The stereo the van comes with sucks.
This was one of the first 'mods' that we did on the van that didn't have anything to do with the 'house' part of the build out. We had been driving it around for a while and realized that the stereo sucked a lot. It didn't have an audio jack, didn't take Bluetooth and only played CD's, which I haven't bought since 7th grade. So we replaced the stereo!
Materials Used
Process
Step 1: Pull out the old stereo! This would have been a lot easier if we had used the correct materials. Instead, we used a chisel, some incorrectly sized 'keys' and pliers.
Step 2: Disconnect the old stereo from the wire harness.
Step 3: Make sure you attach the antenna adaptor cable to the new stereo. It snaps into place easily and doesn't require any soldering.
Step 4: Solder, splice or generally connect the wires from the wire harness to the new stereo. We soldiered the wires together because at the time Michael had a soldering iron that didn't get used very often. However, you can also just splice the wires together and I assume you could just wrap them together and tape them as well. Whatever your preferred method for connecting wires is, it isn't too hard to connect the right ones because they are color coded. White wires go to white wires, red to red and so on.
Step 5: Plug the radio wire into the back of the new stereo and slide the stereo in!
Bonus Step: Get some really thin wood from the hardware store, sand it down like crazy, cut it to fit around the speaker and use it as a very fancy face plate!
Conclusion
Having a new speaker is a must. Living in a van means you spend a lot of time driving, and if you can't listen to music/podasts/books on tape it just sucks. Good luck!
