I anticipated my stops along the way and had thing shipped to Amazon lockers in Richmond, VA and Asheville, VA, as well as my friend's house for a few items from ebay and Walmart.
Barely had the truck for 48 hours and already starting some simple mods.
This might be useful for others on the forum but Kenwood makes a 200 mm Toyota specific head unit overseas for the Australian / Asian market. The model I bought is the DDX917WS and it is a capacitive touchscreen instead of resistive touch. The unit also has built in hand gestures, which I haven't explored yet. I could have saved a couple hundred just getting the DDX717WBT, which has air mirroring and bluetooth but does not have the CarPlay and Android Auto. I wanted this feature specifically. I know that they released some new units at CES but since I already had bought the truck back in December, I've been wanting to get this unit so couldn't wait til May to get the 2018 model. Most of the research I did on the unit came from FT86Club.
Kenwood DDX917WS head unit -- any installed?
2017 BRZ Headunit (and Dash!) Replacement
Now to the install.
I actually had this on my luggage, just in case I wanted to install it in the parking lot in Richmond. Good thing I decided to wait.
I didn't have all my detailing supplies with me so most of the console will have to be taken apart again to do a deep cleaning once I got her back.
Also installed the smoker's kit I ordered off eBay. I found this almost last minute on a thread while at work. I figured if I couldn't install it then my friend could use it on his rig, since he also has an 08'. The only thing is that he's not into modding it like I am.
Nice thing is the unit already comes wired for Toyota so its just pretty much plug and play. Minus the steering harness, which I'll have to find an alternate way. I'll make a new post once I figure this part out.
Unit fits almost perfect. First time I actually misaligned it a bit. I might have to fiddle a bit more because it sits more towards the right than towards the left. I suspect it has to do with it being made for the RHD market instead of the LHD. Unfortunately they don't make a LHD version of this unit. Although I haven't had much issue reaching towards the right hand side to adjust the volume, which won't be an issue when using the remote or steering wheel controls.
If it we're for the Kenwood logo, it'd look pretty stock. I really considered the AppRadio 4 by Pioneer but at the end I spent the extra monies because I wanted it to fill in the whole space. I wanted the most seemless OEM look that I could get without it looking too aftermarket.
The only thing about the 2017 unit, is that CarPlay / Android Auto is wired USB connection and not wireless. A small concession, so if any one plans on it, know that the 2018 models are being advertised as wireless Android Auto ready and potentially a firmware upgrade away from being wireless CarPlay ready.
Only a graphic equalizer, not parametric, but it does the job pretty well.
All buttoned up. It pretty much goes with the theme I was going for, which how it could have come from the factory and being 2018, CarPlay / Android Auto are pretty big. I still have to install the GPS antenna (it helps the phone navigation software), front / rear cameras, and steering wheel adaptor.
I ordered the TRD Pro shift knob that they use on the Tundra / 4Runner.
It looks almost okay except it sits too low. I'll have to decide if I want to trim it or not to make it fit properly because right now I can only shift it as low as 4, it doesn't make it to 3 or below. Although I suspect this won't be as much of an issue in Houston since I only needed it for a small downhill section in Asheville.