Ok, I'm sick and tired of running around town going from place to place looking for a CD player installation that is in my price range. Everywhere I go it's always 240-300 dollars at the bare minimum to purchase and install a CD player in my car. (87 Thunderbird w/Premium Sound/Factory Equalizer) Whenever I mention it has a factory EQ, the dollar signs light up in these people's eyes. Anyway, In about an hour I am going to Wal-Mart to purchase a cheap CD-Player. I also plan on getting the mounting kit, and the Correct Harness Adapter for my year. That's it.
I don't care about the Factory EQ or "premium sound", I just want the CD player hooked up to the speakers and that is it. How difficult is this job going to be?
Is there something else I'm going to need to purchase besides the items I listed above? Once I do get all of this stuff together, I will in all likely hood be reporting back here for further instructions.
Again, I just want the CD player to work. I don't care about the Premium Sound or EQ, I just want to hook this up as quick as possible and use it. Any advice, tips, etc?
"You can use the EQ with an aftermarket deck, but you MUST use the RCA line-level pre-outs on your deck. This means that you must use an aftermarket amplifier as well."
http://www.foxthundercats.com/samscars.htm
or ditch the equalizer all together. replace it with the map pocket or just leave it. its a useless peice of anyway. then run your own speaker wires (my first choice) or find the other standard radio harness taped up behind the dash and use the adaptor on that. it realy doend get any easier than that...you dont even realy need the instalation kit, get a peice of masonite or 1/4" plywood, plastic or something and make a plate.
Explain in further detail about this. I was reading some other thread about a harness found somewhere near the Glove Box. Is that what you are talking about? If so, does this mean all I have to do is get a CD player, and a harness adapter and plug it in?
First of all, read this page: http://www.foxthundercats.com/tcstereo.htm
ThunderChicken has done a great job of breaking down each type of stereo system in easy-to-understand terms. Once you've read up on it then come back with any questions you might have. I used the instructions on his page to integrate an aftermarket 4-channel amplifier and head unit into my factory system, which was premium sound without EQ. His wiring diagrams and color codes make it a simple job of matching up colors.
yes....that should work if the harness pigtail is there. i always make it a point to run my own wired to each speaker. i usually dont bother getting the harness either. i just cut the power, ground and 12+ (i cant remember if there is a sepperate chassis ground or not...) and solder them to the new decks harness directly. cheepest way to do it. and i have no use for the factory wireing. in order to mount the deck you will ned to make some sort of mounting plate. its basically a wrecktangle with a wrecktangle hole the size of the deck cut in the middle of it and holes drilled out where it screws into the dash. ale it does is keeps the deck from flopping around in there. you could spend the 10-15 bucks and buy one as well. either way you will need the metal clip from the back of the stock rsdio and mount it on the new one in the same place. this keeps the rear of the deck secure.
you will still need too wire the adapter harness into the new decks harness. all the wires are, or at least should be labled. very easy.
When I installed the cd player in my Bird I just used all the brackets that held the factory radio in place. Never had to make any kind of mounting plate. My buddy's Cougar is the same way.
The adapter harness I saw at Walmart looked like a simple plug in design. One end plugged into the Cd player, and the other into the Car Harness. Is this not the case?
The walmart adapter will plug in to the cars harness fine but those wires from the adapter and stereo still need to be spliced together, pretty straight foreward.
If you buy an adapter, buy one for a car WITHOUT premium sound, as this will plug into that secondary harness that's hidden behind the glove box - that secondary harness is connected directly to the speakers and bypasses the amp & EQ.
One thing to remember: If you find the secondary harness and connect to it, you MUST unplug the amplifier in the trunk. Although the second harness bypasses the amp it is still connected to it (on the amp's output side) and if you connect your stereo to it you'll backfeed into the amp. If you don't unplug the amp, you'll fry it (definitely) and could possibly fry the stereo as well.
Also, don't try to connect your stereo to the premium sound connector currently attached to the stock premium sound head unit - there will not be enough wires (you need eight speaker wires, the premium harness only has three or five) and that harness is grounded - something that could also fry your deck.
Hey DMC, installing a CD player is easy. I would just go to wal-mart and get the wiring harness, and the Ford adapter bracket set.
Just unplug and toss the factory amp & EQ. In the factory harness, one of the plugs (can't remember which color) if you pull it out of the dash it will have the second plug on it like people mentioned. Just attach the wal-mart wiring harness to the CD player's wiring harness (it's easy because all the wires are always the same color) and plug it in. Out of the box of adapter brackets there's only one you need (kind of a rip eh). On my car, due to the CD player I have, I had to actually flip over the bracket I ended up using and trim it back a bit to get my CD player to fit in behind the console cover piece, but that's just because the trim piece around the CD player was too big to fit through the opening in the cover.
Ok, first off, how does one Unplug the Factory Amp and EQ? Second of all, how difficult is it going to be for me to take out the stock radio?
Um....the eq, just take it out of the dash and unplug it :dunno:
The factory amp is behind one of those metal things in the trunk (the one on the left side). Take out the screw in the top, drop down the metal thing, and you'll see the amp sitting there. It's weird looking and octagon shaped.
Factory radio is just held in with screws, which is sweet. Hell of a lot easier than those DIN radios.
Thanks for all the replies. First thing tommorrow morning I will begin the process of dismantling the Stock Radio.
Oh, and by the way, here's a little treat I stumbled upon a few minutes ago.....
http://www.fedrelandsvennen.no/amcar/brochures/ford/87tbird.html (http://"http://www.fedrelandsvennen.no/amcar/brochures/ford/87tbird.html")
What, you don't like the 84's?
http://www.fedrelandsvennen.no/amcar/brochures/ford/84tbird.html
Or, just start at the beginning... he must have a lot of server space!
http://www.fedrelandsvennen.no/amcar/
[shameless plug alert] You know if you really want an easy time installing a stereo ;)! : http://www.foxtbirdcougarforums.com/showthread.php?t=7222 [/end shameless plug alert!]
Ok guys, on the car, what color is the wire for Power and the Wire for Memory?
Go here: http://www.foxthundercats.com/samscars.htm
Click "Tech Info" on the upper left side. Then click "Wiring Diagrams" and choose the "Electronic Radio, With Premium, With EQ" link under the '87-'88 model years. That gives you all of the colors in a concise and easy-to-read diagram.
I hear everyone talking about the elusive second plug. Perhaps 99% of the cars had this second plug, but my car with pemium sound (but no eq) did not have the second plug. So I ran new wires. If running new wires scares you I'd make sure your car has the second plug before thinking too far.
Well guys, I installed the CD player and it works. Although, I must say, after taking out the Amp, disconnecting the EQ, and rewiring everything, the hardest part wasn't getting the thing to work. It was mounting it. Despite a kit purchased designed for this task, I ended up mickey-mousing the job. Now, the player is in, but it seems to be protruding out too much. But for the life of me, I couldn't get any of that convoluted mounting to fit where it was supposed to. I will take pictures tommorrow to illustrate what I am talking about. Oh well, at least I didn't fry everything. That's the silver lining.
Now I just gotta figure out what to do with the EQ. I must say, the interior feels kinda....dark.....without the little EQ lights coming on while driving at night. Can't I plug the power into it, without using it, so it at least looks somewhat decent? In the meantime, I will be determining what I shall put in it's place. Any sugs?
Might I suggest....
when i put a cd player in my 1988 cougar with premium sound system, i just got a wiring diagram, and bipased the equalizer, if u get an adaptor, u bump down the power to the equalizer which just bumps it right back up. and most new cd players have an equilizer built into it anyways, although it was pretty difficult and it sucks having an equilizer sitting in your dash that doesnt work, but thats just what i did.
my mistake, when i said the equilizer bumps it back up, i ment to say the aplifier bumps it back up, but still, nock down the power to run it through the equilizer, thenbump up the power with the amp, it sounds better just to run straight wires from the radio to each speaker.
Ok, I purchased one of those Wal-Mart CD player installation kits (sosche) but I must say, the guide that comes with it is rather convoluted. I don't understand what goes where, and I have a bunch of cheap, plastic pieces sitting here and I haven't the slightest clue what to do with them. Any good mounting tips?
Yup, take the kit back to the store and get a refund. I tried that kit myself and it was absolutely useless. I ended up reusing the existing mounting tabs/s and a couple of the screws that came with my headunit.
Kinda like this?
I found my Pioneer stereo fit the hole just fine by swapping the original brackets (right to left, left to right) and slightly filing the holes in the plastic dash so the locating posts had a bit of room to move.
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I used a best buy kit, probably the same at wal mart. Its already cracked.
master blaster I'm gona have to finda stock radio to snag some brackets off of!
The kit that Crutchfield sent me with my Alpine deck was PERFECT. I gotta get some pics of it, there was no resistance to fitting it in... It fit like a glove! I even got the rear support and ground attached with no problem... It was my first install and couldn't be happier. They sent the kit, harness, fully done instructions for our cars, and a bypass harness with the headunit for no extra charge. Here's the kit they sent me:
http://www.crutchfield.com/S-vq624vP1qX4/cgi-bin/ProdView.asp?g=112200&I=003CFK510 (http://"http://www.crutchfield.com/S-vq624vP1qX4/cgi-bin/ProdView.asp?g=112200&I=003CFK510")
BTW, here's the master sheet they sent me that actually has illustrations of our interiors and how to do everything safely:
https://www.crutchfield.com/S-vq624vP1qX4/scgi-bin/PDFStream.aspngz?pdf=0000190029 (http://"https://www.crutchfield.com/S-vq624vP1qX4/scgi-bin/PDFStream.aspngz?pdf=0000190029")
Hope any of this helps! I'll post some pics of my new Alpine/iPod setup with dual 12" subs next week. I get my license on the 13th, so I'll have the car home from my uncle's garage by then.
when I did the stereo in my sisters tempo, all I did was used the stock brackets. I assume the cougars/birds are the same way.
Exactly how I did mine and my freinds. I think I even stated that earlier but oh well, guess people dont want to save money:dunno: .