Nice work, doing everything the right way!

 

Dude, you have skills. Great job. I wish you would have mounted your summers so we can see that. There's not even snow on the ground yet. Anyway, nicely done.

 

Hey Ceaser!

Let me see if i can answer these for you.

1. I'm assuming your original radio was the standard non-nav unit? correct? If it was, then the climate control is not intergrated with the radio. the climate control display is jsut located right next to the radio display on top, and its not affected at all when you pull the stock radio. Sync would be effected since it plugs into the stock radio, but as you mentioned later, since the new radio does everything, no real need to keep sync...i didnt, and i dont regret it at all! There is a Metra "main" wiring harness that you will need basically to install the radio. this wiring harness will allow you to just easily plug into the stock plugs with out and cutting of stock wires! so tht if you ever decide to sell the truck, yuo can easliy go bback to stock without any evidence that an aftermarket was in there!

2. I didnt loose any other features except for 2 itmes, which i still find to be a little bit of a pain. They are both related to the steering wheel control. The button on the steering wheel that allows you to answer calls....doenst work. there might be a fix for this out there...but i havent found it yet. and two, when using the new radio, when i want to toggle through my radio saved presets using the steering wheel control...it doenst...what it does is seek the radio stations. Other then that...everything is great!

3. i think i mentioned this in #1, there is a Metra harness...i'll look on my reciepts and get you the exact model number for it.

4. I personally didnt keep sirus, b/c Sirus is techincally connected to each radio...so i'd have to renew with them to use it withthe new radio...i decided i dont really want it, but read that you can plug the stock sirus connector into the Pioneer after removing some encasing. shouldnt be tough


Very nice choices of equipment! You are going to be more then thrilled!!! well is

Are you just looking for a sub amp?? to power the 2 kickers? What are the kicker's Max RMS power each?

oh, and dont sweat the fact its a new truck! jsut take it slow, and tkae pictures at diffrent points so you can alway refrence them incase you were unsure how something went back

 

Timelessr1,

Thanks for the quick reply. Yeah, I have a 10' FX4 supercrew and it came with the 6 disc cd changer w/sync but no nav or premium sony sound. I'm glad to hear that the climate control isn't integrated through the radio. I was nervous there for a sec.

I'm still unsure about which Metra wiring harness to need to be using. I found these two:

http://www.ahwooga.com/detail.asp?id=133584 - this kit comes with a wiring harness and an atenna adapter.

http://www.google.com/products/catal...d=0CDkQ8wIwAA# - this one I've seen mentioned on other forums.

The kicker subs are 800w Peak / 400w RMS

I'm still searching for an amp. I really wanted to Alpine PDX-5 which is
75w x 4 RMS and 300w x 1 RMS. But, I'm finding conflicting information about being able to bridge the single channel for the subs and keep the 75w x 4 unbridged. It would be perfect if I could. Might have to end up just getting two amps. What did you use?

Also picked up the Pioneer ND-BC20PA backup camera!

I'm really excited about the install. Still waiting for everything to come in. Probably be a month or so before I get it all installed, but I'll take a bunch of picture and provide a full writeup! Thanks for all the help

-Cesar

 

I wouldnt go with the first link you purchased b/c that kit inluced the MEtra dask kit which IMO looks like ***, since it comes with the extra trim ring around the radio. The Scoshe one looks much much cleaner.

When you install your aftermarket radio, the "old" radio display will just say "Built ford tough" which is kind of cool. The climate readings will still be right there next to the old radio display.

I ended up using the Wiring kit from Metra XSVI-5520-Nav. This kit does not retain the sync...but then again, i didnt need sync anymore.

As for amps, IMO id go with 2 seperate amps for highs and lows. This way when your subs are really sucking amprage, it wont effect the highs as much as if it was all in one amp chassis. The only downside is its more money for two amp chasiss. I'd look for anywhere from a 4X50 to 4X75 4 channel amp...but in reality if you went with a 4X75, you arent really gaining much over the 4X50...and there are tons more 4X50's out there. For the sub amp...i persoanlly like class D amps...they are more effecient (less heat..more watts) For that amp, just try to stick close to the recommended RMS wattage of the subs.

I pesonally am running 3 amps. They are all JL Slash series. One amp is a 4X75 which will be running 2 tweeters and 2 3 inch midranges fiberglasse in the a pillar. The seocnd amp is a 2x150 which will be running two 7.1 inch Htbrid audio midbass speakers in the doors. The last amp is a JL 1000.1 which will be running 2 12 inch Stereo Integrity shallow mount BM's. all the processing will be done by a JBL MS-8. I'm not running real fill at all. Ok, that a little bit of a lie, I'm still going to have the stock speakers in the rear doors, which will be hooked up to the "front" high level output of the radio. This will allow me to still get Nav directions without it going through the entire system, and also the time delay of the MS8 wont effect noise canceling of the pioneer Bluetooth. Also, when I want ppl in the back to be able to hear a little better the movies from the headrests, i can fade into those stock rear speakers, and eveyone is happy

Oh, and I ended up buying a Ford backup camera on e-bay, and just spliced the end into a RCA jack, and hooked it up to the Pioneer. This way it looks all stock!

 

Hey man truck looks great. I really like the way you mounted the switches you mounted, good idea with the location. what are they for?

 

Ive used a Pdx-5, you can do it

 

I'm not saying it cant be done with one amp, but if your not trying to cut corners or cost, you're better off in the long run havnig your sub amp seperate from your high or full range speakers. By having two diffrent chassis you can get a Class a/b amp for the highs or full range, and a class D for the subs. If your trying to save money and space....by all means...get one amp to do it all.

 

Thanks...one switch is the power for the headrest monitors, one is for my radar detector, and the 3rd is for the off road lighs behind the grille. I'm probably going to set up the other side also with 3 more switches to either control the AMP research steps as well as the air horns....cant have too many switches...lol

 

Your Sync still works with an after-market stereo?

 

No it does not....but you can get a Metra wiring harness which would allow you to keep the functionality of Sync WITH an aftermarket headunit. I just choose not to keep sync since my new radio/nav pretty much does everything Sync does

 

What is that big blue connector on the back wall for? I have one on mine but nothing plugged in to it. Is it for rear window defroster?

 

Yep..thats exactly what its for....the rear defroster

 

truck is looking sweet! love what you did with that head unit.

 

Like the back step. Any info as to who makes it would be appreciated.