Car Radio

[MoparKid]

Hello everybody.
( If you want to skip the sympathetic story and move to what I'm trying to accomplish, go down to the green colored information. )

I'm 16 and I sort of recently started getting into cars, actually into. My dad pretty much gave up his car hobby because he thought he wasn't spending enough time with me, due to the fact I'm more of a technical guy.. such as computer hardware or general computer virus fixing. A "Geek".

Well I figured for one, everyone's dad, or most of everyone's dad wants to spend time with their son before worst comes to worst and you regret the seconds you missed being with him. I don't want him to quit a hobby he likes because I like something else. I'm lenient when it comes to learning new things.. especially things that are loud and go vroom vroom. ( Besides lawn mowers. )

Anyway ; I want to fix my car little by little to the best I can making my dad proud of the things I do to try my best.

I'm starting with the radio.

My idea is to remove the old style radio built in the early 74 muscle cars, and replace it with a more mainstream radio .. and speakers, but that won't be until I can afford them myself.

I checked it out a few minutes ago and I already removed the two nobs. The thing is I also went under and got on the floor to see what's going on with the radio underneath the plates.

It's a bunch of wiring and I touched from what I believe a battery connected to the wires and it was pretty dang hot. Which is why I'm asking for advice here.

I'll provide pictures if asked for to give a better idea of what you're looking at, but my main goal is:

Remove the radio without ruining the inside for later usage for a newer radio installment.

Like I said, I'll provide as many pictures as needed as long as you can provide me with a small amount of information so I don't go an shock/burn myself in the process lol.

Thanks a bunch, -MoparKid

 

[Photon440]

If you aren't sure about which wires are live, the best way to proceed would be to disconnect the battery first. Then you can poke around and disconnect things under the dash with no fears of making smoke.

 

[70rr-brian]

My 2 cents...

If the car is not a total beater and is pretty much original just leave it where it is.

I would mount whatever Radio you want in the trunk and use infra-red to control volume/channels/modes( cd/radio, w/e). Then just run all new wiring. If you have a volt meter...and any good nerd should... just find a wire that is hot on ignition and use that as your power source or wire directly to the fuse box on a fuse that is hot with ignition. Buy an antennea extension to reach the trunk and you should be all set. Of course you will need to wire the speakers as well.

Also, do yourself a favor...buy a 12v capacitor and put it in line with your power to help prevent cut offs when the voltage dips on these old cars... It will happen and you will be back later asking about how to make the electrical system healthier.

Hope that helps or gets ya thinking.