Radio install question

by KC77Monte Fri Jun 20, 2014 10:46 pm

This weekends project is to swap out the 8-track player in the monte for something a little newer. I have the stock radio out and ready to put the new one in. I would like to wire it up to the factory wiring if possible. The car came with a aftermarket stereo in it with the wires running to the fuse panel. Not really a fan of that. My question is, has anyone done this yet?If so, which wires did you hook to which wires in the factory harness. I believe the factory harness has yellow, gray and black.Thanks........

by pila Fri Jun 20, 2014 11:37 pm

What year is your Monte ? Folks here may have an electrical schematic available, and can tell how to use the OEM wiring.

by KC77Monte Fri Jun 20, 2014 11:47 pm

Guess that might help...it's a 77

by orange Juiced Sat Jun 21, 2014 1:15 am

Cant remember what wires I used, but I would suggest hooking the power wire straight from the battery. At 1st i hooked up my after market cd player to the factory harness and at night I would blow out the fuse for the lights of the instrument panel, even with a bigger fuse. I was only running the radio and a pair of 6x9s.

by ant7377 Sat Jun 21, 2014 8:59 am

I hooked mine to the factory wiring in my 77. There was already a cheap tape player in there and I wanted it stock looking so I bought a retro sound dual knob stereo for it. Use a test light with the key on to find the power wires there were 2. I know one was yellow,the other may have been gray or brown.Cant remember.

by Joe73 Sat Jun 21, 2014 9:04 am

Mine is also wire to factory power. My Aiwa radio has a built in amp and I have no problems with static or anything. Test light is the way to go to find ground and power.

by pila Sat Jun 21, 2014 6:23 pm

OK...according to the wiring diagram, ( 1977 ) the radio wires are colored black ( ground ) yellow (power), and grey, which is power for the dash lights, and the original radio dial light. Going direct to the battery may be a fire hazard. You could also tap into the fuse panel, on one of the spades that is marked IGN, which will run the radio only when the ignition is on. And be sure to have an inline fuse in the power wire. Most after-market radios have one in the power wire.
The memory wire on the after-market radios has to be hooked to a "hot all the time" power source. You can find a place on the fuse panel that's hot all the time with a meter. If you don't have a meter, Harbor Freight has a cheap one which is good enough for basic voltage checks.

Bill

by KC77Monte Sat Jun 21, 2014 11:01 pm

Thanks guys. With your help, I think I know what I am going to try.

by driveit Mon Jun 23, 2014 11:54 am

Good luck. I have a fobia of doing electrical of any kind, but I need to wire my stereo and electric choke up soon. I have to resetup my radio every time I start the car. Annoying!

by 1973 454 MONTE Mon Jun 23, 2014 1:08 pm

^^^^you need a constant power for the presets^^^^^

by 1973 454 MONTE Mon Jun 23, 2014 1:11 pm

i taped off the gray wire from the factory radio plug and used the yellow for my switchable and the black for the ground. i have a full time hot wire coming from the poss lead off the battery to save my presets. so far so good Very Happy

by pila Mon Jun 23, 2014 1:18 pm

The pre-sets are the memory, so that's the required hot-all-the-time power. Lots of places on the fuse block to get power that's on all the time. A meter will find those easy.

I make it sound easy I guess, since I'm used to bundles of wiring as big as my arm on Corporate type airplanes.

by driveit Mon Jun 23, 2014 1:43 pm

I need to get a test light. I have a multi meter that could possible be fried. I am not sure. When test a part on my water heater Whilpool support told me to set it to DC. I asked her if she was sure and she said yes. I told her I thought it was AC for house current. She said no and that I should make sure to set it to DC. After getting a small fireball like explosion in my face I decided that she was wrong! I could not see anything for like a two minutes. It was not fun. I just bought a new water heater. You can see where my electrical fear comes from.

by pila Mon Jun 23, 2014 10:00 pm

Getting familiar with using a meter will save you a lot of work. Thing is, make sure you set it to the scale ( for voltage) that is higher than what is needed, until you find out the actual voltage. Like in cars, the 15 volt scale is OK etc.
And NEVER put voltage on the leads with the OHMS scale selected on the meter ! Very Happy

by KC77Monte Sat Jun 28, 2014 9:14 pm

Well so far my install has been nothing but a PITA. I wired it up to make sure it worked before uninstalling the factory radio only to find out the left(volume) knob did not work. E-mailed the seller was told please call technical support. Called tech support and was told the knob could be bad, I could send it in or they could send me the knob and I could fix it myself. Had them send me the knob and replaced it, it worked. So Thursday after dinner I started the install. Also installed a amp to go along with it. Install complete with radio still outside dash. Everything works perfect. Install radio in dash, still works. Put dash back together, still works. Went out to have dinner with the wife and son, come home no sound on radio. Ipod works fine, just no sound with radio, so it looks like another call to tech support Monday. Real close to boxing it back up and sending it back. Thanks for listening

by dynchel Sat Jun 28, 2014 9:46 pm

I hate having stupid problems like that. Mad

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