Noobz347 and anyone else interested in this thread
I bought Fords Trip Tunes MP3 kit.
THIS KIT IS UNIVERSAL....IT WILL WORK WITH ANY VEHICLES FM RADIO THAT HAS AN ANTENNA PLUGGED INTO IT. SOME VEHICLES MAY REQUIRE AN ADAPTER ON THE ANTENNA PLUG IF IT HAS THE MINI ANTENNA PLUGS. THESE ARE NOT INCLUDED. I HAVE NEVER SAW THESE TYPES ON FORDS....MAINLY GM VEHICLES.
Basically the mp3 player sends the music into the FM modulator. The modulator feeds the signal directly into the radio via the antenna. It has a strong signal this way and should not get interrupted by local stations although it could happen.
I will show some pictures and describe the process.
The kit came with everything you need. Its very simple to install. The Sound quality is very good. I havent driven around town yet but sitting in the garage it sounded great. Almost CD quality. You have the choice of 2 fm stations to set it up to work with. I chose the one that was just static (no radio station). When you turn on the power the static goes away and there is a very slight hiss. when music is on you cant hear the hiss.
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First you will need to remove the shifter trim bezel... it just clips on. Then remove the center trim cover. It also just clips in. Do not force them. Just gently pull and wiggle until it comes loose. Unplug any switches that you may have, mine had Cig lighter, traction control button fog lights, and rear defogger.
Once the covers are off you will see the radio is held in by 2 screws at the bottom its the outter 2 not the center ones..... it takes a 7mm socket. Once those are out the radio will slide straight out.
here is the FM modulator
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The modulator has antenna in and out cables. The antenna from car plugs into the modulator and the one from modulator plugs into the back of radio.
The modulator also has a red wire and a black wire. You hook red to 12volt source and black to ground.
I simply connected them to the cig lighter wires and soldered them and insulated them with black electrical tape.
Next you plug in the switch pigtial. It has 1 white and 1 red rca cable that plugs into the modulator. Then there is a white plug that plugs into the harness on the modulator. Its all plug and play with the exception of the power and ground wires. You really cannot mess up.
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After everything is plugged in and wires are isolated and can not short out. Turn the key on, turn radio on and set to the channel you selected 88.3 or 87.9. Turn on the trip tunes power switch and plug in the mp3 player and play music. If everything works as it should you put it all back together and decide where to mount the switch assy.
I chose to Nip the corner of the shifter bezel and route the wire through and mounted it to the bezel with supplied sticky tape. It looks factory to me.
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