I am attempting a radio upgrade on my 70 Ranger XLT...I have taken out the AM model and now I am left with the exposed dash hole with wing tabs.
I think my options are:

1. Buy the LMCTruck 'Ford original' replacement for $250 (AM/FM/Cassette) or $300 (same, but also CD-ready). A little pricey I think, and still does not include the CD player.

2. Buy a Highliner ( $270 from LMCTruck). I might do this, but it still does not include a radio, and is a deviation from original. But at least its all bolt on and therefore un-doable.

3. Buy an adapter kit and install a 2-shaft DIN aftermarket model in the dash. Previous posts recommended the BestBuy kit no. 99-9222, (for mid 70s Volvos) but BestBuy does not have that part number in their computer system anymore. I guess they were discontinued. Or, I could put a radio into the glovebox, but it is too shallow because of A/C stuff behind there. Also there is a smaller plastic dash pocket down lower in the evaporator coil box, but its pretty small there too.

4. A friend has recommended installing an amplifier under the seat, speakers in the seat back, and then hooking it up to an easily removable iPod. He has done that in his jeep with success. This is modern and simple but there is no local radio reception.

5. I am now checking XM satellite radio options. This is my favorite choice. But I think I still have to have some kind of an FM radio to play the signal from the XM receiver, so I'm back to installing an in-dash FM radio per option #3. If I could play XM without an FM radio, that would be the best bet, I think.

Regarding speakers, I bought the LMC 'stereo' replacement for the dashboard speaker, only to find that it is larger than the original and will not install with the original bracket. Instead, it appears that angle-drilling holes and bolting thru the dash may be required under the dash pad. I might send it back and just go with speakers in the seat back instead.

Without considering 'hacking' options, or bucket seats with consoles, etc...Has anyone else out there had success with good sound systems and clean, original-quality installations?

 

Circuit city has the volvo kit. I have the same setup in my truck and I think its great. http://www.circuitcity.com/ccd/Searc...o.x=25&go.y=15

 

Thanks! I'll try it......nice looking truck of yours too.."Ole Blue"!

What are you doing for speakers?

 

Have you checked out Crutchfields? http://www.crutchfield.com/

John

 

Right now my speaker situation is pretty crappy some old pioneer truck speakers over tank. I plan to do better when I relocate my tank. I am gonna make an adapter from plywood to maybe mount some 4 inch highs in the stock dash location. Gonna get some spare door panels from the boneyard so I dont butcher my originals. I will then put some 6.5s with a waterproof liner and insulation in doors. My ten inch sub will go behind the seat. If you know someone with some excellent boxmaking skills you can get some 6.5s in your rear cab corners without relocating gastank or butchering anything.

 

I appreciate the compliment on my truck but yours is super nice.

 

I just came back from Circuit City with the dash adapter...funny that it has the same part number there as the discontinued one did at best Buy...I guess it was the same vendor. I have a 2-shaft DIN radio/cassette player around here somewhere to go into it asap, and I will pick up some 6x9s at a pawn shop and mount them into a piece of plywood in the seat back springs.

But it will be a short-term fix. At Circuit City tonite I looked at the AM/FM/CD radios that are satellite-ready, and I have decided that they are the only way to go in any new car radio installation. The cheapest one was a reasonable $130 Sony I think, and it had the flip-down face to insert the CD behind it. Very cool. (They may be even cheaper at Target or Wal-mart, I think I saw a Jensen there the other day). It would need two $50 items for the XM reception: a receiver and a digital adapter that both are mounted out of sight (ie. no loose power and antenna wires running around the truck). They connect the XM receiver directly to the radio, so no vehicle-internal FM transfer is necessary. Even in my medium-sized city (Charleston SC) there is just too much FM radio wave traffic to allow good XM reception. It must be hard-wired.

The only problem is, the radio face looks a little too 'hi-tech' to blend into the old truck. And I dont know how to solve that.

 

I have one out of a mid 70's ford truck I got out of the junkyard for 5 dollars. It has FM so I can play my mp3 player or satellite radio through it. It looks original too. I think theres a pic in one of my galleries.

 

I purchased a Jensen CD, MP3, AM, FM for my truck from my store (NAPA), 5" round speakers for the door and the LMC Dash unit. The radio/CD/MP3 player does not look stock but then my wheels don't eather I did cut the holes in my door down low so that I did not cut into any of the door braces. To make the LMC speaker fitk, I used the old bracket and some Cardboard to "Shim" it tight and it has been in there for about 4 months with now problems. I just bent the ears back (from the old radio) and made up a piece of metal for the new stereo to set in. Painted the metal black, trimmed it with some crome door trim and installed. I will post some pictures and if your interested in my metal template that I made just e-mail me and I will send it too you.

George

 

Thanks for the tip about the cardboard, I'll try that. And I would like to see a pic of the final dash installation. It it is probably better than the plastic adapter.

 

Beware of some of these cheep units, that is all that they are....CHEEP, not much more.

John

 

CB - Posted some pics of my set up. It would cost about $280 and that would include the radio, speakers, wire and paying someone to fabricate the metal piece for the dash. Its nothing special but it looks OK and is reversable.

George

 

Thanks George...your radio setup looks great. I have to admit that by staying with a black/silver radio color scheme, it helps blend in with the dash adapter, which looks original to me from your pics.

I must have a different radio from LMC than yours...mine is the 'stereo' one...it's similar but bigger than the original one, and the magnet is large and round, and does not fit into the square hole of the old bracket. Plus, the whole thing is about an inch deeper than the original speaker. So I might try to come up with a piece of metal this weekend and fab me up a new deeper bracket that will tab & screw into the original mountings. I think I will still have enough clearance bewteen the bottom of the speaker and the top of the radio.

I notice this morning that eBay has a new Ford 67-72 Headliner with 4 round speakers...reserve is $240...very tempting.....

Craig

 

Another option I’ve seen street rodders do is to mount the head unit with out the face plate somewhere such as under or behind the seat and mount the face plate anywhere such as in the sun visor then make and connect them with a wiring harness connected between the contacts on the face plate and the head unit. I would recommend a unit that has a flip down face plate. It will have an eject button for the CD on the head unit.
I have XM and LOVE IT! I have stereos in both my cars that are XM ready but after I installed them I realized I would have to pay for a subscription on both the stereos to receive xm and still only have XM in my cars. Plus pay an additional $50 to $70 bucks for the receiver. I chose to get the Delphi XM 2go. It’s portable and comes with lots of accessories such as a car cradle, home cradle, and portable antenna. And it has a built in fm modulator (that works very well) so it can broadcast to any fm radio. I can use it at home, work, take it anywhere and in any of my 3 cars or any of my friends cars. They have new models out now such as the Inno that can play MP3’s as well. It will cost more but you get a whole lot more use out of it.
When shopping for a car stereo I would recommend getting a car stereo that has an auxiliary input so you can plug the xm, ipod, or other devices directly into the head unit. Look at the Pioneers.
Very nice job on the radio install George, it looks factory!