mn_ski Daily Driver - Keep it on the Road

[mn_ski]

I got the rears installed. I went with 4" 2 way speakers from Alpine. So all of the speakers now have been replaced and even with the stock stereo they sound great...really not just because the 25 year old ones were blown out, lol.

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[mn_ski]

I got started on my Metra DP-3003 installation tonight. I previously colored the Metra bezel which I will post about later. Tonight was getting the new head unit installed so I could remount the HVAC controls. Fitment wise I am very happy with the Alpine iLX-407 that I am installing. It has a very slim depth and required zero cutting to get it installed in the dash. I also added the KTA-450 power Amp and even with that was still shallower than the factory radio.

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Power Amp added:

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I spent the most time cutting out the least amount of material possible in order to move the HVAC down a bit. I really wanted all of the HVAC symbols to be visible and not cut off like I have seen in other installs of the DD bezel.

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Test fitting the bezel here. It is not snapped in tight to the dash but I can see that my locations for the HVAC and head unit will work out well.

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Happy with the progress tonight!

 

[mn_ski]

Spent some more time this weekend working on the stereo install. I can't say enough about Crutchfield tech support. I have called and chatted with those folks a dozen times during this install.
First thing I did was run dedicated 12AWG wire from battery to the back of the stereo for the amp. I used an existing pass through in the firewall for the power cable.

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I got my harness mostly connected together and ready for power test before heat shrinking all the connections.

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Is it all going to fit?

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Digging through the factory service manual I found that my auto dimming mirror gets a reverse wire to it. I thought that would be a great place to tap into for my reverse trigger wire needed to display the back up camera. Down with the overhead console. Found the wire, tested it and then tapped into it.

Green wire on this plug

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I didn't have any green wire on hand so yellow it is. I really try not to mix colors but I was not going to the store again!

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Backup camera working!

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All the wires in place. I still don't have the bezel snapped in place in this pic. I am fighting with the clips that are provided by Metra

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Happy with how it is coming together. I think the SEM dye that I used on the bezel matches about as well as can be expected. It is hard to match a 25yo dirty dash but it is pretty dang close.

 

[Erik the Awful]

Nice work!

I didn't have any green wire on hand so yellow it is. I really try not to mix colors but I was not going to the store again!

For the most part, I keep basic colors on hand now. If I can wait, I order striped colors as needed.

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[mn_ski]

Got some new tires on the truck. I cannot believe what a difference that has made. The truck drives so smooth now. I drove it out to Denver and back. 1800 miles and it never missed a beat! BFGoodrich All Terrain T/A Load Range E.

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Still working through the stereo install. Crutchfield is sending me a new KTA-450 amp. I am getting all kinds of feedback on the front right tweeter. Also my harness has a bad RCA connection. I hope that makes a difference. I did get the backup camera installed on the bezel for the tailgate handle. I think the location works well.

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[98BlackSierra]

I made some progress on upgrading my audio. I didn't realize before I started that both front and rear drivers side speakers did not work. Front was physically blown out broken! I started with replacing the fronts.

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The brackets that come with the speakers didn't seem like they would work on our doors. They didn't fit the contour of our doors very well. I choose to flush mount the speaker to the door. Crutchfield said as long as everything was tight it shouldn't rattle. Alpine also showed it as a possible method of installation. I marked my holes and drilled them out.

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I had one screw retainer clip that had to be shortened a bit to fit the contour of the door.

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Crutchfield supplied a nice adapter harness.

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All installed:

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I think I got lucky with this set and that the tweeter fit perfectly into the stock location and twisted in exactly like how the factory tweeter is installed.

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I also cleaned as much as I could while I had things apart:

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What brand tweeters did you go with? Have apart number by chance?

 

[mn_ski]

Everything is Alpine. Front speakers are S2-S65C component woofer and tweeter. I did get a new KTA-450 amp. With that amp came some instructions to change the dip switch settings that I was using. So far the feedback has gone away but with any decent amount of gain set on the amp I get some static in the speakers when the volume is muted or there is no source. Also I get some popping when the head unit turns off. More to come...

 

[Cadillac Bob]

Very nice work! Good looking truck too now all you need to do is find a Denali center console to complete your stereo as it has the Bose subwoofer underneath the the part that goes up to the bottom of the dash. Glad to see you went with components up front and there’s a company that makes bullet aluminum parts for 400’s I posted on my 400 Escalade thread on here that would be a great resource for other parts you might want to change out I’ll have to search for it but definitely worth looking on their website!

 

[Cadillac Bob]

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[KansasOBS]

Not trying to butt in, but technically lsfab is just a reseller, or so it appeared to me. Those parts are made by lgbillet, they have a few more on their site I didn't see on lsfab. https://www.lgbilletusa.com/

I'm going to get their new knobs, and maybe the shift lever. Not really a fan of the gooey mess factory knobs.