This ones a place holder for my double din install which Im in the middle of. Pics etc to upload later.

Just a few short notes so far from what Ive learned.

1. The install manual for the car from chrysler for adding the factory gps antenna makes NO MENTION of the two screws that have to come out of the area where the factory radio goes. It mentions removing the radio but not the screws Luckily I caught that before I broke anything.

2. All the pictures, diagrams etc that show how to take the power plug off the cigarette lighter are wrong. If you remove the power plug from the cig lighter and the back of the cigarette lighter is all white you removed the socket AND the plug. The black housing is supposed to remain on the cigarette lighter and the harness plug slides out of it. Probably explains why all of the pics I found have the white plastic tab broke off of them. I'll shoot a pic of it before I put it back together.

3. Removing the combo buttons unit from its face plate is a royal pain in the butt. Since technically the face plate is the part that holds the buttons into the housing.

At this point I have everything removed except the cigarette lighter socket from the ashtray bezel assembly. Also by some miracle I didnt break anything so far.

It doesnt seem to want to push out smoothly and Im afraid of breaking it so Im stopping for right now and will resume tomorrow. I can find pictures of it removed but nothing showing how to remove it. Everyone Ive ever done in the past just pushed out after you removed the power plug. Its pushed out about 5 mm right now and stops.

 

I successfully removed the cig lighters socket. Seems it had some residue around the ring (maybe a drink spilled) making it "sticky".

So with that victory Im stopping for tonight. Tomorrow is cut the dash day

Then mount the cage for the double din and there will be no "glueing" or double sided tape involved.

 

Looking forward to seeing how you approach this. Seems like everyone who has done this mod, does it a different way. Post pics!

 

Still installing but taking a break so here are some pictures

This shows what the cigarette lighter socket should look like when removed without damaging it.



Notice the small black plug on the harness and the large black plug still attached to the lighter socket.

Notice the white tab still sitting against the black socket part.

 

Well after spending 1/2 the day digging thru boxes of stuff I wasnt able to find the extra wiring harness plugs george (stepdad - I always called him george so from now on Im going to refer to him as this from now on since stepdad doesnt feel right - more dad than anything) had stored up. Right before he died a tree feel on the garage and flattened out the storage cabinets in the garage that had most of his crossfire stuff in them. Well middle to small crossfire items.

Still havent found the factory radio which I know was in there somewhere for instance. Anyways the harness that the alpine radio he had switched out to doesnt have the rca jacks on it. Its wired to the alpines speaker wires. Since the radio I bought for it has 4v preouts I figured it would be best to use those so I ordered the correct harness plug which will get here monday. I may get a wild hair and mess around with the harness thats used on the alpine this weekend some but I doubt it.

The new shifter plate is in with the cigarette lighter installed in it. The combo switch bank it installed in its new panel and installed on the car. So all thats lacking is the radio mounting, gps antenna above the a/c ducts and and double din faceplate mounted and the gear shifter handle pressed back on.

Almost looks normal again.

 

Todays update...

First I want to cover something Ive seen people have problems with especially when it comes to removing the ashtray assembly.
The reason its so hard to get out of there is they are not removing the brace in front of the shifter. This bar holds the outside of the console together. Basically making it almost impossible to spread the console apart enough to remove the ashtray assembly. By removing these screws from the bar that braces the console its easy to spread the console sides apart enough for the ashtray assembly to slide out.

Here's a shot of the left side screw that needs to be removed for this. There is one on the opposite side of that metal bar. Spreading wise only one has to be removed but removing both allows it to be bent in more directions as needed. I took out both.

 

The only thing I got accomplished today was installing the gps antenna. I chose the factory location for it. If it works there for the factory gps it should work for me
First remove the ac vents up top. Two screws hold this in.




Next you slide out the vent assembly and set it aside.




Now your left with this massive hole.



With this out of the way you can see the top of the duct work. The gps antenna needs to sit on top of that duct work. There is piece of insulation on top of it and I chose to go under the insulation but on top of the duct work.
You can see the insulation just sticking up above the duct work in the center in the picture below.



I had planned to use a piece of flat metal under the insulation and have the gps antennas magnet hold it down from above the insulation. Thus pinching the insulation between the gps antenna and the metal plate I had. The problem I ran into was that the gps antenna that came with the stereo wasnt magnetic. Its a reman kit deal that an ebay seller did. The gps antenna they bought to put with the stereo isnt like the one that normally comes with it. So faced with this problem I used the double sided tape they included with the antenna to hold the antenna to the top of the plastic duct work. I cant see it moving since nothing can disturb it there.

I routed the gps antenna wire down beside the ductwork leaving the cable behind the double din cage for now.

 

This shows the double did kit as far as I have it installed right now. The missing piece is the part that goes around the radio which I will install after I get the cage mounted in place.





Next we have the cage sitting in its future home but not really mounted yet. Im waiting on a 90 degree drill to arrive.

 

Its going to take a bit just to clean up all of the dirt thats around the seems and the shifter when this is over. You cant see it when working on the car. It looks clean. But the flash on the camera shows it horribly.

 

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Great tutorial! I've not seen the 'two screws removal for the console to spread' part before. I'm sure it will help others with their 'console' work in the future!


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Todays progress was pretty good.

The 90 degree drill I ordered came in and the wiring harness adapter.

First I drilled out the holes to mount the double din cage.




Next I put the screws into the cage mounting it.




At this point I didnt like how tight the radio was against the screws I had on hand so Im going in the morning to get new ones at the hardware store. So I finished wiring the plug I ordered and connected the stereo.

These shots are with it playing but not in the sleeve as it was so tight I was worried it wouldnt be removeable if I forced it.







Its connected to the usb stick George had installed for the old alpine radio. Since I like some of the same music too Im leaving it for now

I was amazed that the gps antenna worked so well. The car is parked inside the garage right now so the signal has to go thru the garage roof and the dashpad of the car. Worked great. Showed my location and set the date/time for the stereo.

 

In the house resting. Soooooo close to being done. Gobs of pics to upload in a bit.

I even managed to install the backup camera without taking the bumper off Also I did it without touching any of the factory wiring(no splicing into the brake assembly wires or anything on the back of the car) and running nothing to the front but the included video cable that came with the backup camera.
I'll go into detail on that when I do the uploading later.

That said my old self is sore and tired. I used to do this stuff for a living 40 years ago. I was worried if Id finish this one at all. Well updates to come in a few hours.

 

My OEM gps antennae was attached with double sided tape, when it came to remove it when I fitted my DDin radio I found it had slipped forward and dropped down. It took some effort to retrieve it.
The glue had softened too much due to the heat.
When I put it back I backed it up with a wood strip glued to the vent, if I remember correctly to stop it falling again.

 

Well I gave in and stopped. I have one wire left to connect but Im so tired I figure if I dont stop I'll end up messing something up so better to wait till tomorrow to finish it.

But I promised pics so here we go

First step I tackled was the blue tooth hands free stuff aka the microphone. I dont have a pic of where I mounted it which is strange because I remember taking the pic of that. I'll shoot a pic of the actual microphone tomorrow.
I had planned on removing the A pillar cover but it didnt want to let go and as cold as it was first thing this morning I could see that ending badly. So I used my plastic trim pry bar tools to pry the top of the pillar away a tiny amount and that allowed me to clip the microphone on the pillar and then I ran the wire around the top and down the pillar tucking it behind the pillar as I went. After this I had the wire at the fuse box on the drivers side. I had looked at how everyone did it from that point getting the wire across and that was entirely to much trouble taking that kick panel off etc. So I improvised....

I took the antenna shaft off the magnetic cb antenna George had laying around and taped the plug for the microphone to it.



Next I inserted the antenna below the fuse box and ran it across the inside of the dash but I couldn't find a free spot there.






So I switched up and went above the fuse box.



Bingo !



Now that I had the wire where I wanted it I removed the tape and plugged it into the stereo.

Hands free blue tooth part done.

 

Next was the backup camera. I didnt like the idea of cutting the tail light wires so I wanted to do something different. Also I didnt want to take that bumper cover off as that didnt look like much fun.

First step was removing the license plate. Next I put the video wire through the hole that located behind where the plate was.






There is not enough room behind there to run the wire through as it is. So I loosened the bolt in that hole some. I did not remove it as I could see me losing that sucker down inside the bumper cover and having to tear everything part to fish it out.
Then I put my pry tools in at the top to create a gap to run the wires. I used a stiff wire I found in the garage to act as a guide that I could attach to the regular wires to and pull through.





There isnt enough room to really run it straight across in one go so I chose to pull the wire up thru the gap to the right as the above pic shows.

Next I taped the wires for the camera to the guide wire.




Next I removed the side marker light by prying it out of bumper cover and worked the guide wire into the opening of the marker light.




Now with the wire on the side of the car like that I removed the plastic cover from under the bumper. I think its referred to here as a diffuser. With this out of the way you can see the rubber plug thats at the bottom of the trunk area right below the side marker light I had popped out. Here you can see where the wire comes out when I ran it down from the side marker.




Laying on the ground and looking up from below the side marker lets you see the rubber plug. I cut this in a cross pattern and pressed the wire through it into the trunk.




Next you need to remove the carpet inside the trunk. Its held with pop up clips and one plastic nut. I will snap some pics of those tomorrow.

Once removed I pulled the wire I had run up the rubber grommet out into the trunk.




Once inside I pulled it into the main part of the trunk temporarily.




I used stud with the red painted nut on it that is a central ground spot to ground the backup camera to. Power is provide down a wire that is inside the rca video cable that is being run to the front. By doing this I didnt have to cut and splice into any wires.

I still need to do pics for the rest and I stopped not much past this part for today. Also I will do a diagram showing how I wired everything then.

As for how it looks from behind?




While this is what it USED to look like after I first mounted its not how it looks now. I ran into a problem with this install method for the camera itself. You cant get to the handle for the trunk because the camera covers the handle.

What I ended up doing and I will shoot a pic of it tomorrow is to flip the license plate from upside down. Then I removed the camera from the frame and turn the camera over so its right side up with the frame upside down. Looks pretty good still that way and solved the problem.

 

With the way the wires are routed on mine the double sided tape stuff should hold it in place as nothings pulling on it. I would of liked to of used the metal plate under the insulation and had the magnet hold it if it was the magnetic type normally included with the pioneer radio. But with the aftermarket one the refurbish place used I had to do the tape route. I imagine gluing a strip of wood like you did will keep it from sliding anywhere.

 

Thanks ! I hope it helps. Its been fun doing the install. I wish I'd of had the time to do this stuff with my stepdad when I had a chance.

Ive got to wash the thing as soon as I get done with the install. He kept the car spotless but it had to sit out in the weather while the damage to the garage was repaired. It was under a carport even then but the pollen and dust got all over it then the rain blew up under the carport and made it look really bad.
Also Ive got to take it to the body shop at some point and get the damage repaired from the cabinets falling on it when the garage was smashed in by the tree. Its got 3 small dents in the door and one in the rear quarter panel from the stuff falling on it.

I watched a guy on youtube fixing a car just like this one and he was able to pop all of the dents out perfectly. Not something I could do I imagine so off to the body shop eventually.

 

Its amazing how different people get the same job done so many different ways. I love watching the installs people do and seeing how they choose to do the install. Especially when they go routes I wouldn't have thought of. Makes it cool to watch.

 

I believe the glue gets hot and under braking the weight of the antenna makes it inch forward.

 

Ive run into a problem. The grey with yellow stripe wire is not behaving as it should. This wire is supposed to have 12 volts on it when you put the car in reverse. The wire has 12 volts on it when you turn the key on. In park, neutral, reverse and drive as long as the key is on it has 12 volts.

Now considering the "yellow" stripe is almost non existent I could have the wrong wire. There are 4 grey wires in the loom to the right of the console that go thru the floor in the passenger footwell.

grey with red
grey with black
grey with maybe yellow
grey which almost looks green

I havent tried grey with red or with black

The grey with maybe yellow and the grey with greenish both have 12 volts positive with the key on in park.

No clue whats going on with this.

Any suggestions?