• Welcome to the Contour Enthusiasts Group, the best resource for the Ford Contour and Mercury Mystique.

    You can register to join the community.

Do you have to cut and splice to bypass factory amp?

Bozack

CEG'er
Joined
May 19, 2001
Messages
73
Location
MA USA
So I am looking at getting a new Deck, specifically the Pioneer 3900MP

http://www.circuitcity.com/ccd/productDetail.do?oid=169883&c=1

And for the install so far I am looking at these:

http://www.circuitcity.com/ccd/productDetail.do?oid=41017&c=1

For the factory to a standard

and then

http://www.circuitcity.com/ccd/productDetail.do?oid=72058&c=1

For the stanard to the Pioneer

However in reading the faq, and since I have an SVT, there was mention of getting a bypass harness, cutting it in half and then having to run longer wire and splice into one of the harnesses....

I was wondering if this was necessary, or if there was a bypass harness that was simply plug and play as those others above seem to be?

I was thinking I need this:

Metra Ford Premium Sound System Amplifier Eliminator Plug (70-5513)
http://www.circuitcity.com/ccd/productDetail.do?oid=10329&c=1

But don't know if I need to cut wires and such

It has been a long time since I have done any stereo work and any advice would be apprecaited.

Or would this stuff work:

http://www.scosche.com/scosche_caraudio.aspx?CategoryID=78&ItemID=FD07B

http://www.scosche.com/scosche_caraudio.aspx?CategoryID=43&ItemID=SMFD02PIO16B
 
Last edited:
I do believe you DO have to cut the bypass harness, cause its kinda a long strech to the factory amp.

So in that CC ad I seen you linked to, the ad says "no cutting/splicing required", I believe they are talking about the Power Harness, and not the bypass harness.

Upon my judgement, the first link to SCOCHE page is the correct Amp Bypass.
But, just buy it locally, so you see in person what you are buying.
 
Well you can use the CC amp integration harness.... and your system will be blarring loud at sound level 5..... when 40 is full volume on your radio.... or you could of done a search and found this nice little link to the old forums with how to bypass your factory amp... Sorry to sound like an ass.... I'm surprised there isn't a sticky yet for factory amp bypass, this is a very common question..

http://www.contour.org/ubbthreads/s...ber=912076&page=0&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=&vc=1
 
Last edited:
just a tip that could save you money in this. check out crutchfield.com i just replaced my head unit and all speakers. they sent me the wiring harnesses i needed, the adapter plugs for the speakers, the removal tool for the factory head unit, instruction sheets and a couple other misc. thing for installation and all for free.

also check you factory head until and speaker grills if they say PREMIUM SOUND. then you can choose to bypass the amp or not.:shrug:
 
Last edited:
Well you can use the CC amp integration harness.... and your system will be blarring loud at sound level 5..... when 40 is full volume on your radio.... or you could of done a search and found this nice little link to the old forums with how to bypass your factory amp... Sorry to sound like an ass.... I'm surprised there isn't a sticky yet for factory amp bypass, this is a very common question..

http://www.contour.org/ubbthreads/s...ber=912076&page=0&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=&vc=1

If you actually read my post you would have seen that I referenced that article.
 
mine said STEREO but I still had the amp behind the glovebox?! I also bought that metra cable to bypass it... which it did...
 
Do you have to cut and splice to bypass factory amp?

Yes....

You already knew that though because you read the post in the old forums....

EDIT: Let me rephrase that... you have to cut the bypass harness and extend the wires from that to the dash....
 
Last edited:
Do you have to cut and splice to bypass factory amp?

Yes....

You already knew that though because you read the post in the old forums....

EDIT: Let me rephrase that... you have to cut the bypass harness and extend the wires from that to the dash....

Wow, I didn't know I would have to lay it out so basically.....

To clarify....

Do they sell a bypass harness that you don't need to extend the length of?
 
I have yet to see one...I have yet to see a specific harness that is extended just enough for going from the contour's factory amp to the dash... that is sold separately... (I haven't seen any separate harnesses like that sold separately yet) but I CAN tell you what kit would have a harness inside of it that would have the right harness and just need to be cut shorter. The

Okay let me stop myself right there... I got sidetracked and just went and browsed scoche's website out of curiosity... and I just disproved what I said... I was going to say above that the only kit i've seen them in is the ford taurus kit...

http://www.scosche.com/scosche_caraudio.aspx?CategoryID=5&ItemID=FD134030B

but... scosche sells just the harness... in the short version
FD05B.jpg


and the long version
FD12B.jpg


and the best part of all, I think I actually found a harness that is setup to jumper the contour's premium harness to the output harness..... You would just need the proper harness in the dash.... That would be these two used in combination.
FD06B.jpg

+
FD15B.jpg


I proved myself wrong and learned something new today even though I work in the car audio industry.... yay :D
 
Last edited:
Your gonna hafta splice ANYTHING you use.

Cause face it, aftermarket decks dont COME with a speaker harness for your car. Crutchfield aint gonna take your pretty brand new deck, hook up the wires for you, put it back in the box, and send it to you? No way.

So youll haveta splice anything.
 
hes right... didnt mean to imply they would i just ment they would supply him with the harnesses he needed
 
I agree, you will have to splice... unless you go through CC an get the amp integration harness that adapts directly to your specific deck brand, and the bypass jumper harness I linked from scoshe earlier for the amp....
 
Just cut and splice, why go to CC and spend $18 on ANOTHER stupid harness when it takes the skills of a drunk monkey on acid to use crimp connectors.. You could have it done in 1/4 the time it takes to even drive to CC.
 
I really agree there... the last harness that I saw of theirs that went from factory to radio, didn't even work. The customers radio would shut off any time a little bump was hit while he was driving. As soon as I touched the harness the radio cut out.... and they didn't bypass the amp, which was in plain site on the top of the rear shelf in the trunk.... I made the guy pay for the part, then I cut of their harness put on a new harness and then went in the trunk and bypassed the amp with a ford eliminator harness... took like 5 minutes to do properly...
 
I went to an audio shop and they said they could bypass the amp without the harness. I don't know too much about wiring, but they said they could just splice the wires together, but they wanted to charge $65 to do it. Can this really be done or are they just blowing smoke?
 

If I can get these two guys and that works then that is fine, I just don't want to deal with cutting a new harness in half and then using whatever speaker wire and running it under the dash...I don't care if this is a little more as to me it would be a cleaner install (again only to me and my warped perception)
 
I went to an audio shop and they said they could bypass the amp without the harness. I don't know too much about wiring, but they said they could just splice the wires together, but they wanted to charge $65 to do it. Can this really be done or are they just blowing smoke?

Yeah... they'd just cut off the speaker output plug on the factory amp and hardwire the wires up to the dash... just like the how-to in the old forums shows, just without the adapter plug.... Which if you're lucky, they'll cut it so short at the plug that you won't be able to ever reuse the factory radio again... which isn't a big problem unless you choose to not put the factory radio back in at a later time to sell the car or otherwise... etc. etc...

l999.gif


If I can get these two guys and that works then that is fine, I just don't want to deal with cutting a new harness in half and then using whatever speaker wire and running it under the dash...I don't care if this is a little more as to me it would be a cleaner install (again only to me and my warped perception)

Should work, as long as they still sell them, some of the pictures on their site are in color and others are B&W, so idk if that means anything specifically or is just older pictures or something.... :shrug:
 
Yeah... they'd just cut off the speaker output plug on the factory amp and hardwire the wires up to the dash... just like the how-to in the old forums shows, just without the adapter plug.... Which if you're lucky, they'll cut it so short at the plug that you won't be able to ever reuse the factory radio again... which isn't a big problem unless you choose to not put the factory radio back in at a later time to sell the car or otherwise... etc. etc...

thats good to know. I kinda think $65 is a little high, but i don't know enough about wiring to do it myself though :shrug:
 
Last edited:
Back
Top