OK, job done.
Antenna fitting was first job. I bought a £28 powered roof mount one from amazon. My biggest concern was how I was going to make a flat roof like Base for the existing rear wing hole. Shouldn’t have worried, mounting at a slight angle was all that was required. The old aerial was held on by a lock nut that unscrews from the top using circling pliers, and the under wing assembly held on with one 10mm bolt. The new one has one locknut screwed on from underneath.
Running the cables was complicated by having the powered hard top, but simple enough round the back of the top of the shock absorber, under the carpet, through the gap in the centre above the transmission tunnel and forward past the gear lever. All the trim is easily moved with plastic levers to pop up the rear cover, front coin holder, and the floor panel on the front cup holder to expose the five screws holding the centre consol in place.
I tapped into the power supply for cigarette lighter for the power feed for the antenna.
The Connects2 harness was simple enough, and came with the correct connection for the Pioneer steering wheel controls. But… the main Pioneer harness has one block connector, which would plug straight into the single block connector on the Connects2 harness IF you didn’t have an amplifier (Bose) that needed the resister pack to bring the Head Unit output down to Line In levels for the amp.
A quick call to DynamicSounds to confirm this, and they agreed the kit doesn’t fit straight on to some head unit harnesses due to this block connector. No biggy, it was easy to cut the block on the Connects2 harness to make it into two separate connectors and then it could all plug in.
I then had to join the blue wire, clearly labeled on the Pioneer harness to the blue wire on the Connects2 harness, which came with bullet connector ready to join up. Fortunately I had some cable and a connector I could use to make the connection.
The Pioneer harness also has connections for reverse, to tap in to the reversing light to use as a trigger for rear parking camera, but I left this unconnected as I don’t have a camera.
And a green wire to tap into the handbrake wire, so the device knows when you are parked which unlocks functions, such as video play back, which are not safe to use in motion. Internet wisdom says you can simply ground the wire as a bypass, NOT TRUE, on older systems maybe, but this needs a signal. The green wire is plenty long enough and has a squeeze together clip to make a connection with the single cable that runs to the handbrake switch.
Microphone. This is needed for making calls, as well as controlling the Google Assistant in Android Auto. It comes with plenty cable and is advised to clip on to the sun visor. In an open top car I thought this would be too noisy a location and simply stuck it on the dashboard with the provided 3M double sided sticky pad. I ran the cable straight back and under the dashboard mounted speaker, filing a small groove in the speaker to not pinch the cable.
USB. I cut a hole in the cup holder in the centre console and fed the cable from there forward. I plan to make a better cubby hole space for my phone replacing the cup holders, and will make a tidier job then.
Now ready to fit the new head unit. The new plastic kit was four parts, front, two clip on sides, and a press in screen surround. I wouldn’t say it was flimsy, but is not as robust as the standard kit. For the money, no complaints.
Fitting the head unit in was frustrating, it needs plenty clearance to fit and with all the connects2 harness, plug in box for the staring wheel controls and the amplifier resistance pack getting in the way it wasn’t a two second push in and tighten up. At this point I was wishing I had bought the Sony AX3005 head unit which is only half height at the back, and also not full depth. That would have been a breeze.
The Pioneer is fine, but getting all the cabling out the way as it gets pushed in is bothersome. You need to have enough slack on all the cables to get the unit in and out, so it is hard to be neat with routing. And once in, when putting the screws in each side, the top of the trim that locates into the back of the hazard light surround kept popping out. Eventually I got it to stay in, but think I will open the holes out a couple of millimeters to remove any strain. I will only do this if I the locator pops open when bouncing around on the road. It might be OK as is.
Next refit the centre console, and drive. Except my power hood didn’t work. And then the flashy red warning light for the hood wouldn’t stop flashing… I was thinking what sensor could I have damaged routing the antenna cabling? Then it dawned on me that in my haste to refit the centre console I had forgotten to reconnect the power windows, and the hood moves the windows when opening or closing. So console out, connector attached, console in, test, and smile.
The sound is where I want it to be, the connectivity to my phone gives me Deezer and Amazon music all controllable by voice, even at 60mph+ top down. My Focal woofers massage my calf and thuds the small of my back. It is good enough for me, so will not be looking to swap out the Boss amp, or feed it with a home made PreOut harness. Really quite pleased.
So why the Pioneer if the Sony would have been easier to fit? I would also have preferred physical buttons which are a lot easier to use than a touch screen. But the Sony is approaching end of life, and the Pioneer is this year’s model. That means compatibility with phone technology is more assured with the new kit. That was the bottom line. The physical button issue is mitigated by having the steering wheel controls, so I don’t see too much of an issue going forward.