|
Page 8 of 8 The Jeep originally came with a tape deck head unit. We replaced this with a Jeep head unit that had a tape deck and a CD player, the one in the picture posted before while showing the VIC and overhead console together. However, the CD player refused to load and eject CD's. I took the radio apart and several gears in the loading mechanism which lowered the tray were broken. So I decided to just replace the head unit with an aftermarket. It definitely would not look as nice, but it would be cheaper than replacing it with another Jeep head unit plus it would allow me to connect an iPod to the head unit.I decided to buy the Pioneer DEH-P4900iB. It came with 3 pre-amp 4volt outs, which is great if I ever want to add an amp to the system. But for now I was just replacing the 4 speakers in the car and the head unit. The internal amp in the head unit had 22 watt RMS, which should be enough for now. The speakers we bought were Alpine SPS-17C2's. They're 2 way speakers, instead of the full-range woofers that were installed on the car. They can handle up to 50 watt RMS, so the head unit cannot over power them and at the same time allow for a possibility of adding a more powerful amplifier later. To replace the speakers I had to remove the door panels first. I took this opportunity to replace the door panels as well, since the driver side door panel was broken (the arm rest was torn). Here is a picture of the right doors without the door panels on: 
The replacement speakers I bought are 6 1/2", while the original speakers are 6 3/4". This meant I would either have to fabricate my own brackets, drill new mounting holes in the door, or buy some brackets. I decided to just buy some brackets from ebay. This allowed me to just screw it right into the door. 
After this we replaced some broken clips on the door panels and popped the new ones on. 
Here is a before and after shot on the driver side door. You can see that the old door had cloth on it that easily got dirty and the arm rest was broken. The reflector that is missing on the before shot was actually not missing on the door panel, it was removed to replace the broken reflector on the new door panel. Before: 
After: 
Here's a shot of the passenger side: 
And finally the new radio: 
The new headunit definitely does not look as nice with the rest of the interior as the original radio. However, in this case it was a bit of a no-brainer decision since the OEM replacement radios were too expensive, had inferior sound, would still not allow iPod or MP3 playback or even aux-in, and had less watt RMS so could potentially under power the speakers since the original speakers had a different resistance specification. We also installed a new alarm since the keyless entry module worked via infrared. To open the car we had to put the remote up to the window and hope that it worked, plus the remote was broken and the replacement remotes cost more than 40 dollars even on Ebay. We replaced it with an old alarm we had laying around that had RF remotes and integrated it with the power locks, headlights, and horn.
|