total n00b - lot's of questions

[-=BD=-gEIGH]

So I'm completely and totally new to car stereo stuff (never done anything before), but I just bought a new (used) car and figure I'll get a decent system in there...needless to say I have lots of questions, but I'll try and keep 'em short:

1) The main thing I want is a hard drive system, but I'm on a very tight budget. So the best deal I found was to get a 20GB Kenwood Keg off eBay. The only thing I can think of that isn't good about 'em is that you couldn't rip your CDs in your car (as compared to other hard drive systems). Is this right? are there any other negative things about the Kegs? What is the general concensus on these?

2) I'm actually not gonna buy the keg until later though (I don't have enough $ right now). So for now I'm just gonna get a head unit....I need a Kenwood head unit to work w/ the keg right? My only requirements are that it has mp3 playback, and a rotary knob.....and I'd prefer a flip down face if possible. I was looking at the MP522 and the MPV6022 off eBay...any comments?

3) Is there anywhere I can find a basic guide on how I would go about getting my old stereo out of there, putting this one in and putting the keg in? I have a '94 camry...is that gonna be difficult? If I order the head unit off of eBay am I gonna need to buy an aditional installation kit or anything like that? I'm not too worried about wiring and such...my main concern is how to get the old stereo out of there, and how I'd mount the keg.

I included a picture so here's some questions concerning that:

1) What the heck are that toggle switch and that little red light for? The light never goes on, and the togggle switch doesn't do anything. The car doesn't appear to have an alarm or anything....an ideas what the heck these are?

2) The second picture is up in the corner of my dash board...any idea what that thing is?

3) This is kinda off topic...but just below my window on the outside the rubber is all torn up (as you can see)....can I get a part to replace this or what should I do?

Sorry for the length of my post, and for the total ignorance of my questions.....thanks for advance to anybody who can answer any of these....I REALLY appreciate it!!!

[jer_stud56]

Right airbag? I'd get that rubber replaced if you could find somewhere for cheap...probably pay just for parts to fix it, or do it yourself, that's always fun.
It looks like you actually want a decent system instead of the "I want a complete sony system that will get me 25 dB when I sing along...and I love those 5 sided pentagon subs! Can I throw an airplane at them and act like its real? Ok im done...
But crutchfield is good with guides to take stuff out and put it back in. You could also search google and look around, but that probably wont be as helpful. Crutchfield only gives those pages if you buy something from them though, so it's kinda hard to get one.

- pe@ce

[ss3079]

How to remove the stock head unit:
http://carstereohelp.com/stereoremovalToyCamry.htm

You'll need a wiring harness and a trim ring ... $5 for the wiring harness and about $8 for the trim ring. They are vehicle specific ... your local shop sould be about to get you what you need.

- Steve

[-=BD=-gEIGH]

Perfect link....thx!

[ss3079]

Perfect link....thx!

No problem ... if you have any questions, just let us know.

- Steve

[kingpin_jeffie]

1. Personally, I would skip the keg and go for a custom computer in the car.


1. The toggle is for god knows what but it could come in handy later as an amp kill switch, always a good idea. As for the red light probably from a security system or just a light to make people think youve got a security system (which is what I do).

3. As for the window weather stripping check out www.jcwhitney.com
They would most likely have something close to what you need.

[-=BD=-gEIGH]

Now I may not know about car audio, but the one thing I do know about is computers. How exactly would you suggest I go about building a custom computer for it? Like what OS would I use? And wouldn't that end up costing a lot more after all the various parts, and be not as convenient to use (not to mention it wouldn't be designed to absorb the shocks it would take from the car)? If a computer is feasable I would *love* to do that, but like I said I'm on as tight a budget as possible so I'll take whatever I can get. Is there any guide basic guide/tutorial on what kinda stuff you'd do to make a custom computer for car audio? Thx....and thx for that jcwhitney link

[kingpin_jeffie]

Well, I believe that its fairly easy to build and dampen from vibrations. However the hard part is probably interfacing it with your system. I mean who wants to wrangle with a mouse in your car? Not that you couldnt but its not going to be as convinient as the keg.

Ill look for a guide here. ive seen them before

Ill get back with ya.

[DiB]

http://mini-itx.com/

That site has lots of good info on tiny based computer systems which are affordable. You can get an even smaller system and build it yourself but the price like quadruples. There is also http://mp3car.com/ which deals specifically in this.

[mcTreK]

If all you want to use the computer for is to play mp3s then you dont need anything special. you can get an old slow computer and run linux (its free) and get a head unit with aux inputs. go up to radioshack and get a wire that will turn your soundcard output into rca. run that wire from your computer to the aux in your head unit. if you look on the internet you can find places that will tell you how to hook up a separate lcd to interface with your computer. I dont know any offhand cause its been a couple years since i looked into it. hope that helped.

[mcTreK]

heres a site that might help.

http://home.zonnet.nl/davevandongen/mp3/

[Redford]

That switch isn't normally there... looks like whoever owned the car added that in himself and also that red light... I would just not worry about it. I have a Camry too and I read a lot of forums for Toyotas and I've never seen those before. Honestly I would just get an in dash MP3/CD player. 6 or 7 albums should be enough to satisfy you for a while. I'm not sure if you have the premium sound system... since your deck looks different than my stock deck. If you do you may have to bypass the stock amp and possibly replace the speakers too. Take a quick search through toyotanation.com about the premium systems.

Why don't you go ahead and take apart your dash sometime and see what those 2 things are? Just make sure not to put the key in and turn the car to ACC cause you're airbag light will be stuck on if you removed the gauges. I did that too lazy/cheap to fix it :P