2017 BRZ / 86 Head Unit into 2013 FR-S?

[Clipdat]

Will have some updates soon, just purchased a 2017 BRZ head unit from an awesome forum member @Misfire!

[drew_kar]

Originally Posted by Clipdat

Will have some updates soon, just purchased a 2017 BRZ head unit from an awesome forum member @Misfire!

Let us know how it goes. I procured a 2016 head unit and dash to swap in my 2013, essentially got it for free. Door speakers won't fire... Let me know how you wire it. I think it just needs to be tapped for power. I am not electrically savvy haha.

[Clipdat]

That's interesting, I am surprised to hear that the door speakers aren't getting power, because I was under the impression that all years of this car had the speakers wired in the same fashion.

My situation might be a little different because I have the OEM Audio+ system, but I will let you know.

Originally Posted by drew_kar

Let us know how it goes. I procured a 2016 head unit and dash to swap in my 2013, essentially got it for free. Door speakers won't fire... Let me know how you wire it. I think it just needs to be tapped for power. I am not electrically savvy haha.

[Darth Khan]

Originally Posted by Jasonb

Seriously? Why do people complain so much about the stock head unit? Whats garbage about it? It connects with my Android phone with bluetooth and plays music flawlessly and doesn't sound bad at all. It's a tiny bit slow, but other than that it works like it should.

Yea, all the complaining about audio quality out of the stock head unit is based on some peoples idea of what music should sound like in a car. The problem with forums is they are frequented with the 2% of owners that are looking for solutions to problems that for the 98% percent do not exist.

Not enough base, flat mid range not loud enough blah blah blah. Most drivers are content with getting into the car and driving while some music plays. Does not need to be audiophile quality.

As an aside most of the music being played on the so called high end in car audio setups have been bit sampled at 64-128kbps, adequate for most day to day music listening but far from 'Audiophile'

[iketiak]

I was able to install the 2017 Toyota 86 head unit to my 2013 Scion FRS. The brackets and harness are plug and play, and there's also a option to select the 86 as your car under vehicle just like the original non touch screen you get in the 2013 model. You will need to set it to the 86 since the software for that preset tuned to your car, I am also assuming this will work in the BRZ since the internal dimensions and connections are pretty much all the same.

The head unit has 3 presets for sound output: Natural, Powerful and Vocal which I like Powerful the most since it gives this car the Bass it lacks. There is a slight delay when selecting menu options so this head unit is a bit annoying.

Apparently this is the same head unit that 2016-2017 Toyota Corolla, IM and CH-R has from the factory.


Part Number: PT546-00170 (Headunit)
Part Number: PT296-00170 (Navigation Upgrade)

There is also the Scion Part number which is pretty much the same head unit minus the Toyota start up screen and logo itself.

Part Number: PT546-00160 (Headunit)
Part Number: PT296-00160 (Navigation Upgrade)

I do not know if the navigation module from the Scion unit will be interchangeable with the Toyota unit as the connectors look the same but I did not want to sink the money to find out. (if anyone can confirm this please let me know.)

There is the perk of having a backup camera installed and also navigation module.

If you are using a aftermarket backup camera you will need a harness and a backup trigger wire from this harness:

AX-TOYCAM3

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I found it on Amazon for around 10 bucks.

Also the headunit is 200mm wide and will fit the original 2013 Scion FRS moldings.

Hope this helps anyone trying to retrofit the new unit.

[Clipdat]

Thanks for your informative post.

Do you have any photos of the unit to share? Any pics of the install?

Originally Posted by iketiak

I was able to install the 2017 Toyota 86 head unit to my 2013 Scion FRS. T

[KR-S]

The 2017 86 headunit is more than likely identical to the 2016 FR-S headunit (with very minor cosmetic and software differences).

I believe the connectors on the 2013 FR-S are identical with the exception of an extra connector for the backup cam, so it should be plug and play for the 2017 86 headunit. The 2017 BRZ uses identical connectors, so I don't see any issues, at least beyond simply beyond plugging them in.

Keep us updated.

[Clipdat]

So I went to install the 17 BRZ HU today and ran into a few issues.

The first is that the USB input cable coming from the FR-S doesn't seem to have anywhere to go on the back of the 17 BRZ HU. I've attached a few photos to illustrate this. Maybe some kind of adapter cable is necessary, I'm not sure.

Secondly, while the unit powered right up and acted like it was going to function normally, the audio output was extremely weak and the sound was tinny and hollow. It almost sounded like it was out of phase or something. There was no bass coming from the door speakers as it usually does, there was no bass from anywhere.

I tried adjusting all the different audio settings and resetting the head unit to default settings, didn't make any difference. Still that thin anemic bass-less sound. Maybe the 17 BRZ's speakers are wired differently than t he 13 FR-S? I know with the FR-S it's designed to have only the low frequencies going to the door and then it sends the mids and highs to the dash speaker.

So, I think it may be an OEM wiring harness difference, but I have no clue. I'm using all OEM wiring, not using the OEM Audio + harness at the moment.

@drew_kar: sounds like I might be having a similar issue to you

@iketiak any ideas?

Edit: Did a bit of searching on the door speaker issue, and it sounds like what might be happening is that this head unit isn't sending a wake up to the OEM amplifier in order to power up the door speakers. Maybe the 17s use a different amp configuration/remote wire?

Edit 2: Been searching and starting to uncover some differences between the cars:

"The FR-S/GT86/86 HU sends power to the car's antenna booster amplifier via the separate single-conductor wire on the AM/FM antenna connector.

The BRZ HU sends the 12V power antenna signal out via pin #8 on the 10-pin power/speaker harness.

You'll need to rig up an adapter harness (or at least, add a jumper wire from the vacant slot on your car's 10-pin plug to the factory pin/wire on your car's AM/FM antenna plug.

This has been proven in other threads, that's why it's not worth transplanting one of the twins head units into each other unless they can be had for super cheap."

[Clipdat]

Since I am ultimately going to be using this head unit with the OEM Audio+ system, I decided to try it with that harness instead of the factory wiring.

This resulted in no audio at all, which in a way was ultimately more telling of what was going on.

I relayed what was going on to Daniel at @oemaudioplus and he took the time out of his evening to give me after hours support, awesome.

Turns out the blue and white remote wire had to be moved one slot over on the harness, and once I did this everything started working and it fired the OEM Audio+ system right up

I will still need to send my DSP back to get retuned/flashed for this head unit, but I'm super excited that it's working. All I need to do now is get some sort of USB adapter so that the Toyota style USB plug will fit into the Subaru unit. I believe this site will have what I need: http://ae64.com/Products.htm

[007BRZ]

Originally Posted by drew_kar

Let us know how it goes. I procured a 2016 head unit and dash to swap in my 2013, essentially got it for free. Door speakers won't fire... Let me know how you wire it. I think it just needs to be tapped for power. I am not electrically savvy haha.

For some reason I had the same problem with my Kenwood install, but took it back and my installer fixed it. I will stop over there and ask him.


I think he said something about the amplifier back then

[Clipdat]

Have not heard back from ae64 @SVXdc yet, may have to look elsewhere for USB adapters.

[Clipdat]

Pity bump. Anyone have any insight to the Toyota to Subaru brand specific USB cable terminations that connect to the back of the HU?

[Clipdat]

Making slight progress I guess. I learned that the 16-17 WRX/BRZ uses a different style connector for USB that plugs into the back of the OEM Starlink unit:



So, ideally I need a cable with that connector on the one side, going to a female OEM Toyota style usb connector on the other - seen here in the lower left hand corner:



Then I would be able to hook up the OEM male connector in the FR-S to it. (shown directly above this text)

[Clipdat]

The awesome @SVXdc got back to me and has been extremely helpful.

It looks like the cable I need doesn't exist, so I most likely will just be ordering the Subaru 86273CA010 USB wire.

Update: I ordered it.

Update2: It arrived. Looks like it's bundled together with the standard AUX input cable. Not exactly sure how to proceed because I believe the BRZ and FR-S have different implementations of the auxiliary input.

Pics of cable: https://imgur.com/a/FLwGc