92 Lesabre ipod factory radio direct hook up
spinne1
10-15-2007, 01:22 PM
FYI, I rigged up a cord for a "direct in" on my two 92 Lesabres. They have different radios so the process was a little different, but not too much. The 92 Custom was easier because the wires inside the radio were easier to identify. Basically, my plan was to take a wired-mini stereo plug and solder it to the wires leading from the cassette head's left and right outputs, and then attach the ground to the body of the radio. It worked.
First, you want to prepare the wire. Get a mini-plug wire. Cut it so that you have at least three feet in length from one mini-plug end. Cut back the insulation. You want at least three inches of wire exposed because of the ground part. Take the ground wire and expose the last 3/4". Expose the last 1/4" or so on the left and right wires.
Now, snake the wire from the radio area down through the dash until you have it near the rear of the ash tray and snake it so that it can rest mostly in the ash tray area when the ash tray is closed but so that you still have about a foot of slack or close to it (use a much longer wire if you want to simply rest the ipod on your seat instead of in a cigarette lighter ipod holder--like the Transpod that I use). You want the plug end near the ash tray (obviously).
To find the wires inside the radio that you need to attach the mini plug to, remove the radio and remove the bottom cover of the radio where the cassette portion is. Note the wires coming from the cassette portion inside. Now, see if you can find the left and right wires inside the radio coming from the cassette portion of the radio. On the Custom radio, the right is orange and the left is white in a five-wire harness. For the Limited, you need to find the right wires manually (see paragraph later concerning five-band equalizer). To test, simply hold the partially disassembled but still fully hooked up radio near the dash with the radio on and a blank cassette inserted and playing in the player. Have your ipod resting on the open ash tray with the mini-plug plugged into the head phone jack. Have it playing some music at FULL volume. Turn your car's radio volume most of the way down for now. Do you hear sound? Maybe turn the radio up a little if it is too quiet. Is the sound clear and strong? You found one of the wires. Test for the other wire and when you have them note which one is for left and which for right. Now, cut open the insulation without cutting the wire inside and solder the wires together. Carefully tape all exposed wires inside with electrical tape. Snake the wire you soldered back out the bottom of the radio or where ever you can best do it so it will not be pinched (actually snake it IN before you solder at the best spot--I think I went along the very bottom of the radio at the back). Now, attach the ground wire from your mini-plug's wire to the rear body of the radio using the nearest small bolt on the radio body's rear.
Reassemble the radio and retest, then install the radio and retest. Now before putting the car back together test it while driving the car. I had some trouble with alternator whine before getting a good ground spot. Attaching it directly to the ground wire in the radio caused significant whine, but with it on the body of the radio, the whine is basically unnoticeable, especially when music is playing.
Now, if you have one of the radio's with the five band equalizer and the automatic cassette functions (servo, not mechanical), then your task is a little more difficult. Why? Because the wires inside are all brown. The wiring group from the cassette portion to the radio body is a 8-10 wire group in a single harness. The left and right are near a three or four wire grouping at one end of the harness. To find the wires, do the above steps until before you solder, then run the radio and ipod and touch the mini-plug's wire to the brown wires in said harness nearest to each end of the harness. You will find the right wire quickly as you will hear music when you get the right ones. Then solder as before and off you go.
To use the ipod, I plug in the Transpod (fully insert for a slightly noisier experience--some noise comes through the cig lighter--but for one in which you are charging your ipod--or leave partially out enough so that the Transpod is not lit up for more quiet). I insert the ipod and take the mini-plug which is in or near the ash tray and plug it into the ipod. Then I make sure my dummy cassette is inserted in the cassette player and off I go. (Ultimately use a dummy cassette which is simply a cassette that you remove all the actual tape from so that your heads are not worn running over blank cassette all the time).
The sound difference between the Transpod FM transmitter and the direct hook up is truly night and day. Especially in the bass area. You can test it directly because you simply pop out your cassette and tune your radio to the frequency of the Transpod (or other FM transmitter) and compare the two by inserting the cassette and popping it out, etc.
Good luck.
(Note: it is probably a lot easier to simply buy an aftermarket radio that is ipod-direct ready, but for those on an extreme budget, or for those that don't like the look of an aftermarket radio, the above will work and is for you.)
First, you want to prepare the wire. Get a mini-plug wire. Cut it so that you have at least three feet in length from one mini-plug end. Cut back the insulation. You want at least three inches of wire exposed because of the ground part. Take the ground wire and expose the last 3/4". Expose the last 1/4" or so on the left and right wires.
Now, snake the wire from the radio area down through the dash until you have it near the rear of the ash tray and snake it so that it can rest mostly in the ash tray area when the ash tray is closed but so that you still have about a foot of slack or close to it (use a much longer wire if you want to simply rest the ipod on your seat instead of in a cigarette lighter ipod holder--like the Transpod that I use). You want the plug end near the ash tray (obviously).
To find the wires inside the radio that you need to attach the mini plug to, remove the radio and remove the bottom cover of the radio where the cassette portion is. Note the wires coming from the cassette portion inside. Now, see if you can find the left and right wires inside the radio coming from the cassette portion of the radio. On the Custom radio, the right is orange and the left is white in a five-wire harness. For the Limited, you need to find the right wires manually (see paragraph later concerning five-band equalizer). To test, simply hold the partially disassembled but still fully hooked up radio near the dash with the radio on and a blank cassette inserted and playing in the player. Have your ipod resting on the open ash tray with the mini-plug plugged into the head phone jack. Have it playing some music at FULL volume. Turn your car's radio volume most of the way down for now. Do you hear sound? Maybe turn the radio up a little if it is too quiet. Is the sound clear and strong? You found one of the wires. Test for the other wire and when you have them note which one is for left and which for right. Now, cut open the insulation without cutting the wire inside and solder the wires together. Carefully tape all exposed wires inside with electrical tape. Snake the wire you soldered back out the bottom of the radio or where ever you can best do it so it will not be pinched (actually snake it IN before you solder at the best spot--I think I went along the very bottom of the radio at the back). Now, attach the ground wire from your mini-plug's wire to the rear body of the radio using the nearest small bolt on the radio body's rear.
Reassemble the radio and retest, then install the radio and retest. Now before putting the car back together test it while driving the car. I had some trouble with alternator whine before getting a good ground spot. Attaching it directly to the ground wire in the radio caused significant whine, but with it on the body of the radio, the whine is basically unnoticeable, especially when music is playing.
Now, if you have one of the radio's with the five band equalizer and the automatic cassette functions (servo, not mechanical), then your task is a little more difficult. Why? Because the wires inside are all brown. The wiring group from the cassette portion to the radio body is a 8-10 wire group in a single harness. The left and right are near a three or four wire grouping at one end of the harness. To find the wires, do the above steps until before you solder, then run the radio and ipod and touch the mini-plug's wire to the brown wires in said harness nearest to each end of the harness. You will find the right wire quickly as you will hear music when you get the right ones. Then solder as before and off you go.
To use the ipod, I plug in the Transpod (fully insert for a slightly noisier experience--some noise comes through the cig lighter--but for one in which you are charging your ipod--or leave partially out enough so that the Transpod is not lit up for more quiet). I insert the ipod and take the mini-plug which is in or near the ash tray and plug it into the ipod. Then I make sure my dummy cassette is inserted in the cassette player and off I go. (Ultimately use a dummy cassette which is simply a cassette that you remove all the actual tape from so that your heads are not worn running over blank cassette all the time).
The sound difference between the Transpod FM transmitter and the direct hook up is truly night and day. Especially in the bass area. You can test it directly because you simply pop out your cassette and tune your radio to the frequency of the Transpod (or other FM transmitter) and compare the two by inserting the cassette and popping it out, etc.
Good luck.
(Note: it is probably a lot easier to simply buy an aftermarket radio that is ipod-direct ready, but for those on an extreme budget, or for those that don't like the look of an aftermarket radio, the above will work and is for you.)
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