Complete stereo system upgrade 1996 Limited

[ford99_1979]

I wanted Bluetooth phone and IPhone connectivity and also was not happy with the stock JBL premium sound system. So I ended up getting a good price on a inexpensive head unit on a boxing day sale. This started a complete system overhaul that took me 3 days total.

The stock system consisted of hands free cellular phone, 6" subwoofer in enclosure built into rear panel, 6 disc CD changer in center console and cassette player. The head unit on the stock system was just a control panel and the tuner and amplifiers are all located in the back. So a special 17ft long wiring harness was needed to install an aftermarket head unit on the JBL premium sound equiped Explorers.



NEW PARTS

Head Unit - Clarion VX409 (Double Din DVD, IPOD & Bluetooth)

Bluetooth Handsfree - Clarion BLT370

IPOD/IPHONE - Clarion CCUIPOD2 (with video capabilities)

4 Door Speakers - Pioneer TS-A6882R (6"x8" 4-way speakers)

Sub - JL Audio 6W3V3-4 (6-1/2" Single 4 ohm W3v3 Series Subwoofer)

Sub Amp - Orion Cobalt CO500.1 (Monoblock Class A/B Amp RMS 4 ohms: 175 watts x 1)

Sound Dampening - Dynamat Extreme 36' Bulk Pack (all 5 doors)

Wiring Harness - Metra 70-5601 (Harness for Aftermarket Head Unit to JBL System for Select 1994-1997 Ford Vehicles)

Parts

Old and new speakers

Factory tuner and amps(s)

New JL Sub and Orion Amp

Stock Drivers door panel

Dynomat on all 5 doors - Complete 36 sq feet. car kit required to do this

Finished door panel with new upholstered inserts and painted speaker grill

Bluetooth

IPOD/IPhone cable I built into the ashtray

Amp remote control dial and DVD parking brake bypass switch installed in factory tissue area of center console

One of the best parts of this whole install is the Dynomatt material. It made such a big difference and was worth the effort. Sound quality is great for a very mild system and the 6.5" JL sub is surprising how well it sounds.

 

[BrianDye]

Wow man! Props to you, amazingly clean install, and good for you already knowing you needed that long wire harness haha, I myself need one so i can finish my installation, where did you get yours from? How much?

Local shop here is telling me 40$ plus a 2 week shipement period which is ridiculous

 

[ford99_1979]

Thanks for the comments. Most everything except for the head unit came from Sonic Electronix. The Harness is $29.99

http://www.sonicelectronix.com/item_12668_Metra+70-5601.html

 

[617ricky]

Wow man! Props to you, amazingly clean install, and good for you already knowing you needed that long wire harness haha, I myself need one so i can finish my installation, where did you get yours from? How much?

Local shop here is telling me 40$ plus a 2 week shipement period which is ridiculous

You don't necessarily need the long harness if you bypass the stock amp directly in the back.. And even if you did want the long one, I could get you a link online for around $10, with a 3-4 day shipping wait.. I got my regular harness for $6.99 shipped on ebay

 

[BrianDye]

I ran my own wires for the speakers, but I prefer the stock ones, I couldnt get them through the door looms or whatever so it looks kinda tacky, and I have no clue how to re route the antenna wire, or get my power antenna up LOL

 

[celly]

Thanks for the comments. Most everything except for the head unit came from Sonic Electronix. The Harness is $29.99

http://www.sonicelectronix.com/item_12668_Metra+70-5601.html

Brad, I scored some harnesses for my Pioneer HU from them. Great seller.

Nice setup, btw. We've got to hook up again when this deep freeze subsides. The truck's running better now too since I got one of the gaskets changed. Let's hook up where the cops won't give us grief.

Brad 2

 

[Jothcra]

Do you have any pictures of the fully completed install? I like how the painted speaker grille looks.

 

[Jhonny]

nice install

 

[ford99_1979]

I ran my own wires for the speakers, but I prefer the stock ones, I couldnt get them through the door looms or whatever so it looks kinda tacky, and I have no clue how to re route the antenna wire, or get my power antenna up LOL

That is the situation I wanted to avoid, that's why the harness is money well spent. I ordered from Sonic Electronix and had my stuff shipped in a day once the order was processed. Like Celly said they are a good seller for those type of items. I found out about them through this web forum myself. As for the antenna, I want to ditch my power antenna (which doesn't work anyway) and go with a fixed one with a short wire direct to the radio rather than to the back of the truck then up to the front again.


Celly, we should meet up again like you said when things warm up a bit.

Jothcra - what type of pictures would you like to see? I'll take some more pictures

 

[Jothcra]

I would like to see how your new HU looks in the dash particularly. I'm currently exploring options for my own stereo upgrade and I like seeing how different HUs look in the dash.

 

[BrianDye]

That is the situation I wanted to avoid, that's why the harness is money well spent. I ordered from Sonic Electronix and had my stuff shipped in a day once the order was processed. Like Celly said they are a good seller for those type of items. I found out about them through this web forum myself. As for the antenna, I want to ditch my power antenna (which doesn't work anyway) and go with a fixed one with a short wire direct to the radio rather than to the back of the truck then up to the front again.


Celly, we should meet up again like you said when things warm up a bit.

Jothcra - what type of pictures would you like to see? I'll take some more pictures

Yea I even strongly thought about ordering the harness from the shop but decided to wait til I found a cheaper one, could you send me a link to the harness you bought? I wanna order one later when I get home lol.

But yea surprisingly my power antenna works great still, and what you said about the antenna wire...there's a plug right in the passenger kick panel where you can disconnect it, you'd need to just get a male to male extension at AutoZone or somewhere and your antenna would go straight to the headunit


EDIT: My bad, didn't see your post with the harness

 

[BrianDye]

Ordering it now
Haha my gf's moms gettin sick of me I bet, my mom wont use her card online, but my gf's mom uses hers all the time so I always have her order it for me, I hope the shippings quick $29.99+$4.99=money well spent

 

[ford99_1979]

I would like to see how your new HU looks in the dash particularly. I'm currently exploring options for my own stereo upgrade and I like seeing how different HUs look in the dash.

The radio bezel required some minor dremelling to fit a double DIN head unit.

BrianDye - the harness works and you will be happy. I know about the passengers kick panel. I would like to avoid as many connections as possible with the antenna wire so I get the best reception. Currently I have too many lineal feet of antenna wire and too many connections because of the way the JBL radio was set up and my radio signal is not great even before the new radio.

 

[BrianDye]

Thats what I mean, you can eliminate the antenna going all the way back to the amp, then ALL the way back up front, theres a connection RIGHT at the kickpanel that you could eliminate like 17' of antenna wire, just gotta use a male to male extension

-Also, did you buy a dash kit for your HU? I had a double din and I know it needed trimming, but there was a small gap on either side, I did ask my local shop and they said they do make double din dash kits so I was curious (I swapped it for a flipout)

 

[BrianDye]

I would like to see how your new HU looks in the dash particularly. I'm currently exploring options for my own stereo upgrade and I like seeing how different HUs look in the dash.

Here was my Sony before I got my dash kit, no trim ring or anything either LOL

 

[celly]

The radio bezel required some minor dremelling to fit a double DIN head unit.

I would like to avoid as many connections as possible with the antenna wire so I get the best reception. Currently I have too many lineal feet of antenna wire and too many connections because of the way the JBL radio was set up and my radio signal is not great even before the new radio.

What's the antenna for?

I haven't listened to broadcast radio for years (XM Junkie). Was subjected to CJAY 92 the other day when I got the loaner Neon from the exhaust shop and I quickly remembered why I ditched FM. Calgary radio blows. I don't even program presets anymore.

The full DIN looks great. I almost went that route when I needed a new HU back in August. Nice work.

 

[BrianDye]

ford1979- Is that HU deep at all? I was reading about it on the Sonic site, and noticed on the package, it only looked to be about 5" deep, and in the Details, it said shallow mount

 

[BrianDye]

I just got off the phone with Crutchfield...
(Got an email this morning saying they had the amp bypass/wiring harness back in stock, and in the pics it shows 2 ends, one being the power connector (+12v, Gnd, Rem, Antenna Rem, etc) and one more that had the 8 speaker wires on it, but nothing else, it was like one of those faded pics that just shows those 2 ends.

There wasnt much else info on there, besides the wire color chart, so I called them, because they'res was only 24$, and they have a great rep. with me, so I was gonna order it from them, but just to be safe, I called and gave them the part number, and she brought it up, and I asked is it an amp BYPASS, or does it keep the amp, "Unfortunately it looks like this is gonna bypass the amp" I was like well thats great, thats what I want lol, she was like "Oh well then fortunately its gonna bypass it" lol, then I asked if it has the antenna cable with the harness and she said it doesnt, they sell those seperately, and theyre about 5-10$, so I was like okay thank you.

And made my decision to order it from Sonic Elex; I meant to last night but totally forgot when we got to her house lol

 

[617ricky]

You do realize you could have just ordered the one for 6.99 on ebay w/ free shipping?

 

[Jothcra]

Thanks for the pics guys.