A/V System Install

[DofD]

The panels on the lift gate were pretty easy. They are just held on with plastic clips. There is one torx bolt on the manual pull down handle that needs to be removed. Other wise I just went around the edge and pried up to pop the clips loose. I didn't need to remove the panels fully for what I did, but I think there are couple little bolts around the lift glass latch that need to be removed. I'll check on that tonight and take a couple more pictures of it.

I got the mat done on the passenger door last night and the speaker wire run into the door.

The couple pictures of the door release cable didn't turn out too well, but it wasn't easy getting pictures of them.
This is a picture of how the cable it attached to the door.

To release the cable from the door you need to rotate the cable so that the two latching clips are verticle, then insert the needle nose pliars to depress the clips and the cable sheath will release. Once cable sheath is release, just unhook the actual cable.

You can see the two clips here that need to be depressed to release the cable sheath.

Passenger door ready for mat.

Passenger door with all the mat put on.

 

[tonybat]

Nice Work, I did similar but im stuck at the doors fiberglass, didn't want to go kickpanels

---------- Post added at 03:09 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:08 PM ----------

http://s688.photobucket.com/albums/vv248/tonybat/08Denali/

 

[DofD]

Nice Work, I did similar but im stuck at the doors fiberglass, didn't want to go kickpanels

---------- Post added at 03:09 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:08 PM ----------

http://s688.photobucket.com/albums/vv248/tonybat/08Denali/

Check out this build. It might give you some ideas for the doors.
http://www.stevemeadedesigns.com/board/index.php?showtopic=10216

 

[Eagle]

Very awesome and I'm very thankful... i'm redoing the wiring on the PO installed DVD system (I thought it was cluttered, messy and possibly a fire hazard ) so this came in super handy tonight.

 

[Modded]

Nice write up man, good thing to know theres actual GMT900 people doing work on here outside the off topic section.
I have some questions;
What do you plan on doing for a sub and where?
Possible amp locations?
Type of sound mat used and how hard it was too apply?
I am going to undergo something like this with unampepd aftermrket speakers, amped sub and sound deadening sometime in the future.

---------- Post added at 06:03 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:02 PM ----------

BTW, this is def. sticky material!!!!!!

 

[matt14]

Very nice isntall so far. Keep us updated.

 

[DofD]

Thanks guys.

For a sub I'm using a JL Stealthbox that fits in the place of the stock sub. With a family, camping, skiing, etc, I need the cargo area, so sub enclosures there don't work for me. For the amps, RF 3Sixty, video control module, and power distribution module, they are all going under the second row bench on custom mounting platforms. For the sound mat, I used B-Quiet sound mat. It's specs are as good as better than the usual brands, and is cheaper. I ended up using about 180sqft. It was really easy to work with. It cut well (with a sharp knife, formed around the textures of the metal really well, and sticks really great.

---------- Post added at 12:29 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:28 PM ----------

Here are the latest sets of pictures from the build. Yet again I didn't get as much as I wanted to of the previous week and weekend. This time I've been getting my butt seriously kicked by a nasty flu virus from Thusday night on. But I've gotten a few things accomplished though. I've gotten all the speaker wires run into the doors, got all the speakers and cross overs mounted in the doors, tested all the new speakers, got all the interior panels and trim pieces on, got the video headrests mounted on the seats and their wires run through the seats, got the front carpet put back in and cables run through the carpet, and got all the connectors put on the stock amp output for the wiring to the 3Sixty.

Here we go with the pictures.

This is the connector that is on the body side of the wire routing sheath between the rear doors and the body.

Running the rear door speaker wire through the connector and into the door.

Here is where I mount the driver door's crossover. The passenger door one is mounted similarly. I didn't use the usual self tapping screws, but with bolts, washers, lock washers, and nuts since the surface of the door isn't smooth I used a few extra nuts as spacers to create a flush mounting surface. I also used left over rubber gasket material on the back of the crossovers to avoid any vibrational noise from being generated.

Driver door speaker wired up.

Driver door speaker mounted. I used bolts, nuts, washers, and lock washers to install all the speakers and crossovers .

Speaker mounted in the left rear door. Where the arrow is pointing you can see where I mounted the crossover on the inside of the door.

Passenger door speaker mounted.

Right rear door speaker mounted. Where the arrow is pointing you can see where I mounted the crossover.

Passenger door panel remounted. The process is the reverse of taking it off. Rest the door panel on the door using the hooks on the bottom of the panel. Feed the electrical connectors up into the arm rest. Connect the connectors to the control panel (they are colour coded and only fit in one spot. Snap the control panel back in place. Connect the door release cable. Snap the door release cable sheath back into place. Lift the door panel up and slide the top of the panel in the rubber mounting grooves by the window. Push all the plastic connectors on the panel back into the holes in the door. A smack of the fist works well here. Put the bolts back in and put the covers back on. Finally, put the manual door lock release back on. The proceedure is the same for all the door panels.

Right rear door panel back in place.

 

[DofD]

Left rear door panel in place.

Driver door panel back in place.

Now I went to install the video head rest on the driver's seat. You'll need a little finishing nail or such to release the head rest from it's adjustors on the seat. The instructions just said to feed the wires down through the back of the seat so they come out the bottom. This is not going to happen with these seats. You'll need to take the cover off the back of the seat to properly run the wires. This picture shows the inside of the cover on the seat back. There are six clips (where the arrows are pointing) that need to be released to get the cover off. You should work from the bottom up. You can release the clip by inserting a panel tool in and giving the clip a push to release it (a screw driver may work as well. Once all all the clips have been released, pull the bottom of the cover away from the seat and pull down on the cover to remove it from the seat.

Initially feeding the wires through the seat back.

We now need to feed the wires out of the seat back. Behind these little panels by the seatbelt latch there is a metal bracket that you can feed the wires through.

Wires run through the seatback and out. I secured the wires to the existing wiring harnesses. Make sure to leave enough slack so the headrests can be adjusted up and down.

The video headrest installed and cover back on. To get the cover back on insert the upper guides into their places, then snap the clips back into place. The back wires you see are just the headrest wires from the bottom of the seat, I just put them under the headrest to keep them out of the way.

Passeger seat with headrest wires properly run and secured. They run through the same location they did on the driver's seat.

Front carpet reinstalled and wires run through the carpet.

Another view of the carpet and wires.

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Front carpet installed from the passenger side.

All the wiring the comes through the carpet.

Now I got into the wiring on the stock Bose amp. What I needed to do was to locate all the speaker outputs, snip the lines, and put connectors on them for the wiring from the 3Sixty. There are two connectors involved here J1 and J2. J1 has the subwoofer lines, and J2 has the rest of them.

The two connectors with the taping peeled off.

All the lines identified and labeled (at both ends of the lines so that once snipped ever line will have a label. This is necessary since not all the lines are of a unique colour.

Lines that needed to be snipped are snipped.

Connectors all put on.

Here is the map of the wires as to purpose, colour, connector, and pin location
Connector..Pin..Wire.Colour....................Purpose
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
J2.........4....Tan............................Front Left +ve
J2.........5....Grey...........................Front Left -ve
J2.........15...Brown..........................Rear Left +ve
J2.........14...Yellow.........................Rear Left -ve
J2.........11...Tan............................Aux (D-Pillar) Left +ve
J2.........10...White..........................Aux (D-Pillar) Left -ve
J2.........12...Light Blue.....................Centre -ve
J2.........7....Light Green....................Front Left +ve
J2.........6....Dark Green.....................Front Right -ve
J2.........16...Dark Blue......................Rear Right +ve
J2.........8....Light Blue.....................Rear Right -ve
J2.........3....Tan with White stripe..........Aux (D-Pillar) Right +ve
J2.........2....Orange.........................Aux (D-Pillar) Right -ve
J2.........13...Yellow with Black stripe.......Centre +ve
J1.........1....Dark Blue with White stripe....Subwoofer1 +ve
J1.........2....Light Green with Black stripe..Subwoofer1 -ve
J1.........7....Dark Green.....................Subwoofer2 +ve
J1.........3....Light Blue with Black stripe...Subwoofer2 -ve

Next up (other than getting rid of this flu) is to get the Bose amp back in the truck, connect the lines from the 3Sixty, install the subwoofer.

 

[OKLAGMCRUISER]

looking good! That pin out should be in a sticky in tech articles!

 

[DofD]

Well, the build is finally done! Yay! The sound is so much of an improvement. I ran out of time to do any real tuning on the sound since we had to go meet the wife's family (who are in town till Friday). I also think I figured out the issue between the IPod adapter, GMX322, and the headunit. I believe it's the order in which things need to be plugged in. Initially I had it was harness->GMX322->IPod Adapter->Headunit. I think it needs to go like this harness->IPod Adapter->GMX322->Headunit. I ran out of time to fully try it.

Everything seems to work just fine. The audio controls on the headunit (surround, normal, etc, fader, balance, etc) all seem to work. I can view the video from either headrest on the front nav screen and have the audio come through the main headunit. The 9500ci (radar detector) works and it's GPS is really accurate for locations and speed. But I've only just brushed the surface with the options available. My daughter really likes to be able to watch her shows on the headrest.

All in all I'm really pleased with how it turned out. It was more work than I anticipated, but it was worth it.

Here are the final set of build pictures.

Getting ready to make the connections between the RF 3Sixty and the Bose amp.

Connections all made between the Bose amp and the RF 3Sixty.

Holes drilled for the StealthBox subwoofer.

Subwoofer mounting spots tidied up.

Subwoofer put into position.

Another view of the subwoofer in position.

Another view of how the subwoofer fits in there.

Bolt for the subwoofer through the floor. The transmission is on the left there.

The other bolt for the subwoofer.

Washers and nut on the bolt and sealed with silicone.

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Washers and nut on the other bolt and sealed with silicone.

Subwoofer connected.

Templates for mounting bases.

Inside of truck with the centre console put back in.

Testing layout of components under the second row seats.

I needed to customize the cables between the amps and 3Sixty for proper lengths.

Trimming wires to lengh and doing the initial connections. The blue lines are the power lines for the amps. The purple wire loom is the power for the other components and remote turn on power for the amps.

Connecting the audio and video cables to the components.

The mounting bases. They do look better than the picture shows. I just made them out of 3/4" MDF.

Components mounted on their bases.