868 series radio questions...
 

I posted this in the audio section, no replies. I'm looking for the schematics to the radio that came in our trucks. The radio is a single cd player with a cassette deck in it. I am mod'ing the radio so it will have a mini plug for an iPod...here is the plan:

Solder the left and right channel from the wire to the mini-plug onto the board that has the connections from the cassette deck (I can see the L-out and R-out on the board, but I cannot tell which ground to solder to). Then I'll gut a cassette and screw it back together. Then when I want to run the iPod, I'll push this dummy tape into the cassette player, which will tell the amp to take the signal from the left and right channels of the cassette player. Then I run the iPod and presto, bingo...out comes the iPod from my speakers.

I know that I can buy adapters of all kinds (from RF units to plug in boxes) but I would rather just mod the radio myself. Any help or insight into solutions would be most appreciated.

i tried to send it too u but the ford web sight somehow can keep you from cut and pasteing. there are two grounds one is a black wire and the other is black/light green. Im not really sure what u are asking but ill try too help. I also do not have access to the internal wiring of the radio

Neal, this is the only schematic I can find for the radio.

Not to be a smart azz but don't they make these? My duaghter has one for about $10.

I would guess you are going to have trouble finding the schematics for the radio itself, as it is not something that the dealer would tear into, they just pull them out and send them out for repair. If your local dealer has a decent tech, he might tell you where they send them to, and you could contact them. Or, you could call around to local radio repair shops, one of them might be able to help you.

Thanks for your replies guys...Here is the circuit board I am trying to tie into.
https://h1.ripway.com/nlemerise/Ford/RADIO.jpg
I THINK I want to tie the ground from the mini-plug to the SGND...I THINK this means Signal GrouND, but I don't know this and I am nervous I will fry the board. Cuda Jim, can you tell me what kind (brand) of cord your daughter has and how it connects to the radio?

It goes through the cassete player with a smal RCA plug. Like this one:

http://www.supermediastore.com/ipod-...rm=MA-002-0527

Thanks Jim...The type of plugin unit your daughter is using has some serious impacts on sound quality. I am trying to avoid that type of cassette plugin or the RF adapter type (where the unit sends it to a vacant FM station on your radio). In both cases there is too much sound degradation for me. My mod would take a line signal straight to the amplifier.

No problem, I didn't know about the sound quality. My daughter loves hers just because she has all 30 million songs with her LOL:)

what about a cd to tape adapter? http://www.radioshack.com/product/in...entPage=search

That is the same idea as what Cuda Jim suggested. I want to bypass the tape head - makes a world of difference in sound quality by going to the amplifier inputs. There are real good ones like this, but they run $180. All I want to do is send the iPod signal into the amplifier direct...I could buy the above unit, but I wouldn't have the fun of doing it myself :-X22 (the FTE-way).

I mised his post. But hey, whatever floats your boat,

If you can do it go for it have fun, and let us know how it turn out.

I think you are probably right with the SGND terminal, but I would be nervous too, not just for the radio, but also the ipod. Have you thought about looking on ebay or a swap meet or such for a "junker" radio, that you can try the mod, that way if it does not work, ain't the end of the world?

that wouldn't be a bad idea, get a couple of stockers that people have replaced, that way you don't have to worry about your gear, and or the truck getting fried. (although I don't know how the radio could affect the truck)

I have two extra radios...my hope is to figure this out on one of them, then convert the other two and offer them to FTE users.

Now that's the FTE way. Cudos!