Mopar Muscle Association UK

a step closer

The next part is to remove the original radio and replace it with a modern CD player / radio. This is where it got a bit awkward, the factory manual states that on an air con car (which mine is), the air vent pipe's have to be removed and the radio can only come out from under the air ducts in the centre of the dash. I found that once the radio is unbolted (one bolt at the back, on the lower right hand side as you look at the radio) if you remove the black plastic station selectors (they just pull off), you can turn the radio sideways and slide it out through the hole where it would normally sit.

What I need to know though, is, (photo 4) the wiring on the radio wasn't connected to anything at all. I can see that the orange wire goes to the bulb for illuminating the radio, therefore the red on must be a live (case earthed through the dash?) and the green and black must be for the dashboard speaker.

Am I right in thinking that I'd be able to run a live from the ACC terminal on the ignition switch and earth the new stereo via the dash frame again??

Photo 5 shows an ignition switch with the terminal at 12 o clock marked as ACC, I'm thinking this is the one I could use for powering the new radio??

speakers look great mate but will you hear them through all that noise from the exhaust lol

should hear them ok Si, it's a lot quieter in the car now with the new exhaust fitted

Don't throw the old radio out !!!

We found that, although they superficially look the same, MoPar radios are all different. We have a spare 68 MoPar radio, which doesn't fit in a 67 dash.

I too saw that you had to take an awful lot of stuff out to get the radio out, but, as you say, some long minutes spent looking at the situation, and you can get it out with some fiddling. I did have to remove a lot of ducting though.

We had our 67 radio repaired by the guy in Bristol and he did a great job. You can get Virgin AM anywhere, and the radio comes and goes going under motorway bridges, and crackles at power lines. Gives the car a great period feel.

Rebel wrote:What I need to know though, is, (photo 4) the wiring on the radio wasn't connected to anything at all. I can see that the orange wire goes to the bulb for illuminating the radio, therefore the red on must be a live (case earthed through the dash?) and the green and black must be for the dashboard speaker.?

That sounds right to me. You are doing a good job mate.

You shouldn't have to connect straight to the ignition switch though. There will be a acc. terminall on the fuse box.

Rebel wrote:should hear them ok Si, it's a lot quieter in the car now with the new exhaust fitted

nooooo should be louder

Sandy wrote:Don't throw the old radio out !!!


I too saw that you had to take an awful lot of stuff out to get the radio out, but, as you say, some long minutes spent looking at the situation, and you can get it out with some fiddling. I did have to remove a lot of ducting though.

Won't be throwing the old radio out Sandy. Anything that I take off / out to replace with something more modern will be kept, just incase.

The only things I had to remove were the station selector covers and the screw that holds the radio illuminating bulb in place, had my hand through the glovebox (no glovebox lining yet) and onto the radio to turn it sideways and it just slid out the hole in the dash

Dave wrote:You shouldn't have to connect straight to the ignition switch though. There will be a acc. terminall on the fuse box.

aha, I'll see if I can find it. The only reason I thought of taking a feed of the ignition switch though, was due to not wanting it on a permanent live and it's one of those MASK type things where the front spins round when the ignition is off. Having said that though, I could always put a switch in the whole left by the original fader control for the speakers (is that a rare option? and why would you need it when there's only one speaker fitted in mine from new?) to cut the power.

Thanx for the info

74dartsport wrote:

Rebel wrote:should hear them ok Si, it's a lot quieter in the car now with the new exhaust fitted

nooooo should be louder

Everything louder than everything else

Nige. if it does stuff when you switch off then it needs a permanant live feed with an in-line fuse. There should be instructions with it.

Sorry. I just remembered where you live. It probably still has bits of another cars dash stuck to it.

No problem, I did get instructions with it, but being a modern unit it's all set up for the plug and play type of connections that all eurobox's have now. I'll work it out though.

Oh, I managed to sell the centre dashboard section to a local saxo owner and the unit itself was fine after it had been it the freezer overnight to cool down a bit

Overdue for updates, but, at least it's an update

I've started to feel uncomfortable when driving the Charger, well, not so much uncomfortable, but something just doesn't feel right if you know what I mean. It's more like driving in one of those films from the fifties, where the driver constantly moves the steering wheel back and forth. So, decided to do something about it and thought I'd show the pics and add a few words in the hope that you'll enjoy it. Aswell as the possibility of someone somewhere finding it useful.

Firstly, I bought a set of KYB shocks (thanks to Andyrob). Managed to fit them today, an easy job. Just a little awkward at times due to limited access for fingers when replacing the front shock lower mount nut.
Obviously, there was no point in repeating the pictures for all four shocks, so, I've only added pics for one rear and one front shock, as well as some others of any problems that I found during the installation.

The first three pics are of the shocks as they were to start with. The two rear shocks are both DELCO items, appear to have been on for a while and the pic of the lower mounting shows that the RHS one has been leaking! The fourth pic shows the old and new shocks together, pic five is of the washer that the bottom of the RHS shock bush sits against. The washewr itself was damaged and looked like it had been hit with something, causing it to be mis-shaped. You might be able to see it on the left hand side of the washer

Pic six shows the repaired and correctly shaped washer (after some fine adjustment with a hammer )

Pictures seven shows the rear end completed after final tightening

picture eight is of the existing front shock still on the car, pic nine and ten shows the damage to the upper bush and the perished lower bush.

so all four corners now have new shocks fitted, didn't have time to take it out for a drive to see how it feels. As soon as I do, I'll report back

For anyone who might be thinking of replacing their shocks, the rear's are held on with 19mm nuts (torqued to 70 lbs/ft top and 50 lbs/ft bottom, with the full weight of the car on them). The fronts are 14mm for the top mount (torqued to 25 lbs/ft) and 16mm bottom mount (torqued to 50 lbs/ft with the full weight of the car on them)