1997 ST - The Bushmobile Options

[Bushmatic]

After some fiddling around, the key barrel isn't jammed....my key just doesn't fit in it?? I have some smaller keys that fit into the lock fine, but when I try to use the car key, it's simply too thick to fit in the slot. Kind of a weird issue to have. But otherwise, gonna try to come up with a game plan for the car--what I'm gonna do, when I'm gonna do it, how much it will cost, etc.

[Bushmatic]

Anyway, moving away from the key thing: Just started planning a sound system overhaul. The front door speakers currently don't work, and I'm limited to cassettes, CDs, and the radio, so I decided this will be the first real mod I do. Already ordered the head unit and the necessary wiring harness. I have a Boss brand subwoofer and amplifier combo collecting dust in my garage that will hopefully be put to good use as well.

For the head unit, I'm going with the Pioneer AVH-180DVD. I didn't buy from this link, it's only around $140-150 when bought elsewhere. Double DIN with iPhone input was my only requirement for my head unit, and this seemed to be one of the cheapest ones out there with the best reviews. I also like the fact that I can play DVDs in it, although I'll probably never use that feature unless I drive down to Florida or something and my girlfriend gets that bored (plus, it's 2016--we can watch Netflix on our phones now).

Here is the wiring harness I ordered. If you aren't aware (I'm sure everyone reading this is, but just for posterity purposes), you need to buy one of these harnesses specific to your car when installing an aftermarket stereo if you don't want to cut or splice any wires.

I'll probably be buying some aftermarket speakers for the front doors at some point, does anyone have any recommendations? In the meantime, how should I go about diagnosing the stock ones that aren't working? It's weird that both front speakers don't work and both back ones do, so I thought there might be a fuse specific to the front speakers. Still haven't opened up the fuse boxes and taken a close look, but I doubt it will be that easy of a fix. The rear speakers have actually impressed me with their sound, a bit lacking on the low end (which my subwoofer/new front speakers will fix), but the rest of the frequency spectrum sounds 100x more clear than I was expecting when I bought the car. If I upgrade these, it will be after everything else is done.

[BonzaiCelica]

My left front speaker blew out and quite honestly I think it's time for an upgrade. I've asked several times what's the output of stock 4 speaker with tweeters specs but no replies.

I figure anything that's 120 for all 4 speakers n tweeters must be better than my 17 year old system. I'm looking at this head unit that includes Bluetooth and control... Pioneer DEH-X6800BT

[Box]

You can test the speaker wiring with a voltmeter or multi-meter, or you can test with a speaker that's known to be working. With stereo on and playing preferably a CD/MP3 etc... for stable signal you can test for voltage or plug in a speaker and see if you get sound. Other possibilities being the stereo that's in the car the output for the front channel is dead or someone burnt up the front speaker wiring by trying to draw too much power through them. That or someone had the front speakers on an amp and then when they pulled the amp and speakers they didn't bother redoing the wiring. Really one of those dig and see things.

Really most of your renowned name brands make good speakers, really the best thing is to look through and read reviews on places like Sonic Electronix or Crutchfield to get an idea. Generally Pioneer, Infinity, Alpine, Rockford Fosgate, etc... are good choices.

[Bushmatic]

You can test the speaker wiring with a voltmeter or multi-meter, or you can test with a speaker that's known to be working. With stereo on and playing preferably a CD/MP3 etc... for stable signal you can test for voltage or plug in a speaker and see if you get sound. Other possibilities being the stereo that's in the car the output for the front channel is dead or someone burnt up the front speaker wiring by trying to draw too much power through them. That or someone had the front speakers on an amp and then when they pulled the amp and speakers they didn't bother redoing the wiring. Really one of those dig and see things.

Really most of your renowned name brands make good speakers, really the best thing is to look through and read reviews on places like Sonic Electronix or Crutchfield to get an idea. Generally Pioneer, Infinity, Alpine, Rockford Fosgate, etc... are good choices.

Thanks, will try all that out when I get a few hours to tear apart the doors.

Just put an order in for a full interior LED upgrade, including dash lights, as well as license plate lights and third brake light. Tomorrow I have to head to the Secretary of State office to officially register my car. Might stop by a local mechanic to get a quote on a pulley replacement. The squeal I get on startup and when turning the steering wheel all the way to the left is unbearably loud. I would be able to do this myself, but I want it done now, and I don't have a garage or proper tools or anything while I'm in school...

[Bushmatic]

Still waiting on a lot of items to ship to continue improving the car, but in the meantime, I discovered that the front door speakers actually do work. It took me sitting in the passenger seat and cleaning the stereo to finally discover the fader knob hidden behind the volume knob. It's just a little tab sticking out that was hidden from my view when sitting in the driver's seat. I turned it back to the 50-50 position and the speakers have sprung into life. I have been looking for the fader since I bought the car, since I figured that would be the easiest solution to the front speaker problem--and it turns out I was right lol. Feel kinda dumb for taking this long to find it, but whatever. They sound pretty good, a lot more bass than the rear speakers. I might just drop my sub in the trunk and stick with the stock speakers for a while.

Also gonna try to clean my AC evaporator core at some point soon using this guide. I normally replace all my air filters when buying a car, but these cars don't have cabin filters so I guess this would be the next best thing.

[Box]

Or it could be the fader setting. That's about as easy of a fix you could hope for.

[Bushmatic]

I got my head unit and wiring harness, so I started connecting all the matching wires. I'm waiting to connect the parking brake, ground, and remote turn on wires because I bought this neat little device that will bypass the parking brake. This will allow the settings to be adjusted and for videos to play on the screen while the parking brake is not engaged. Neither of those are urgent needs of mine, but I would just prefer to have full control of the stereo at all times. I might also buy this thing and replace my cigarette lighter with it. It would be really helpful and easy to install, since the head unit has USB and RCA inputs on the back that would hook right up to this. Since the USB input doubles as a charger, I wouldn't have a use for my cigarette lighter anyway, and this solution would look somewhat stock. I'm not sure if the stock socket can be removed from the trim piece, though, which would affect my decision to buy. If it can't be detached and subsequently replaced, I'll buy a different aux/USB input harness and mount it inside the tray beside the cigarette lighter. I'll take a lot of pictures during the installation of all these and make my own write-up, as some of the ones on this site are a bit outdated (missing pictures, old head units, not using any kind of bypass, etc.).

[Bushmatic]

Got my new stereo head unit installed, and to my surprise, everything worked perfectly on my first try. But I have a couple really minor questions to anyone who has done this installation before:

1. As soon as the car (and stereo) comes on, my antenna goes up, not just when I play the radio. Is this normal, and if not, how do I stop this from happening? Seems kind of pointless to have the antenna constantly extending and retracting if I never listen to the radio.

2. The screen doesn't dim with the factory dimmer knob. It has its own built-in dimmer setting that you have to change on the settings screen. Is this also normal? And not, what's the fix?

If it helps, I installed the micro bypass device. I installed it by just splicing the blue, black, and light green wires into the wires coming from the back of the stereo. I wasn't sure if the blue wire (remote turn-on) had to be spliced in to the connection or if it had to completely replace the factory blue wire, meaning the blue wire from the stock wiring harness would be blanked out. Hopefully this makes sense, I can take pics if necessary. I still need to find someone who owns a DVD so I can toss it in the stereo and see if the micro bypass does its job.

[richee3]

Both are standard with every head unit I've ever had. I used to have a switch installed in the antenna wire so it would only go up when I wanted it to. As for the dimmer, my current two head units dim when the lights are turned on but every other head unit I've ever had has just stayed on full brightness.

[Bushmatic]

Both are standard with every head unit I've ever had. I used to have a switch installed in the antenna wire so it would only go up when I wanted it to. As for the dimmer, my current two head units dim when the lights are turned on but every other head unit I've ever had has just stayed on full brightness.

Yeah I figured it out shortly after I posted, this video explains everything: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bF3uzzaT30

The blue wire is for hooking up anything you want to turn on at the same time as the head unit turns on (mainly used for amplifiers). Since I connected this wire to the car's blue wire, the antenna goes up whenever the head unit is on. I'll probably just roll with this for a while, maybe install a switch like you did at some point.

And the dimmer wire, like you said, is meant to work in conjunction with the headlights, not the dash dimmer knob. But hey, looks like I installed it all correctly. The ebay Microbypass chip works perfectly too.

[Bushmatic]

Two small questions to anyone reading...

I'm having a lot of trouble removing my third brake light to install an LED bulb in its place. The long socket does not want to come out, even when pulling with a ton of force with pliers. There is a video in this thread showing how to remove it, but it looks like he just reaches in and pulls it out effortlessly. Does anyone know if there's a certain way I have to move it or anything like that? After this, all my LEDs will be installed except the gauge lighting, which I am delaying until I receive the capacitors to fix the tachometer.
EDIT: According to this thread, I bought the LED replacement for 1994-1995 models, which won't work in my car. Looks like this replacement will be put on hold until I decide to buy this bulb or some other bulb with the same base.

Second question: I noticed my glove compartment light doesn't work. I replaced the bulb with an LED, and it still doesn't work (I flipped the LED around a couple times to no avail). I'm guessing the socket doesn't really "go bad", so it must be the sensor that detects when the glove compartment is opened? Has anyone dealt with this issue? Not a big deal whatsoever but like I mentioned earlier in this thread, I'm a fanatic about making every little thing in my car work perfectly.

This post has been edited by Bushmatic: Nov 13, 2016 - 9:03 PM

[richee3]

I have a spare tach if you need it, but I've got a project so I'd need your old one in return.

[Bushmatic]

I have a spare tach if you need it, but I've got a project so I'd need your old one in return.

Hopefully the new capacitors will bring mine back to life, but if they don't, I'll take you up on that offer! The only thing is I ordered them a month ago and they still haven't arrived. Messaged the seller today, will try to have an answer for you soon.

[Box]

The switch plunger for the glove box light is probably gunked up, I forget where it is exactly on the Celica but the glovebox door would have to come in contact with it somehow so it shouldn't be too hard to find.

[BonzaiCelica]

http://www.6gc.net/forums/index.php?showto...p;#entry1086551

[Bushmatic]

Trying to figure out the best way to repair/restore the hatch door on my car. Corrosion is just starting to eat through the bottom area around the latch, and there is a splotch by the third brake light. The rear wiper does not work, and the weather stripping around the window is noticeably faded. I figure the most cost-effective option would be to just take a whole new door from a yard and swap it with mine. However, it doesn't look like there are any Celicas within 100 miles of me. The other option is to take it to a body shop so they can sand/bondo/repaint the problem areas, and then just replace the wiper motor myself. At some point I would also like to remove the spoiler (and later put in the tall GT-Four/SSS-III spoiler if I can find a good deal on one), which would involve more body work. Replacing the entire liftback from a GT model would be so much easier (plus I would just need to buy riser blocks, not the whole spoiler), but idk if I'll be able to get one. Any ideas? Anyone doing a part-out? I'd be fine with one in any color if it's not too expensive, but shipping might kill me either way.... so I'm open to any thoughts on this.

Some new things coming up in the meantime... Will take some pictures once everything arrives and I get them in the car.
-Fixed tach
-Blue LED gauge lighting (already did the full [blue] LED interior upgrade except for these and the climate control lighting)
-Sparco shift knob (won a nice one in an ebay auction for 20 bucks)
-Shift boot (mine is torn and ratty)
-Radio/climate control bezel piece (two corners of mine are chipped off, and one of the vents in mine is busted)
-USB/aux input jack in the plastic pocket by the cigarette lighter
-Phone mount
-12" subwoofer with amplifier (took some measurements in the trunk and tried to order a sub box that would fit the way I want it. Will update with results whenever I get this project done)
-Winter items: new wheels and rubber floor mats
-Got a set of Euro front splitters from Colton (Csober on here), just gotta paint them and bolt them on

Things for a little further in the future when I win the lottery:
-New speakers all around (thanks for the info Bonzai)
-Replacement key fob from dealer
-Suspension upgrade of some kind
-Other random stuff... fixed sunroof, new spoiler, maybe new wheels, side skirts, full 3S-GTE engine swap....

[CelicaDICE]

I have a set of genuine GT4/SS-III raiser blocks. You can check it out here: http://www.6gc.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=97263

If you do not like the price, feel free to make an offer!

[Box]

ST and GT have the same lift door, what you're wanting is a '94-95 for the two post.

This post has been edited by Box: Nov 18, 2016 - 12:59 PM

[Bushmatic]

I have a set of genuine GT4/SS-III raiser blocks. You can check it out here: http://www.6gc.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=97263

If you do not like the price, feel free to make an offer!

Yeah I think you commented in my classifieds thread! These would be awesome but I am not ready to start a project with my spoiler yet, as I have to address the lift door under it first. I'll keep these in mind whenever I'm ready to upgrade to the tall spoiler, which may be a while....

ST and GT have the same lift door, what you're wanting is a '94-95 for the two post.

You're right, I saw a picture of a 95 GT and assumed the spoiler was associated with the "GT" part, not the "1995" part That two-post spoiler looks so much cleaner than the three-post, it's too bad they decided to change it up like that.