Dino Saga 080810 _ New Radio

Dino Saga 080810 _ New Radio

Back in ’86 there was no problem buying a radio that would go into the Dino. The car came with a complete Sony setup. Tuning head and cassette player was a standard two hole mount. Two amps were mounted high behind dash. Door speakers were surface mount with integral cast frame and bezel. Rear speakers were two way aluminum cast enclosures that just fit behind seats. Unfortunately the head was dead and the door speakers had rotted out. Rear speakers were fine. I wandered around and picked a Radio Shack radio that was all I needed and that could be tuned by feel once the push buttons were set. Off/On and Volume were knobs (on the left) that worked fine. Tuning, balance and fader were also knobs. A graphic equalizer was gravy.

I threw away all the Sony electronics. I machined away the speaker part of the door speakers and kept the bezels. Bought a pair of higher end 5 ½” 2 way speakers and bolted them to the Sony bezels. Things worked out fine. The doors had no bass but the rear speakers had plenty. Installation was easy. 8 wires to the four speakers, 8 wire nuts. Power, accessory and ground, 3 more wire nuts. Trim the 4 corners of the bezel, attach the rear bracket and I was done. Lasted for more than 21 years. A few years ago the speed control of the cassette player died but I never listen to tapes anymore. About the same time one segment of the LED display died. No problem. Then the whole left side just died. Right side max volume couldn’t come close on driver’s side.. That was serious.

A radio in the Dino is just fine up to about 30 MPH in a business or residential neighborhood. I drive with the windows open so wind noise is the killer before the engine noise starts. With the windows closed you can hear a little bit of voice up to 50. I listen to Rush or news when shopping, traffic reports when mired in traffic. I opened the head but decided it was too old to waste time trying to fix. Radio Shack doesn’t sell car radios any more. Specialty installers, Kragen Auto Parts or Circuit City were my choices. My basic radio did not exist. Specialty houses started at $300 plus installation. Kragen guys knew nothing. Scary. Circuit City had a selection so I started playing. Push buttons are out. Knobs are out. Menus are in. CDs come with. I drive a Dino. There is no time to look at menus without driving off the road. Down second from bottom was a Pioneer that had a readable display, preset station buttons, knob volume on the left and push button scanning that was reasonable. $104 plus tax, free installation. Took it and asked about installation. Guy said that installation labor was free but there would be $30-$50 worth of cables and hardware. I said that radio came with installation hardware and he did not have a cable that would help. I mentioned 11 free wire nuts. He was insulted so I decided to do the installation myself. Circuit City has stock and prices but people are worthless.

A single DIN sleeve was included. Plenty of wire length. Good instructions. I cut the opening in the dash with a 2” abrasive wheel and finished it with a file. You want to keep the opening about ¼” above the lower lip of the dash so you can bend the sleeve tabs. And unbend them. Remember that everything will have to come out when you have to play with the heater controls. All is now working fine. Aren’t old Dinos fun?

John
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