Head Unit Wiring Qs

gerbel01 · May 10, 2005

ok, so i have my head unit that used to me in my 93 SHO and im attempting to put it into a 90 6 speaker convertible stang. I had to change the power connector, (my kit came with two, i used the other one for the SHO) and plugged it in and it powered up just fine, i mean everything on the radio works theres just no sound.

the sound connector plugged right in i figured there would be no worries with that, but apparently i was wrong. looking closer at the speaker connector from the mustang, i have no idea what the hell is going on. from top (when connected to stock radio) the wires go

1 Green wire
2 Black w/ white stripe
3 Blue w/ black
5 White w. red
7 violet w/ white

this makes no sense to me, since i thought on all fords the speaker order was set up the same

1 white left front positive
2 white/black left front negative
3 green left rear positive
4 green/black left rear negative
5 gray right front positive
6 gray/black right front negative
7 violet right rear positive
8 violet/black right rear negativ

that lines up with the connector im trying to use. to plug into those 5 wires.

the only thing i can figure, is that green wire is a common ground for all speakers? in which case, how would i have to wire this different? would i have to have all negatives for all the speakers go to that green wire?

BaXTeR3221 · May 10, 2005

I dont know the colors, but i know for sure i had to do more than 5 wires for the speakers. In theory, grounding all the speaker wires to the same place would work, though i dont know if its a really a good solution. I'm sure someone else will chime in.

MrKwik · May 10, 2005

Did you bypass the factory amp?

gerbel01 · May 10, 2005

BaXTeR3221 said:
I dont know the colors, but i know for sure i had to do more than 5 wires for the speakers. In theory, grounding all the speaker wires to the same place would work, though i dont know if its a really a good solution. I'm sure someone else will chime in.

yeah it would make sense to have at least 8 wires on that, and if it did my connector would work no problum. i really dont understand why it would only have 5. my SHO had 8 i know.

gerbel01 · May 10, 2005

MrKwik said:
Did you bypass the factory amp?

nope, its still plugged in. i was thinking about doing that, but i dont think the amp bypass i used for my SHO will work in this.

BaXTeR3221 · May 10, 2005

gerbel01 said:
yeah it would make sense to have at least 8 wires on that, and if it did my connector would work no problum. i really dont understand why it would only have 5. my SHO had 8 i know.

Its possible someone who previously owned the car decided to get creative with the wiring. I had that happen on my car. Someone had the headunit grounded in a terrible place and it would cut out all the time because the wire would lose contact.

gerbel01 · May 10, 2005

thats a bitch. it doesnt look like its been tampered with or anything though, thats whats strange, its still wrapped with the other one in the wire harness.

BaXTeR3221 said:
Its possible someone who previously owned the car decided to get creative with the wiring. I had that happen on my car. Someone had the headunit grounded in a terrible place and it would cut out all the time because the wire would lose contact.

srothfuss · May 10, 2005

Gotta bypass that amplifier to get any noise out of the speakers. Any radio store will sell you the connector to go right to the speaker wires without any splicing.

gerbel01 · May 10, 2005

yeah, i plan on it, but im just busy as trying to get it to work at all right now.

srothfuss said:
Gotta bypass that amplifier to get any noise out of the speakers. Any radio store will sell you the connector to go right to the speaker wires without any splicing.

Deleted member 87397 · May 10, 2005

bypass the amp first and see what happens. That would be the easiest thing to try first.

gerbel01 · May 10, 2005

fastfox86 said:
bypass the amp first and see what happens. That would be the easiest thing to try first.

ill go out and make sure that my SHO bypass wont work real quick, otherwise ill have to pick one up tomorrow.

EDIT: so the bypass for the amp isnt the same, so that isnt oging to happen tonight. I have yet to see how it would make any differnce however, there is no reason it should work with the amp bypassed rather than not, and it doesnt change the fact that having 5 wires from the factory is weird. also, on the speaker plug in the car, the letters MR were painted on it, i have no idea what that means, but whatever. im very, very sure that its factory, the tape stuff hasnt been broken into on the harness.

gerbel01 · May 10, 2005

ok, you guys are right it sounds like, after reading through this thread from corral.

http://www.corral.net/forums/showthread.php?t=642780&highlight=head+unit+install

gerbel01 · May 10, 2005

does anyone know the metra part number for the amp bypass? id like to know it, because i had to return two wiring harnesses to best buy before because they f'd up.

srothfuss · May 10, 2005

I always ask the people at Crutchfield. They are very smart about that kind of stuff... Good Luck!

rd · May 10, 2005

I just sort of did this to my 89. The previous owner took out his speakers but left the head unit and connectors. He had them wired correctly, but some of his two wire twist connections failed and I had to check and rewire everything.

My Capri had a Ford amp that I had to bypass.

Best bet is to find the speaker wires after the Ford amp and tie in there.

Don't know for sure, but Ford used to use speakers with some weird ohm rating also, so I just replaced them all.

95GTAODE · May 10, 2005

The second set of colours u listed are a universal aftermarket colour code. Just about any head unit or wire harness you buy use that standard. The factory( any manufacturer) almost never use the same colours for their wiring. Your best bet is to get a Hanes or Chiltons manual and look up the wiring diagram for the sound system. U should be able to figure it out from there. Youre other option is to tape off the Ford connector and the wires at the speakers and run new wire to the headunit.

89MustangGX · May 10, 2005

You don't need a special harness to bypass the amp. The connectors to the amopare the same as on the head unit. Unplug the amp and take it out along wiht the jumper wiring harness. Your head unit will plug right into those connectors and work.

gerbel01 · May 14, 2005

89MustangGX said:
You don't need a special harness to bypass the amp. The connectors to the amopare the same as on the head unit. Unplug the amp and take it out along wiht the jumper wiring harness. Your head unit will plug right into those connectors and work.

my speaker connector from my head unit is long and rectangular, both the ones on the amp are pretty square and smaller in shape. the connector that plugged into the stock head unit connects right up to the one from my head unit, its just that its not wired the same.

Head Unit Wiring Qs

gerbel01

BaXTeR3221

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MrKwik

gerbel01

gerbel01

BaXTeR3221

Member

gerbel01

srothfuss

Last night I stabbed the same guy 7 times in a row

gerbel01

Deleted member 87397

gerbel01

gerbel01

gerbel01

srothfuss

Last night I stabbed the same guy 7 times in a row

rd

95GTAODE

New Member

89MustangGX

I have nothing productive to add!

gerbel01

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Head Unit Wiring Qs

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