Balzak

gizmo, thats a metra kit right? same as mine i think....well, how did you manage to put that gray lip on it? arent there conflicts with that? and could you please advise me on how to wire the rear speakers b/c i really need to get them goin (i.e. wire diagrams or color coding). the way i wired the front speakers was by removing the foot panel and just wiring it from there.

btw, you have nice interior (black)-->mines kinda purpleish=gross.
and how much didyou get your metra kit for? thanks gizmo.

Balzak

hey gizmo, im assuming that you didnt have to solder or do any intricate wiring huh? I am so stupid! I have to splice everything!!
can you tell me where i can get a wiring harness for my es300? by the way again, i got my metra kit for 10$....was is a pain for you to slide it in with all those bulky wires?

Kyle Harty

iTrader: (17)

I picked up my dash kit last Wednesday, honestly I'm pretty disappointed with the texture. It doesn't match the climate controls or the piece below it. If they are gonna make a dash kit, make it blend in with the pieces around it. IMO, it looks kinda cheap like it doesn't below there. The shop hadn't been able to get ahold of the wiring harness, even directly from Metra, I haven't decided whether to hard wire or try and find it; I'll only be using about 4 wires, so it wouldn't be too bad to hard wire. I might throw the deck in and just hook up 2 of the pairs of front speakers until I can get the rest of the system together.

Plus I decided to sell my whole front stage speakers and do something different; so now that's on hold too.

Glad to hear it worked out for you.

Gizmo

Yea its the metra kit, the gray lip just seemed to fit over it perfectly, it came with the JVC mp3 deck. The way I did the rear speakers was by taking the rear RCA outputs from the JVC deck and plugging them into the Metra wiring harness (70-8112), it is definately a lot easier to use a wiring harness. I paid $14.99 for the dash kit, and $14.99 for the wiring harness, both from Tweeter. At first I had a bit of a buzzing in the speakers, so I got some RCA Ground Loop Isolators, and that took all the buzzing out. I didn't have to do any soldering at all, I used crimps that I picked up at Advanced Auto Parts to hold the wires together. It was a bit difficult to get all the wires in there due to the fact that I had 2 ground loop isolators in the back, but there is some space below the cutout for the headunit, so I put most of the wires down there.

Kyle, I was also a bit dissapointed with the texture, but I can live with it. I would definately reccomend waiting for the wiring harness to come in , as it will make t hings much easier for you. And about the looks of it being cheap, thats also backed up by it also being cheap, I already broke one of the clips by accident. Metra seems to be retarded, because it took Tweeter a while to get it from them too, and they had to send a lot of nasty emails before it actually got there. Good luck with your system Kyle.

Gizmo

I have a question for anyone else that may have put a cd deck in, hopefully someone knows the answer.. The metra wiring harness, it only has RCA inputs for front and rear speakers, does this supply a signal to the dash and tweeters as well or do I have to wire something else up for them? Thanks.

Kyle Harty

iTrader: (17)

I might make a new trim panel or look for another one, that mismatch is an eyesore, especially in audio competition where they judge the aesthetics of the install. I've even considered painting or doing something custom with some of the trim like that, this could be motivation to do it.

I'd also noticed the plastic isn't really strong enough to do the job in this situation, the brackets that hold the radio and climate controls together bend easily, and the mounting tabs are very thin and I see how they could easily break. I've used dash kits before and honestly haven't seen one this flimsy, I would've expected better. I'm gonna have to backstrap the HU real well, it's not gonna be held in place very well and will skip easily. I would've done that anyway, but it'll really be necessary with this dash kit.

Lexpusher96

I posted the part numbers for the Metra wiring harness and dash kit a while back. I didn't realize the Metra dash kit looked that way (cheap). The kit I have is a strong metal piece. My kit isn't a Metra, but I don't know who manufactured it. I bought it from "Sound on Wheels" in Rock Hill, SC. You can look up their phone number and ask them if they can send you a kit like mine. 'Steve Barnes' on this forum ordered from them using my information also. I'm interested to see if he received his kit and if it was like mine.

Gizmo

wow, that looks a lot better than the metra kit, how much did it cost you?

Lexpusher96

Yeah, I didn't know the Metra kit looked like that. When I first saw your pics, that plastic texture was the first thing I noticed. The kit I have was $20.

Gizmo

Thats a pretty good price too, I will hang on to my metra kit for now, but if it breaks I will definately have to pick up one of those metal ones. BTW, I sent you another e-mail.

Balzak

Gizmo, does your unit skip alot, b/c i noticed that mine does and i also came to realize that there is really nothing holding the unit in place except for those plastic clips. Have you fastened yours down?

oh yeah, and your tweeter delima, i dont think your tweeters are getting signal b/c i hardwired mine and only the main speaker get signal, im gonna have to buy component speakers or something.

Gizmo

I haven't taken mine on any bumpy roads yet, but mp3s should not skip, they are loaded into memory then played from there, but regular CDs might, I'll see today. I hope I can figure out how to get my tweeters to work.

Gizmo

Took it on some bumpy terrain, no skipping at all. Does anyone know how many watts the internal lexus amplifier is?

1loudlex

Please can you tell me what the model number is for that dash kit. I had to make one myself and really like how yours looks I looked on metras web site and they have no listing for that kit. Please post the model number if you still have it!!!

Thanx -Adam-

Gizmo

The metra kit number is 99-8150, however I would reccomend getting the metal kit if you can find it anywhere, as its much more sturdier and it matches better.