86 radio removal

[shuffln]

so ive ran every post i could fine but no where does it tell you how to remove the damn floor heater vents. any idea about to just rip them right out.

[MMAracer]

I think they're held in with screws on top

[Capriman86]

Some say you can remove the floor vent behind the radio, I had found the screws and removed them, yet, that vent would NOT come out no matter what I did.

I loosened the whole dash to get it in/out, I gave up with that vent.

[Domino]

You can pull all of the screws you can reach and that lower vent will still not come out. When I got my car someone had already tried to remove the vent and they broke it. I am about to put a stock radio back in my car and I have to go through all of this.

[shuffln]

got the damn thing out finally, had to seperate the floor vent and push them back as far as i could go . Tilted the radio up wards towards the top of the dash and slide it out side ways. now just have to figure out the wiring

[86GreenStang]

Remove radio bracket. Tilt back of radio up. lift up till front of radio clears and move it out towards pass. floor pan. done 10 min.

[eight666lx]

^^^ shouldn't take even 10 minutes. I dont know why everyone's had such trouble with this. its always seemed like one of the easier jobs. the hardest part for me was getting the radio off the brackets in there.. which I've since removed and not looked back, aftermarket head units always seem to mount just fine with the sliding bracket provided

[Capriman86]

I will say that some cars seem to be easier then others, I have had my dash out before so I know it pretty well.

It still was a bitch to get mine out and wouldn't just slide out, there wasn't any room. Now I don't know if being an A/C car or not has anything to do with it. I couldn't get it back far enough to slide it out easily, I had to loosen the lower part of the dash and remove a bracket up under the drivers side.

[86GreenStang]

The 10 min part for me was getting the bracket off the radio.

[bwguardian]

I think it also depends which radio unit you have. My premium sound electronic unit is probably the biggest of what Ford offered from the factory and there was nothing easy about getting it in and out for repairs. Mine had to come out on the drivers side after loosening up either the pedal assembly or steering column...can't remember which but there is no way it was coming out on the passenger side.

[cpearson1342]

When I did it, I ended up having to loosen the bottom of the dash and while moving the radio all the way back, turn it and take it out the driver's side. I had to have my friend help me also.

[sowaxeman]

Removing the HVAC diverter has never been an issue for me. Did it rather easily in an '82, '83 and '85. Is '86 different or the same? Perhaps I should make a video :-)

[HAD85B4]

I am convinced that Ford set a radio on the ground in the assembly shop, and then built a car around it.

[sowaxeman]

Now THAT ^^^ was funny!

[JACook]

That's not far from the truth. The entire dash assembly, including the radio, main wiring harness,
hvac controls, dash vents, and instrument cluster, were all installed as a single unit.

[ITdude87]

I was doing some browsing on Crutchfield.com and eBay for a new deck and speakers for the dash and hatch area last night.

I figured it would be pretty easy....Tape up and leave all the original wiring there, run all new stuff, bubble wrap and save the original speakers and deck for later.

That was, until I started looking at this thread and other instructions for removing the factory "Electronic/Premium" deck.

Loosening the dash, removing impossible vents, pedal assembly, steering column... etc...WTF?

Is it really that difficult to remove the unit? There's folks in here saying 10 minutes and others claiming the entire car was build like a fortress around the radio LOL.

[ZEN50]

I would reuse the factory wiring and get adapters for the aftermarket head unit & speakers, Crutchfield usually provides that. That's what I did on my 86 Tbird. There were a couple of speaker connectors that I had to find on my own, but they are out there.

[scenarioL113]

I am convinced that Ford set a radio on the ground in the assembly shop, and then built a car around it.

Here are a few assembly line pics. The dash with most of the components were installed as a unit. The radio was in the dash when it was installed. The one pic shows the guy installing the components into the dash before it is in the car. (even tho the radio wasnt in yet in the pic)

[massacre]

Cool pics

[85GTGuy]

I've removed and installed several aftermarket radios in 4-eye Foxes, although it has been a while.

While I wouldn't call it a 10 minute job (Full disclosure...I was super careful, not in a hurry, usually had to do some wiring adaptations of some kind, and I can be a little ocd about some things anyway), I never had to remove any floor vents or pull the dash loose. Yes, the radio(s) had to be manipulated under the dash to squirrel them out, but they all came out and went in.... from the driver's side, iirc.

And I agree with ZEN50, try to find adapter harnesses. That way you don't need to hack up the original factory wiring. Crutchfield used to offer them. Metra is another company that made harness adapters (that may be what the Crutchfield adapters were actually, idk).