Original AM radio Installation completed.

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griffbl

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 17, 2012
Messages
185
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9
Location
dallas
My Car
1972 Mustang Mach 1
2014 Ford F150
2018 Porsche Panamera


[url=https://ibb.co/i2uhXQ][img]https://preview.ibb.co/h0A0K5/815f.jpg[/img][/url]
After having installed my original style antenna, I installed my Ebay acquired original AM radio went very smoothly with help from our site! This thread was EXTREMELY helpful! https://www.7173mustangs.com/thread-stock-radio-install-question?highlight=radio+install  My radio was purchased on Ebay, http://www.ebay.com/itm/322565019624 Works perfectly, all good. The only problem I encountered in the install, was with the bracket, pictured below. I also purchased it on Ebay http://www.ebay.com/itm/1971-1973-Mustang-Mach1-Cougar-AM-FM-radio-support-bracket-71-72-73-Torino-Ford/272840304769?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649  When I installed it on the back of the radio, I could feel it, slip in to the slot securely when I pushed the radio into the instrument panel. But, the radio was not deep enough into the panel for the bezel to line up.  So, I simply installed the radio without the bracket, as the aforementioned link on our website said it would work without the bracket if necessary.  I would not have tried that without those assurances, and he was correct! The radio does NOT rattle, etc. and seems quite secure.  I would like the bracket if I could find the right one.  The previous owner, thankfully, with his Custom Auto Sound radio installed, did NOT cut the factory harness.  So I attached the dash speaker and it works great! The only thing that surprised me was that it is my understanding that the bracket serves as the ground. Well, I was about to run a ground, but the radio works perfectly without it, so I did not run the wire.  Just wanted to post my experience and some photos.  I will be selling the custom auto sound radio on this site Product Number USA 230.  It works perfectly, has jacks etc. I just wanted something original in this car.  Many thanks! Photos below show the "after" original radio install, the incorrect bracket?, and the way the car appeared before.

Brad







 
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Brad, this may be no help at all, but I have 2 radios. One is the original AM out of my 71 Mach and the other is a 73 AM/FM I picked up and was installed in my car. There is a huge difference in size as you can see. The AM is 2" longer. I'm not sure if I have the bracket the wrong way up, but at least you can see the length of it compared to the AM radio. The AM/FM is puked right now, needs the FM circuit fixed, but I fabricated the support/ground bracket for it. My underdash had been apart many times before I bought the car and much "Mickey-Mouse" work had been done, so I can't be sure that the ground was originally connected to the bracket bolt, but I believe so. I think the ground wire coming from the radio is just for the speakers. ( Don't you just love people who cut the wires instead of undoing the plugs!!!!)

Hope that is of some help.

Geoff.

 
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Brad, this may be no help at all, but I have 2 radios. One is the original AM out of my 71 Mach and the other is a 73 AM/FM I picked up and was installed in my car. There is a huge difference in size as you can see. The AM is 2" longer. I'm not sure if I have the bracket the wrong way up, but at least you can see the length of it compared to the AM radio. The AM/FM is puked right now, needs the FM circuit fixed, but I fabricated the support/ground bracket for it. My underdash had been apart many times before I bought the car and much "Mickey-Mouse" work had been done, so I can't be sure that the ground was originally connected to the bracket bolt, but I believe so. I think the ground wire coming from the radio is just for the speakers. ( Don't you just love people who cut the wires instead of undoing the plugs!!!!)

Hope that is of some help.

Geoff.
Thanks Geoff.  After looking at my bracket, and then yours, it appears as if yours is correct for the AM application.....and mine is probably for the AM / FM unit.  Isn't it odd that the AM unit is larger? Must be because it was used in lots of applications.....and quite possibly as the AM /FM units were no doubt a newer design and possibly more compact as a result. I worry not about the ground as the unit is working perfectly.  I may add a hidden adapter to use for FM, or auxiliary input.  Even found on that is battery operated on Ebay with no connections necessary, http://www.ebay.com/itm/Fm-To-AM-Converter-Transmitter-for-Vintage-Radio-MK-2/142510451060?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649  OR the Redi-Rad unit that is hard wired....I like the little battery powered one as I use the car only for short trips, and it has a built in FM tuner.  I probably would not bother much with the auxiliary input for my mono speaker! The car has door speakers, of the correct type for cars with the AM /FM radio.  I simply disconnnected them for now.

Thanks gain Geoff!

Brad

 
Brad, looking at your bracket, I think I would agree. It is possibly for an AM/FM radio, but for which car? Too many advertisers out there on Epay just want to sell and will say anything for a sale. Can't believe half of them!!

If you're handy with tools and fabricating stuff, you could copy my AM bracket. It's purpose is to hold the weight of the radio or there is a load of pressure on the face plate. It doesn't have to look pretty! I can PM you with better details if needed.

To be honest, I do not know what the earlier AM/FM radios were like size wise. Mine is a 73 (D3). Is that why it's smaller? Right now, I have a 78 AM/FM out of a Mustang II in there, but it's NFG as well, too much static. It's there for effect only until I get my 73 rebuilt. Around where I live, FM is a must if you don't like country!! That is the only station I can get. Actually, I prefer the sound of my Flowmaster 40's ...... apart from the drone between 2000 & 2500 rpm!!

Glad I was able to help somewhat,

Geoff.

 
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The other radio in the mix was the AM/ 8 Track and might also be a different size. I have AM, AM/FM and AM/8 Track but not out of the car. I put a  later model AM/FM in my 73 because it had the slide bar for the rear speakers below the buttons. Looks just like AM/FM except for the additional bar. The PO had hacked my wire harness and had to find another. He had also cut the rear side panels and put in rear speakers so I used the later model that hooked up to them. It sounds horrible, lol. Needs a rebuild also when some of the components in radio go bad it still plays just not so good.

My 72 Q code vert and My 73 Q Mach both have AM/ 8 Track and work fine. The dash bezel is different for the AM/ 8 Track with a taller opening cut to where the chrome is on the top edge.

The pic is the later model radio I put in the vert and the bracket worked on it.

















 
The other radio in the mix was the AM/ 8 Track and might also be a different size. I have AM, AM/FM and AM/8 Track but not out of the car. I put a  later model AM/FM in my 73 because it had the slide bar for the rear speakers below the buttons. Looks just like AM/FM except for the additional bar. The PO had hacked my wire harness and had to find another. He had also cut the rear side panels and put in rear speakers so I used the later model that hooked up to them. It sounds horrible, lol. Needs a rebuild also when some of the components in radio go bad it still plays just not so good.

My 72 Q code vert and My 73 Q Mach both have AM/ 8 Track and work fine. The dash bezel is different for the AM/ 8 Track with a taller opening cut to where the chrome is on the top edge.

The pic is the later model radio I put in the vert and the bracket worked on it.















David-

Thanks so much.  I would still consider a correct AM FM unit, as my car has correct style speakers and grills installed in the doors.  And the wiring is intact.  Car was originally AM, so those were added by the previous owner.  I have learned that our AM only cars had a dash speaker only (like mine in High School) and my dash speaker still works just fine.  When I pulled out the modern head unit, the pigtail for the dash speaker was hanging there ready to be used again thankfully. The modern unit was only hooked to the front door speakers. Thankfully none were added in back.  The AM/FM factory radios used factory door speakers, and NO dash speaker.  Thank you for pointing out that the "slider" is a front to rear "fader".  I did not know if it was front to back, tone, or what.  NOW I know. :)  I might have seen many of these later radios installed in our cars.  I THINK I know the rare, for 1971 AM/FM radios have a glass radio bezel marked "Mustang".  They are hard to find.  Not necessarily needed by me, as my car came with an AM anyway, so not absolutely required.   If I found a nice Factory AM/FM unit I still might by one, as I have the door speakers in place.  Your picture is a good one, as it shows the correct speaker plug. I have noticed that many AM/FM Ford, period correct, (but NOT EXACTLY for a 1971 Mustang) radios equipped with the slider button underneath the AM/FM selector,  have what appears to be three wires ony for the speakers?  That always confuses me as to how to how they were hooked up, or what that application was not actually for? How did those three leads go to the speakers? I think there SHOULD be 4 or five, i.e. +/- for each speaker and I am assuming there is one common ground also? Yours looks like it has five?  The power plug has the same two prong lead of course.

Thanks again David very much for all the help on this site!

Brad

 
Brad, for what it's worth, when I got my car back in 08, someone had previously installed a different radio and made a hack job of installing rear speakers in the package tray, wrecking it as well. The AM had been reinstalled and was running through the rear speakers only. I suspect this was why the wires had been cut and the front speaker was no even there. There are no door speakers either, correct for an AM only car. I made my own package tray and buried a couple of 4" speakers so they are not seen. I can give more details if required. I bought a front stereo speaker for the AM/FM. My 73 radio has a fader knob behind the tuning knob on the right side. As I mentioned before, FM is a must around here as I can't stand country, the only AM station I can get!! Sorry country lovers!

Geoff.

 
Brad, for what it's worth, when I got my car back in 08, someone had previously installed a different radio and made a hack job of installing rear speakers in the package tray, wrecking it as well. The AM had been reinstalled and was running through the rear speakers only. I suspect this was why the wires had been cut and the front speaker was no even there. There are no door speakers either, correct for an AM only car. I made my own package tray and buried a couple of 4" speakers so they are not seen. I can give more details if required. I bought a front stereo speaker for the AM/FM. My 73 radio has a fader knob behind the tuning knob on the right side. As I mentioned before, FM is a must around here as I can't stand country, the only AM station I can get!! Sorry country lovers!

Geoff.
Thanks Geoff. I am curious about one thing: Would the AM radio only strong enough to run a pair of rear speakers? If so, I could always try to connect my AM unit to the door speakers, instead of just the dash speaker, as an experiment.  I would certainly not try all three together, and I would need to see if the door speakers were of the correct resistance for the older style radio.  

Thanks!

Brad

 
Brad, for what it's worth, when I got my car back in 08, someone had previously installed a different radio and made a hack job of installing rear speakers in the package tray, wrecking it as well. The AM had been reinstalled and was running through the rear speakers only. I suspect this was why the wires had been cut and the front speaker was not even there. There are no door speakers either, correct for an AM only car. I made my own package tray and buried a couple of 4" speakers so they are not seen. I can give more details if required. I bought a front stereo speaker for the AM/FM. My 73 radio has a fader knob behind the tuning knob on the right side. As I mentioned before, FM is a must around here as I can't stand country, the only AM station I can get!! Sorry country lovers!

Geoff.
Thanks Geoff. I am curious about one thing: Would the AM radio only strong enough to run a pair of rear speakers? If so, I could always try to connect my AM unit to the door speakers, instead of just the dash speaker, as an experiment.  I would certainly not try all three together, and I would need to see if the door speakers were of the correct resistance for the older style radio.  

Thanks!

Brad
 I think it will work as mine were running to the rears which were 7" oval stereo. Can't find them right now, but they were not high power, so I would guess about 40 watts max. Run a good size wire I would think and there should be no problem. As it will not of course be stereo, you could run to just one speaker. If I remember, mine was going to both, but the wires were joined at the radio. Using your door speakers would be the same type of connection. I can't comment on the resistance, no idea.

 
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