Big Red - 2000 Tahoe Build

[ArcticYukon]

Factory radio took a shit. We were on our way to my mother-in-law's house and the sound was cutting out.

"What the crap?"
"Oh yeah, it's been doing that", my wife says.
"Uh... for how long?"
"I dunno, couple weeks?"
(You married fellas can relate to this next question)
"So uh... when were ya planning on telling me?"
"I don't know, I thought you knew.. you drive it too!"
"It's not done it when I drive it..."

No sooner did I say that, than did the sound cut out and not come back at all.

Ordered a cheapy chinese made double DIN touchscreen w/ nav, bluetooth, backup cam, and all that jazz off of amazon for 169. Had like 4.5 starts with about 500 or so reviews. Figured it couldn't be that bad. At least she'd have some tunes until I can afford to get the radio I want for it.

Got here today. Gonna try and knock out the install tomorrow.

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B07B3TX6MF/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[Tonyrodz]

Factory radio took a shit. We were on our way to my mother-in-law's house and the sound was cutting out.

"What the crap?"
"Oh yeah, it's been doing that", my wife says.
"Uh... for how long?"
"I dunno, couple weeks?"
(You married fellas can relate to this next question)
"So uh... when were ya planning on telling me?"
"I don't know, I thought you knew.. you drive it too!"
"It's not done it when I drive it..."

No sooner did I say that, than did the sound cut out and not come back at all.

Ordered a cheapy chinese made double DIN touchscreen w/ nav, bluetooth, backup cam, and all that jazz off of amazon for 169. Had like 4.5 starts with about 500 or so reviews. Figured it couldn't be that bad. At least she'd have some tunes until I can afford to get the radio I want for it.

Got here today. Gonna try and knock out the install tomorrow.

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B07B3TX6MF/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Lol, typical wife answer.

 

[ArcticYukon]

Lol, typical wife answer.

You know it, brother! lol

 

[Tonyrodz]

You know it, brother! lol

Been there, done that twice! I'm a pro

 

[ArcticYukon]

Did a little mocking up with the install kit today. Going to take more modification than I originally thought. METRA's dash install kit is the EASIEST way to go for pre-2003 NBS Tahoes for sure, but I really don't have the 135 bucks for spend on it. Going to have to fab up some spacers for the pocket rails that I have from the old single din kit.

Unfortunately, the Double DIN bezel that I found in the junkyard won't work. I had no idea that it was so different. Guess the 2003+ NBS have the AC control panel lower in the chasis and because the center console doesn't "humpback" up into the dash, there's more room for the bottom of the bezel to mount.

So it's either modify my new bezel... quite a bit... or clean up the PO's "modification" to make it work with the Double DIN radio.

OR... drop coin.

Decisions decisions.

 

[ArcticYukon]

Well as lady luck would have it, I found a decent how-to video...

Gonna have to hit the junkyard up again.

 

[Tonyrodz]

Well as lady luck would have it, I found a decent how-to video...

Gonna have to hit the junkyard up again.

It seems pretty straight forward once you get to it. Only thing--he didn't mention anything about the door and bezel fitment for the 3 power points.

 

[ArcticYukon]

It seems pretty straight forward once you get to it. Only thing--he didn't mention anything about the door and bezel fitment for the 3 power points.

I think he just left the door off. I'm okay with that because eventually I want to do a 03+ Denali or Esky console swap anyway. So I'll be losing those 3 power ports and ash tray when that happens, but there's plenty of other real estate for them.


**
In other news - I don't think it was the head unit that was the problem. I plugged in the new HU just to test out the funcitonality - which, by the way, I was VERY impressed with the smooth operation of the unit. Unfortunately, the sound still doesn't work. So I believe my wiring is fried somewhere... which is really strange because it's ALL 4 SPEAKERS at once and not a speaker here or there.

So just for grins and giggles, I unplugged the bypass harness I made with the saturn Metra harness and plugged the wires back into the factory amp.... immediately the cab of the truck was filled with the unmistakable odor of electrical fire. Never saw any smoke coming from anywhere and I unplugged it real quick, so luckily nothing actually caught FIRE.... but I'm pretty sure there's a big wiring problem going on somewhere in the sound system.

I was wanting to install a 4-channel amplifier anyway, so I'm just going to do that and bypass all the factory wiring and amplifier mess. If I get really froggy, I'll rip all of it out.

I'd really like to wring the PO's neck at this point. He screwed somethin' up big time.

 

[Tonyrodz]

I think he just left the door off. I'm okay with that because eventually I want to do a 03+ Denali or Esky console swap anyway. So I'll be losing those 3 power ports and ash tray when that happens, but there's plenty of other real estate for them. That would've been a horror story!


**
In other news - I don't think it was the head unit that was the problem. I plugged in the new HU just to test out the funcitonality - which, by the way, I was VERY impressed with the smooth operation of the unit. Unfortunately, the sound still doesn't work. So I believe my wiring is fried somewhere... which is really strange because it's ALL 4 SPEAKERS at once and not a speaker here or there.

So just for grins and giggles, I unplugged the bypass harness I made with the saturn Metra harness and plugged the wires back into the factory amp.... immediately the cab of the truck was filled with the unmistakable odor of electrical fire. Never saw any smoke coming from anywhere and I unplugged it real quick, so luckily nothing actually caught FIRE.... but I'm pretty sure there's a big wiring problem going on somewhere in the sound system.

I was wanting to install a 4-channel amplifier anyway, so I'm just going to do that and bypass all the factory wiring and amplifier mess. If I get really froggy, I'll rip all of it out.

I'd really like to wring the PO's neck at this point. He screwed somethin' up big time.

Good thing you were quick pulling that harness!

 

[ArcticYukon]

Wife says it still stinks inside the truck haha.... I'm sure something got cooked, but at least there's no fire. Everything else in the truck works fine so it seems at this point that it was isolated to the audio wiring.

Plan now is just to run power wires to the sony amp out of the way enough so they're not being tripped on or snagged and run the speaker wires in the same fashion so my wife can at least have sound again.

Once we get to Kentucky, I'm going to gut the interior, pull out the factory audio wires, run new speaker wires and hard install the amp, and do the headliner while I'm at it. Won't have time before then it looks like. Hate hafl-assing it, but it's not going to stay that way long-term.

Figure while the interior is apart, I'll paint the parts I'm planning on painting, clean and dye the carpet, and then suede-wrap the interior parts I'm not painting.

 

[Tonyrodz]

Wife says it still stinks inside the truck haha.... I'm sure something got cooked, but at least there's no fire. Everything else in the truck works fine so it seems at this point that it was isolated to the audio wiring.

Plan now is just to run power wires to the sony amp out of the way enough so they're not being tripped on or snagged and run the speaker wires in the same fashion so my wife can at least have sound again.

Once we get to Kentucky, I'm going to gut the interior, pull out the factory audio wires, run new speaker wires and hard install the amp, and do the headliner while I'm at it. Won't have time before then it looks like. Hate hafl-assing it, but it's not going to stay that way long-term.

Figure while the interior is apart, I'll paint the parts I'm planning on painting, clean and dye the carpet, and then suede-wrap the interior parts I'm not painting.

Pulling the headliner sux. Make sure you use some really good adhesion promoter--made for plastic. Paint doesn't like to stick very long to plastic, and scratches super easy.

 

[ArcticYukon]

Pulling the headliner sux. Make sure you use some really good adhesion promoter--made for plastic. Paint doesn't like to stick very long to plastic, and scratches super easy.

I've actually had really good luck with the Vinyl and Fabric paint made by Duplicolor. It's specifically made for interior plastics, vinyl, and cloth upholstry. I mean.... paint's still gonna scratch, it's paint... but it doesn't peel, flake off, or fade like regular old rustoleum on plastic parts.

 

[Tonyrodz]

I've actually had really good luck with the Vinyl and Fabric paint made by Duplicolor. It's specifically made for interior plastics, vinyl, and cloth upholstry. I mean.... paint's still gonna scratch, it's paint... but it doesn't peel, flake off, or fade like regular old rustoleum on plastic parts.

That actually is pretty decent stuff. I used a few cans a couple days ago to dye the cargo area carpet in an Infiniti.

Carpet was the same color as the leather, but something red was spilled back there. Red never really comes out. Most importantly--rug didn't come out crunchy.

 

[ArcticYukon]

That actually is pretty decent stuff. I used a few cans a couple days ago to dye the cargo area carpet in an Infiniti.View attachment 221817 View attachment 221818 View attachment 221819
Carpet was the same color as the leather, but something red was spilled back there. Red never really comes out. Most importantly--rug didn't come out crunchy.

Yeah it lays real nice and is quite flexible.

 

[ArcticYukon]

Monday morning, I took the kids to school, then started on the speaker wires and amp wiring. Got interrupted a few times, but finally finished everything up about 4am Tuesday morning.





Keep in mind, the exposed wires everywhere are just temporary. Going to be ripping the interior out once we've moved to Kentucky and doing a deep clean on the carpet along with a dye job, painting the plastics, doing the headliner, and covering the dash and a few other trim pieces in suede.

Oh and uh... excuse the mess. My kids have left the back of the truck in desperate need of vacuuming which I didn't have time to do.





Managed to fit the head unit in without any modification to the radio basket. If you were to see the install without the trim bezel though, you'd laugh. Essentially all I did was attach the included metal L-brackets to the radio, then made some 1/2" thick wood squares that I screwed the brackets to. That took up the gap between the sides of the radio and the radio basket. So the head unit is essentially just wedged into place... definitely not going anywhere, but definitely not fastened in place haha.



As for the lower portion, I still have to modify the position of the AC controls, but the bezel doesn't interfere with the operation of them at all. I removed the door that "hides" the aux power ports and cut the ash tray cover flush with the metal tray. That allows it to open and close with minimal interference from the trim bezel.

Again, it's not perfect yet, but it will be.

What's MOST important is, it sounds great! Granted, it could sound better with some better speakers, but for the crappy speakers that are in there, I'm really impressed with the head unit and amp combo.

 

[ArcticYukon]

For anyone interested, I did an unboxing video of the head unit and plan on making a review video of it later on.

Here's the unboxing:

And for any audiophile nerds interested in the specs of the amp, it's nothing crazy, just a 4 channel Sony XPLOD XM404EQX. 400w max, rated power is 40w x4 at 4 ohms.

 

[ArcticYukon]

Not much to report. Been busy with getting ready for the move and doing some things to the Ram.

I did get an exhaust tip for Big Red though. Haven't had a chance to put it on, but figured I'd give you guys a look at the tip before it's installed.



Picked it up for about 20 bucks at Advance... about 10 bucks cheaper than AZ. Thought it would look real good with the black theme on the Tahoe.

 

[05Single]

Not much to report. Been busy with getting ready for the move and doing some things to the Ram.

I did get an exhaust tip for Big Red though. Haven't had a chance to put it on, but figured I'd give you guys a look at the tip before it's installed.

View attachment 225302

Picked it up for about 20 bucks at Advance... about 10 bucks cheaper than AZ. Thought it would look real good with the black theme on the Tahoe.

Go out it on lazy lol. Should look good

 

[ArcticYukon]

Go out it on lazy lol. Should look good

Lol right? Such a slacker! Should be getting the tip on and a few other things done to it this coming week. Trying to get everything DONE to the vehicles that I need to this week, so that the following week is the final "clearance" of stuff that we won't be taking with us and the packing up of everything, and the week after will be focusing on cleanup.

I hate moving.

Also... bought these last night:

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B07PBJCVGR/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I kinda like the idea of being able to switch back and forth from white to yellow light when I need them. Bought a set for a pair of round AUX lights for my Ram as well. I'm sure we'll get a lot of use out of them on the roads in KY going through the hills.

Dave, I'm sure you can vouch for the benefits of yellow lights in snowstorms and fog.

 

[Rocket Man]

Good job so far, looks like fun!