Make yer very own Aux Input

[nismosilvia]

Any idea how to do it to the am/fm radios

[ArchetypeDatsun]

^^ Me too

[Datsunrider71]

If you have a stock style AM radio with mono output this write up is for you.

Although the sound of an l-series motor is music to my ears, the deafening drone of gear noise on the highway drove me to to come up with an audio solution for my car. Was not satisfied with crappy AM radio, but HATE the look of modern stereo deck in a classic car. Seriously, if you cut up the dash in your Datsun for a crappy walmart deck, shame on you. :no:

 

You can wire in an auxiliary port to play all you favorite Backstreet Boys' songs from you ipod with a simple 50cent RCA jack, some wire and a little know how. This aux in basically takes signal info from a device and sends it to your speaker, be it audio from a portable CD player, walkman, ipod ect. It sounds surprisingly good, especially if you upgrade your speaker.

 

 

Parts you will need:

-Working AM radio and speaker.

-Wire (~22gauage)

-A resistor (anywhere from 80-220 ohm)

-RCA Jack.

You can get this at radio-shack, or online: http://www.allelectronics.com/make-a-store/item/SMJ-6/3.5MM-STEREO-MINI-PHONE-JACK-W/2-NC-SHUNTS/1.html

You will need a 2 normal closed shunts type RCA aka 2NC . This means that when nothing is plugged in, the normal radio signal can still flow through the RCA and to your speaker, but when plugged in, the switch is broken and the speaker gets its input from yer Ipod.

 

Tools:

-Soldering gear, including shrink wrap

-wire cutters, wire strippers, ect

-basic hand tools

 

You will need 2 wires, make them as long as they need be to reach from the radio to your desired mounting location.

Wire up the RCA jack like this:

 

 

here is an actual picture:

 

The resistor is inline so you can play stereo information in one speaker. Basically blends the stereo signals from your ipod into a mono signal.

 

 

After your little RCA is all wired up, remove the radio from the car. Remove whatever necessary to get inside the radio, for me there was 2 screws holding on the backing plate. Once you do that look at the Volume control knob. Look at the guts just on the inside of where the volume knob side is. There are three sections to it working from face to rear. One is a switch for on off, the next back is a potentiometer for tone, the other is another pot for volume. There are 3 wires connected to the pots, oYou want to splice into the input side of the volume pot, aka the unaltered signal wire from the antenna. In my radio the input was red.

 

pic:

NOTICE! in the picture I did this step wrong. The blue wire i spliced into is the output of volume pot and the way it is wired in this pic gives no volume control with the volume knob. The red wire to the left is what you should splice into, and later I did go back and fix it, but did not get a pic. If in doubt hook up your radio to a 12v source, and read voltage with radio on at both ends of the pot. The wire with lower voltage, and which voltage drops when you turn the volume knob down is the one you splice into.

 

 

All thats left to do now is route the wires, close the radio and run the jack to a location of your choosing. I put mine in the center of this dohickey.

 

 

 

Video of it working:

Notice in the video, it worked but no volume control because I wired it wrong. Later that night I fixed it however. Also, my antenna is broken so when I pull the plug you only hear static, but if wired up right you should get AM when you unplug your input cord.

 

 

 

 

and finally I gotta say, with any project like this YOUR MILAGE MAY VARY. seriously, read schematics, look up how electricity works, buy a multimeter and a soldering iron, but above all dont be afraid to just try it out. I bench tested mine, was pleased enough to install it, but pulled it out again to fix what I did wrong. dont be afraid to get a 12v battery and test it out before you put it back in, and if it doenst work, then experiment as to why. Hell, the RCAs and resistors are cheap enough, by a couple of them incase you f-up. This is a basic guild, and Im not an expert so dont expect me to be back here to troubleshoot your problems if it goes wrong. Good luck and thanks for reading! :frantics: B)

 

Can't wait to try this thanks bro for you Knowledge!

[KlassicMotion]

Bumping an old thread, Nice write up. :thumbup:

[Just Joel]

Mine is still working well but I'll admit I haven't used it much. The sound does get worse the longer I use it so I suspect I may have a bad cap in the original stereo somewhere.

[JoeCool]

Who listens to AM? What are you 80? LOL! :w00t: 

 

Good write up though. Although this idea is cheaper, you can get an FM modulator that plugs into the bottom of your phone/iPod as well.

[KlassicMotion]

Who listens to AM? What are you 80? LOL! :w00t:

 

Good write up though. Although this idea is cheaper, you can get an FM modulator that plugs into the bottom of your phone/iPod as well.

 

The FM modulator I had, was junk, but maybe things have changed since then.

[Loren O]

Does the fm modulator hook to the factory radio somehow? I have been looking for a.factory radio for both my goon & my 521,preferably am/fm. All I have found so far are broken am radios,& one Datsun/hitachi am radio/ 8-track player. I might grab that for the nostalgia factor alone.

[vanmansam]

Does the fm modulator hook to the factory radio somehow? I have been looking for a.factory radio for both my goon & my 521,preferably am/fm. All I have found so far are broken am radios,& one Datsun/hitachi am radio/ 8-track player. I might grab that for the nostalgia factor alone.

No the modulator thing is a essentially a small radio transmitter that send a short radio frequency to the surrounding area for your radio to pick up.  Basically creates your own personal radio station and the signal is whatever would normally be sent through the headphone jack.

 

Mine is still working well but I'll admit I haven't used it much. The sound does get worse the longer I use it so I suspect I may have a bad cap in the original stereo somewhere.

Mine sounds like garbage too!!   B)  B)  lol.  I got a new radio antenna so I finally have AM signal and when I use my aux the signals bleed and blend into a static mess unless I just have the tip of the jack touching the RCA. Havent riddled out why, maybe its the type of dual shunts rca i used, but it cuts out the radio signal and sounds clearer.  Something is definitely wrong with my radio, most likely one of the paper capacitors that they used in these.

I use mine everyday regardless, mostly listen to Earth Wind and Fire and generic B3 organ funk, static and all.

 

If I ever repair my radio I will be sure to update this thread with how to.  Will definitely upgrade circuitry as well and include LED backlight :rofl:

[Just Joel]

Did you ground the third terminal on the RCA? Sounds like the same problem I had before I realized it was necessary. Mine starts sounding like poop after extended periods of listening.

[vanmansam]

Did you ground the third terminal on the RCA? Sounds like the same problem I had before I realized it was necessary. Mine starts sounding like poop after extended periods of listening.

I did, maybe bad connection?  Also, it was a 40cent part from radio shack not exactly built to last.  Mine is consistently bad, but tolerable. Might investigate next weekend, i have been having some other electrical problems.

 

BTW got the overriders put on with my spare set of bumpers thanks again for helping me out with that.

[Nuclear Water Boy]

Man Oh Man!!! that's a really smart setup. But I'm wondering what the sound quality would be? Me I like feeling my tunes so I've opted for a good cd deck with low end-mids and tweeters run through an amp. I'll tell ya what though it isn't what would be considered high end it's as clear in all ranges as Ultra Pure water and the lows KICK!!! I love old Genesis music and Michael Rutherford used bass peddels along with his bass guitar and the lows are just wonderful and full. It isn't that hear ya coming down the block tumping shit GOD I hate that sound. Sounds like my ancestor tribesmen on the War Path.

[Just Joel]

It's a single speaker powered by a 40+ year old low tech AM deck... yeah, it's amazing! :p

[Laecaon]

Gut the internals, replace with one of those 12v Class T amps on amazon, add bluetooth, be happy.

[floyd17]

Thats pretty cool, But i gotta ask Who the hell can hear one speaker blaring away going down the road in a datsun LOL.

hell, i cant hear 2 pioneer 4" speakers and a 4" low end speaker in mine..... its just there to fill the hole more than anything. id like to throw in 4 6" speakers and an amplifier and give it a little umph to get up over the road noise without distorting like a fucking marshall amp.

[Datsunrider71]

http://www.crutchfield.com/S-TbSFuEVgDrS/p_142FMMOD02/Scosche-FM-MOD02.html?tp=121&awkw=75620046145&awat=pla&awnw=g&awcr=47439114025&awdv=c

 

Saw this posted over on the FB page, but I thought it needed to be posted here as well.

[Laecaon]

http://www.crutchfield.com/S-TbSFuEVgDrS/p_142FMMOD02/Scosche-FM-MOD02.html?tp=121&awkw=75620046145&awat=pla&awnw=g&awcr=47439114025&awdv=c

 

Saw this posted over on the FB page, but I thought it needed to be posted here as well.

 

 

You apparently didnt read everything there, or you would have seen that a FM transmitter doesnt work with a AM radio...

[Datsunrider71]

You apparently didnt read everything there, or you would have seen that a FM transmitter doesnt work with a AM radio...

In that case then this goes for the guys that has the 72 and up radios then

[Z chopper]

In that case then this goes for the guys that has the 72 and up radios then

I had a 72 510 and it only had AM

[Datsunrider71]

I had a 72 510 and it only had AM

My buddy had a 72 and it came with fm.

[Z chopper]

My buddy had a 72 and it came with fm.

might be a difference between Canadian and American 510s

[Datsunrider71]

I will have to ask him if it was a Canadian one. But year did the datsun's start using FM&AM? In the U.S?

[Hrvat9]

Awesome idea , but it's only for one speaker??

[Ant-dat]

Very cool :thumbup:

[vanmansam]

Mine is still working well but I'll admit I haven't used it much. The sound does get worse the longer I use it so I suspect I may have a bad cap in the original stereo somewhere.

 

 

I tried replacing all the capacitors in my radio this weekend and part of the circuit broke in half in the process.  Jumpered all the broken connections and even added a blue LED in place of the burned out light.  Thought it was good so I Put it back together and went to test it.  When i turned it on I blew my 5amp fuse, so replaced it.  With the new fuse I turned it on and got no sound output, then i see smoke coming out of front cover.  Crikey, so I guess I am in need of a parts radio or something and some actual testing with a multimeter before I hook power up to it again.   :(