Hi all,

Hoping for some guidance here. I recently purchased a close friend's 997.1 S Cab and am looking for a shop to swap out the PCM for a CarPlay-friendly unit + add a backup cam. Any shops that you suggest? Note that I'm located in Ardsley, NY.


Thank you!,

Kenny

 

Check out Apicella Auto Sound. They did my buddies Stingray and did an excellent job

 

They look great - will reach out later in the week. Thank you.

 

Did you ever get your head unit replaced ?

 

I did. Paraphrasing a post that I made in a 997 Facebook group:

Chris from Epic Auto Wurx (https://www.instagram.com/epic_auto_wurx/) added a Pioneer 4660 head unit to my '06 S Cab in August as it had wireless Apple Carplay, integrated into a backup camera that we wanted to install, and had a clean design (vs. some of the HUs with neon lights, a ton of buttons, CD players, etc.). BUT, as I learned quickly, the volume buttons are more than difficult to find when driving as it's a touch screen.

So Chris came back to place an external volume **** on the “Passenger Airbag Off” indicator light (after painting it first) to help solve the poor Pioneer 4660 volume non-button. It looks clean and is easy to reverse to stock if / when desired.

We looked at a number of other placement options [for the volume ****] including upgrading the steering wheel (too much work - and I like the simplicity of the existing wheel), mounting it to the left of the steering column (I didn't want to take my left hand off of the steering wheel), and mounting it under the sport and suspension switches (difficult to reach and an eyesore). The "Passenger Airbag Off" indicator is only ~$28 - so cheap to replace if/when bringing it back to stock.

~$2k is what I spent. Broken down:
- Pioneer HU: $600
- Dash Kit: $200
- Bose Amplifier Adapter (if you have a Bose system you'll need this, I'm told): $650
- Labor: $350 (3.5 hours @ $100/h)
- Volume ****: $15
- Labor: $200 (2 hours @ $100/h)

Note that I also had him install a backup camera ($250) + install ($150). It looks factory, but as it's mounted above the license plate (thus it's low), it's not really that helpful. Maybe helpful if parallel parking in a really tight space (?). Glad I have it, though not a necessity.

A renowned local shop quoted ~ double that and then stopped responding. I'm sure they would've done a great job here, but I can't imagine that it's any different than this local installer who works on other high-end cars + has done a similar install on a 997 before.

In terms of my experience with Chris - it was great. Responsive via text and email, came up with creative solutions, seemed fair-priced, does home visits, accommodated my odd schedule, etc. Would suggest and will work with him again.

I hope this is helpful?

 

This was helpful. Thanks.

 

Hi Kenny - I’m very close to you here in Irvington - I had NIGHTMARISH experiences having my sound done in my 07 Boxster, but now I’m purchasing a 997.2 with a pcm and need a good local guy - I’ve used Cheech at Rennewerke for other work, but don’t have anyone locally to do this audio job - Any suggestions?
many thanks, Ed M