Installation Pictures:

Here are pictures of the installation process and completed project of the MP3 player in my 1984 Buick Century and 1988 Mazda B2200 Cab Plus truck.

Car Installation Pictures:

Hover over each thumbnail image for a brief description of the picture, and click the thumbnail image to open the full-size picture in a seperate window.

Picture of the dashboard before the MP3 player is installed. I sacrificed this vent for the LCD display since the air conditioning doesn't work anymore. Interior of car while installing. And you thought you wouldn't need to do any wiring? I've put far too many things under the passenger side of my dashboard: XA-107 switch, 30W x 2 amp, parallel port connections, serial port connections, IRman receiver, and lots of wires.

Dash installation showing removed vent with cutouts for LCD wiring. The left side cuts are to give clearance for the right angle 18-pin header. The lower center cut is clearance for the ribbon cable to slip down behind CD player to my parallel port connection. I've put a block a foam in the vent to prevent the air from blowing behind it. Notice the duct tape behind the CD player? The depth of my player was too deep, so I cut a huge opening in the air duct seven years ago to acommodate it. Mmm, duct tape good... me like it lots. CD player and EQ dangling from all those wires.

Doing all of the wiring in the trunk. Fitting the LCD to make sure it was flush and level. I trimmed a bit of the inner dash away each time and checked the fit. The final fit is purely a friction fit - there is no adhesive of anything else holding it in place, just the bezel. Wiring it up for the first time - It works! Still a lot of finishing up to do though.

Trying to take a picture from the driver's angle showing the contrast of the LCD. I think I need a bit more. Dark in-car test for adjustment of LED backlighting of the display. My backlight is always on, but is fairly dim as to not annoy me at night. You can't even notice it during the day. Working on some settings with the computer - yes, I'll remove the hood-mounted monitor before driving too far ;-)


Truck Installation Pictures:

Here are pictures of the new installation of the MP3 player that I've moved into my truck. Hover over each thumbnail image for a brief description of the picture, and click the thumbnail image to open the full-size picture in a seperate window.

The dash plate removed from truck showing inner dash for wiring. Truck dash removed closeup. Here is the original factory rear 6.5 inch speakers. Replacing these required removing all of the interior panels behind the doors. This was by-far the most difficult and time-consuming task of the project.

Fitting the LCD module and infrared receiver into the dash. The LCD wiring and prototype circuit is just behind the LCD module and the IRman receiver is further down in the dash nearer the head unit with the infrared receiver wired to an extension to place it next to the LCD module. LCD module completely installe in truck dash. Notice the infrared receiver located just to the left of the LCD module.

Truck passenger seat removed showing amps and inverter and wiring. Nice carpet, huh? Closeup of truck amplifier installation - I'll be replacing these two amps with one since two of the four channels are burnt out of the one. Here are the two buttons I've wired and placed on the dash. The left red one is for main power kill switch to the inverter, and the right black one is the momentary power (ATX) switch for the computer.

The computer enclosure sits in the rear of the truck extended cab. The computer is below the 10 inch subwoofer enclosure. Most of the computer wiring goes up the center tunnel and under the passenger seat.

Completed truck MP3 jukebox system in use. Completed truck MP3 jukebox system dashboard. It's a nice installation that works well with my truck dash.


This page was last updated on Friday, February 8, 2002

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