Words and Photography by Brendan Seymour

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Just because us 4WDers prefer cruising up beaches or along bush tracks to lapping the local McTuckey car park, doesn’t mean we don’t enjoy listening to our favourite tunes when we’re in the pilot’s seat, right? In fact, kicking back around a campfire with some good music playing in the background is just about my idea of bliss – dependant on what music is playing, of course!

So, when I bought the Zook without a stereo, one of the first things I did – after giving it a full service with new oils, filters and plenty of grease, of course – was sort out the music situation, or lack thereof.

The previous owner had obviously decided that his stereo was going to find a home in his next car, and judging by the quality of the wiring that he left over, I think that was a good thing.

Crying out for a new CD player	I found a permanent power wire behind the digital clock and simply tapped into that for CD player power. Using the 12V test lamp I picked up at the same time as the stereo made the job so much easier

It was a spaghetti mess of tangled wires, poorly taped connections and worn-through insulation, and that was only the stuff sitting behind the dashboard. The best bet, and probably the only way to ensure the new stereo didn’t burn the Zook down, was to start afresh.

Stereos are funny things. People will shop around for the cheapest head unit (the CD player that sits in your dash) and speakers, yet they will then go and spend hundreds of dollars having it ‘professionally’ installed at the local car audio place.

I say ‘professionally’ because I bet you’re like me and have seen some of the ‘quality’ work some of these places do – usually charging a premium for them at the same time!

This plug comes with the head unit – looks confusing, doesn’t it? It really isn’t. One earth (black), two power (red and yellow), one for the amp, one for a power antenna (if your vehicle has one) and eight for the speakers – two for each channel	Here’s how to make a good-quality connection with your speaker wires. Step one is to splay out the individual strands of each wire and push them through each other as shown
Step two is to twist the strands of wire around each other to form a nice, smooth connection. Don’t leave any wires loose	Here’s the trick to quality soldering – heat the wire, not the solder. By applying the soldering iron to the wire, and then feeding solder onto it when it’s hot enough, you ensure that the solder runs all the way through the strands of wire, and makes a full connection

Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of places out there that do a top notch job, and you only have to see some of their show cars to see the quality of work.

However, the car-audio industry is plagued with many backyard experts who can produce qualifications printed on the back of takeaway menus from official-sounding places like the Penrith College of Car Audio and Hairdressing. Forget those guys.

The truth is you can install your own stereo, and you can do it in an afternoon.