Original '72 radio wiring

[rdefabri]

I have finally removed the aberration of an aftermarket stereo the PO of my '72 had installed. Just to give you an idea of how bad the install was, the radio was shimmed with a dried sponge and some foam. It wasn't screwed in at all!!!

Any way, I got it removed, but I have to rewire the original stereo.

**** WARNING - ELECTRICAL MORON ALERT! *****

Unfortunately, I failed Electrical 101 - I don't really know how to read a schematic, but I can "connect red wire to red / white wire" etc.

Does anyone have details of what wire goes where in a '72 240Z? I see 2 pairs of wires coming from the back under the console (I believe green and green/blue and gray and gray/blue) that I believe are the speakers. I also think the "coaxial" style cable is for the antenna. I just don't know how to wire the rest up.

Any help here is appreciated!

[TomoHawk]

What's your goal for rewiring, to install an oem radio. something modern, what?

the heavy black coax-type wire should have a 1-pin connector on the end; That's the antenna wire.

Edited January 26, 2009 by TomoHawk

[Zs-ondabrain]

First, it's been a while so bare with me....

get a cheap test light. Ground one end and start probing all the wires. Then turn the key on to "ACC" and...

one blue should test positive, that is your ignition wire to turn the radio on.

There should be a red/blue and that is for the parking lights to dim or turn on the radios back light.

I think the stock radio ground directly to the frame so there may not be a black ground wire.

There should be 2 white or a white and white/black wires. Those are the speaker wires. You obviously know what the anteena wire is.

The antenna UP/DOWN wires are Blue/red and Blue/white. Connect the switch to the matching connector with similar colored wires.

This should get ya started, I hope.

Dave.

[rdefabri]

What's your goal for rewiring, to install an oem radio. something modern, what?

The car had a modern, aftermarket POS. I pulled that, but of course all the original wiring was chopped up to wire the thing in.

Dave - this is a BIG help, because you've now helped me identify some of the wires. I see the black is ground, I've found the speakers. Should be able to start matching the rest. I do see one thing that looks like it has an inline fuse...not sure of the wire color, I have to check that. Any idea what that is?

[TomoHawk]

Beandip or Arne probably know these by heart, I'll bet.

[Zs-ondabrain]

There was at least 2 inline fused items. One has a thick, heavy gauge wire and I think it's for the fan or rear defrost, ignore that one

The radio may have one, just make sure to test it with the test light. If the end is dead, test the other end, just in case the fuse is blown. Here's what you need to do....

Tell me the wire colors on the radio you plan to use. Every wire.

Also tell me the colors of the wires in the dash that you know are for the radio.

This will tell me how to instruct you on what wires go where.

Dave.

[Arne]

Beandip or Arne probably know these by heart, I'll bet.

Actually, I don't, not by heart anyway.

I'm only assuming that the '72 colors are the same as my '71. Likely true, but I can't promise that. I think Dave has it all correct.

Speaker(s) - the original radio only had a single speaker, and the wires on mine are white, and white/black. The green and gray pairs are typical colors for aftermarket speakers, so that's what those are, I'm sure.

The factory power antenna wiring had three wires to the switch - blue, blue/white and blue/red.

Radio illumination was red/blue, and worked with the dash lights.

On my car, the power to the radio did have an inline fuse, and the wire was blue.

OK, I guess I DID know it by heart...

[TomoHawk]

On my car, I had a car accessories store install the radio. They didn't do much better than your PO. The radio's memory wire (constant, low-current 12V) was hooked up to the hazard switch, and the main power was hooked up to the cigarette lighter. And that was after I told them to use the oem radio wiring and even provided the diagram! :mad:

So I took out the whole mess last winter and reinstalled it properly, and even hooked up the wire for the backlight dimmer It's nice not getting blinded at night by your radio. I should go back in and redo the speaker wires to run along the door, like the oem one (I think.)

thxZ

[Zs-ondabrain]

OK, I guess I DID know it by heart...

I helped a little, LOL

Ya , together, we might be able to get some tunes in his Z again.

[rdefabri]

All:

Yep, appreciate this immensely! I just love the look of the original stereo, so this will be nice.

Dave - I'll get those wire colors for you tomorrow. Need to kick back and have a glass of wine - it was a good amount of work wrestling the used sponge and aftermarket radio out!

[Zs-ondabrain]

No problem. I can only imagine what a pain in the butt that sponge must have been. hehehe

[rdefabri]

No problem. I can only imagine what a pain in the butt that sponge must have been. hehehe

Sounds silly, I know - but that thing was wedged in there good! Maybe it was the shock of seeing a sponge that made it so difficult. There are some creative people in this world, never saw that sort of "install" before!