My car just gave a pain over the weekned to get the an aftermarket headunit to work in my car. If I ever were to get another sc I would bypass the whole factory amp and just run my own wires they how I would like it.

 

That was my plan from the beginning, and that's how I did it. The only thing I'm still stumped on is the factory sub amp/sub.

 

I just tried the Metra integraton harness and got all kinds of crazy buzz with teh car not running. The kenwood deck isn't playing nice with the factory amp. I was just trying to integrate a new HU with factory stuff.

I ripped everything back out, but next try might be powering up the factory amp - connecting the factory amp up, but don't put signal to it (leave the RCA's unplugged) and splicing new wiring from the Deck outputs straight to the factory speakers.

Basically, disconnect the factory amp harness outputs to the factory speakers, and splice them straight to deck output with 4 new speaker leads from the deck to the trunk.

So, the factory amp will still power on, but it's outputs will no longer go to the factory speakers. This should still allow the factory sub to fire up.

 

hmm.... provided that the factory amp "turns on" the sub amp... let me know how that works out!

 

It worked like a champ on my car. Check out my latest response:

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/lex...rket-hu-4.html

LIterally, everything is plugged in except the 12 disk changer is gone and 8 output wires (all speaker wire output from the factory Pioneer amp) were cut and spliced to my HU so deck power is running everything except the sub.

Factory sub is working as it should, running off factory amp.

PS Raine - I saw your car after you got done onyour site, yours was the reason I slammed my car on rims - I was gonna leave it alone. I literally saw your car, next morning picked up the phone Visa in hand and ordered wheels and springs...

 

OK so you did what I did (run speaker wire from HU all the way back to under the CD changer)... I removed the amp though, so you're saying I should plug the stock main amp back in, then do the RCA-to-speaker wire thing behind the HU?

 

Yup. My factory amp still powers up...

 

Fantastic - it worked! I'm gonna rewrite the first post, hopefully mods will sticky this when I'm done =)

 

FIRST POST SUPER UPDATED!

Got everything working, thanks to fellow CL members, and I decided to write it up as the FINAL guide for installing an aftermarket head unit into an SC without losing the OEM sub! hopefully it's good enough to stick, but it definitely needs the title change so people can find this thread easier.

Enjoy (maybe I'll "port" this to my garage guide site some day)

 

What's weird is that I only plugged in the blue wire on the Metra harness to the Antenna on lead on the stereo and my antenna works. Yes, ONE wire to lift my antenna.

I kept fighting the notion that two wires were needed to turn it on, but I just followed the directions and it worked. I remember dealing with a 93 LS400 recently that needed both wires to power up the antenna but the owner butchered the harness so I had to do it the hard way and test each lead -

maybe the factory antenna gets the 2nd turn on lead from the factory amp as well.

 

added some wiring photos for a better visual =)

 

So when you say "factory amp", is this the sub amp? Or the main amp? In Raine's guide, he says to completely remove the main amp. I followed his guide, but my sub/power antenna is not working. Do I need to put back in the main amp and plug it in? This is not mentioned in Raine's guide.