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.