<B><u>NEW UPDATE:</u></B>
Console work has been progressing over the last couple days. I'm about 75% done at this point.
Factory Console removal went rather well despite being made of way too many sub assemblies and parts for what it is... plastic extrusion. I swear we removed a million screws from this thing. Everything came right out including the bose audio amp/brain and the sub woofer. GM was nice enough to carpet the entire floor under the console.
Gamber-Johnson Console went in smoothly. I am glad I thought of using an additional 9 inch EPIC console and bolting it to the 17i nch EPIC section to make a larger mounting area. Same concept Troy uses with their MODCON line
Things that went bad (minor problems)
I broke 3 "jesus" clip retainers on the door seal trim area and kick panels (we all know these things snap off all the time. Just stopped off at GM and ordered replacements. They look ok but I doubt they'll survive another removal if I need to change something. Better to have new on hand. Notice the spot in the dash where the factory console used to be? Well if I want to hide that I have to buy the entire piece that goes around the glove box at a cost of $272! I may try to to custom fabricate something in there... possibly a new sub woofer box down to the floor. We'll see. Otherwise I'll just spend the $272 and get the OEM part.
New trim parts arrived today so those will be replaced tomorrow.
I came up short on one spectra cable and ended up routing another one up the drive's side wiring channel instead of the passenger side where the other radios go.
I'm stuck waiting on a faceplate from Gamber-Johnson for the Orion to arrive. Cupholder is from JottoDesk with the reverse slope to keep it level. Fits perfectly too.
Rear stereo control head is being measured up for its custom faceplate to mount on the rear of the console. As for the damn subwoofer I think I'll basically be building it into a speaker box below the dash panel.
The exposed area between the rear of the console and the truck floor will be enclosed with additional stainless steel to make the console actually sit flush with the floor with no gaps. When that's done you won't be able to see the silver box that is the Bose audio brain/amp.
I used the GM wiring to power the 2 light sockets and the Streamlight charger. The 3 cable runs include the remote control head cables, the 4ga front power lead and the factory GM wiring. If can hide the wire looms I wil.. I am somewhat stuck with the GM one where it right now. Might try to run them under the carpeting as well.
Also waiting on 3 l bracket mic clips for the side of the console. Less used mics are mounted on the front and will be below the PDRC mount.
PDRC mount is also on order and will slide into the DS-9 pole assembly mounted to the front of the top plate.
NEW CONSOLE PICTURES! 1-11-2004
Custom rear stereo control head mount and console base shroud are in. Again stainless steel was used to make the parts with a matching textured powder coat finish applied. I know it doesn't match in the pictures but that's because of the camera flash. A few other misc items have been put on such as mic clips, 18inch FS little lite and all the speakers are now properly mounted. Some of the loose wiring seen goes to the GPS and or PDRC mount. The NotepadIV mount in there is just temporary until the rear laptop docking station is installed. I need to run GPS while I was in ohio. The LB Orion is in and up on 52.525 and the Garmin GPS III+ was installed using a R-A-M mount. I know the 2 mounting bolts on the stereo faceplate don't match - I'll replace them as soon as I can find black hex head hardware that will fit.
The BOSE audio subwoofer is still sitting on the floor behind the passenger seat. Hopefully it will be remounted before I leave for Ohio next week.
The plate was custom machine from 12 Gauge Stainless Steel then powdered coated in satin black. Mounting bracktes were also made out of the same gauge stainless and powder coated as well.
The plate is attached to existing stock seat bolt locations with c type brackets in the front and l type brackets in the rear. No drilling was needed into the floorpan or any other part of the truck. Located under the 60/40 split rear seat on the drivers side, the plate allows for full use of th seat adjustments including laying them flat for cargo needs. No stock functionality of the seats was changed or prohibited. Part of the plate does extend into the 3rd seat foot well area. This is not a problem as I have no use for the third seat anyway and just keep it folded up out of the way. If I could find a place to store it around the house it wouldn't even be in the truck still.
Holes were punched to accomodate the following radios. Mounting bolts have rubber washers to inhibit direct metal contact.
Astro Spectra 110w (2)
MACOM Orion (2)
Astro Spectra 800 (1)
2 power studs
2 9 position fuse blocks
Another similar mount will be located under the passenger middle seat for the warning equipment
Notice how the radios simply dissappear underneath the seat when its up.
I should have the rest of the radios and brackets installed tomorrow.
I still have the RF, control and DC wiring to finish as well.
1-14-2004 New pics of the almost fully loaded mounting tray. The blank spot is for an 800Mhz EDACS Orion if I can ever find one.
Ok some new stuff. Installed a CPI Cast Product Inc speaker behind the grill. Both the bracket and the speaker housing a cast aluminum with a custom fit bracket for 2000 or newer Tahoe/Yukon/Suburban. Very sweet install, tollerances are tight and it fits perfectly. Only needed to drill 3 holes into some bracing and bolt it in. VERY SOLID.
THe grilll and headlamp removal was a snap. Took ten minutes as everything is secure with 1/4 turn switch retainers, 1 bolt, push in retainers and that's it. Couldn't be easier. Grill ights are next week and will drop right in.
Sorry about the water spots, been raining most of the week!.
Below is a pic of the antennas before I decided on the current config.
The placement of the antennas decided upon several factors.
1. The Headliner is HUGE and is made in 2 pieces
2. I have rear HVAC so there are ducts in the roof to work around
3. Asthetics
I choose to mount the antennas in the rear primarily beause of the size of the headliner itself and working around the ducts. headliner is split 60/40 with the rear 40 coming down easily. It was secured with 2 clothes hooks, and 8 push in style plastic clips (aka jesus clips) along with the rear pillar post trim.
Removing the entire headliner would have required taking down 2 overhead consoles, A and B and C pillar posts with the B and C having the seat belts in them to complicate matters along with working around the ducts.
Original plan was to place 6 NMO mounts along the center roof channel so they would be all lined up from over the front passenger area to the back cargo space.
The current pattern allowed for the removal of the rear portion of th headliner making a very simple and clean install.
holes were measured to avoid the roof bracing channels with string lines put up to insure proper allignment, The roof itself was tapped over with several layers of painters tape (low stickyness meant to be removed easily).
since the rear headliner was down a large sheet of black plastic was taped to the roof to catch all shavings and debris for easy cleanup.
As mentioned in other post the Titanium Nitride coated UNIBIT was used instead of the normal hole saw.
Testing proved the UNIBIT makes cleaner, bur free perfectly circular holes - something the Antennex X-act saw doesn't offeer.
NMO mounts are by MAXRAD - solid brass MMF style mounts which are fully shieded and modular in design using a MALE SMA connector on the base of the NMO.
Cable is LMR-195 factory terminated with female SMA connectors for the NMO side (soldered and heatshrunk) with the radios ends to be terminated with MINI UHF. I may use an antenna patch panel for maximum flexibility later on.
Cables were bundled and securely cable tied through the roof channels then down the driver side rear pillar through the trim and dropped under the driver's side passenger seat where the mounting tray for the radios will be.
Antennas have a minimum front to back spacing of 24 inches between the rows with 19inches between each antenna for.
Currently whips are mounted but I also have the can style Maxrad MLPV type antennas to use on everything except VHF.
