Replacing Shaker 500 head unit

Is it possible to replace the Shaker 500 headunit with an aftermarket headunit(I'm thinking Pioneer DEH-P9800BT) without doing major surgery? I have an 06 GT coupe, and have been to several local car stereo places. They all seemed to think it would be a bad idea, and would be very expensive. One guy even said you'd have to bypass the amp, lose the midrange, and would have to rip out the factory speakers. Does this make any sense? Thanks.

Um, that makes no sense. Any double-din head unit should work. You just buy a harness from Crutchfield and you're done. You need to find a more reputable audio place.

Yeah, that's what a friend of mine just said. Sounds like I should just order from Crutchfield and be done with it Thanks!

Simple install, don't listen to those freaks.

If you intend on using the factory amps you will have to put a voltage regulator between the amp on signal wire from the head unit and the amp wire to the harness. Reason is that most ( if not all ) aftermarket head units use +12V for the amp on signal. The Ford amps expect +5v for the signal. The result is a NASTY pop when you turn the unit on. Simple enough to do. Just go to Radio Shack and pick up a LM7805 and that will cure the problem.


J.

its not THAT easy. I just put a Clarion 765 in mine. The harness only gives the power,ground,and 4 mid/highs. You need to rewire the amps to get the signal to the subs or just leave them off. I havent finished mine yet so im running the highs off the head unit and a 800 D class to 2 12" orions. I still need to tap into the stock subs to wire up the 4 channel amp. There is no plug that im aware of that will let everthing work like stock.

ok stupid here. What is a head unit?

thats the radio/ cd player in your dash

Not sure what wire harness you were using, but the one that I got from Crutchfield was made for the Shaker 500 system--including the sub outputs. Took me 10 minutes to take the Shaker system out of the dash, and probably another 10 minutes to put my IVA-W200 in.

To each his own.


J.

Yep, Metra makes the harnesses as 2 seoarate parts, or together in a kit for amplifier integration. It was a rather simple install using the factory amps, just remember to plug those damned A/C controls back in (did it TWICE)

I don't know if any of this is true or not..But isn't part of the shaker 500 require some sort of computer programming??, I heard something along the lines about this from one of the Ford technicians, who was working on replacing my third skipper 500..

whats the P/N for that plug. I buy from a wholesaler and they had boxes of plugs, but the books dont show anything for the Shakers.

When the head unit is replaced they download all the information from the old unit to the new one . If your going aftermarket its just a mater of hooking up the amps and power and speakers . How thats done . But as said above there are harnesse that make it easer. To tie all that together get that ? Then again I am probley wrong an sombody will point it out to me . But its all good

My Shaker 500 was replaced, ONCE. It had to be reprogrammed. I now have an Alpine unit with ipod controls. No problems with the install. Everything works great and sounds better than factory.

I installed a Pioneer AVIC-D2 with Ipod controller and XM. I bought the kit from Crutchfied and the voltage reg from radio shack. Wired the Metra harness to the Pioneer unit while it was sitting on my desk so all I had to do is walk it out to the car and plug it in. The amps work fine with no "pops".

If you would like me to post pics on the mount kit, wiring harness, or my install just let me know in this thread

Direct link to harness and mount kit

http://www.crutchfield.com/S-mKfycf4YosS/cgi-bin/prodview.asp?i=120705521

http://www.crutchfield.com/S-mKfycf4YosS/cgi-bin/prodview.asp?i=120995807

70-5522 is JUST the amp
or
70-5521 for both

Thanks, im gonna try to tap into the stock door speakers and bypass the stock amps this week

Is it possible to get the factory style Sirrius for my Shaker 500? By this I mean, being able to use the Shaker 500's display and controls. It's a 2007 Shaker 500 unit and I know there is an option for factory Shaker 500 Sirrius where it uses the head unit.

Am hoping for just a module to plug in to the back of it and route the ant. No FM or hacked on crap.

Thanks!

Ok thanks, I got a little confused there.

Easily done. The harness for output is the one on the TOP of the factory amps. Each amp is held in with 3 8mm nuts on threaded studs. You'll need deep-well sockets or a tiny wrench and a lot of patience. If you're looking straight on at the plugs (with the 2 "extra" holes at the top, they go +-+- on the wires. The ones for the drivers' side are a **** because of where they are, but it can be done. Note, these are for the 8's.

For the high-range, I tapped in behind the radio, 'cuz there's quite a lot of space to work with- especially when you got used to messing with a couple of VW Jettas

Professional installer now knows how to avoid pop

Today I had a pioneer AVH-3200bt installed in my mustang. The installation was fine except for the loud pop when the unit turned on and off. The installer said that someone told him that a resistor was necessary but it never worked for him. I told him that I would be back after checking this forum. I returned with the radio shack voltage regulator which he installed as per package instructions. No pop and he hung up the package as a reminder for his next installation. The guy even tried to charge me an extra $20 for connecting the regulator when he said that he would do it for no charge before I left. I just looked at him and he said, "Well, OK". I guess there are different levels of professional installation. The regulator is definitely the cure for the pop. Thanks Rerun.