Ok, I had a look and here's what I found:

Coming out of the radio:

Behind the "tune" switch, there are 3 wires that terminate at a 3-prong connector: Blue / White; Blue; and Blue / Red. I believe the "tune" switch controls the antenna up/down?

Back of the radio, there is:

- one Red / Blue wire

- a paired set - Gray; Gray / Blue

- a single Blue wire that terminates at a 3 prong connector. Coming out of the connector (not connected to the radio) is a Gray and a Gray / Blue wire

From the back of the car:

- 2 pairs of wires: Green and Green / Blue; Gray and Gray / Blue - I believe these pairs are for the speakers?

There are also some other miscellaneous wires - a clear wire, a black wire...not sure what they are, but this is most of it.

Any ideas? Sorry if this sounds stupid, I really know squat when it comes to electrical stuff

Ok, I had a look and here's what I found:

Coming out of the radio:

Behind the "tune" switch, there are 3 wires that terminate at a 3-prong connector: Blue / White; Blue; and Blue / Red. Leave them plugged into the connector that goes to the back of the car.

I believe the "tune" switch controls the antenna up/down? It does.

Back of the radio, there is:

- one Red / Blue wire Illumination wire, connect it to a red/blue wire in the dash

- a paired set - Gray; Gray / Blue Most likely speaker outputs, if there is only 2 wires (grey and grey/blue) only connect one speaker, you may blow the radio's internal amp if you hook both up.

- a single Blue wire that terminates at a 3 prong connector. Coming out of the connector (not connected to the radio) is a Gray and a Gray / Blue wire The blue wire goes to the ignition wire, that powers up when you turn the key to ACC. The grey wires are likely to the stock speaker from 35 years ago. Ignore them.

From the back of the car:

- 2 pairs of wires: Green and Green / Blue; Gray and Gray / Blue - I believe these pairs are for the speakers? Pick one set to connect to the radio's grey (+) and grey/blue (-) wires

There are also some other miscellaneous wires - a clear wire, a black wire...not sure what they are, but this is most of it. The black might be a ground but follow it to make sure. The stock radio is grounded by bolting it into the car, correctly. Follow the clear as well. see where it goes.

Any ideas? Sorry if this sounds stupid, I really know squat when it comes to electrical stuff It's hard to figure out where a rat got everything he uses to make his nest but if you take your time, you'll figure it out.

Edited January 27, 200916 yr by Zs-ondabrain

Dave,

Thanks much! The "blowing of the amp" thing scares me...but I will proceed with caution. I am slowly starting to figure some of it out.

As you noted, it's a rat's nest!!!

Confirmed some things as I pulled off all the interior panels in the back. The antenna and the speaker wires.

More questions though - what does the original power antenna look like? I believe what's in there is stock, but not sure as I had a second antenna come with the car (non-powered).

Also, where do the speakers mount? Another how-not-to-install-your-aftermarket-radio 101 - my car has aftermarket speakers in a home built cabinet that replaces the back interior panel. While great for preventing fumes from getting into the cabin, it's not original and looks like sh*t if you ask me. I am thinking I can take the aftermarket speakers and mount them where the OEM speakers were. One problem - there's no where for them to mount! I see no brackets or any evidence there were speakers there - any ideas?

I suppose this is better than having to weld new floors, but this shoddy workmanship bugs me.

Thanks in advance!

The original speaker (note - not plural) was a single 5 1/4" mounted on a gold cad-plated bracket in the left rear corner near the antenna.

If your antenna has two wires that are blue/red and blue/white, it's probably original.

Here's a picture of my original antenna. The 280Z antennas were almost identical, other than the shape of the antenna tip. This one is a 240Z unit, the 280Z had a chrome cylinder instead.

And I don't think there was ever a Solid Mast antenna in the Z's. Took me a while just to type this.... Just got off a 2 hour skit of Guitar Hero. My 11 year old daughter was kicking my butt, so I had to show her who was boss.

Now my fingers are all cramped and I have harness's to build, darn it.

I'll just let Arne fill in from here, he knows the Original Equipment better than I do.

Arne's on the ball,

Dave.

Arne,

Thanks - that's the unit I have. Only issue is the ball at the end was cut off - not sure why. You can tell it was cut off as the edge is crimped with a clean shear. I wonder if that's easy to replace...

Dave - Guitar Hero, huh? My family is hooked on Rock Band 2 - similar, except it adds drums and vocals. At 40 years old, I can play on "expert" level bass, vocals, and drums (I play "real" guitar and drums). My eldest daughter is 8 and the progression she's making is amazing - already medium on guitar. My 5 year old daughter is a pip singing "Eye of the Tiger" - great family and party game. We even play online, but it's limited to only Wii users.

I thank you guys again - all your help is really appreciated and alleviates my stress (seeing your baby in pieces can do that!)

Edited January 28, 200916 yr by rdefabri

Hey, I feel ya. Every time I go down to the garage and have to look at the 260Z sitting there with it's butt in the air, It makes me a little upset that I haven't had time to do ANYthing for over a month. Although it's been nice keeping busy building upgrades to help everyone else. But I'm not getting anything done.

Dave.

The original speaker (note - not plural) was a single 5 1/4" mounted on a gold cad-plated bracket in the left rear corner near the antenna.

If your antenna has two wires that are blue/red and blue/white, it's probably original.

Antenna is original - your pic and the wires lead me to believe so.

I am intrigued - it's one speaker? Why does the interior have speaker "holes" in the panels on both sides? Mine's a '72, I thought the '71 and prior had only 1 speaker?

FWIW - neither side has any speaker brackets, no evidence of them being there. Seeing how shoddy the workmanship was, I am surprised it / they were removed.

They typically shredded after the first decent movement in years, due to the paper cone and dried out Butyl Surround. Turn it up and it falls apart.

The 240Z's came with grill holes in each rear panel as a precautionary/pre-emtive move. That way, if they decided to add a second speaker at the factory, the holes were already there and a new design was not needed. The Metal bracket is essencially a metal ring with fingers to bolt into the lower corner with 3 screws.

I've personally never seen a right side bracket. So I made one out of 1/8" ABS plastic, It works great and looks stock.

Here's a shot of my 260Z speaker and bracket. You can see the cracked speaker as mentioned above. Keep in mind that the speaker is almost 35 years old. Pretty, ain't it?

Dave.

Edited January 28, 200916 yr by Zs-ondabrain

Looks great - I'll have to do something like that myself