Question: Replacing Old with New

[Klif]

The reasoning behind what I'm doing is long, so I won't get into it....

I need to put my 2000 Kia Sportage Factory radio into my ~1984 Ford Festiva. I've never done anything regarding Car Audio, but I'm an intelligent dude. I took both radios out of their respective cars, and I've run into a problem. the Festiva radio's wires consist of four separate plastic connectors with long, flat metal connections within each one. the Kia radio's wireing consists of one plastic connector with ~10 pointy metal and 4 long,flat metal connectors within.

My question is: is there a converter to go from one to the other? Is it possible to strip and rewire myself?

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[ParkRat 10+ year member]

I need to put my 2000 Kia Sportage Factory radio into my ~1984 Ford Festiva. but I'm an intelligent dude.

:hilarious

 

[Klif]

yeah, i noticed that after I posted it.

alas! See, my Kia is bjorked, and my festiva's stereo doesn't work. The Kia won't be fixed for a good four months more or so, and I can't stand driving to work in silence. I have no money to buy a new radio, otherwise I'd just do that.

So, take the gimpy radio out of the Kia, stick it in the Festiva, then in four months I'll have money to get a GOOD system for my Kia! See how it works?

 

[Redford 10+ year member]

have fun splicing... trial and error with a little luck should do the trick... without the luck you may break the radio

 

[gram]

yeah, just guess what wires goes where, thats all you need to do. or do it the halfway intelligent way, look up the wiring diagrams or buy adapters on ebay. for $20 u could get an adapter that plugs into the back of the kia stereo and one that plugs into the festiva stereo wiring harness, then just match the colors.

 

[awalbert88 10+ year member]

yeah, just guess what wires goes where, thats all you need to do. or do it the halfway intelligent way, look up the wiring diagrams or buy adapters on ebay. for $20 u could get an adapter that plugs into the back of the kia stereo and one that plugs into the festiva stereo wiring harness, then just match the colors.

Agreed, trial and error is the quickest way to break a radio. Get a wiring diagram for the Kia stereo, then either get a harness or wiring diagram for the Festiva.

Festiva's are quite fun to work on (*sarcasm*). When hooking up an old Sony head unit to my ex's Festiva, I used a multimeter to find the 12v, ground, and ignition feeds from the old wiring, and then color-matched the speaker wires.

I suggest getting a wiring harness for the Festiva, however, as the connectors used by Kia when they designed the Festiva (yes, you read that correctly) are incredibly stupid and a real pain to work with.

 

[Klif]

yeah, just guess what wires goes where, thats all you need to do. or do it the halfway intelligent way, look up the wiring diagrams or buy adapters on ebay. for $20 u could get an adapter that plugs into the back of the kia stereo and one that plugs into the festiva stereo wiring harness, then just match the colors.

naturally, i would find schematics before trying! I went to circuit city and asked the best way to do it, if there were any adapters. He laughed and said it wasn't possible, but then said that they could install it for me (for a fee). Salesman, pfft!

the connectors used by Kia when they designed the Festiva

that's a little tid-bit i did know! thanks for the advice.