Want to put a factory stereo back in my SN95 - does it look like dash has been hacked up or should I be able to put a factory stereo back in?

[95SN95]

 

[b1pig]

Doesn't look modified to me.
Looks like the stock radio should snap right back in.

 

[ttocs]

I have to agree. The small square plug is for the amp input, the larger one is for power. No be aware the mach amps have long been known to be a power drain and kill batteries.

 

[95SN95]

Thank you both now I need to find a factory stereo to install.

From what I can tell the style of stereo that would go in my car were the same - Mustang, Topaz, Taurus, F150’s all used the same stereo cassette deck? Was there a difference for the Mach stereo?

 

[Mustang5L5]

There is some difference in the various stereos, but most of them are superficial. But as long as the radio is the premium style Sony built head unit with the amp low level outputs, it will work in the car.

The main differences in the other Ford head units. would be coloration of the buttons as there were blue, and green displays, as well as there being either a 6th preset, or a clock button.

You didn't say what year your car is, but I believe 94-00 all were blue display units, with the clock button preset being used after Ford ditched the dash clock pod.

You can even run other premium style radios. For a while i ran a 1997 contour CD player (pic below) until i could repair my original mach 460 head unit using some other parts radios I had.

Both CD players worked so I could run two CD's without swapping out. I would have left it this way but I wanted to run a bluetooth casette to hear my stereo. Over the winter i'll work on adding bluetooth to the OEM head unit.

 

[95SN95]

Mustang5LS, good info thank you. I didn’t consider the possibility of the backlight colors being different. BTW my car is a 95.

 

[Mustang5L5]

So that would be a blue display and have a 6th preset instead of the clock button.

Stay away from Windstar head units. They use PWM dimming and won't work correctly in a non-windstar application. But other ford radios will work.

One other difference to note is some radios have a squared off faceplate like the fox bodies and that won't work either. A little bit uncommon however, so odds are you won't find this.

 

[badass98svt]

I actually have an OEM tape deck hanging around from a 94. It wasn't equipped with the Mach system though

 

[95SN95]

^badass98svt interested if you could post a pic showing the plug locations in the back to make sure it’ll match. From what Mustang5L5 commented above it should though.

 

[badass98svt]

^badass98svt interested if you could post a pic showing the plug locations in the back to make sure it’ll match. From what Mustang5L5 commented above it should though.

Pretty sure you need a "premium" head unit. This radio came out of a V6
Here are a couple pics.

 

[Mustang5L5]

While not a correct mach 460 electronic eject unit, that does appear to be a premium unit that will work with the Mach 460 system. It will even control a slave CD changer. The jumper is what goes in place when not controlling the slave cd or an optional CD changer (which was on the lincolns, or an Ford accessory kit). You would remove that jumper and plug in the slave cd harness plug there.

I think it will work, but i've never tested that particular manual eject premium style radio. I've run other non-Mustang radios however and as long a they have that premium amp style connection they work fine. The only one to stay away from is the windstar radios however.

I'm pretty sure that particular head unit would come with a 4-speaker stereo and a single amp behind the radio itself. The mach system was 3 amps and 8 speakers.


I probably have a stack of 20-30 of these various ford radios. All have serious issues however. I use them for parts to rebuild into one good radio that i've occasionally offered for sale. I don't have any at this time though.

 

[ttocs]

I am fairly sure you will need to get a mustang specific premium sound with the external cd player output to be able to make everything work the way you want it to. I don't think the others had the external cd player ability but I could be wrong. You will want to see the back off the radio you buy to be sure there are the two small square harnesses, one for the cd and one for the amps.

 

[ttocs]

pretty sure the one in the pic will work the mach system, not the cd player.

 

[tmwsccsh]

I am fairly sure you will need to get a mustang specific premium sound with the external cd player output to be able to make everything work the way you want it to. I don't think the others had the external cd player ability but I could be wrong. You will want to see the back off the radio you buy to be sure there are the two small square harnesses, one for the cd and one for the amps.

Agreed.

I did the very same 4 years or so ago and had to make sure it all matched.

I already had the tape deck, but it wasn't the right one for the cd player.

In the end I bought the tape and cd together and also the wiring loom so I knew it was all correct and then installed.

Then sold the original tape deck on eBay ..

Works well.

TMW

 

[Mustang5L5]

The radio does not need to be Mustang specific. It just needs to be the premium style with line-outs and not the older non-premium style radio.

Below is the premium style connections. Power connections to the left. Top plug on the right is the slave/CD changer connection. If not in use you need that jumper on top of the case in place (except 1993 mustang). Middle are the 4-channel low-level line outs to the amplifier. Bottom is 2-pin steering wheel audio controls.



By comparision, here is a non-premium radio. right plug are the speaker outputs. These radios have internal amplifiers. This type will not work.



There are other makes and models that come with premium style radios that will work fine. Most of the compatible ones are from around '92-'99 time period. Ford phased out of that radio style around '00 (give or take a year or so). There are some limitations however like the windstar radio, but at this time that's the only one i'm aware of that will not work on the Mustang. The differences in part numbers reflect mostly cosmetic differences such as faceplate style (rounded or square corners), display color (blue or green) and if the radio gets a 6th preset or clock button. There were also some internal upgrades to the tape deck mechanism. The radios themselves are backwards compatible even if not physically able to swap parts. I'm simplifying a lot here, but i've pulled apart dozens of these radios over the years to rebuild/repair them.

Photo in post #5 is a '99 Contour CD player running the original Mustang slave CD player. It works perfectly. Slave cd player functions as you would expect. I ran that for a few weeks until i had a chance to rebuild my failed original head unit. I've recently swapped the tape player back in (to run a bluetooth cassette), but it's actually a 1993 Lincoln Mark 8 unit, with the tape player from a 1994 town car. Works beautifully.

You can even run the '91-97 Ford/Lincoln 10-disk CD changer off the original head unit. (if you can find one). I've done it. I currently have the CD changer installed in my Fox Mustang, but have been debating moving it over to my Sn95 where it would get a lot more use.

 

[Clutch Cargo]

I have an OEM deck with the cassette that I just pulled (new system is being installed as I speak... er type). Sadly, the cassette does not play anymore. When I bought the car in 94 I decided against the CD player as they wanted something like $600 for it! So I bought my own stereo with CD for $100 and popped that into the 2nd slot. Back then they had a JBL "conversion box" where it would allow the 2nd unit act like the OEM CD. That is, when I turned on the 2nd unit it would take over the sound system. Purty cool. I just pulled that out too.,

 

[PNW Mike]

Bottom is 2-pin steering wheel audio controls.

What years used the 2-pin audio controls?

One of the things I really miss in my '97 is the lack of steering wheel audio controls, if I coiuld find a way to add them, that would be awesome.

 

[Mustang5L5]

What years used the 2-pin audio controls?

Was never used in the Mustang. Not sure which models used it. Lincoln’s or the expedition maybe? Like I said, these radios were used across the ford lineup in the 90s and function pretty universally. Most differences are cosmetic.

I never really explored this because it seemed like a dead end in terms of actually mounting controls and getting it to function through the clockspring, but it does appear the radios are all hard wired for the remote. I do not know if there is logic for it.

I never spent the time to figure this out but maybe if I get bored I’ll give it a go. Could never find a vehicle with the matching remote nor any literature telling me what sort of response the radio was expecting to see. I would imagine these controls are rather primitive as well.

I have a good number of schematics on these radios but very little on the remote other than knowing it exists

 

[ttocs]

I thought I read at one point it each button has a different resistance to it is how the deck knows what is being pushed. As to what the resistance was I have no idea....

​

 

[Mustang5L5]

That’s how the cruise control works, so my assumption is steering wheel controls would be the same.

I just don’t know what they would be to test any functions. I have a harness, but not the actual switches. I could then at least measure resistance.

Finding obscure steering wheel controls on eBay can be a bit tricky, and I don’t make it to the boneyard as often as I’d like anymore (ie. Never)