Ok, i've done some searchin already, but can't find a clear answer.


My '85 E350 van has it's original AM only radio, and would of been perfect considering I use to listen to AM radio before, my favorite Oldies station was 1310. Now has been changed to a 24/7 news station, so i'm back to FM country station.


My question is, witch years will be a direct plug in for this '85 van? What I found in searching was early 80's was a rubber connector, and in 1982, it went to a plastic connector.


Witch years will be a direct plug in though? I don't mind playing with wires if I find what i'm looking for with different plugs, but I'd personally like to find something of the same era, just to keep things "original".



I "would" love finding an 85-86 AM/FM 8 track radio, but that's gonna be impossible to find considering '86 was the last year for 8 tracks.





And also, even with a Stereo radio, will the AM mono dash speaker work with it? I really don't care about "perfect sound quality" or anything.




Thanks!

 

Around those years in the pickups is when they change to the DIN radio, and phased out the "2 ***** sticking out" type radios. Which one does your van have?

 

**** radio. Van was made in 01/85.

Heres a pic of it, along with 20+ years of dust, witch is all cleaned now

 

i have used radios from cars and trucks, from the late 70's all the way to the mid 80's, and they fit right in. I would not worry about the wiring too much, because you will have to do some wiring anyway. If you get a stereo radio, you will need to run some more wires and two speakers. The only other way I have seen it done is make a flat piece of thin plywood or masonite that fits the original one large speaker hole, and then cut two small holes in that and buy two small 3 1/2 (or 4 inch if they will fit) speakers and mount them side by side.

But a van has a large interior, and you can get very good sound in it if you run some larger speakers and mount them somewhere else. I am sure Ford had a spot somewhere for them as a factory option.

 

So I have no choice to have at least 2 speakers with a Stereo radio?


Good idea though with the 2 small speakers in a piece of ply-wood! I'm probably gonna end up doing that, if find a radio I like.


I've never been in a club wagon, so have no idea where the factory spots are in the back. But this is a commercial cargo van, those never had speakers in the back anyways. Heck it doesn't even have a center rear view mirror! I know the 2 front doors, were in the bottom of the door, but that's it.

 

You have one other option, you can buy an old FM converter. I just looked on ebay, and there are right many on there, and they are commanding pretty good prices. I think they are "retro" and are popular to put in older vehicles. They did work pretty well also.

 

I see those things plug into the antenna plug in the back of the AM radio. But do you loose your AM for the FM, or you can select between the 2?




I guess the biggest challenge with one of those things would be mounting. Gonna have to put it right on top of the dash, as no room in the middle cause of the dog house.

 

When you turn it off, it goes back to AM operation.

 

Great! Thanks for the ideas!!!

 

Putting speakers in the factory locations isn't too hard to do. Just get the door wiring and conduits from the donor van. Four holes need to be drilled in the door and cab but there are already flat spaces for these holes. For a cargo van it just has two in the doors for stereo.

You will need two speakers for a stereo AM/FM radio because of the ohm impedance. Just running one could damage the speaker, or the amp in the radio. If it's a four channel, (4 speaker radio) the back speaker wires have to be ran to the front for two speaker operation for the same reason.

There are AM/FM MONO factory radios out there that just use the dash speaker. This would be the one for you if you can find one.

You have the Din mount type radio. Your radio ***** and shafts do not hold the radio into position like the **** and shaft mount do. This was 1985/1986 only for the type of radio you have if you want to keep it factory correct. 1987-1991 will also fit your van but may need the mounting bracket and the face of the radio will look different.

If you put a **** and shaft type into it, you will need the radio bezel and the mounting bracket from the donor van. Then any radio from 1982-1984 will fit. If you want to do a little wiring and changing the plugs to match your van, 1975-1981 will also work with the **** and shaft type.

Speaker wiring changed in 1989 slightly and newer plugs are used for the newer type speakers. These can interchange with replacing the plugs for the correct year.

Hope this helps.

 

Thanks a bunch for that Explorer!!!!! Great info!