so how would you go about replacing a stock 88 radio with an aftermarket one because my friend she is bugging me about it so i told her she needs a wire harness and the mounting bracket because its significantly smaller in size than the stock.. she has the aftermarket radio its been with her through her first car getting wrecked and everything so she has an attachment to this said radio.. any ideas on getting it in?

 

wwweeeellllllll...... it's just like wiring up any other car radio.... you may need to bust out the almighty hacksaw and cut out some material.... or fabricate your own bracket. I myself fabbed up a CF backing after my buddy ripped out the radio and installed all the goodies (AFC, wideband, boost cont.) before I bought it. looks great.

 

Buy the mounting adapter and harness from crutchfield.com

That is all.

 

really, i mean she looked into crutchfield or so she said, but she said she couldnt find it(i didnt think she was telling the truth) damn her....

 

I got one from crutchfield, it was FTL.

But it works...its just crappy.

And you need to bypass the stock amplifiers in the rear and passenger front speaker.

 

i got my harness and bracket from Shucks.. cheap and convenient

 

be prepared to have issues with the stock power antenna

 

Uh, I've got an '86 FC which, at the moment, is bone stock. However, I looked at the stereo system and must say that the original design is quite possibly the dumbest think that I've ever seen in my life (I've got the model with the cassete deck too, but no graphic equalizer). My rear speakers are unamplified and the right one on the front is much louder than the left regardless of the balance I use. Considering the quality of the rest of the car (that's not sarcasm, I really do love the FC) what brought on the monumental failocaust that is/was stock audio.

/rant

 

You can get install kits on ebay and also use a relay circut to ground on the pwr antenna. The antenna requires connection to ground rather than the usual 12 volts positive signal. you use a relay to switch it to ground. Drive the relay coil with the pwr on signal from the stereo and ground one side of the coil to ground. Then on the contacts uise the normaly open set one side to ground and the other to the stock power antenna wire. It will switch on the relay when the stereo is on throwing the no contacts closed grounding the power antenna wire just like the stock radio did.

 

Not sure if you need this or not.

 

doesnt matter its already not working(motor is out dude disconnected it after that)

 

Originally Posted by niburu
be prepared to have issues with the stock power antenna

just figured I'd mention it, I knew someone would chime in about why it's a pain and the fix, etc..

did you leave the antenna up or down or is she gonna get a whip antenna?

 

haha i pushed it down as far as it'll go as to put it through car wash hahaha but i keep telling her to get either a stock replacement from mazda or the power one from autozone or hell even a non powered one will work..