Installing aftermarket radio and switch panel! **Pictures!**

As I was doing my daily scroll of tacomaworld I stumbled upon user paranoid56's 6 switch plate that goes under the radio.

I figured this would be a great location to install some clean switches on the 4runner. I know I have a lot of goodies planned out for my build, so why not?

In order for this to work I had to get rid of the factory double din radio and purchase a single din aftermarket radio. I had never installed an aftermarket radio, but what the heck, I wanted that switch panel!

This past saturday I stopped by fry's and picked me up this Pioneer radio with bluetooth.



Ignore the LED bar, that's for a future mod



Aha! The switch panel came in. It's a nice sturdy aluminum plate, very well made.



After plasti-derp:





Next step was to solder all the wiring in the radio harness and OEM adapter harness. This OEM adapter harness allows my radio to be plug and play to the existing OEM wiring the in 4runner. The adapter harness comes with the radio and is provided to me depending on the vehicle application.

I solder all the wiring, making sure all colors match and use shrink wrap for a nice clean finish.



Any unused wires were plugged. The blue wire with the flag reads "for remote", I guess this is some sort of antenna for the radio remote.

The fry's representative told me NOT to connect the orange wires. These are for the dimmer. If I try to dim the radio using the factory dimmer, the radio will flicker. So I just sealed these off with shrink wrap and tape.

The other blue wire is for an automatic antenna, which I do not have.



Next comes the fun stuff!

I grabbed some kitcken knives and wrapped them in tape to not scratch the 4runner's interior.



Pried on the center trim piece around the shifter:



Remove and swivel away:



I did not remove the 4x4 shifter leather wrap. I didn't want to mess with it.

Next I carefully removed the radio trim. This is very brittle!



I was careful with the radio trim since there is a lot plugged into it.

1. three power points
2. hazard lights
3. defroster switch
4. clock
5. ECT button



Now I can pull the radio out.



Notice there is TWO antenna cables. The bigger one is for the front antenna, the smaller one is for the rear antenna.



I then remove the brackets that hold the radio housing in place. I will need to install these to my Pioneer.



One thing I noticed was that my radio harness had TWO plugs.





While the plug that was on the factory radio was one small plug. CRAP!





No sweat! See that box? That's an amp. I unplugged the wires to the amp, and abandoned the amp in place.



I pulled the casing off the Pioneer and mounted my brackets.





Now, I mounted @paranoid56 switch panel:



The holes were a little misaligned, so I grabbed a drill and fixed it.





I connected the amp wiring to my radio harness, plugged the front antenna cable (abandoned the rear antenna cable plug) and dropped the headunit back into its location:



I carefully put all the trim back in place.



Finally, installed carling switch blanks

 

With some modification, I used the same switch panel in my 1st gen . I love it

 

show me a close up of those switches!

 

Were did you get that panel, I want two of them for my 3rd Gens...

 

www.paranoidfabrications.com

buy the tacoma version, it fits nicely.

 

My stereo bracket is different, you can see I shaped the sides to mount inside the stereo bracket and drilled new holes.



I have a "roof light bar" rocker to replace the "offroad lights"

 

are those the v1d1 upper independent carling switches?

 

They are from otrattw.com, upper independent

 

Thanks

 

Very cool! Great place for switches! I was dead set on using a pocket there, but now I just don't know..

 

I just bought my Kenwood and my switch panel from paranoid fabrications. They've already arrived and yesterday I ordered six (6) switches from Otrattw.com. Talked to Jim...great guy. He allowed me to change a couple of things to personalize my blanks. If your a member of TW you'll get 10% discount. Then to bring all this together...just received my Bussman relay box from Yatomac over on TW. I'm Hope'in to get this all put together in a week or two. I'm Sure @ramonortiz55 will revist this and finish adding his switches!!

 

Looking forward to pictures and install process.

Blue

 

I'm just waiting on my switches. I'm Hope'in they'll be here by Friday. Unsure if @ramonortiz55 already has his on not? I've never done a write up with pictures and what not...I usually take one or two pictures than get really into the work and totally forget about taking more pictures until that night when I sit down at the computer...lol!! I'll tried and make it happen this time!

 

I only have one blank left.. hehe

 

Ooooooooooo....we've been busy!!

 

That bracket is pretty sick. I like it. It is a great place for switches. I put mine up top.

 

I like that!

 

It was very time consuming to make. It was my first time doing fiberglass work, needless to say I did a lot of sanding...lol. I do like the one you have as well. Might get the bracket for more switches down the road.

 

That Bracket is PERFECT ! Need. Want. Must have. Still available or able to produce ? Please?

This is my first post, as I have a "newly acquired" 2007, SR5, 2WD, 4.0L - looking forward to reading all these awesome threads.