How to install stereo in Tacoma?

circus city and beast buy as well as walmarts sell SECONDS and defects/repacks as NEW units.

What luck! I just bought a 1997 Tacoma, and I wanted to put my aftermarket CD/MP3 player in it. I look on here, and poof, an illustrated guide. Thanks for posting that. I'm pretty handy and I'm sure I would have figured it out (this is about the twelfth car stereo I've installed since I was 16, which isn't bad for an amateur :) ) but this made it very quick and easy.

That being said, here's another few tips and observations:

1) Crutchfield, when they sell you a car stereo, will *throw in* the adapter mount and wiring harness. Free. It comes with a very nice illustrated guide and they have an 800 tech support number if you get stuck. I had it for my *last* car and it was really good. Their prices are reasonable, although not absolute bottom-dollar, and their service is outstanding. (They have good sales and clearance stuff.) Can't recommend them highly enough. The fact that you probably won't have to pay sales tax will usually more than make up for the shipping, too. 2) Also, at their website ) if you tell themwhat sort of vehicle you drive, they'll tell you whether any particularstereo they sell (and they sell many, many sorts) will fit in it, and howhard it will be to put it in. You can also tell them what sort of vehicleyou have, and then just say, "Show me all the (tape decks, cd players, amps,speakers, whatever) that will fit," and it does. It's way cool. Other placeshave this feature as well (JC Whitney comes to mind) but theirs is reallyslick. 3) Unfortunately, the aforementioned web site told me that I couldn't fit my CD player (AIWA CDC-MP32) in my '97 Tacoma. "Pish-tosh," said I. "I'll MAKE it fit." So I went to Pep Boys and got a universal Toyota adapter and wiring harness, got it all ready, and tried to finesse it in. No dice. They were right: it won't fit... without some persuasion. It was just a little tight in the upper corners of the opening, and the mounting brackets wouldn't go in. Five minutes with a Dremel tool and a routing bit, and I was good to go. The collar won't fit over the stereo, but the stereo face fits so nicely it doesn't need it, it almost looks stock.

I would NOT recommend this technique for people who aren't fairly experienced or don't have a good "feel" for what you can and can't get away with when removing material. It wasn't hard for me, and I'm just a half-a** handyman, but I wouldn't want it to be your first Dremel adventure. If you do do it, GO SLOW and keep the tool under control. You will have to remove maybe a sixteenth of an inch of metal from the driver's side mounting screw area: don't take off any more than you need to. Remember, as the old mechanics say, you can always cut more, but you can't cut less.

D