More baby steps! I work 5 days a week so my weekends tend to fill up quick, lol. Small updates but lots of pics!
Battery was dead. It was also kind of old. The connectors on my wires looked fossilized.
Here are the old and new side by side
Aaaaand here's the shiny new optima with its shiny new connectors. NOT pictured is all the wiring for the big LED trail light/fogs that I pulled out. The previous owner had done a decent job, but some of the routing paths interfered with other components. If/when I re-wire it, I'll document it.... Or I'll just sell the assembly and buy the right fogs. We'll see!
After getting the battery all freshened up, I decided to tackle the busted pioneer stereo that was installed. Here is what the factory harness looked like after I cut out the Pioneer harness. It was not compatible with the 16 pin harness for the Sony stereo that will be replacing it. Not pictured are the surprisingly good alpine speakers that the previous owner had installed in the dash. I also have a soundbar coming in the mail!
OKAY SO. I had a HECK of a time tracking down an accurate reference for the factory wiring until I stumbled upon an incredibly helpful post on JeepForum:
https://www.jeepforum.com/forum/f12/las ... p-2763434/
I then had to figure out which wire connected to which in the Sony harness, documented here:
https://www.sony.com/electronics/suppor ... s/00025257
So i listed the color of the factory wires, the components they go to, and what the corresponding wire on the 16-pin Sony harness would be. And since anything worth doing is worth overdoing (Thank you Adam Savage) I color coded each set of corresponding wires.
Please don't crucify me, this is my first ever attempt at creating a wiring harness! I would do some things differently if/when I do it again, but it WORKS.
Last but not least, the very functional Sony XR-C7200! A cassette deck from 1998 that can control a CD changer or even an MD changer! I may update the unit down the road, but I had this on hand and wanted to stop driving in silence. Luckily the 16 pin harness that Sony uses has not changed in the many years since this deck came around
PLUS if I ever DO find a reasonably priced MD changer, I am all about cruising down the road in my 95 jeep listening to my custom playlist burned onto half a dozen mini-discs, lol.
Also pictured is my damaged center bezel.... I'll get to it!