TE72 Wagon (1980 Corolla) Radio/Stereo Install

[Valka]

Hi guys,

I'm finally replacing the extremely dated 'Craig' deck in my TE72 (1980 Corolla) wagon with a modern unit but it looks like the dash is a bit too shallow to accept a standard DIN stereo with a CD player

...I guess this isn't surprising since the factory radio didn't even have a cassette player. In this case the radio is a Pioneer DEH-1300MP (8.9" x 10" x 4.4")

Did you just cut it for the DIN mount and let it stick out a bit? The stereo location is different for the wagons from the other body styles.

[anthonyhasawagon]

I have an 83 wagon and i installed a boss deck (6.2 x 2.0 x 7.2) and i fit fine. the only thing though i can't take the faceplate off because i wouldn't be able to put it back on.

This probably didn't help. lol

[Valka]

Originally Posted by anthonyhasawagon

I have an 83 wagon and i installed a boss deck (6.2 x 2.0 x 7.2) and i fit fine. the only thing though i can't take the faceplate off because i wouldn't be able to put it back on.

This probably didn't help. lol

Not overly, no...

I used my hot knife and trimmed out for the DIN and front bezel and I only had to cut into the right side of the dash 1/6" or so (to clear the bezel)

The top edge of the radio sticks out around 1.25" from the dash but it doesn't look too bad. It's still inset from the vents and it should look more or less stock once I solvent-weld some pvc over the exposed metal.

I also learned that tying into the defroster for a switched power input isn't ideal. It works fine with the car off, but with it on that circuit is a bit overloaded (~11.3v vs ~12v).

[anthonyhasawagon]

what did you use for the constant power supply? I think mine has a inline fuse somewhere and i can't find it. And i think i burnt it out trying to install 9my radio. I tried taping into the cigerette lighter cuz i thought it was constant (it's switched) so as of now i have no memory on my deck :|

[Valka]

Originally Posted by anthonyhasawagon

what did you use for the constant power supply? I think mine has a inline fuse somewhere and i can't find it. And i think i burnt it out trying to install 9my radio. I tried taping into the cigerette lighter cuz i thought it was constant (it's switched) so as of now i have no memory on my deck :|

There should be two factory connectors behind the dash, a 2 prong and a 4 prong. The 4 prong is for OEM speaker wiring, the 2 prong (blue-white/black) provides unswitched power and ground, at least in my car.

I'll take a couple of pictures for you when I tear the dash open again to fix the switched +12v connection.

The new stereo requires discrete ground connections for each speaker so I ended up creating a much larger harness using two 9 pin connectors, tying into the aftermarket harness it had when I got the car and adding a second molex connector for the rear speakers/switched outlet wiring.

I'm very unimpressed with the (broken?) factory antenna. I'd always assumed it was the radio tuner that was flaky, but even with the new deck I can only scan 5 FM channels. If I wasn't planning to use it almost exclusively for mp3/streaming audio I would be pretty annoyed.

[anthonyhasawagon]

ok cool thanks! i really don't want to have to run a wire from the battery. lol

My stock radio only got a few stations too. and it was off I would be listening to a station like 104.1 and the band was at the 90's or something. It turned out to just be the radio though