Radio questions

[OldSchool1]

Pictured above is one of the easy one's
The top and bottom tabs "slide" onto two male tabs. The disconnect, the female tabs have to be moved slightly away from the male tabs.
I just patiently wiggle the two connectors apart.
Yup.
It might take 30 or 60 seconds of constant wiggling, but unless they're glued together or (gasp) burnt together, they'll separate.

 

[Elessee]

...30 or 60 seconds of constant wiggling

I prefer to break the locking tangs completely off, and wedge a knife in the crack between the two parts, for leverage.

They don't want people taking them apart. In their defense, I will say the connections remain clean, tight and in great shape after 30 years of ozone, dust, vibration and heat.

 

[Elessee]

Managed to reinstall the radio and amp. The wiring started to make sense after a few hours...

The amplifier can stay but the head unit needs an upgrade. Individual speakers randomly cut out while turning the volume control. Tried cleaning the potentiometer. Made no difference at all.
Bought a cassette-to-3.5mm adapter, so I can hook up a phone, MP3 player, CD player etc. It's better than nothing. I'd like USB and an SDcard slot. Bluetooth.. Backup camera / GPS screen? Satellite radio-ready? They got everything...

Rather than antenna, the mystery switch mentioned earlier seems to power the amp. Volume increases when that switch is ON. Both of its wires lead to the amp..

One more thing... Anybody know what this cable is for? It follows the path of the antenna and speaker wires, from the dash into the trunk. Neither end is plugged into anything. It's a Ford cable, looks different from other wiring on this car. I hope it's not a remnant of the original "Premium" stereo system that my car used to have, but somebody swiped.

 

[Elessee]

I guess this LSC originally had a "Premium" stereo system. Is that what the JBL implies?
I don't know if this head unit or the amp came with the car.
The passenger window was acting up. It rose very slowly. I immediately pulled it closed, and haven't used it for months, for fear it would get stuck open. Working on it now, and noticed the speaker. Trunk speakers are good looking too... I'm clueless when it comes to audio.

 

[Elessee]

Got me a new receiver. $25... Amazon. It has Bluetooth, Aux-in jack, two front USB ports for playing and charging, SD card slot. Preamp jacks, if it needs an amplifier. The tiny little remote control is a lot more fun than I thought it would be.

Quickly hooked it all up, without a hitch. Soldering a dozen wires to the car's connectors took an hour. Fits the hole perfect.
Single DIN is only about two inches deep. I'll think of something to do with the big empty space behind it, above the transmission hump..

 

[goldmariee9]

I don't mind struggling through this for the sake of the car. It's nice to have everything more or less "stock". However, this radio is real old technology. No integrated circuits.. It's all discrete components.
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