AM radio conversion for 2009/2010

[mauve66]

didn/t know if this should be in the interior section or this one, i guess they will move it if they want to

awhile back a guy on www.66-67charger.com did a updated conversion of a radio on his 60's mopar (i can't remember the year of the car and the site is down right now, i will post a link to the original thread later), anyway, he took a current shaft radio and put it inside the case of the stock radio to keep the stock look.

i thought it was a great idea and had been getting tired of the way my radio had been mounted for years but i was worried about the EL face not working with this conversion

i finally bit the bullet several months ago and had him do mine as a guniea pig.  I'm happy to say that it works great and the radio looks completely stock in the dash but i now have FM and an IPOD connector for later on if i want

this will take a couple of posts to get all the pics on here with the right info, but if someone wants theirs done they can email him about what you want/need/have to get pricing and available options.  Harold does this in his spare time so you can't be in a rush (took about 2 months for mine, maybe less, i was a little impatient) but it is definitely worth it in my book for what i wanted.

I know alot of you guys already have FM in your car but if your wanting more power to the speakers and electronic tuning and ipod connector this may be for you
Harold's email is doonerfunderburk@clearwire.net

[mauve66]

here are the before pics

[mauve66]

here are the after pics

[mauve66]

here are the dash pics, i forgot to take one in the daylight as i was too excited to see it with the dash lights on, the first one is close to daylight cause i left the flash on

[mauve66]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Shaft-Style-AM-FM-Car-Stereo-Radio-Cassette-w-iPod-NEW_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQhashZitem414ac911a9QQitemZ280427565481QQptZMotorsQ5fCarQ5fTruckQ5fPartsQ5fAccessories

here is the radio that i got to send to him (from this seller also), but you can find your own if you want or he can get you one at a higher cost.  on second thought he might be able to get it sheaper as you wouldn't have to pay to ship it to you THEN turn around and ship it to him.

anyway, some things to think about,
1.  the presets will not work for tuning anymore, if you want that you'll have to spend $300-400 to get one from a stereo place
2.  you need to remember to send him the knobs for your radio, they will have to be modified to work with this radio
3.  remember this is a part time hobby, not a rush for Xmas thing
4.  be honest with the quality of your radio, he will check it out before working on it
5.  this particular radio doesn't have a front to back fader, only a left to right balance,
6.  at first i didn't want the IPOD connector ( I don't have one) but its part of the same price and i would suggest getting it for future changes.  in the middle of waiting for mine my idea of a hard drive for musi seemed to fizzle out so i'm glad i got it anyway so i can upgrade later.  he can make the IPOD connector cable longer so it ends up where ever you want or just have it sitting in the glove box

these are all things you will have to discuss with Harold

hope this helps someone,

[mauve66]

oh yeah, the cassette part was ripped out, i couldn't figure a way to make the original faceplate motorized to hide it

[pettybird]

the best part about the pictures is the carl's jr sign on the dashboard--we stopped at whataburger on the way to Talladega in our Superbird, and they gave us #43, which is now on the coffee table at home

[bull]

So aside from having FM and the mp3 jack now what are the other benefits? By that I mean does it push the same amount of power as a modern radio? Can you use an amp with it, etc.?

[mauve66]

the particular radio that i used has 30 watt i believe and has rear RCA preamp outs if you wanted to use an amp, it also has the regular wire speaker connectors for front left and right if you stay with the stock locations/types of speakers or you can combine all of them.  AGAIN , THE RADIO I USED ONLY BALANCES LEFT TO RIGHT, IT HAS NO ABILITY TO FADE FRONT TO BACK.  the presets on the stock radio now only control the AM-FM band switching, the BASS boost button and the Stereo/mono button

benefits to me are no bulky radio stack sitting on the console anymore, with the Lightning Rods going in the main stick would be right up against the stereo when it was in park, here's a pic of the old radio setup, of course it was top of the line back in '91 and had CASS and CD changer controls as well as a cell phone speaker interface that would shut off the radio and take your call through the cars speakers, i think it was around 50 watts and had left/right and front to back faders also.

i also have a FM modulator for satellite radio in the glove box now that can also control the Music Keg hard drive that i was going to put in the trunk but the Music Keg seems to only work on windows XP and older systems cause it has a USB1 device so i will probably go to plan B,  I have an older 10 disc changer i may put back in the trunk and the FM modulator can control it also.  I don't have sat radio yet but it is an option in the future.  the good thing about the IPOD is that if i get one, it'll hold a couple thousand songs and i can play them all through the dash stock looking stereo.

like i was saying before, most of you guys that have 2-3rd gen cars probably have the stock FM already, this is just a stealth way of doing it without giving up your glove box like so many do when they put the whole modern radio in there.  this way you can also upgrade the speakers hidden in the car and get some power to them to take advantage of their better quality

[mauve66]

anymore questions??

[Steelshanks]

i also have a FM modulator for satellite radio in the glove box now that can also control the Music Keg hard drive that i was going to put in the trunk but the Music Keg seems to only work on windows XP and older systems cause it has a USB1 device so i will probably go to plan B,  I have an older 10 disc changer i may put back in the trunk and the FM modulator can control it also.  I don't have sat radio yet but it is an option in the future.  the good thing about the IPOD is that if i get one, it'll hold a couple thousand songs and i can play them all through the dash stock looking stereo.

What you got Vista or Windows 7? I'm thinking there is something else going on cause I've not heard of this happening. If your hooking up a regular USB device to a Hi-Speed USB port it'll just be slow, not incompatable. With those new operating systems it might be some sort of driver issue.

Also, I love my IPod and if you actually put thousands of songs on it be sure to create multiple play lists in your Ipod Itunes interface to make life simpler on you. I have thousands of songs also but I only really enjoy 10% of them... lol

[mauve66]

some have asked why i did this since i don't get to use my glove box anyway, i keep the registration/insurance in the console due to the GearVendors control and FM modulator display being in the glove box, the FM modulator has a remote so i don't need to see/reach it for it to work

[mauve66]

i also have a FM modulator for satellite radio in the glove box now that can also control the Music Keg hard drive that i was going to put in the trunk but the Music Keg seems to only work on windows XP and older systems cause it has a USB1 device so i will probably go to plan B,  I have an older 10 disc changer i may put back in the trunk and the FM modulator can control it also.  I don't have sat radio yet but it is an option in the future.  the good thing about the IPOD is that if i get one, it'll hold a couple thousand songs and i can play them all through the dash stock looking stereo.

What you got Vista or Windows 7? I'm thinking there is something else going on cause I've not heard of this happening. If your hooking up a regular USB device to a Hi-Speed USB port it'll just be slow, not incompatable. With those new operating systems it might be some sort of driver issue.

Also, I love my IPod and if you actually put thousands of songs on it be sure to create multiple play lists in your Ipod Itunes interface to make life simpler on you. I have thousands of songs also but I only really enjoy 10% of them... lol

yes its the drivers for the usb1 device, no one wrote a new program for the usb1 to work with vista/ 7 , so i have to get a usb2 for this item, get an older used computer just for this function or junk the whole idea and try something else

[mauve66]

someone mentioned that i hadn't actual stated how i felt about the radio now that its back and installed in the car, so here it is

i love it, its great, i get to listen to the radio while i'm working on the car and when i want to change the station i don't have to get out of the car and walk over to the wall anymore!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i thought i said that somewhere, i'm very sorry, i really like it, really really like it, no more stack on to of the console scratching it.  I'm still working on the USB2 device so that i can use the hard drive instead of buying an IPOD but for now i have radio.  i will probably keep my amps and all 6 speakers but not for sure 100% yet

i was sitting here kinda disappointed not everyone was excited about it but i know that the 2 main camps are

1.  100% stock
2. straight aftermarket

so this is kinda in-between, i see no draw backs with the work or the idea itself although if i had to do it again......................

1. i might spend longer looking for a better radio, being a shaft style though there might not be a "better" radio, i would want a little more power (50-100 watts) in case i decided not to keep my amps and big woofers - i do like LOUD music and i ain't talking country or rapola

2. i would look for a radio that can seperate the left/right and front/rear better with maybe a subwoofer pre-out, again only if i stayed with the big system.  i might still be able to seperate everything with some RCA "Y" adaptors, just haven't gotten to that part yet.  i have to move by the end of the year so i'm just concentrating on getting the car to move under its own power right now.

i think this is one of the best ideas i'v had for my car so far, and by far the easiest to do except for the sixpak i used to have
alright maybe not the best idea since i'm still hopeful for a daytona wing, but definitely in the top five.
i can still listen to a good fm station and everything looks stock to the casual passerby and i don't get a color clash from the "new" stereo

you did great work Harold, thanks alot, again