stereo install

[doodah]

I have a delica and an estima lucida and I want to replace the stereos on. The original Japanese stereo are cassette type, etc.

I went to a local installer (Gibsons, BC) who told me that the grounds are different and that it is a big headache to install a western type stereo.

Any suggestions or recommendations on how to get this done would gladly be received.

[Profister]

Your headache pill is HERE and it worked for me.

[nxski]

I just took mine to Visions, they were very unfriendly and more costly than bestbuy or futureshop nut they had it done in about 30 minutes. I couldn't fit into the underground garage at the other places nearby. In the end when I asked if all 6 speakers were working (only the front left one did previously) the guy said "the front 2 do" so I had to check myself. They also forgot to return the box the stereo came in which is the warranty. At any rate all is working well now and all of the places mentioned above carried the appropriate harness.

[trecar]

here is the wiring schematic if you dont choose the above option

[thedjjack]

-ve ground 12 volt in the delica like every other NA car.

Installed the stereo myself....easy

[psilosin]

-ve ground 12 volt in the delica like every other NA car.

Installed the stereo myself....easy

Agree. The local installer you went to is an idiot. Don't go back to him/her.

For the Toyota Estima Lucida just pick up one of the wiring harnesses that fit a Toyota Previa (I think 99% of Toyota stereo wiring is identical vehicle to vehicle from the 70's to early 2000's so even if the previa isn't listed on teh harness package odds are it will work). These are available everywhere (Cdn Tire, Walmart etc etc).

Not sure if you have L300 or L400 Delica, but L400 anyway the harness has to be ordered from somewhere like Ebay from what I could gather. There is no harness for a Royal Exceed L400 though as far as I could find...it is quite complicated with the factory amp and rear seat controls...

[davidwwc]

I remembered I have read a post saying that if you buy harness for hyundai or Mitsubishi will work out for the delica. You may like to give a try and if it doesn't work ,you can return it. Hope this helps.

Cheers,
DC

[after oil]

there is nothing weird or strange about installing a NA market stereo in a JDM

[doodah]

thanks for all the info.... very helpful... !!

[Morganizer]

I went to Visions and they told me I needed a Reverse Harness, so I special ordered one. They said the guy who does the ordering is not here 'til Tuesday, so the order won't be placed until then. No biggie. I hadn't heard from them after a couple of weeks, so gave them a call. Whoops, the order hasn't been placed yet. No worries, we're all human, sometimes stuff slips through the cracks. Then I got busy moving house, so didn't get after them for a while. I dropped in 3 months after the original order and guess what? "Oh um, we haven't got that for you yet..." I asked for my $20 back and they gave it to me. But kept the interest they earned by keeping it for an entire fiscal quarter! Now we know how visions really makes money. Swiss bank accounts.

The owner came out and apologized to me in the parking lot. So I ran over his toes. Front axel, 70% of the weight.

No, actually that part never happened. He didn't apologize.

- m

[DarkStar]

I took my L400 to Ralph's Radio and they did a great job and were very friendly.


Andrei

[Yokohama]

Thou shall not cut into the stock harness, ever!

Of course, I have seen many installs where, supposed professionals do this...

As for my install:
My van (USA-spec) came with the premium Fujitsu-Ten system with tape and sub-woofer. It used two main plugs into the wiring harness. I could have ordered an adapter plug kit, but I decided to get the pin-out for the back of the stock unit and use the plugs from the stock stereo.

I desoldered the old plugs out of the PCB in the stock unit. Then I straightened the board side pins, and then matched up the aftermarket unit's wiring to it. Put some heat shrink on each wire, and then soldered each wire to the correct position on the stock unit's plug. Slid the heat shrink down, and heated them tight on each wire-to-plug connection.

The stock sub-woofer even works!

Just plugs into the stock harness!

[Morganizer]

This all started because I bought a Delica with a Sony stereo and didn't like it. There wasn't one button I could push to get it to start making music. I had to press 'Source' over and over each time I started the engine, leaning down to see the display in the sunlight's glare. Forget it. I moved on.

I found a double-height factory Mazda stereo in a thrift store for $3. That's how this whole thing began. Guy shopping in the store said Canadian Tire's got the harness to fit it to your vehicle. Mazda to Mitsubishi? Couldn't find one. And furthermore, the previous owner cut out the factory harness, and hard-wired a Sony harness to it. So that's what I had to work with.

So I went to the auto wrecker and cut a harness out of a Mazda Protege. I looked up the stereo beforehand and it's from a 2002-03 Protege, or MPV. Lots of those around. I had about 10 vehicles to choose from.

Interesting thing: these Mazda stereos have got a cult following. No kidding. Because a few years ago, Mazda decided to stop putting cheaper stereos in its economy models and fancy stereos in its luxury models, and instead ordered a huge number of pretty-good stereos and put the same model in all its cars. So they're better than you'd expect for a factory unit. Some are made by Bose. More on this later.

Now, I found 2 harnesses at the wrecker's and the wire colours were different, and neither one matched the 2006-07 Mazda wiring diagram I found online. So I found a great site that helped me translate from the Mitsubishi wiring colours to the Mazda Harness colours:

http://www.modifiedlife.com/1994-mitsub ... ing-guide/

Here's my conversion chart:

Conversion from 1994 Delica L300 to 2003-04 Mazda stereo harness

Speaker Wires Delica : Mazda
Front Left (+): White/Red : Black/Red
Front Left (-): Black/Red : Black/White
Front Right (+): White/Blue : Red
Front Right (-): Black/Blue : White
Rear Left (+): Yellow/Blue : Brown/White
Rear Left (-): Gray/Blue : Brown
Rear Right (+): Yellow/Red : Green
Rear Right (-): Gray/Red : Green/Orange

Constant 12v+: Red/Black : Blue/Red
Switched 12v+: Blue : Pink/Black
Illumination: Green/White : White/Blue stereo light goes off when headlights on
Illumination: Green/White : Green/Black *** try this instead ***

There seems to be confusion about "Illumination" and "Dimmer" wires, and what they mean and where they go. Actually, I think mine is not going off, but glowing dimly when the headlights are on, just too faint to see in the daytime. I'll keep an eye on this, and let you know if I make the change.

Now, you'll notice I've added a 1/8" jack for an MP3 player on the front, in the cover where the optional Minidisc player would go. Turns out, it's not as simple as wiring the jack into the header for the Minidisc player. You need to add some circuitry to 'fool' the head unit into thinking the optional Minidisc player is installed, or else it ignores that source. Some kooky engineers in Australia will provide that:

http://www.sylfex.com/products/AuxMod/

So I'm still waiting for that to arrive. In the meantime, the stereo looks and sounds pretty good, and I like the way it works. No more leaning over and squinting at tiny buttons and scrolling displays! The Mazda stereo has large dials and buttons, which is great because in a van the stereo is not at eye-level. The ergonomics are terrific. You know what I do to get it to make music? I press one button. The volume dial. And it resumes where it left off. Brilliant!

Call me old fashioned, but I like a simple, straight forward deck that's not going to invite criminals into my car. I don't need a remote control, or a removable faceplate, or colour displays. Just play me some music while I drive!

So I think converting the Delica to Mazda makes sense, since there's lots of them around, they're also Japanese, and the FM band is set up for North America. If I ever want a fancier stereo, I just get the harness as if I'm installing it in a Mazda, and it will plug right in.

[TieMyShoe]

the grounds are different? what the heck does that mean? ground is ground... does he think JDM cars are like old britt cars? Positive ground??

[doodah]

I'm of the same mind regarding simplicity of stereos!

I have a Pioneer installed that we seldom use because of the complexity and fussing around with tiny buttons on it.

I like the look of the Mazda stereo, but the complexity of the installation is beyond my ability.....

So, recommendations for an easy to use, simple and obvious operation stereo would be greatly appreciated.....