Help installing Alpine stereo guys!

Zorro, i got your message. I'll get some pictures up of my install, but I may not get a chance with daylight until saturday.

What year mustang are you trying to put this into?

Well the wiring harness you bought should work fine as long as you're using the right plugs. The tricky thing about most of the GTs around that year is the premium factory sound system. If the black plug that you disconnected from the back of the factory radio only has 5 wires than you're looking at a premium system. Obvious other telltales are having 6 speakers and a factory amp under the passenger seat.

So what you need to do is find the set of plugs are tied up higher in the dash on the upper right side of the radio opening. They should look just like the ones that were plugged into the factory radio. Disconnect these and plug the harness you bought into them (after you color matched and connected the harness that plugs into the headunit) and plug in the antenna. You should be all set in terms of wiring at this point.

As far as the dash kit goes it's been a really long time since I've looked at a dash from around that year so I'm not sure which one you're talking about. Some of the foxes used a double din kit with 4 screw holes in the corners but the majority of mustangs simply have a din opening. If its a din opening then you just slide the metal cage off the new radio, slide it into the opening and bend the little clips with a pick tool so the cage is locked in the place. Plug in your wiring and slide the new radio in until it locks into the cage.

A 1990 should be like a DIN-and-a-half, I believe. I think it's not quite a Double DIN, but almost.

Can you clarify which plugs you mean when you say 'the set of plugs are tied up higher in the dash on the upper right side of the radio opening'? Would these be the two larger white and black plugs that are connected together? My car is a GT with the factory 6 speaker system, but was missing the factory headunit and amp when I got it, so I have more plugs than I know what do to with. I wish I could just rip all the factory stuff out and start from scratch.

Mike93lx- I would definately like to see pics of your setup as well, as I'm planning to do the same thing. The install kits look a little cheesy and I figure I can come up with something better, I'm just not sure how to mount everything. Of couse I've flipped my headunit and HVAC controls around so that complicates things a bit.

while I haven't tried sticking in a double din radio yet, the only problem that I forsee would be depth. the radio could potentially run into issues with the transmission tunnel, but the opening itself is large enough.


i just snapped a few pics and will have them up in a minute.

ok, here are the pics. it is really a very basic way to install a radio.

The key to the whole thing working without adhesive or screws is to cut the ABS to a VERY snug fit. mine is cut to the point of almost not fitting in.

without pulling it, my guess is that I used 1/8" thick abs.

as you can see, the abs fits in left to right to fill the opening and top to bottom to go all the way down and high enough to make the cage fit snugly

any questions on it, just let me know

HaynStang said:

Can you clarify which plugs you mean when you say 'the set of plugs are tied up higher in the dash on the upper right side of the radio opening'? Would these be the two larger white and black plugs that are connected together? My car is a GT with the factory 6 speaker system, but was missing the factory headunit and amp when I got it, so I have more plugs than I know what do to with. I wish I could just rip all the factory stuff out and start from scratch.

Click to expand...

If you had the premium 6 speaker setup in your GT then the harnesses directly behind the radio should look like this. Notice the speaker harness (black one) only has 5 wires in it instead of the usual 8. This factory plug run directly to the amp instead of directly to the speakers. The gray connector holds all the power wires, ground, ant and amp turnon, etc.
View attachment 345927

Now the return wires from the amp also run back into the dash above the radio opening before they break out to the individual speakers. These are the plugs you're looking for. They should look identical to the ones above in the factory radio opening. Finding the speaker connection for the black plug is the biggest priority. It should have 8 wires in it instead of 5. You may be able to use the gray plug directly behind the radio for the power connects but I'm not 100% sure.

Hope that helps.