tichkent
08-01-07, 02:17
I know there's a whole bunch of fantastic information here about the easiest ICE upgrade (ie not making up new mounts or adding a sub) but have to admit I was a little confused by some of the info and thought I could maybe save others some effort digging around having finally got around to doing my install this weekend. Anyway - here goes...
Front speakers
First you'll have to remove the door cards:
http://www.internetwork.org.uk/Dash%20Conversion/doorrem.htm
I was lead to believe that any standard 10cm speakers would be a direct, no work required replacement for the stock speakers. Size-wise this is true (10cm speakers will generally fit fine) but there are a couple of things worth noting...
Most speakers have 4 screw holes placed 90 degrees apart. This does not match the Supra's standard fitting which is 3 screw holes placed 120 degrees apart. You can't simply screw in the speakers, even with self tapping screws (because there's no flat surface to screw into - you'll see what I mean). I copied speddynille's cool mounting idea:
http://www.mkivsupra.net/vbb/showthread.php?t=93132
I got some 9mm thick plywood (I was advised this would be sturdier than MDF) and used my rudimentary jigsaw/drilling skills to cut some mounts. Basically I used the mounting template that came with the speakers, extended it to reach the 3 screw holes in the door panel and trimmed it a little just beside the door panel's bass port. There's some useful pics on the above link. It's pretty easy to make up the mounts, but if I'd known that mounts would be needed I'd probably have been tempted by the full 17cm conversion:
http://www.mkivsupra.net/vbb/showthread.php?t=35019
Also it is definitely worth double checking the mounting depth and mounting diameter of your chosen speakers against the space actually available. I went for Pioneer TS-E1076 which fit OK:
http://www.pioneer.co.uk/uk/products/25/131/201/TS-E1076/index.html
Rear speakers
It is very easy to lever off the covers over the rear speakers. However, my stock speakers were both screwed and glued in. The screws took a reasonable amount of effort to unscrew due to the glue on the threads. Make sure you've got a decent screwdriver that fits the screw heads well (otherwise you may strip the heads). A bit of brute force did the trick on my ones!
Then to get the speakers themsevles out I got a pair of pliers, locked them onto the metal lip of the stock speakers and pulled as hard as I could. The speakers ripped off with a reasonable amount of force. Hopefully this will work for you as well - otherwise you'll probably have to remove the plastic surround (which I think involves removing the back seat) so you can attack it more precisely!
Again I was then expecting standard 16.5cm/17cm speakers to simply screw straight in to the stock brackets. Sadly not so... The speakers I got were Kenwood KFC-PS170:
http://www.kenwood-electronics.co.uk/products/car/speakers/regular/KFC-PS170/
The screw holes for these were about 2mm short in diameter for the screw holes on the stock brackets. So there are a couple of options. Could definitely have made up mounts (as needed for the front speakers) which essentially convert from the speaker screw holes to the stock brackets. However I went for a lower tech approach...
The speakers came with adaptor plates which allow a 3 screw hole fitting. This is a metal ring which the speakers screw directly onto (with very short screws) and which have a larger selection of holes to mount onto the car. I glued (yeah, I know...) the adaptor plates onto the stock brackets with some pretty serious resin/hardener glue. I then drilled a single 2.5mm hole at the top (through both the adaptor plate and the stock bracket) and used a self tapping screw (4mm) to add a little backup - I don't trust the glue to hold forever!
I've just finished doing this and am definitely a little wary that the glue might not hold (hence the self tapping extra screw). Actually, looking at it now I'd probably have been better drilling 4 holes and using 4 self tapping screws (or maybe some 4mm bolts/nuts) rather than glue. If the glue comes unstuck I'll definitely go with some more drilling!
Head unit - replacing double DIN with a single DIN
You've gotta take your dash off:
http://www.internetwork.org.uk/Dash%20Conversion/dashrem.htm
Note you don't have to remove the screws to the right of the fuel gauge (seventh step) in order to get to the stereo. There's then a minor step missing if you have a facelift model - you have to unclip the surround sitting in front of the main dials. Also, for the eighth step, on my NA there's a screw holding the left hand part of the dash in (in addition to the clips) at the top, just above the fan outlet. Gotta remove that before tugging the dash off!
The stock harness holding the stereo is bolted in with 4 bolts. If you need replacements (my unit only had 2 bolts in place) you can use standard 4mm bolts (I think the ones I got were 25mm long which seem to fit OK). The stock harness is an "n" shaped metal bracket which has a couple of boxes (I think for the power aerial) bolted on top and a double DIN space below to which the double DIN stereo is bolted directly.
I used a PC2-17-4 harness adaptor to connect the new head unit (oh and don't forget to connect the aerial as I did initially!) and a FP-006 pocket to fill up the lower half of the double DIN space. Both items are available from Halfords online. Both the new head unit and pocket bolted directly onto the stock bracket (ie you don't need to use the locking/sliding cover that comes with the head unit). The FP-006 comes with three faceplates - it's the smallest one you'll want to use which sits just behind the dash when reassembled.
Oh and I know Alpine head units are probably the best, but I really like the Sony units in that they only raise the aerial when needed (ie if you have AF/TA switched off then the aerial doesn't go up when playing CDs!). Very happy with my Sony CDX-GT500 for £100. I also fed an aux lead through from the glovebox (3.5mm headphone jack connected to the head unit's phono aux input) so I can connect my MD player directly (without using those sound quality zapping FM transmitters).
Anyway - hope the above helps others out looking for a straightforward upgrade. Mine is sounding much better than stock for pretty minor investment (about £200 all in for head unit, speakers and fitting accessories).
Front speakers
First you'll have to remove the door cards:
http://www.internetwork.org.uk/Dash%20Conversion/doorrem.htm
I was lead to believe that any standard 10cm speakers would be a direct, no work required replacement for the stock speakers. Size-wise this is true (10cm speakers will generally fit fine) but there are a couple of things worth noting...
Most speakers have 4 screw holes placed 90 degrees apart. This does not match the Supra's standard fitting which is 3 screw holes placed 120 degrees apart. You can't simply screw in the speakers, even with self tapping screws (because there's no flat surface to screw into - you'll see what I mean). I copied speddynille's cool mounting idea:
http://www.mkivsupra.net/vbb/showthread.php?t=93132
I got some 9mm thick plywood (I was advised this would be sturdier than MDF) and used my rudimentary jigsaw/drilling skills to cut some mounts. Basically I used the mounting template that came with the speakers, extended it to reach the 3 screw holes in the door panel and trimmed it a little just beside the door panel's bass port. There's some useful pics on the above link. It's pretty easy to make up the mounts, but if I'd known that mounts would be needed I'd probably have been tempted by the full 17cm conversion:
http://www.mkivsupra.net/vbb/showthread.php?t=35019
Also it is definitely worth double checking the mounting depth and mounting diameter of your chosen speakers against the space actually available. I went for Pioneer TS-E1076 which fit OK:
http://www.pioneer.co.uk/uk/products/25/131/201/TS-E1076/index.html
Rear speakers
It is very easy to lever off the covers over the rear speakers. However, my stock speakers were both screwed and glued in. The screws took a reasonable amount of effort to unscrew due to the glue on the threads. Make sure you've got a decent screwdriver that fits the screw heads well (otherwise you may strip the heads). A bit of brute force did the trick on my ones!
Then to get the speakers themsevles out I got a pair of pliers, locked them onto the metal lip of the stock speakers and pulled as hard as I could. The speakers ripped off with a reasonable amount of force. Hopefully this will work for you as well - otherwise you'll probably have to remove the plastic surround (which I think involves removing the back seat) so you can attack it more precisely!
Again I was then expecting standard 16.5cm/17cm speakers to simply screw straight in to the stock brackets. Sadly not so... The speakers I got were Kenwood KFC-PS170:
http://www.kenwood-electronics.co.uk/products/car/speakers/regular/KFC-PS170/
The screw holes for these were about 2mm short in diameter for the screw holes on the stock brackets. So there are a couple of options. Could definitely have made up mounts (as needed for the front speakers) which essentially convert from the speaker screw holes to the stock brackets. However I went for a lower tech approach...
The speakers came with adaptor plates which allow a 3 screw hole fitting. This is a metal ring which the speakers screw directly onto (with very short screws) and which have a larger selection of holes to mount onto the car. I glued (yeah, I know...) the adaptor plates onto the stock brackets with some pretty serious resin/hardener glue. I then drilled a single 2.5mm hole at the top (through both the adaptor plate and the stock bracket) and used a self tapping screw (4mm) to add a little backup - I don't trust the glue to hold forever!
I've just finished doing this and am definitely a little wary that the glue might not hold (hence the self tapping extra screw). Actually, looking at it now I'd probably have been better drilling 4 holes and using 4 self tapping screws (or maybe some 4mm bolts/nuts) rather than glue. If the glue comes unstuck I'll definitely go with some more drilling!
Head unit - replacing double DIN with a single DIN
You've gotta take your dash off:
http://www.internetwork.org.uk/Dash%20Conversion/dashrem.htm
Note you don't have to remove the screws to the right of the fuel gauge (seventh step) in order to get to the stereo. There's then a minor step missing if you have a facelift model - you have to unclip the surround sitting in front of the main dials. Also, for the eighth step, on my NA there's a screw holding the left hand part of the dash in (in addition to the clips) at the top, just above the fan outlet. Gotta remove that before tugging the dash off!
The stock harness holding the stereo is bolted in with 4 bolts. If you need replacements (my unit only had 2 bolts in place) you can use standard 4mm bolts (I think the ones I got were 25mm long which seem to fit OK). The stock harness is an "n" shaped metal bracket which has a couple of boxes (I think for the power aerial) bolted on top and a double DIN space below to which the double DIN stereo is bolted directly.
I used a PC2-17-4 harness adaptor to connect the new head unit (oh and don't forget to connect the aerial as I did initially!) and a FP-006 pocket to fill up the lower half of the double DIN space. Both items are available from Halfords online. Both the new head unit and pocket bolted directly onto the stock bracket (ie you don't need to use the locking/sliding cover that comes with the head unit). The FP-006 comes with three faceplates - it's the smallest one you'll want to use which sits just behind the dash when reassembled.
Oh and I know Alpine head units are probably the best, but I really like the Sony units in that they only raise the aerial when needed (ie if you have AF/TA switched off then the aerial doesn't go up when playing CDs!). Very happy with my Sony CDX-GT500 for £100. I also fed an aux lead through from the glovebox (3.5mm headphone jack connected to the head unit's phono aux input) so I can connect my MD player directly (without using those sound quality zapping FM transmitters).
Anyway - hope the above helps others out looking for a straightforward upgrade. Mine is sounding much better than stock for pretty minor investment (about £200 all in for head unit, speakers and fitting accessories).