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

    You can register to join the community.

factory radio swap

A

amsra

New CEG'er
Joined
Aug 19, 2002
Messages
20
Location
Rossford, OH
My 96 GL ATX has a factory cassette radio in it and I wanted to replace it with a factory CD radio. The power portion of the wiring harness is common to both radios.

What I assume is the speaker harness is not. The old cassette radio has 8 spade terminals that run parallel to the spades on the power harness, that the harness plugs into, but the CD radio has 3 seperate areas. The middle has 8 pins (2 rows of 4 that run vertically). The top area has some sort of adapter plugged into it and when you unplug the adapter there are 6 pins (2 rows of 3 vertically). The bottom has 2 pins.

I was hoping this was going to be an unplug one--plug in the other sort of deal. I guess nothing is ever THAT simple.

Is there an adapter from the factory harness to this radio or do I need to change the plug on the harness? What is the easiest way to do this? I'm not a big audio guy, I just want to play my CDs when not listening to a ball game.
 
Last edited:
You are better off selling that CD player and buying a aftermarket one.

The CD player uses a external amp, where the tape deck supplys power to the speakers.

So to get that Cd player to work you need this. Stock amp, all the wiring connected to stock amp, then wire to speakers. Or you could sell it and by a Pioneer or something(which will sound better) and connect everything just like the stock tape deck with the aftermarket wiring harness.
 
Thanks Steeda--

Eventhough that is not the answer I wanted. I guess I'll try and turn it around on e-bay and find another sucker.

And to think that I was going to ask if it would work before I bought it--that would have been a novel approach.
 
Okay-- So give me a recommendation for an economical replacement CD Radio that looks kind of stock and maybe some speakers to replace the stock ones. Preferably using the current wiring and all for under $200. Keep in mind I'm a geezer and have no interest in making the car bounce.

Thanks for the help.
 
amsra said:
Okay-- So give me a recommendation for an economical replacement CD Radio that looks kind of stock and maybe some speakers to replace the stock ones. Preferably using the current wiring and all for under $200. Keep in mind I'm a geezer and have no interest in making the car bounce.

Thanks for the help.
Click to expand...

I don't think you're going to be able to replace the radio and all the speakers for under 200, unless you find someone that is selling a really nice package deal.... Probably either going to have to replace the 4 speakers, or just the radio. I recommend the radio if your speakers are all working fine right now. I'm kind of limited on brand since I work at BBY, so I recommend a lower end Pioneer, Alpine, or Eclipse. If you want to compare, there are other brands like Sony, JVC, Clarion, etc... I just don't have much knowledge of the Clarion and Eclipse brands since we don't sell them.... I would say.... get a list... write down what you want the unit to do, and the price you're willing to spend on it.... (200)...... and then start with one brand, read the specifications and abilities, check different models of that brand, then try the next brand, and start comparing... process of elimination.... Bought the best way I can tell you to pick out a radio. People will ask me all the time what is a "good radio to buy" and I don't want to be telling someone to buy this or that, and then have them not happy with what they bought because I told them it was good..... If you can though, when you're comparing radio's, if you can get a hold of a demo model to play with I'd suggest doing so, get a feel for the functionality of the unit and if you like the layout of the controls....

Well... happy hunting on the new radio!
 
amsra said:
My 96 GL ATX has a factory cassette radio in it and I wanted to replace it with a factory CD radio. The power portion of the wiring harness is common to both radios.

What I assume is the speaker harness is not. The old cassette radio has 8 spade terminals that run parallel to the spades on the power harness, that the harness plugs into, but the CD radio has 3 seperate areas. The middle has 8 pins (2 rows of 4 that run vertically). The top area has some sort of adapter plugged into it and when you unplug the adapter there are 6 pins (2 rows of 3 vertically). The bottom has 2 pins.

I was hoping this was going to be an unplug one--plug in the other sort of deal. I guess nothing is ever THAT simple.

Is there an adapter from the factory harness to this radio or do I need to change the plug on the harness? What is the easiest way to do this? I'm not a big audio guy, I just want to play my CDs when not listening to a ball game.
Click to expand...

Also if you could post some pictures of the radio harness we could help you out better on getting the proper adapter harness for installing a new radio..
 
Some of the stock radio/cd players will just plug in. I saw one the other day in the jy that I would have gotten, but there was a broken button on it, so I passed. However the back was the same as my stock cass/ radio with the two connectors. If you searched Ford radios on the net you can find all you want. Otherwise getting an after market one is just personal choice. Just check out the display at an audio store then if you like the look of one check here before you buy. The connections are fairly standard and you can hook up most aftermarket radios using a simple adaptor available at Walmart for about $5.

Regards,
AF
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top