1st Gen aftermarket stereo swap

I have a 2004 reg cab 2.7L 4cyl. I'm looking to swap out the factory stereo with an Alpine single din I found on Crutchfield. The site doesn't make any mention of what's involved with the bracket after taking out the factory stereo. Do I need to buy a bracket so that the pocket under the new single din stereo is usable space? Also, are these aftermarket stereos plug and play? as in, will i need to buy anything else that doesnt come with the stereo in order to get it wired up?

I'm also planning on putting in some 5x7 or 6x8 speakers. As I understand, these should fit in the front doors without much modification. What do I have to look forward to when it comes to plugging these in? Do I need to purchase a harness to get these installed? From the Crutchfield page:



Thanks for the advice!

 

Crutchfield gives al brackets and wire adapters when purchased from them .You might need to splice some wires to harness they provide but also offer spliced plug and play harness for like $20 something .Call them if you got ?s.

 

Metra dash kit 99-8101 should be your ticket
http://www.metraonline.com/part/99-8101

For the speakers I imagine the connector they are talking about is something like these, Metra part number 72-8104. It lets you just connect them to the speaker and plug them into the door connector.
http://www.metraonline.com/part/72-8104

 

Get one of those pockets from Metra for like 8 bucks, re-use the steel factory brackets that are on your OEM head unit, and call it a day. I personally don't care for the plastic dash kits - they can be flimsy. Using the factory bracket is about as secure as it gets.





You can get wiring harnesses from Crutchfield and other vendors.

As for other items, you'll need splices and a crimper for the connections between your head unit and new harness. When replacing speakers you'll either need to cut the wires off the factory harness or use something like w8lifter posted. You'll also either want to crimp on terminals for the speaker tabs (if that's not already done for you) or do a bit of soldering.

 

Is that your HU Rob? If it is great choice!

I agree as well, get the pocket it comes in handy.

 

Ya, and I like it so much I bought a backup. It's almost the perfect HU - just needs a mute or pause button on the face.

Of course I would prefer a P99, but it's sooooooooooooo much more dough.