240/260/280Z Radio Swap

[Carl Beck]

This is kind of a sanity or fact check. I have, I believe a 260Z Radio that I want to swap into a 240Z.

Has anyone used a later 260Z AM/FM radio - to replace an earlier 1972 Radio?

I am looking at a AM/FM Radio for a 1972 240Z - and AM/FM Radios from I believe a 260Z & 280Z.???

1972 Radio Model Number: KM-1520-ZC

1974/75 Radio Model Number: KM-15020-ZD

1976 Radio Model Number: KM-1520-ZE

While they have slightly different mounting brackets screwed to the sides { they are screw-on interchangeable} - the Radios look very much the same in terms of exterior dimensions. The Face Plates are a different shape for the different dash styles, but again they can be swapped between all these radios as will.

Wiring harness "SEEM" to be ABOUT the same -

The 72 KM-1520-ZC has 4 wires:

A Three Plug connector with a Blue Fused Wire, Gray Wire and Gray with Blue strip.

A Red wire with male bullet connector

The 74? KM-1520ZD had 5 wires

A Six Plug connector with 5 Wires

A Red Wire, Fused Blue Wire, White Wire and White with Blue strip, Black Wire

The 75/76??? KM-1520-ZE has 6 wires:

A Six Plug connector with 6 wires. A Blue Fused Wire, A Red Wire, A Black Wire, A Green Wire with White Strip, White Wire, White Wire with Black Strip.

So...

Blue with Fuse is the main power feed.

Gray [or white} Wire and Gray {or white} With Blue Strip is the Speaker

Red - Radio Light ?

The extra Black wire on the ZD is a ground???

The Black Wire on the ZE - is actually screwed to the outside of the metal case.

The Additional Green Wire with White Strip is ????

Are the above guesses correct or not?

What is the additional Green Wire for on the ZE?

Thanks,

Carl B.

[Carl Beck]

Really ? - no one knows what that green wire on the 280Z radio is for?

FWIW,

Carl B.

[Captain Obvious]

The green/white wire on the 280 radio is for faceplate illumination.

[Carl Beck]

Thanks -

Carl B.

[Captain Obvious]

Carl, I've been thinking about your radio swap some more and I finally got the chance to look at some of the wiring diagrams.

The first thing I noticed is that the early wiring diagrams appear to be incomplete in the radio area. The 72 and 73 diagrams show the radio, but don't show the speaker wires. In fact, I can't find the speaker at all on the US/Canada wiring diagrams for either 72 or 73. There's a radio, but no speaker. It's not until 74 that the speaker and it's wires are included on the diagrams.

The second thing is that the colors that you listed above don't match the wiring diagrams. So I'm wondering about the wiring colors that you listed above... Are those colors from the connector sticking out of the dash where you plug in the radio? Or are those the colors of the wires coming out the back of the radio itself? The early wiring diagrams don't show the connector off the back of the radio either, and it's not until 74 that they for that right as well.

So it's clear that the wiring wiring diagrams are a questionable source of information, but after looking them over, there do seem to be some consistencies, so here's what I think you've got going on:

72:

1) Blue is power to the radio.

2) The speaker wires are the white derivatives (what you are calling gray is actually "old and dirty white").

3) Red (are you sure it isn't red with a blue stripe?) is used for faceplate illumination. The reason I say that is there is a red/blue that is fed to the radio for this purpose. I'm thinking that either you missed the blue stripe or they changed the color right at the radio pigtail and dropped the stripe?

4) Ground for the whole shebang is made mechanically through the radio chassis itself? Do they mount the 72 radio in metal all the way to the body?

74:

Same as 72, but they included a dedicated ground wire instead of using mechanical chassis mounting.

75/76:

1) Blue is power to the radio.

2) The speaker wires are the white derivatives.

3) Green/white is faceplate illumination supply side.

4) Red (with blue stripe?) is faceplate illumination ground side through the dimmer pot.

5) Black is ground.

I know there are unanswered questions with the above, but if all the above makes sense so far, there are some easy ways with a meter to confirm the assumptions above. Let me know if you want to go through that far.

[Carl Beck]

Hi Captain:

The colors I Posted - are the colors of the wires coming out the back of the different radios.

I used the ZD from 74 to replace my 72 ZC. Had to swap the mounting brackets on the sides of the radios, then swap the face plates.

I just took the 5 wires out of the 6 Pin Connector on the ZD - Put the Blue and Two Whites into the three pin connector needed for 72 ZC. Then screwed the black wire to the dash metal where the rear of the radio mounts. The Red wire then plugged into the same place as the original radio.

Yes - the 72 ZC is mounted to the dash metal, which is bolted directly to the Firewall. So "if" one has a good body ground - the radio is grounded. I would see that adding a direct ground though the wiring harness would be an improvement, but screwing it to the same dash metal works just as well as it did for 72.

I think the bottom line is that it is possible to use any of these newer model radio's in an older Z, as long as you have the mounting brackets and face plate from the older Z.

I'll try to add some pictures of the radio's and the radio wiring to this thread. That and the info you provided should answer most questions in the future about these swaps.

Thanks for taking the time to look the info. up...

FWIW,

Carl B.

[Captain Obvious]

Cool. Glad that worked.

By the way, did you take a look at the early wiring diagrams? If so, were you able to find the speaker anywhere? Am I just missing it, or did they really botch the radio part of the diagram?

[Carl Beck]

Hi Captain:

I can't find the radio in any of the wiring diagrams I've looked at so far.

The service, removal & installation of the radio and speaker - is covered in a Supplemental Chassis Manual. Even then, the wiring diagrams in that Manual still don't show the radio or speaker. Nor is there a list of the wire color codes for the radio.

FWIW,

Carl B.

[Captain Obvious]

Hi Carl,

Well I can point you to where the radio is on the wiring diagrams, but because of how badly they're botched (on 72 and 73), I'm not sure if they will provide much useful info. The 74 seems to be OK.

On the 72 and 73 diagrams it's a little to the left of dead center of the drawing, below the starter and the fuse block. Also interesting to note that there's different wiring diagrams for US/Canada than the rest of the world. The rest of the world got two speakers and it's all shown. The US and Canada apparently got a radio, but zero speakers. :laugh:

On the 74 diagram it's in the lower right hand quadrant to the right of the multifunction combination switch.

[djwarner]

I have a Pioneer KP-8005 Circa 1977 that came with the car when I bought it. Fewer wires than any modern receiver. Red, Black, Blue, Green and Gray. It does says Stereo on the face plate. From what I know, I would assume Red = power, Black = ground, Blue = Antenna, and Green and Gray are the Left & Right Outputs with Black as the common return.

Unfortunately, the PO cut off and threw away the old harness and diked off all but 2" of the leads.

I wasn't planning on re-installing it, but, like Carl, any info on the unit would be appreciated.

[Captain Obvious]

I have a Pioneer KP-8005 Circa 1977 that came with the car when I bought it.

I took a quick look out there for documentation available and found some people selling manuals for the KP-8005, but nothing free.

I would agree with your power wiring assumptions (red and black), but I'm not so sure of the speakers... Power antenna outputs weren't all that common in 77, and I have no idea if your 8005 has one. Two of those three unidentified wires are clearly speaker left and right, but the third unidentified wire might be return for the speakers.

It depends on how they designed the output amp. They might return the speakers to ground (black) or they might have used a floating return from the speakers on one of those three unidentified wires. And the problem is it might cook it if you hook it up wrong. You can hope someone here knows old Pioneer or you need to buy a manual. I could tell you for sure if I opened it up and looked at the guts, but I don't want to try to get into that remotely.

I might be able to help you verify if one of those three wires is truly an antenna control with some simple ohmmeter tests if you're proficient with one of those. :bulb:

Hopefully someone here knows old Pioneer... :classic:

[Wade Nelson]

Antenna control is VERY rare on a '77 stereo.

And yo'ure not going to BLOW anything by hooking a cheap 8 ohm speaker across any two leads, not even 12V and ground.

So you can use a cheap speaker to TEST and see which leads provide your right and left outputs, and return.

As for the BLUE wire, it's more likely power for station memory than antenna control.

Check the black wire for continuity with the CASE of the radio and you've determined which is your ground lead.

Use a test light (which limits current) and touch the red wire, see if the unit comes alive. So now you know power and ground, which are, in 99^ of cases, red and black. Now you can tune the thing

If the blue is NOT a speaker wire, see if the unit remembers stations or forgets them when you turn them off.

Next, check it for voltage, then continuity to ground. If neither, then try the test light trick to see if applying 12V causes the thing to remember programmed channels.