reinstalling factory radio

[1985 Motorsport Capri]

Looking to install my factory radio.
It's the base am/fm non cassette,
Not electronic sound and does not have premium sound.

At some point in late 80s PO put high end after market stereo with amp and eq and boom box in.

Factory radio just has the wires coming out of the back..
Harness at radio end long gone.
Harness out of dash seems to be the aftermarket one.

Took it to 2 places and both won't touch it.
Keep hearing common ground radio from shops.

Basically can it be put back in and what needs to be done to get this thing installed and functional.

[JACook]

In 1985, all of the non-premium-sound radios used a common speaker return. However, unlike some
earlier years, standard and premium sound all interfaced to a grey 8-pin connector behind the radio,
that adapted them to speaker wiring that had individual returns.

I'm not sure what the car stereo shops are on about here, since adapting individual-return speakers to
a common return radio is childishly simple. But given the quality of workmanship I usually see coming
out of those shops, I think they did you a favor. I'll never forget back when I was looking for speaker-
side connectors to do a speaker upgrade on the Marauder, without cutting the original harness. Every
shop I went to told me 'we just splice those'. I thanked them for confirming why they would never be
installing anything in my car, and left.

You should be able to easily identify which speakers are on which wires, and the polarity, by looking at
the existing hookups, though they may have strung new wires. You will simply need to connect all the
returns to the black/white hash wire coming out of the radio.

The factory radio wiring is as follows:

Left front: orange/light green hash
Right front: white/light green hash
Left rear: pink/light green stripe
Right rear: pink/light blue stripe
Common return: black/white hash

The factory speaker wiring is as follows:

Left front:
+ orange/light green hash
- light blue/white hash

Right front:
+ white/light green hash
- dark green/orange stripe

Left rear:
+ pink/light green stripe
- pink/light blue dot

Right rear:
+ pink/light blue stripe
- dark green/orange dot

The factory intermediate harness is probably gone, but if the grey 8-pin connector is still there, you
might be able to find a factory pigtail to adapt your bare radio wire ends to it, or perhaps the Metra
70-1772 would do the trick. Likewise, if the factory harness plug was also cut off, take a look at the
Metra 71-1772.

[sowaxeman]

I did this on 1985 #127 (Saleen) a few years back as part of the restoration. In the time that I could have spent toning out wires to learn the color codes (that I didn't have above from Jeff), I simply ran my own new speaker wires to each speaker and soldered the connections behind the radio. There is no harm in splicing (done correctly of course) if you don't have the harnesses, or even using quality crimp on male/female connectors on each lead for serviceability.

[1985 Motorsport Capri]

I see the wires from the radio Jeff spoke about. But. Its got 3 more coming out the back. Light blue with red stripe, orange with blue dot. And yellow with black hash mark. What are these for? And none the wires under the dash match Jeff discription.

[1985 Motorsport Capri]

Actually I think the oem harness from under the dash is still there. Light gray plastic with a plastic push in pin type thing sticking out.

[grabbergreen84]

Light blue with a red stripe is probably the illumination (gauge lights) circuit.

[JACook]

I see the wires from the radio Jeff spoke about. But. Its got 3 more coming out the back. Light blue with red stripe, orange with blue dot. And yellow with black hash mark. What are these for? And none the wires under the dash match Jeff discription.

Yes, light blue/red is illumination. Yellow/black hash is power from fuse 11. Orange/blue dot is
the turn-on signal to the premium sound amplifier. If your car originally had one, it would have
been the '4-channel' variety, as opposed to the 2-channel one that was used with the 'electronic'
radio.

Having that orange/blue dot wire means you could easily add the amp. Just make sure you get
the right version.

[1985 Motorsport Capri]

here is the cables coming from the dash.

Is this the main radio harness?


what is this? its 2 prong.


these are cut. I am guessing these were the current(aftermarket) speaker wires? (cables on the right)


What is this?


above is the back of factory radio.

can someone help identify these?
and would it be the easiest option to find a harness for the radio end, splice wires from the radio to harness, then connect original speaker wires back up? (if they are still there)

[86GT2r]

The pic with the thick black cable with the 90 deg. Bend is your antenna lead.

[JACook]

Did you check out those Metra part numbers I posted up earlier? I'm thinking the Metra 70-1772
will be a perfect match for the missing plugs on your radio.

The speaker output wires on your radio are:

Left front - Orange/light green hash
Right front - White/light green hash
Left rear - Pink/light green stripe
Right rear - Pink/light blue stripe
Speaker common - Black/white hash

I believe your radio is actually a 'Premium Sound' version, given the wiring colors, and that it has
the turn-on wire for the amp. Have you looked up into the center dash speaker hole to see if maybe
the amp is still there?

[1985 Motorsport Capri]

radio came out of another 85 & is going into another 85. haven't looked under either dash, but don't believe either came with the amp. stereo does not state premium sound on the face plate. the car it came out of does not have any switches or buttons for turning on any amp. car its going into does not list premium sound on the window sticker.

[JACook]

The "Amp Pull" switch went away during or after the '84 model year. '85s do not have the switch.

[1985 Motorsport Capri]

I ordered the Metra 70-1772. once that is spliced with the radio wires, I would have to reconnect the factory speaker wires (assuming they are still there)to the speakers. then plug the new radio harness into the orginal harness coming out of the dash.
in theory, the radio should work then correct?