1969/70 AM/FM STEREO

[jagbuxx #12944]

Wondering if anyone has swapped out their non stereo AM/FM radio for a factory AM/FM stereo and if it was fairly simple.
My '70 has a signal seeking AM/FM and I want to swap in a '70 stereo unit.
I don't plan on changing speakers, just keeping the front and rear center speakers as original....

Thanks-!

[Alan Harris CLC#1513]

1970 Stereo radios used a different dash cover. The mono dash had a grille for one speaker in the center. The stereo dash had two smaller speakers, one on each side of the car. In the rear, the mono cars had one speaker. The stereo cars had two.

In 1969, the stereo radios had a seperate power pack which mounted under the dash and was connected to the radio. I think that this arrangement was continued for 1970.

1969 radios have provisions for power antenna, which the 1970 radios do not have due to windshield antennas being used in 1970.

Not a simple change.

[Carl Glass]

When I got my '68 Eldo about a year ago I was pleased to see it had the am/fm stereo with power antenna.  A few months later, I realized the dash pad had only the center speaker.  The dash pad did not fit well, so i figured it had been swapped at some point, and the speakers wired up however.  But the more I looked around, it seems whatever radio was initially installed was swapped for the stereo unit and wired to the single center speaker.  '68 uses the separate power amp which is fairly easily accessible if you remove the dash pad.  Caution should be taken however, as I'm faily certain most of these cars use 10 ohm speakers which are difficult to come by.  I wouldnt use any old pep boys speakers.  just my opinion.  plenty of discussion out there on the topic.  i have since installed the correct two speaker dash pad for the stereo radio, and rewired.

Carl

[jagbuxx #12944]

Thanks for the input.
My car has the center only speaker and I dont plan on attemping to change the dash pad to the 2 speaker stereo dash pad. just want to swap my original AM/FM siganl seeking with an original '70 AM/FM stereo signal seeking.
I will seperate the front and rear speakers for the stereo.
Once I open it up I guess I will see what needs doing.

[Carl Glass]

I have to say, the most difficult part of swapping the dash pad was finding one on ebay and having it shipped.  i bought a tan one and used vinyl dye from pep boys to change the color to black.  OUTSTANDING results!  removal/replacement was really easy.  i would encourage you to at least look to see what is available online.  just my preference, but i wanted the stereo sound to be correct, left/right and front/rear.  which ever way you go, enjoy!