Found a sweet deal on a 7" Flip Down Car DVD CD Player GPS HD PIP Ipod Bluetooth Partridge in a Pear Tree Touch Screen for a little over $200 on eBay. After looking at what they wanted for similar radios at CarToys and the like, this was a helluva deal even if it was an off brand. Thought it would be a nice addition to my F350. It's been years since I've installed a new radio in anything but I used to be pretty good at it back in the day.
I picked up a wiring harness and dash adapter at Autozone then went to work. Pulling the old radio was a piece of cake, but getting the new one to line up right with the dash was a PITA. The adapter faceplate opening was about 1/4" too small so I had to bust out the Dremel and an X-acto knife to trim it up.
This radio is very cool for the price. Similar ones by name brands were $500 and up (and they're all made in China). Having a 7" touchscreen for GPS is nice and integrated phone is much better than the plug in hands free I had. Two less wires hanging from the windshield to deal with. It has a ton of functions and interfaces and runs Windows CE 6. Now I need to add XM and a back-up cam so I can see my trailer hitch when hooking up. I'm also going to fabricate a new power point terminal with room for a USB port.
When everything was said and done, it don't look too shabby. My lines are fairly straight, the tolerances are tight and I only cut a small part of my thumb off with the X-acto knife.
5 comments:
Looks like a sweet daddy installation - nice job!
That looks great and I am jealous! I need a new cd player in my car because the factory cd player quit working, so I went to Best Buy and bought a simple radio with a USB port and the plug in thingamagig for an ipod and made an appointment to have it installed the following Friday. The installation fee was $60 and I expected to have to buy some kind of something to make the radio fit in the spot because the factory radio/cd player was bigger, but I didn't think I'd need a $100 part to integrate the chimes and security warnings or another $100 to make it so that I could keep Onstar functioning. All told, to install a cheapo radio it was going to cost over $300. I took the cd player back for a refund. The old radio works fine and who needs a cd plaer. Sorry, I wrote a book.
YM, all you need is an FM Modulator. Plug the iPod/Phone into it and then tune it in on FM. They are cheap and easy to use.
Here's one I found on Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Wireless-Automobile-Cigarette-Transmitter-Modulator/dp/B0057D51ZY/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1337124428&sr=8-2
Just fyi for the future: Crutchfield has the best online prices and the best customer service i have ever dealt with. Also now that you are part of the FORD family go check out http://www.f150forum.com I know you have a 350 but this forum all FORD trucks not just 150's. Check out the mod's pages. The power point usb mod has been done. Tim...
Hey! Thanks!
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