Edmunds dealer partner, Bayway Leasing, is now offering transparent lease deals via these forums. Click here to see the latest vehicles!
Popular New Cars
Popular Used Sedans
Popular Used SUVs
Popular Used Pickup Trucks
Popular Used Hatchbacks
Popular Used Minivans
Popular Used Coupes
Popular Used Wagons
Comments
All the plastic dash pieces are snug fits. They really feel like they won't let go but they will. The arrows in figures #1 and #4 show where the prongs are that hold the pieces in place. Those are the points where you need to pull. Take it easy but apply constant pressure.
For the gear shift cover you first you need to pop up the end closest to the hand brake and then pull back away from the dash as the top two prongs are tricky.
Once you get the HVAC surround off you need to remove the small security box to the right of the HVAC/radio assembly. That's if you have the security upgrade. Now you can get at the 4 screws that hold the whole unit in place. After those screws are removed you can wiggle the complete assembly forward enough to reach behind and disconnect the antenna and harness. On my 00 the screws holding the Soob radio were really tight. Be careful not to strip them.
Take your time
Disconnect the battery
Be careful not to bend the black HVAC cable
Keep a towel handy to stick under the metal bracket when you pull the HVAC assembly forward
Tools you will need:
Long phillips screwdriver that is magnetized (don't want to drop any screws)
Stubby phillips for the ashtray screws
Butter knife or putty knife to help free the plastic trim.
It's more fun than it sounds.
bit
-mike
Jim
-mike
Jim
juice-
from bit's install instruction the MY2000 are definitely different.
-Dave
-juice
the message following mine is Doug chimming in to help out.
-Dave
-juice
I should be working on the OBS this Saturday to swap in the '98 OB unit. Hopefully, I'll have a camera then and hope it will be easier this time around and won't be any difference from the OB.
In case I did not note before, the DIN socket on the WRX unit is on the left whereas the '98 OB unit is on the right. Meaning, the wires feeds from the right on the '98 OB and I had to detach a tie strap to free the wires to reach the socket on the left. Even that was barely enough. If the '02 Legacy feeds from the left, no worry.
-Dave
-juice
-juice
10" blade will do. That was the shortest of the long blade I could get at the hardware store.
Don't really need a strong magnet at the end of the screwdriver, just stroke the screwdriver in the uni-direction with a magnet. That will be enough to magnetized it.
-Dave
I may need to buy one, I'm not sure any of mine can reach 10".
-juice
-Dave
-juice
Jim
Mike
Mike
It's been done at least 50-100x
-mike
There is a WHOLE forum on the I-club for Aftermarket Forced Induction.
-mike
As far as doing it, I've performed this procedure on many cars. Personally, I would not cut out the original harness. Never know when you want to swap back or swap to something else which will utilize that harness. You can, instead of cutting the wires, use Squeeze Connectors (a.k.a. "Scotch Connectors"). If you are unfamiliar with these, they have 2 inputs on them. the whole connector opens like a book and you close it down on the wires. There is a metal piece inside this book which makes contact with the two wires without cutting them but merely piercing the insulation. They work great and make a perfect connection when installed correctly.
'11 GMC Sierra 1500; '08 Charger R/T Daytona; '67 Coronet R/T; '13 Fiat 500c; '20 S90 T6; '22 MB Sprinter 2500 4x4 diesel; '97 Suzuki R Wagon; '96 Opel Astra; '08 Maser QP; '11 Mini Cooper S
As for warranty work, if you cut that harness and have electrical problems down the road, you can bet they'll be denying your warranty claim.
As for wiring up, does the stoc stereos have wires coming out the back? or just a place to plugin the stock harness? I see that as the biggest problem to trying to hookup a stereo that wasn't meant for your application, if there are no wires to splice on the radio side, then it's gonna be hard to split in your harness to it.
-mike
Mike-
there aren't any wires sticking out of the unit. Just sockets to plug and play.
-Dave
Adapters do exist, but (obviously) not for every application. It would definitely pay to look around because:
something else I have done in the past is to swap wires within a harness. Most harnesses are constructed so that (with a very thin, long, and stiff piece of metal and ALOT of patience) you can compress the clips which hold the wires in the harness. Then you just reinsert them in the correct location of the harness (of course, the harness needs to be the correct size for the new head unit). This is a HUGE pain in the a**. But, ya gotta do what ya gotta do.
The last choice is to buy loose plug on connectors from Radio Shack which will snug onto each pin on the head unit. And, of course, you need to attach a bit of wire to each plug. Then connect those wires to the harness. At that point, you might as well also buy the plug connectors which will go into the harness itself and attach those to the other ends of the wires you made.
'11 GMC Sierra 1500; '08 Charger R/T Daytona; '67 Coronet R/T; '13 Fiat 500c; '20 S90 T6; '22 MB Sprinter 2500 4x4 diesel; '97 Suzuki R Wagon; '96 Opel Astra; '08 Maser QP; '11 Mini Cooper S
Jim
-mike
guess that happens way too often.
You have the new radio? If you do, I guess they didn't put a chart on the unit, huh? Its so nice when manufacturers do that and its so rare that they actually do.
'11 GMC Sierra 1500; '08 Charger R/T Daytona; '67 Coronet R/T; '13 Fiat 500c; '20 S90 T6; '22 MB Sprinter 2500 4x4 diesel; '97 Suzuki R Wagon; '96 Opel Astra; '08 Maser QP; '11 Mini Cooper S
-Dave
mike k
I'd mentioned an 8" long blade will do, which it will, but it just occur to me (doink) that luckily 10" blade was the shortest long blade I could find. I think the 10" blade (when magnetized) will come better handy if and when you need to fish for dropped screw(s).
-Dave
mike k
I have a 02 Forester L and have been considering adding tweeters. My dealer wants$110.
I was wondering how did you install them. Do they come with a plug at the end of a lead or did you have to splice them in. Also do they just mount in the grill ?
Any info would be appreciated.
Gene
Special thanks to Bit, Dave, and Doug, for the tips. Took 3 hours, though I had to run for a stubby phillips screw driver.
I did have a drill bit phillips head, and managed to hold it with a pliers, but didn't have room to work it out. So I bit the bullet and bought a set of screw drivers.
I had an 8" long phillips and that was actually enough for me. But I needed a short one anyway, so I just bought a whole set to be on the safe side.
Lost one bolt - DOH! But then found an exact match in my spare parts jar.
It wasn't that hard, it just took patience to figure out the angles to apply pressure.
Got two battle scars, one on a knuckle and one on my wrist, and a blood stain on the seat, which I managed to clean. Whew.
Without the cup holder on the dash, it seemed easier. I actually left the HVAC stuff untouched, and worked from the bottom up, taking out that storage box below the stereo. And hey, everything still works and nothing buzzes.
But the results are fantastic, for $150 it's unbeatable. 6 CDs and a tape, and it even leaves the tape inside while playing the radio or CDs.
Review of the music played:
Best of Elmo: painful
Scooby Doo Theme: loved it
Barney: bring me a barf bag
Arthur: Ziggy Marley? I can deal.
Wiggles: aye carumba!
Stanley: Baja Men? Who let the dogs out?
-juice
Guess when you hear a rattle up front you know what it is ;-)
Glad to hear you got through the swap.
The Forester should be easier. Just the trim and the shifter & handbrake panels to deal with nothing else. The 2 tabs at the top horizontal section of the trim are a little pesky to remove. Need to unlatch the metal clips attached to the tabs. Smooth sailing after that. Oh, same set of wires plus one more for ground. That is attached to the mounting bracket.
Swapped the '98 OB unit to the OBS. Yes, the unit does make a difference. The cheap speakers actually sounded quite good.
Note: the speakers needs alot of juice to drive. First time I've ever crank any car stereo to 22. Same loudness when it was still in my OB, 12.
-Dave
I have a Legacy. The tweeters replaced the triangular plastic pieces at the front of the door.
Both the door and the tweeters are pre-wired. Just plug the wires together and pop the tweeter in place. The instructions were very clear.
I'd guess that the Forester is similar, perhaps someone can confirm it. I think it's a big improvement.
Jim
Visually, the sidewall didn't looked any leaner. Bumps were a tat more thumpy - no filling removal jarrings. Road noise - no better than the Energy MXV4 205/70/15. Handling; still too early to tell. Oh, I went with the tires I know - Michelin Energy MXV4+
-Dave
I must also confess that too many years in aircraft have also diminished my high freq hearing which is probably the real reason I do not get much from the tweets.
Its an age thing .........:)
If I hear a rattle I will crank up the new 6CD changer!
-juice
PS I'm shopping for #2 for Sandy, if you see one, I'd prefer local (DC, MD, VA)
-juice
In my '99 Forester L, I had enabled a nifty hidden feature in the keyless entry module that I would like to replicate on my new 2003 Forester XS.
I don't remember the details, or even where I got the information, but by changing a few DIP switches, I enabled a feature that locks your doors when you turn the car on and unlocks them when you turn it off.
I believe the OEM keyless entry for Subaru is still Code-Alarm/Chapman, but the system has likely changed since '99 and I don't want to tinker around with it unless I actually get some documentation.
Anyone have any ideas if this can be done? (I believe this is the same system is the 2001 and newer Foresters.)
Thanks,
Elliot
-juice
2) Sway bars
3) Springs
4) DRIVING SCHOOL!
-mike