Help with installing a period correct radio with Bluetooth

[MntCrl1978]

Hey guys!!

I'm new here, & just bought my dream car a 1978 Chevrolet Monte Carlo.

When I bought it it had a shitty 80s aftermarket radio & I decided I wanted to put in a period correct radio with Bluetooth. When I opened it up I found it the previous owner has sliced a ton of wires & have no idea what goes where.

I have taken some photos & was wondering if it was worth trying to do it myself, or take it to a shop.

Let me know what you guys think.

Jamie

 

[pagrunt]

It originally had three plugs, black which had three wires, all 20 AWG, which are black: ground, yellow: key hot/power, gray: dash lighting/radio light. Next would be a white/natural plug with four 18 AWG wires, a tan & a gray for the front left speaker, a light green & a dark green for the right one. Last would be a blue plug also with four 18 AWG wires, a yellow & a brown for the left rear speaker, a light blue & a dark blue for the rear right.

 

[abbey castro]

Yup, a shop will do it and it will be a mess tucked under the instrument panel that would probably burn the head unit out or worse the whole car. I've never seen an audio shop that does a clean well wired and routed installation. Favorite tool they use is electrical tape loosely wound as your picture shows or worse yet those crimp on connectors like the picture. Take your time to unwind the spaghetti wires and group them into small bundles with small line ties (rear speakers, front speakers, power wires etc.

You'll learn a ton about how to bundle your wires, you will use that experience in other instances, especially in the engine compartment. If it looks messy, take it apart and try a different layout. The last thing you want to see is wires hanging underneath the instrument panel when you open the door! It took several tries to figure out how to layout the harness for my e-fans replays and power wires.

Good luck and let us know how it goes.

 

[airboatgreg]

Not a hard job. Take your time. Abbey Castro is right on the above post. A buddy of mine gave me a radio out of his 81 Malibu that he took out of the car in 1982. It was sitting in his closet since. Mint condition and I added a couple of 6x9 speakers and replaced the original speakers, added a blur tooth and amp. Sounds good. Use butte connectors and buy a good crimping tool. You will need a test light to find battery and ignition switched power

 

[Ugly1]

There is a company that makes a Bluetooth looking period correct. Not sure if Dixie restoration sells them or Summit/Jegs

 

[Rt Jam]

Letting a shop do it or you do it depends on your skill level.

 

[Ugly1]

I’m pretty sure there is a thread on here that can help with what wires are what. Updating speakers they make adapters to go from 4x10 to 6x9’s under the rear deck. A number of the sponsors for this forum have parts to make things clean and look stock as well.

 

[UC645]

I’m pretty sure there is a thread on here that can help with what wires are what. Updating speakers they make adapters to go from 4x10 to 6x9’s under the rear deck. A number of the sponsors for this forum have parts to make things clean and look stock as well.

Depending on the speakers that are used with these, they might not fit. You’ll need some very shallow mount speakers just to have the magnets clear the trunk rods.

For a frame of reference I used a shallow mount set from DS18, and those ended up going into the quarter panels.

 

[Ugly1]

Depending on the speakers that are used with these, they might not fit. You’ll need some very shallow mount speakers just to have the magnets clear the trunk rods.

For a frame of reference I used a shallow mount set from DS18, and those ended up going into the quarter panels.

I do have a fix for that! I have a pair of factory (brackets and all) out of a 1980 MC $125 plus shipping from NH.

 

[abbey castro]

Depending on the speakers that are used with these, they might not fit. You’ll need some very shallow mount speakers just to have the magnets clear the trunk rods.

For a frame of reference I used a shallow mount set from DS18, and those ended up going into the quarter panels.

Depending on the speakers that are used with these, they might not fit. You’ll need some very shallow mount speakers just to have the magnets clear the trunk rods.

For a frame of reference I used a shallow mount set from DS18, and those ended up going into the quarter panels.

I used Cerwin Vegas to replace the dried out original ones. They sound pretty good and fit perfectly using existing holes on the shelf. Plenty of room with lots of space between the speaker and the torsion bars. Unless you will run with speakers running 100 lb magnets there is plenty of space. I'm still using the original radio, not a bunch of thumping sound but then that is not bag. I had a radio shop in MI install an aux cable to hookup my tablet to listen to my favorite music.