for sound deadening.

 

[StressPuppy]

Ok, started installing things. Putting the Alpine 9827 head unit.

Got the generic Toyota wire harness (Metra) and the mounting kit. Wired everything up to match the harness to the Alpine. All is well except for the power antenna lead.

When I turn the power on, I can hear the antenna try to go up, then the radio goes dead, then comes on, etc. So I disconnect power antenna lead and all works, except the antenna. I tried using the manual up/down for the antenna, but no go.

My antenna actually goes up and down, so I'd like to use it to get better reception.

Any ideas?

 

[lurker]

Ok, started installing things. Putting the Alpine 9827 head unit.

Got the generic Toyota wire harness (Metra) and the mounting kit. Wired everything up to match the harness to the Alpine. All is well except for the power antenna lead.

When I turn the power on, I can hear the antenna try to go up, then the radio goes dead, then comes on, etc. So I disconnect power antenna lead and all works, except the antenna. I tried using the manual up/down for the antenna, but no go.

My antenna actually goes up and down, so I'd like to use it to get better reception.

Any ideas?

Maybe this will help.

3rd paragraph.

https://forum.ih8mud.com/showthread.php?t=13512&highlight=power+antenna

 

[StressPuppy]

Thanks, lurker. I had read that (or other comments stating the same thing).

Gonna create a new thread hoping to get a wider audience. If I get answers, I'll post back here.

 

[lurker]

Some what a highjack thread, but not really.

I just got finished installing the eclipse SE 8353 front speakers and thought that I would share a little info.

#1, I got the speakers of $24 including shipping off of e-bay so your milage might vary.

#2, you'll need a soldering iron.

#3, I used 5/8 x 1/2 x 1/2 nylon spacers from Loews ($4)

#4, I also used #14 x 1 1/4 flat phillips zinc metal screws ($3)

Pulling the doors off was a piece of cake, removing the speakers, there were (4) hex phillips screws and a pair of wires to a removable connector. Unpulg the connector and solder the old wires/connector to new speaker (grey wire is positive) reinstall everything with new spacers/screws between the new speakers and the door. Never used the eclipse speaker mesh.

I must say who evers idea this was, kudo's to you!

I could never turn my old speakers above 1/2 without distortion, now I can really drive around the highway with the windows down above 1/2 power and these speakers seem to be more efficient once they are being driven at ~ 1/4 volume.

Almost but not quite a 1 job.

Up next, eclipse SE 8243 for the rear doors $48.85 including shipping again e-bay.