Installed a new Alpine CDE-143BT Head unit in the old girl this weekend. Used the Metra 70-1817 wiring adapter and the Metra 99-6501 Dash Kit. The Metra wiring adapter had the correct wiring color codes and it worked flawlessly. The dash kit has runners on the back which expand the units height to the 1.5 din creating a wiggle free solid install. Highly recommend!

On another note, discovered the importance of crimping the insulation on Butt Connectors via my neighbor who used to work for Amp. Seems the weak point in butt splice is where the wire is inserted into the metal sleeve. Crimping the insulator (after crimping the metal sleeve) end basically keeps the splice from moving and minimizes the force put on the splice when the wire is pulled. Years of using these things and never knew.

 

Just changed out my dash with one from LMC. Looks soooo much better

Before-


After-


I have the new bezel but waiting to change out my radio first before I put it on, too scared a tab will break.

 

Nice looking dash!

Mine has a few cracks, but no holes, thankfully!

 

Found premium for $2.00/g so put some in the tank....

Made the trip back to Fairfax from Indy, putting a lot of miles on the truck, it's been on trip for so long I lost count of the actual mileage, peaked at it the other day and it was around 190,000 I thinks....

Bout time for a new set of rubber but she's still moving right along, gimpy transmission and all

 

Took the ole girl down a hill today and almost into a slough...interstate was pretty icy and going up a hill didn't help...

 

Filled up with premium as well. Mine cost $2.30/gal though!

 

Last night --

The respectable buyer of my former ORE axles arrived and picked them up. We drained the diff fluid and checked out the condition overall. Very pleased with them. Quite the pain in butt to load though. His front is pitched up on ramps to lower the tail gate....hahaha

Yeah, that is me pointing to his white beast. It's an 01 sport. We'll be seeing more of eachother.

 

And his truck is thinking: Some day, I will grow up to be just like THAT truck.

 

New A/C compressor arrived... the dryer and seals didn't though.
Already have new belt, idler, and tensioner... hope the dryer makes here by the weekend.

 

Spillage,
I'll be replacing my A/C Compressor and Dryer this spring. Is there a good write-up that you can recommend I use for this procedure? Just wondering if you are using a write-up.