1053522
Okay peeps...
I had a bit of extra cash this weekend, so i decided to go shopping for a rudimentary sound system for my old CJ.. The original CD player that the last owner had put in was beyond repair, and by the looks of it, so were the wires, speakers, and eveything else.
The previous owner had a nasty habit of leaving the top off and leaving it in the rain for months on end, so everything was pretty rotted and corroded.
Also, it was painfully obvious that whoever wired it up had NO IDEA what they were doing.
Okay, so given the current state of the dashboard, i decided to see if i could find a sucker, er .. i mean a dealer that would throw in the installation. The plan was, grab a modest cd player with detachable faceplate, and get some good quality speakers for the dash and have the sucker, i mean dealer deal with the rats nest of wiring under my dash.
To make a long story short(er) Nobody would TOUCH it once they saw how old it was.
At least i did find out from one of them that 4"x6" speakers will fit... its a bit better than just 4" as i was expecting...
Okay, so I'd gotten the information i needed to at least start tackling this myself, cause i couldnt find anybody stupid enough to take on the responsibility of getting inside the dash of my jeep... Come to think of it, if they were THAT stupid, i woulnt want them in there anyways...
So here i am pulling off my hardtop, folding down the window and pulling the dash. What a mess... My first task was clear... organize!
Luckily, i found a nice big conduit above the steering wheel for stringing some of the wiring , which really helps because so much of it was previously dangling at my feet.
Getting the old speakers off wasnt easy... I had to get in there with a rachet and some liquid wrench as they had completely rusted.
The 4x6 speakers needed a bit of coaxing and did sit a bit off centre to where the grill slots were, but i got them in there and bolted down.
Now to install the CD player. This was the easiest task, all i had to do was crimp a few wires to the harness that came with and everything powered up first try. Splicing the "back up power" was pretty easy, i just wired it up to the electrical lead going to the clock, and the fuse block had a nice handy port for the radio power that was already wired to the ignition.
Okay, now lets put the dash on and see what shakes...
Great... now nothing works, AND my dashboard lights and parking lights seem to be out too... Hmmm... whats that smell...
Somehow i managed to blow about 3 fuses putting the dash back on... (note to self, disconnect the friggin battery next time you moron!)
Not a problem.. A quick trip to the hardware store will fix that.
I decided to just go ahead and indiscriminately replace ALL the fuses.
After i did this, radio works, parking lights work again, dashboard lights work again,...
.... wait a minute... these things have FLOOR LIGHTS?!? How come i never noticed these before? (Maybe because they never WORKED before)....
... Okay lets try the dome light...
... holy crap, that works now too... :-O
... hmm.. this is too good.. i better check the heater... no, that works too...
I guess this whole exercise just goes to prove that certain things are best done yourself if you want em done right...
I still have some more cleaning up to do later on as far as organizing the wireing, but wow what a difference a radio and a few lights make....
[addsig]
Okay peeps...
I had a bit of extra cash this weekend, so i decided to go shopping for a rudimentary sound system for my old CJ.. The original CD player that the last owner had put in was beyond repair, and by the looks of it, so were the wires, speakers, and eveything else.
The previous owner had a nasty habit of leaving the top off and leaving it in the rain for months on end, so everything was pretty rotted and corroded.
Also, it was painfully obvious that whoever wired it up had NO IDEA what they were doing.
Okay, so given the current state of the dashboard, i decided to see if i could find a sucker, er .. i mean a dealer that would throw in the installation. The plan was, grab a modest cd player with detachable faceplate, and get some good quality speakers for the dash and have the sucker, i mean dealer deal with the rats nest of wiring under my dash.
To make a long story short(er) Nobody would TOUCH it once they saw how old it was.
At least i did find out from one of them that 4"x6" speakers will fit... its a bit better than just 4" as i was expecting...
Okay, so I'd gotten the information i needed to at least start tackling this myself, cause i couldnt find anybody stupid enough to take on the responsibility of getting inside the dash of my jeep... Come to think of it, if they were THAT stupid, i woulnt want them in there anyways...
So here i am pulling off my hardtop, folding down the window and pulling the dash. What a mess... My first task was clear... organize!
Luckily, i found a nice big conduit above the steering wheel for stringing some of the wiring , which really helps because so much of it was previously dangling at my feet.
Getting the old speakers off wasnt easy... I had to get in there with a rachet and some liquid wrench as they had completely rusted.
The 4x6 speakers needed a bit of coaxing and did sit a bit off centre to where the grill slots were, but i got them in there and bolted down.
Now to install the CD player. This was the easiest task, all i had to do was crimp a few wires to the harness that came with and everything powered up first try. Splicing the "back up power" was pretty easy, i just wired it up to the electrical lead going to the clock, and the fuse block had a nice handy port for the radio power that was already wired to the ignition.
Okay, now lets put the dash on and see what shakes...
Great... now nothing works, AND my dashboard lights and parking lights seem to be out too... Hmmm... whats that smell...
Somehow i managed to blow about 3 fuses putting the dash back on... (note to self, disconnect the friggin battery next time you moron!)
Not a problem.. A quick trip to the hardware store will fix that.
I decided to just go ahead and indiscriminately replace ALL the fuses.
After i did this, radio works, parking lights work again, dashboard lights work again,...
.... wait a minute... these things have FLOOR LIGHTS?!? How come i never noticed these before? (Maybe because they never WORKED before)....
... Okay lets try the dome light...
... holy crap, that works now too... :-O
... hmm.. this is too good.. i better check the heater... no, that works too...
I guess this whole exercise just goes to prove that certain things are best done yourself if you want em done right...
I still have some more cleaning up to do later on as far as organizing the wireing, but wow what a difference a radio and a few lights make....
[addsig]
