Eurosonic's Montero 2.5Gen Build Thread

[off-roader]

As far as I remember he cut his plastic fenders flares at the bottom.

Yes he cut them but also used a BFH to clearancevthose corners.

 

[KIRK!]

I say 4

 

[SoCalMonty]

2 or 4.

 

[scrubber3]

I'd say start with 3 then go to 2 if needed. But I'm a function over form guy.

 

[eurosonic]

Thanks for the input fellas. I think Im just going to keep it simple and trim the lower part of the fender straight down.

 

[Toasty]

Just roll the fenders out, it looks clean and there's no cutting involved, i just rolled my friend Clay's fenders on his '98 to clear his 35's with no lift

 

[eurosonic]

Ive been without a stereo for a couple of months. Original tape player deck went to someone here on the portal. I knew I would be upgrading in the future for something more modern so mind as well let it go.

As much as I enjoy music and quality sound, I didn't want to spend a fortune on it for my trail rig. I picked up the JVC deck from a local stereo shop for $100. It plays Ipod and Pandora, has Bluetooth, yadda yadda... which is all I really need. Having 150K on the clock, the stock speakers were pretty much shot so I picked up some cheeeeap speakers that were on clearance at FRYS. They sound ok, at least better than stock. Front 6 1/2s were $10, and rear 6x9 were $15!!! Yes, the entire set cost me under $30.

I didn't want to run the speakers directly from the deck so for more oomph I hooked up an el-cheapo 4 channel amp that I had laying around the garage. Also had some wire, RCAs and other misc things to get it all dialed in.






Recycle some of that back into use




Fronts, yuk.





Ran the power cable and fuse through the same route which I used to hook up lights.



Didnt want to run my own speaker wire so after digging thought electrical schematics using Montero Factory Service manual, I spliced into the factory wiring located by the rear right passenger foot-well.



Really didn't want to give up the trunk space, but this was the best place I could find for the bulky amp. Maybe later if I get a smaller size amp, Ill hide it somewhere. For now this works.



Deck is in, for the price the system sounds fantastic. 1000 times better than stock. Lets jam!

 

[off-roader]

Nice. Only thing I'd recommend is taking all those songs on your phone and putting them on a USB memory stick and putting that in your head unit instead. I used to use an iPod touch in my rig. Killed it within a year because it always bouncing around off road.

 

[LaOutbackTrail]

I need to upgrade my stereo system.

 

[HARDTRAILZ]

Very nicely done!

 

[off-roader]

I'm soo, soo glad we no longer have to use CD's in our vehicles!! Off road I usually wore out the head units within a year or so.

 

[JamesW]

That is very nice. I have the double din version of that head unit. Problem is that i cant put it into low box with a USB stick in the slot I've not used the CD slot in it more than 5 times in the last 2 years i've had the head unit

 

[SoCalMonty]

Very nice! I put in the low end unit from that JVC lineup, and cheap Planet Audio speakers. For the money, it will do. At least I can listen to *something* now!

 

[nwoods]

Nice. Only thing I'd recommend is taking all those songs on your phone and putting them on a USB memory stick and putting that in your head unit instead. I used to use an iPod touch in my rig. Killed it within a year because it always bouncing around off road.

THe challenge with going with just a USB memory stick is that you have to use the radio's interface to scroll through the song list. I also bought a JVC head unit recently,and it was pretty cheap through Crutchfield, but I selected it for one primary reason, it allows me to use my iPhone as the interface. That way I can use the iPod app, or my Podcast app, or my Pandora app, iHeartRadio, etc.... and my favorite, my Audible audiobooks app.
http://www.crutchfield.com/p_105KDX80BT/JVC-KD-X80BT.html?tp=5684

 

[eurosonic]

^yes. I ended up returning the JVC and exchanging it for a Kenwood unit. Agree with woods, I like to browse through my "used to" IPhone and playing whatever the heck I want.