I have a 1979 Ford F-150 with factory radio and my fm radio is very quite. The reception is good and sound clear its just really quite. The AM stations come in loud and clear. Any ideas how to fit it?

 

Quoted from another thread, but definitely worth a call...

"For OEM radio help, the guy to use is in Scottsbluff Nebraska. His name is Gene Cochran, and he works out of his house. He's a crusty old codger, but does some tremendous work. While he had the radio apart, he updated some of the internals and cleaned the heck out of everything. My total bill was $25! His number is 308 632-2520 (I checked with him at the time I collected my stereo, and he was OK with giving his number out)"

 

Just an update to previous post. I called Gene about doing a radio I got from the junk yard. I was told I needed to send a $50 deposit with the radio. I still think it's a good price to have it cleaned and upgraded, but just letting you know.

 

So I'm guessing it's a problem with the head unit and no a connection problem?

 

It's probably an internal connection problem. I figured that post I grabbed it from was pretty old, but $50 compared to the $250 reproduction units sounds great. He also will add an auxiliary input for an extra price.

 

Here is the rest of that quote.....The OEM radio was powered by a GREEN 2-terminal pigtail. YELLOW with a BLACK stripe is switched power, BLUE with RED stripe is dash illumination. Do not mistake the BLUE with RED stripe wire for ground. The OEM radio grounded through its mounting chassis. The speakers were connected over a separate pigtail.

Ok I looked behind the glove box and found a connection the goes off the green and yellow. GREEN with YELLOW stripe wiring is hot-at-all-times power for the courtesy lamp circuit. Use that. There is a 3-connector pigtail behind the glove box (which also goes on to power the cigarette lighter).
It's not the stock radio wire because the stock radio didn't need hot-at-all-times power (EXCEPT the factory digital AM radio for clock memory).

solid black—power
blue with red stripe--dial light
black with gray dashes—ground
orange with green dashes--right speaker
white with green dashes--left speaker
Assuming an AM/FM stereo and stock wiring harness'.
Purple is ground, right speaker is white and left speaker is orange.

For OEM radio help, the guy to use is in Scottsbluff Nebraska. His name is Gene Cochran, and he works out of his house. He's a crusty old codger, but does some tremendous work. While he had the radio apart, he updated some of the internals and cleaned the heck out of everything. My total bill was $25! His number is 308 632-2520 (I checked with him at the time I collected my stereo, and he was OK with giving his number out) He also lined me out on the manner in which the old radios were wired (mine at least). The speakers are in series meaning positive from radio to positive on speaker #1, negative from that speaker goes to positive on speaker #2. Negative from Speaker #2 goes to Negative on stereo. Now the stock stereo rocks as loud as the little 5 1/2 speakers can handle!!!

While it's there you might see if he'll wire in an aux input jack. I had it done with mine, and it allows me to run my I-pod through it. Basically when the I-pod is connected it becomes the antenna source. Cost in parts was under $5. I set mine on a 12" extension so I could just drill a small hole in the dash by the ashtray, which I'm turning into a covert charging /storage station for my phone and I-pod, won't cost much more.