Lining up my ducks for a new CD/radio install next week. I'm going with a single din, front load CD player with usb 50x4 watts. Its replacing another after market unit (Targa cassette) that came with the car. No external amps or any extras at this time. Just a simple radio swap. I'm looking for any install tips/advice that may help install go smoother. I've never had the radio panel out so there is no telling what I'm gonna find with the wiring. Car is a 79 with a working power antenna. Not sure whats in the dash but it has sony rear speakers.

 

Mentally prepare yourself for your interior to look like this.





Take your time, I took the pass dash panel off to make life easier because that bezel is in there... TIGHT!

 

The installation should be quite straightforward.

Presuming that the present radio was simply spliced in to the factory wiring (common) or perhaps has adapters to the factory connectors on the harness likely the most confusing thing is that there are are two yellow "power" wires. One comes from the fuse box and is the main power for the radio. The other leads from the radio to the power antenna relay and powers only the relay coil. The radio antenna motor gets its power from the courtesy circuit. You may have to do a little snooping in the harness, but look for the yellow wire leading rearward through the center console--that is the power antenna feed. Strangely, it is actually a heavier gauge (18) than the power feed to the radio (20). More on that later.

Most likely your current radio has already been supplied with a constant power lead to power the clock, station memory, etc. This is almost always grabbed from the courtesy circuit (orange wire) as it's both very convenient and fine to use for things that use very little current. One of the wires leading to the current radio will probably be spliced into a nearby orange wire.

The wiring for the four speakers is:

LF (grey and tan)
RF (light green and dark green)
LR (yellow and brown)
RR (dark blue and light blue)

While I don't know the absolute polarity, I gave those pairs in proper order such that the first color mentioned for all speakers will be either power or ground.

You will probably find a grey wire that has been cut off. It originally powered the light in the radio dial and comes from the same (dimmed) circuit as the rest of the dash lighting.

Most aftermarket head units come with an in-line fuse. Check its rating and also any minimum rating suggested in the manual. The factory fuse is only 10A and I would be very hesitant to substitute a larger one. While the power wire can probably handle a bit more current I won't say the same for the ground. The ground circuit in the cabin harness handles provides ground for quite a lot and I know from removing and reworking mine that--from the factory--the ground circuit is a wild maze of splices that tend to overheat. If your new head unit needs more than 10A I highly suggest that you run BOTH dedicated power and ground wires. I would not run anything more from the already rather electrically stressed fuse box. The battery compartment is probably the easiest place to get +12V power. You'll find a ground connection to either the emergency brake or shifter housing near the antenna and rear defogger relays. Easy to put another lug on the screw there for a new -12V ground lead.

 

If you don't have the Assembly Manual now is the time to order one.

Bag and tag your screws so you know which goes were.

I though the hardest part was the screws that hold the bottom on.

 

All day long this is the truth.

 

I'm nearly positive that the gauge pack and center console from '78+ are FAR easier to remove than earlier models.

The OP should have no need to remove the entire dash, but I will say that it is much easier to remove and replace the gauge pack with the center console top plate and armrest behind the emergency brake removed.

Top the OP:

First remove the carpet trim panels (3 screws in each side at front, center and rear). Much easier to do this with the seat cushions removed as well!

There are then two Phillips (well actually POZI) screws (one each side) leading from the emergency brake housing into the rear of the console plate that contains the power window switches, etc. They are horizontal going straight forward into the plate. Remove those.

Then there are two sort of hidden Phillips screws at the front of the console plate. You need a flashlight to see them and a stubby screwdriver to access them. They are installed in tabs extending frontwards from the console plate and go roughly vertical up into the gauge pack bezel.

Next remove the two screws (one each side) in the armrest housing very near the rear. You can then remove the armrest.

Then remove the four screws (5/16" head in mine and two each side) from the console plate. You can then pull the plate up and back being careful not to break the tabs at the front.

Finally there are four screws in the gauge pack bezel, two at the top and one at each side. Remove those and carefully slide out the gauge pack being very careful not to break the dash pat at top center where you will find the light bulb that shines down onto the climate control. It's a good time to change that bulb as well as the bulbs in the gauge pack and shifter housing. Note that the bulb for the "lantern" in that shines down on the climate control may look like the rest but it is in fact a special bulb with a cast in lens at the tip. The trade number is 558. A dealership is probably your best chance to find a #558 locally as it is uncommon. Also the lights in the gauge pack have some differences. Those that light the indicators (like GEN, LOW FUEL, etc.) are trade number 194. The rest provide general illumination and are trade number 192. Using the more common 194s (that are 2 candlepower) instead of the 192s for everything means that the generally poor gauge illumination is even worse.

 

If you havn't picked out a radio yet, make sure it has a bright display. I struggle to see mine in the daytime.

 

Remove your drivers seat. It will give you SO much more room to get into the tight spots below the dash. It only takes 5 minutes to pull the seat out and will save you a LOT of trouble.

 

Back in '91, I installed an aftermarket, high powered radio/cassette player in my wife's '79, and I certainly didn't have to remove THAT much of the interior. In fact, IIRC, all I had to remove was the sides (carpeted parts) of the console.....

 

Thanks everyone and thats a great idea on replacing the bulbs while I'm in there.

 

Its not that hard to remove the center gauges in a 79.

 

Update: Gonna start my installation tomorrow. Ive decided to add a small amp to the rear speakers. My receiver has RCA outputs for the front and rear Plus speaker wires from the harness. If I use the RCA outputs for the rear speakers (I plan on running them to a small amp) how will this affect my rear speaker wires coming from harness? Will those still be usable? Should I just cap them off?

 

Depends on where you are putting the amp-

If locating amp in the rear- makes no sense to run the speaker wires from the amp in the back of the car to the dash which then goes back the to rear speakers.... Just run some new wires from the amp to the rear speakers.

Polarity of the speakers-

Pretty important -

A quick way to check-

Take a 1.5v battery- connect the speaker wires to the terminals of the battery- if the speaker cone moves FORWARD then the wire you have touched the pos terminal of the 1.5v battery will be the positive for the radio speaker. Do this for each speaker.

AND-

since you are adding an amp- do as S.E.Mike suggested- running dedicated power wires...

Otherwise your next thread will be " I have a whine that varies w/ the RPMs coming through my speakers- how do I get rid of it?"

Richard

 

UPDATE: I've got the new radio installed. Decided I didn't need a amp. Its plenty loud for my taste as is. I had to to do some splicing but it went in really easy. All the existing wires were labeled so that helped. Its gonna be tomorrow before I'm 100% finished. I'll post a pict or maybe a video when I'm all done. Thanks again for all the help