My Griff's stereo - ISO no no

[Slacey]

At the weekend I pulled the standard Pioneer cassette unit in hope of fitting a Sony unit I bought (ISO). Having read some posts on here it was hopeful that the loom in the dash would be ISO - it wasn't :-(
The connector that sits on the end of the wires is and odd one in my experience - most non-ISO car audio systems have two separate connectors that plug into the radio, here we only have one - it's about 2 inches long by 1/2 inch tall and plugs into the only socket on the Pioneer unit (ariel is separate).
Does anyone have any idea as to whether this was another car manufacturers system back in the day (my car is a '95 500) as I'd rather get a loom adapter than hack away at the invariably random wires!

[old64er]

Mine was similar, i think i got a vauxhall to ISO convertor cable from halfords.

[mrcosmos]

Hi,so was mine.I changed the head unit 2years ago on my 96 Griff'.The original wiring was a mess so I re-terminated the main harness to ISO[quite straight forward with test meter].You can get the terminal blocks and terminals from any good car hi-fi shop.Terminals are same as fuseboard ones.You need two terminal blocks,one for +,-,IGN,panel light etc and one for the speakers.Then the two blocks[2/10way,If I remember]fit into the link loom plug you get with the head unit.Regards,Dave J.

Edited by mrcosmos on Tuesday 2nd January 19:43

[medieval]

Bit of a lottery on this one Shaun - I replaced my 92 precat's head unit and on removal found a bizzare connector unit as you describe.

I had to by a process of elimination,connect the wires from that into an ISO connector hub from Halfords and then connect direct to the new head unit.

Not too taxing, as long as someone before you has not messed about with the cabling as once you ascertain the speaker cables and the power aeriel feed,earth and main battery feed, there's not much left to worry about.

Its amazing how much space is available behind the dash section housing the head unit.

Good luck with it.

[Slacey]

Thanks guys. I'm going to take a closer look tonight if I get a chance as a guy from a car audio place I spoke to said it might be that the funny connector is radio specific and that it may lead to an ISO standard connector further down the loom. I live in hope, but I think it's going to have to be a chop job!
I'll update as I progress.

[TVRThomo]

Slacey said:

Thanks guys. I'm going to take a closer look tonight if I get a chance as a guy from a car audio place I spoke to said it might be that the funny connector is radio specific and that it may lead to an ISO standard connector further down the loom. I live in hope, but I think it's going to have to be a chop job!
I'll update as I progress.

Sean,

Just had a new stereo (Sony MEX-BT5000) fitted a few weeks ago and I had the same problem as you. The guy at Halfords said that he wasn't sure that there was an adaptor for it and in the end had to chop the existing connection off and added a more modern one which connected straight onto the new unit. Paid the guy £40 to fit which inc. the new adaptor. Will make thing much more simple in the long term with upgrades etc.

Cheers
Neil.

[Slacey]

I think you are right Neil, it will have to be chopped. The Sony unit I bought (secondhand) came with an ISO > Ford loom, so I can cut that up and wire it in to the TVR mess. Foe reference of what was there, see the pictures below.

[TVR Thomo]

Hmm ... mine was different than yours but it was just about as messy! I just handed my keys to the Halfords guy and said sort that out please He ended up chopping the wires attached to the car and replace with a more modern attachment. Like I say it will save any hastle in the furure.

Good luck anyway

[mrcosmos]

Hi,good pictures,same rats nest I had.I cut the white plug off and got rid of that black box[choke,suppressor]new head units are pretty well suppressed.Once the white plug is changed to ISO you can fit any make of head unit,Regards,Dave J.

[Slacey]

Right, all sorted - I took it to my local Auto Electrician who stripped out most of the TVR bit you can see in the pics ablove and hard wired the ISO loom I gave him in about 20 minutes, and for £20!
Result, it's all working fine and saved me a lot of hassle

[The Griffalo]

For anyone who's interested the non-ISO connector on '96 model cars is a Land Rover connector. You have to notch the plastic (check the orientation first) and relocate the earth, switched live, illumination and constant 12V wires in the connector but you don't have to cut the loom if you use one of these.