w31man

I was wondering if someone could educate me on 71 to 76 oldsmobile 98 car radios. How interchangable are they? Looking for one for a 73 olds 98 and just wondering what can interchanged into what?

Thanks for any help as always
Greg

rocketraider

They're all similar as to mounting and faceplate/nose piece. Wiring and connector plugs are the same 71-76. 74-76 use longer ***** than 71-73 as the nosepiece is recessed in the trim panel.

Later radios can be used by getting the proper plug from Metra, Scosche or others, and those can be adapted to the factory wiring without cutting. I have a 1980s Delco electronic tuned AM-FM-cassette in my 1976 Ninety Eight using a Metra plug.

The worst part of these radios is removal and installation as the lower dash has to come out to get to the rear support brackets.

rocketraider

I'll add that not all cars came with stereo rear speaker wiring, and 8-track players often had a separate convector amp that went on top of the glovebox. What does the car have in it now?

w31man

Just has a AM FM radio in it right now, just get nothing but static on it tried a couple different antennas same results.

w31man

Thanks for that info it was very helpful!

bigdooly

Hard to find them in working order.
I have stripped about 15 of these cars not one of them had a working radio

w31man

taking mine tomorrow to a guy who fixes these so hopefully I can get it rectified

Greg

bigdooly

Good luck let me know how you make out.

rocketraider

Let us know who the repairer is, where he is and rough cost of the repair.

I'm afraid my guy in Greensboro NC might retire and close up shop. He's pushing 70. He has a younger guy working with him but DK if he'll take over the business.

gkhashem

United Radio in Syracuse NY should be able to fix them.

Call them and ask. I have sent them 3 radios and got them back in about 7-10 days,

https://www.unitedradio.com/

Quick and a fair price. I have sent them radios from 1984-1996 and them have fixed them all.

rocketraider

United Radio. I bought one of the first Alpine AM-FM-cassette units sold in this town, and UR was the closest Alpine service center. That radio stayed with UR more than it stayed in the 1977 Thunderbird I had it in.

w31man

Radio update!
I was contacted by a CO member on here (4R5) he lives a hour and a half from me and said he like to repair these in his spare time. I dropped it off last sat morning and he said he would take a look and give me an estimate before he got to involved. He called me sat night and told me the problem and gave me a couple options to repair it. I told him to go ahead and he had it done on monday i asked if he could ship it to me and he had it back to me tonight. I put it all back in and it works Great!! He was very professional and the cost was very reasonable. He is my new radio guy for sure.

Thanks a million Karl AA+++

gkhashem

I have never had a problem with United Radio. I have used them 3 times. So you had a bad experience I guess. But they have been in business for a long time.

rocketraider

George, it wasn't United Radio. They always fixed the problem. I just didn't think a radio set in Alpine price point should have spent as much time in the repair shop as that set did. Once it was out of warranty I removed it and sold it, replacing it with a Sanyo that was half the cost and performed flawlessly. It lived in 2 cars after the Thunderbird.

The 'Bird came with Ford's AM-FM-QuadraSonic 8-track which was a nice radio set but by that time I had changed over to cassettes. I had a couple of quadraphonic 8-tracks and hearing "The Captain and Me" bouncing between four separate channels was intriguing.

stetzie

05/05/2021

W31man
This response is to your posting from 02/2021.
Can you give me the info on this repair source?
I have a AM/FM/Cassette unit I need to get working.
Stetzie "Ed"
608--565-3919
stetzie@tds.net

w31man

I had it repaired by CO member on here (4R5)

Contact him on here i was very impressed with him.
Greg