Wanted - Gathering info for Car Audio story

Hey all,

I want to put together a story for an upcoming TRS Magazine article on car audio.

I don't want to go in to great detail about general information that people could easily find. I want to focus on information specific to the Rangers such as factory options & amps, factory wiring diagrams / wire color breakdown, adapters available to plug in to factory harness, what fits, what to avoid, common mistakes, panel removal, etc. Even info on where to buy.

I know places like crutchfield can tell you what fits what models, but I'm doing a story just on Rangers.


Thanks for the help

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How much do you need on the older Rangers? I might can help you out on the 1983 through '94 models. Just let me know what you need, Jim. I do have factory manuals for those years, and I did the radio work at a Ford dealership through the mid 80s. Hell, come to think of I even have the repair manuals for factory radios themselves of that era.

There is a wire (blue I think) that controls the lighting feature of the stock radio in my '85, myself and at least one other user have accidently tried to use it as a ground to the fuses dismay. It might not be a bad thing to somehow include this tidbit somehow to smooth the install. It works fine until you flip the lights on, then the dash lights go out along with the radio. One of those little PITA things because then you have to rip the dash and radio back out again.

I still need a lot more help here. I want to put a magazine issue up by the beginning of November and I have other projects I'm working on. I could really use some of peoples experiences here.

If you are interested in a 85 Bronco II's, when I put in my $98 walmart special i found out my 6x9 speacers wouldn't fit in the factory mountings on the sides of the truck (behind the front seats). I instead put the 6" round speakers in the mountings with the help of some plywood. But to use the 6x9's I found some compresion board that would fit around the bottom part of my lift gate. The speakers fit perfectly in the two indentions in the plastic paneling. I covered the board with cloth that matched my interior and then ran the wires back to the head unit. They work really well, only muffled a little when turned up loud. If I cut a hole in the board to let some air flow then it would be great. It's really neet to see my friends faces when they see my speaker set up. Six speakers instead of four, pretty nice. It was an easy project and only took a couple af hours. Didn't cost me much to do it either. I can post pics if you would want to take a look. Thanks

jim i did notice a odd set of factory boxs behind the seat of a friends 89 standard cab long bed 4x4. they were 2 seprate angled boxes that held 5 1/4 or 5 1/2 inch speakers.

What kind of info are you looking for?

Step-by-step how to install (re-wire) aftermarket head units, speakers, amps...

Suggestions for fitting a 5-channel 1500 Watt RMS Amp and 1 or 2 10's in a reg. cab w/o loosing leg room or cutting holes in the cab...

The only thing I've found unique in installing/upgrading my audio system in my ranger compared to any other vehicle I've owned is size limitation. Of course I have a reg. cab. However I did acomplish the above very easily and it sounds sweet!

I need to update speaker sizes and locations. Crutchfield use to list it, but I looked on line and got a catalog and they don't have it anymore. I also want to post diagrams of the wiring for various years.

I'm not stereo knowledgeable anymore. In the early 1980's I put a JVC tape deck, Alphasonik Amplifier and Alpine speakers in my 1978 Grand Prix. I was the first guy in my high school to get an amp. This was a period where amplifiers were replacing power boosters. Actually, a friend had a power booster with a really cool spectrum display than went up and down with the music based on the settings.

Anyways, I don't know anything about stereos anymore. I guess I want to be able to help out the guy with his first vehicle wanting to add an aftermarket sound system.

I guess all I can do, since I have no experience installing a sound sytem in a Ranger, is to imagine someone getting in to it as a first timer.

You're 17, you just bought a used CD player from your buddy (no diagrams), now you have to figure out how to get out the old stereo, install it in the new hole in the dash, how to wire it, how I can replace the speakers, what size speakers I can put in, and where they can go.

Maybe later do an article for upgrading with more components.

Hey I just did such a thing on my Bronco II. I didn't know you were looking for something like this otherwise I would have taken more pictures. I can remove anything and take better pictures for you if you would like as well. It is in the Audio Visual forum HERE.

i know that 89 bII have the same speaker sizes as 89 ranger fronts 6.5 with a mounting depth of no more than 2.25" (i will look to night as i am putting new speakers in the bII) rears are 5x7, bIIs the cover just pulls off rangers have screws holdin them in. 89 and up rangers can put 6x9 speakers if you trim the grill covers themselves and mount them in the grilles. i can also get you the wire colors too. do you want steps to install subs and amps too i can take some pics if you want me too of that stuff. as far as mounting the radio in those years no install kit is need(except the harness still needed) the standard single din radios will fit right in the hole in the dash no problem. let me know what else you want to know or have pics of i can help you out jim.
as far as wiring goes its actually pretty easy modern head units are color coded, if you buy a installation kit(which is recommended) the wires are matching colors the speaker wires are grey,purple,green, and white, power constant is yellow, ground is black, and keyed power is red and the blue wire is if you hook up an amp, which i will go into later.

Here is a website that should help you out with all your wiring questions and many other things. the12volt.com has a lot of information about wiring alarms, radios, cruise controls, etc. Here is a link that will go directly to ford wiring diagrams. I hope this will help you out some.

http://www.the12volt.com/installbay/vehiclewiring/1/yeard/Ford.html

Let me know if there is anything else that you need. My brother works in a car stereo shop so he might be able to point me in the right direction if I currently do not know what you need. Also the site above gives a list of harness that can be used and the different manufacters that make them.

Jim Oaks said:

You're 17, you just bought a used CD player from your buddy (no diagrams), now you have to figure out how to get out the old stereo, install it in the new hole in the dash, how to wire it, how I can replace the speakers, what size speakers I can put in, and where they can go.

Maybe later do an article for upgrading with more components.

Click to expand...

this has happened to me twice now. too many people just cut the factory wiring instead of buying the 12 dollar adapter that would save so much time. in the 88 rangers ive owned, there is a yellow power wire, a red memory wire that keeps the time, preset stations etc. the rear ground wires are pink, with blue stripes, and the front grounds are black with white stripes. the right front positive is orange and BLUE? striped, and the rest im unsure of. on friday on goin to the farm where my truck is kept. black is ground, obiously. rear fits 5x7 and front, i was told by 3 seperate audio outlets that 5-1/4's fit the front, as the 4" i installed in mine were very "roomy" however, when installing front speakers it is suggested one design a circle plate that can convert the 3 hole stock mounts to the common 4 screw mount most speakers use. otherwise you end up with poorly fastened speakers. depth is under 3 inches for driver side, although passenger side has over 3 inch depth clearance. this is due to vent tubes in the dash. (Im not sure if they are called vent tubes, whatever) in behind the jump seats in ranger X cabs can fit a 10" in a custom built box mounted low in the opening. theres not much seat-sub room though. amps and subs under front ranger seats are out of the question. in the 83-88 rangers, with the thin vinyl door covers are cut out for speakers in the door, but they must be fairly shallow and custom mounts made. there isn't much aftermarket stereo equipment for rangers jim, at least not gen 1's.
note* cd decks can be installed in cassette deck equipped vehicles, although finding a new dash cover(gauge cluster thing), one previously equipped with cd is easier than cutting the current one to fit

I am a professional car stereo installer with over 20 years experience and I have done just about every model of car and truck. The early Fords had a common ground system(all speaker grounds connected together). This was a good setup until high power stereos came out. A high power stereo has an internal amplifier and that is why when you hook one of these up in an early Ford and turn it up halfway it shorts out. You will need to run new speaker leads in these. Some of the early models had the "amplified" factory system. In these vehicles you could tell if it said Premium Sound anywhere or if you pulled out the stereo there was only 7 speaker wires. In order to install a stereo in one of these you had to find the factory amp and bypass it. Later, Ford came out with a better Premium Sound system that you could actually use the factory amp with adapters to get a better sound. Then came the Mach system. This used seperate amplifiers for the front and rears and for a single or dual sub setup. Again, in order to install a stereo you had to get an adapter to intergrate with the factory amps. Sound quality is not great through these adapters and you would be better off rewiring around the factory amp. The new Fords are alot easier to deal with because most of the factory installed systems are basic and if you run into an amplified system you will have to use an adapter unless you want to gut the whole thing and start new. High end vehicles like the Lincoln Navigator and Aviator are examples. Some of the full size truck and suvs are now coming with touchscreen navigation units and you are limited as to what can be done but not completely. There are units available now that can take your factory stereo and make it sound like aftermarket. JL Audio has the Clean Sweep and Alpine also has a similar device. Of course, With the early model Fords there were not alot of options for an installation kit so you had to cut the dash. As the years passed and dash styles changed along with the "2 knob" radio going bye bye, install kits were readily available for the new din sized stereo. But, it didn't stop there. Double din units came out and then we were back to cutting again. Then they came out with double din kits(what a relief). Wiring harnesses that plugged into the factory harnesses came out and that really simplified the install. I can install a stereo into a 91 Ranger in about 10 minutes if it is stock.

Now on to speaker sizes. The early models used a three hole(called this because of the number of mounting holes) 5 inch speaker in the dash and 6.5 inch speakers in the rear. The later models went to 6.5 inch speakers in the doors and rear. Then with the newer models Ford went with a 5x7 speaker in front and rear. Some of the new models which had amplified systems would use separate speakers or more commonly known as component speakers. Smaller speakers would be used to play the highs and a much larger speaker would handle the lows. Then came the almighty subwoofer. Add another amplifier and a very large speaker in an enclosure and now you have magic. However these systems can hardly handle the abuse and usually end up at my shop for a make over.

This is just info I have accumulated over the years as an installer and if you would like more detailed info on wiring year by year I can help you out with that but will take a minute to gather and type the info. I don't like sending people to a link cause I can't gaurantee the info is correct, If I type it I have verified the info myself and know it is correct.

jaymegriffiths said:

this has happened to me twice now. too many people just cut the factory wiring instead of buying the 12 dollar adapter that would save so much time. in the 88 rangers ive owned, there is a yellow power wire, a red memory wire that keeps the time, preset stations etc. the rear ground wires are pink, with blue stripes, and the front grounds are black with white stripes. the right front positive is orange and BLUE? striped, and the rest im unsure of. on friday on goin to the farm where my truck is kept. black is ground, obiously. rear fits 5x7 and front, i was told by 3 seperate audio outlets that 5-1/4's fit the front, as the 4" i installed in mine were very "roomy" however, when installing front speakers it is suggested one design a circle plate that can convert the 3 hole stock mounts to the common 4 screw mount most speakers use. otherwise you end up with poorly fastened speakers. depth is under 3 inches for driver side, although passenger side has over 3 inch depth clearance. this is due to vent tubes in the dash. (Im not sure if they are called vent tubes, whatever) in behind the jump seats in ranger X cabs can fit a 10" in a custom built box mounted low in the opening. theres not much seat-sub room though. amps and subs under front ranger seats are out of the question. in the 83-88 rangers, with the thin vinyl door covers are cut out for speakers in the door, but they must be fairly shallow and custom mounts made. there isn't much aftermarket stereo equipment for rangers jim, at least not gen 1's.
note* cd decks can be installed in cassette deck equipped vehicles, although finding a new dash cover(gauge cluster thing), one previously equipped with cd is easier than cutting the current one to fit

Click to expand...

I remember someone mentioning to me that the front speaker areas could be stuffed with 5 1/4 inch speakers, I did that years ago after I kept blowing the 4 inch ones. To more easily accommodate door speakers I swapped out to 2nd gen door panels in my first gen, they take 6.5 inch speakers.

speakers and locations!!!

I have owned two rangers so far the first being a single cab 1989 and the second, a 1994 xcab. I had bought 5 1/4 speakers for the doors in my '89 and mounted them easily. it isn't to hard to find the screws that need to be removed from the door except you need a torx screwdriver to get the manual window crank off (if this applies). after that I spliced the wires and slapped kicker 5 1/4 in the doors. to find out which wire is powered and which is ground, a simple battery test can be used. connect both ends of the battery to the wires cut from the stock speaker. if, when connected, the driver moves down the positive wire is the one connected to the negative end of the battery, if no change occurs find a new battery.

Now when I got the '94 ranger the doors remove differently. There are fewer screws but again all can be found with the naked eye besides the one under the window crank cover(again if applicable). The biggest difference between the two is that the older ranger panel swings out and then up and the newer one slides up then off. To install my nice speakers in the newer ranger, i purchased a set of adapter brackets on amazon that allowed my 5 1/4" speakers into the 6X8" holes. I think they were only like $10 (and if need be i can take pictures of all these notations).

Good luck on the article and the biggest thing I'd emphasize would be that the internet is your friend. Pretty much all manufactures give access to owner's manuals online that give a wiring diagram anyways.