Radio GaGa

[MercurySailor]

My 88 MGM has premium sound, but the previous owner replaced the radio with a cheap ass walmart radio, made to handle 4 speakers, thus they decided to omit the dash speakers. When they replaced the radio, they didn't buy an adapter, they just clipped and stripped and ghetto rigged it all together, running new wires to the door and rear deck speakers.
This morning I acquired a factory cassette radio out of an 87 marquis. I also pulled the radio wire harness out of my 89 parts car, which does fit in the 87 radio.
What I'm wondering is if there is a way I can run all 6 of my speakers with a four-speaker radio?
Also, I've searched fruitlessly for a wire colour diagram. Can someone hook me up? Here's a pick of the speaker clip thingy and the radio:


Thanks

[killgore]

Doesn't the premium sound have an amplifier somewhere around the rear seat area? I think that is how they get away with 6 channels.

I hate to say it but even a base level pioneer or kenwood will sound better than the premium sound. The dash speakers don't add a whole bunch either.

And you have free reign to yell at me all you want because I don't buy a conversion harness, I snip and clip and then wire nut everything together. Works well enough for door speakers, but I wouldn't trust it with anything that had real amplification.

[MercurySailor]

To be honest, I strip and clip too, but usually I'll label and bundle wires. What I have right now is an absolute clusterfuck. The radio that was in it is a Dual, straight up garbage. I'm really not too concerned about high quality audio, I mostly just want the cassette deck. Im gonna ignore the factory amp and just use four speakers, if I can get the damn radio to work. I matched colours and hooked all the non-speaker wires up, but radio won't turn on. I know it worked in the other car, and I just had a radio in mine. Already checked fuses. Anything else that might need to be checked?

[killgore]

I'd start by checking to make sure that you have the power and switched power in the right spots. Also I wouldn't doubt the wires got flipped sometime between 87 and 87.

Tape deck? Why would you ever need one of those lol.

[jaywish]

Well I found a nice pair of speakers in the front really add to the highs, IIRC both fronts were fed from the same output. Not sure. Diagram not handy right now.

[DerekTheGreat]

I'm betting your 87 doesn't have the connectors you pictured, which depict what looks to be a radio from a Ranger. Some late run 87's have those connectors but they also had super rare adaptors (which I have ) since they were still using the old style radio. My house is still a mess and shit is still in boxes but perhaps I can scare up a pic of the wires and their colors and such.

For god sakes man, wire nuts are terrible, for all that work you can crimp the shit together but the adaptor harness saves the factory harness and saves you time. Orange kitty is cool.

[jaywish]

More I think about it the more I think the fronts (dash & door) were in Parallel.

[gadget73]

dash and door are in parallel.

The old premium sound system used some common ground BS that isn't compatible with much of anything. Use the harness for the power only, run new wires from the radio to the speakers.

[MercurySailor]

I've got the speaker wires taken care of, but I'm having issues with the power harness. From left to right, I know green is constant hot, black is ground, and yellow/black is switched. With just these hooked up it should turn on, right? Also, there are only 7 pins on radio, 8 holes on plug, and 6th hole on plug is blank. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.

Sent from my QTAQZ3 using Tapatalk

[sly]

This is from an F150 of the same era... should be the same for what the pins do if the wires are not the same colors...


I'd check my 88... but that would involve removing stuff... and bah. I think you need all the grounds (if populated on your car) if using a stock radio. Aftermarket should be turning on though.

[MercurySailor]

Well, I figured out what my problem is.. between 87 and 89 they changed the position of the ground wire. Here's a diagram I drew up:
On the left is the 87 plug and on the right the 89.
Now to fix !y problem, I'm assuming my only options are to either get a different, correct plug, or find someone with the correct molex tools to add the ground to my harness in the right spot.

[BlackVic_P71]

Is there a cap on the back of that grey plug?

[MercurySailor]

Yeah there's a cap that pops off fairly easily, giving access to the wires. Can I simply pop out the wire that needs to be moved and put it where it ought to be? Or should I snake in another wire in a manner that allows it to rest on the radio pin?

[sly]

should be able to use a paperclip or small flat screwdriver to pop the pin out. just be gentle as the plastic clips that hold the pins in place don't always like that.

[BlackVic_P71]

You can see the little tab that holds the pin in on that open slot, gently lift that off the pin and gently push the pin through.
The old plastic can be brittle so be careful not the move the tab too much.