The plan for Saturday was to join a group ride out of West Boca. That was a nice idea and all, but I mis-judged how far the starting location was and after waking up early, working a bit, and dozing for an hour, I was rushing to get everything in the truck (bike, shoes, helmet, etc.) for the journey. Since I did not know the exact spot, I wound up about 8 minutes late! Oh well, I said, it was an outing and they have that ride every Saturday.
I drove back and thought to myself that I could still do a short ride on one of my regular routes.
The Ride
Back at the house (an hour or so later) I was planning on riding south into Pompano Beach and swinging around onto Ocean Blvd for the return. I noticed before leaving that I was painfully low on cash, so instead of going south, I went north since there is a CitiBank just up the road in Boca.
After that stop, I went north a few blocks, headed for Ocean Blvd, and then proceeded north for about another 4 miles. By this point the temps had climbed into the upper 80's as I swung west back to Rt 1 and back south. On the way, I stopped off at the "Flashback Diner" since it is now 11:30 am and I have not eaten anything except for some trail mix before originally leaving the house.
With the food stop complete, I continued to head south and headed back to Ocean Blvd again and sat by the Intracoastal Waterway to watch the fishing boats come and go.
Back on Ocean Blvd south, I headed for Deerfield Beach. By now, the temps were just hitting 90 and the sun was baking me pretty good so it was good to make it back to the house and the A/C!
Car Stereo Replacement Project
Back indoors, the plan was to head out to the Truck and take the dash apart in order to remove the stock AM/FM Cassette unit. Also, I wanted to validate that the left speaker was, in fact, toast. No reason to take a shower at this point since I would probably be out in the 90 degree heat at the Truck for most of the next several hours.
When I received the truck, the story was that the left speaker had not worked for years. I was assuming that even if I got that to work, I would eventually replace both speakers. The existing radio is stock and always sounded pretty bad, especially on one speaker!
The new Stereo was sold as a direct replacement for the existing one and I bought a wiring adapter kit which should make the reconnect easy (famous last words).
JVC KDR330 CD Receiver
First item of business was to wire up the new Stereo harness with the adapter harness. Once complete, I headed out to rip out the old radio. It took some work to get all the lower Dash cowling pieces unscrewed and removed. As I suspected, it looked like the left speaker connector had come off!
Nonetheless, the speaker cones were falling apart so it is on my list to replace them anyway.
Removing the actual radio was trivial (4 screws) and once out and looking at it back upstairs to compare it to the new radio, I got more confident that it will fit properly. Also, the adapter wiring harness connector was identical to what was on the back of the old radio (amazing when a plan comes together!).
I removed the left and right brackets from the old radio and installed them on the new one. Back at the truck, the harness assembly plugged right in but it took a little maneuvering to get the new radio snug in place. Once there, the screws tightened it down without any issues. I put back only a few of the screws/bolts of the cowlings since I wanted to 1)make sure everything worked; and 2)will eventually get some new speakers to put in.
On engine ignition, we had liftoff!! The new radio lit up into it's "Demo" mode, and once I disabled that and selected FM, I could hear music out of both Speakers!
Please ignore the Duct Tape remnants on the right cowling....that was from someone mounting a camera on the Dash to record a youtube video while driving (whatever...).
The Road Test
I needed to make a food run anyway, so I brought all my tools back upstairs and headed out. At about Volume level 20, there was enough sound to hear the radio over the 4 cyl engine. New speakers would go along way to decent sound.
This Stereo has an AUX 3.5mm input on the front panel for analog connection mobile to devices such as my phone, a tablet, an MP-3 player, etc. It also has a rear AUX 3.5mm input which could be used with the Blue Tooth adapter (sold separately).
An update: This guy has a similar Truck and Stereo and recommends these replacement speakers for under $20!! Break out that card and go for it, Steve!!
In Closing
Installing this Stereo in the truck was one of my main todo's on this trip. I guess I now have no choice but to spend the rest of my time at the beach!
Until the next sign post, keep on riding!!
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