Radio Question

[TheNerfsmith]

Lately, I've been planning out my MJ's interior and how I want it laid out. I've gotten around to figuring out the radio situation. I want to return it to stock with the cassette player and radio, but after some thought would there be any benefit to grabbing a newer radio from a different jeep that still has the ability to play cassettes? This is the question I am hung up on and I'd love to hear any input. I do have the capability to 3d print different odds and ends, so I'd imagine I'd be able to tweak the bezel with some modification. 

[pizzaman09]

4 hours ago, TheNerfsmith said:

Lately, I've been planning out my MJ's interior and how I want it laid out. I've gotten around to figuring out the radio situation. I want to return it to stock with the cassette player and radio, but after some thought would there be any benefit to grabbing a newer radio from a different jeep that still has the ability to play cassettes? This is the question I am hung up on and I'd love to hear any input. I do have the capability to 3d print different odds and ends, so I'd imagine I'd be able to tweak the bezel with some modification. 

Are you interested in playing some other media type like CDs as well?  Are you planning on keeping it single DIN?  

[TheNerfsmith]

I don’t plan on playing CD’s. In my personal view that kind of ruins the feel of the 80s for me. I would probably weigh the single and double din options so I could see what would work to mount them in. 

[75sv1]

1 minute ago, TheNerfsmith said:

I don’t plan on playing CD’s. In my personal view that kind of ruins the feel of the 80s for me. I would probably weigh the single and double din options so I could see what would work to mount them in. 

CDs came out in the 80's. Yeah, I have a few CDs from local or regional bands of Central PA. I do have some cassettes from back them. Played 'Friends of Mr. Cairo' some weeks back. Then bought the CD. I could see retaining the cassette and get a USB port attached. 

[derf]

I still have all my mix tapes from the 80s collecting dust on a shelf.

 

I totally understand the nostalgia and wanting a cassette deck in an older truck.  I'm considering doing that in my next project build.

[llhat]

3 hours ago, 75sv1 said:

Played 'Friends of Mr. Cairo' some weeks back.

 

Thumbs UP...    have this on a flash drive I play in my 15 JGC...  along with hours of other songs.........   sort of eclectic mix !!!

 

now IF i  had a thunderous sound system, would be 'fun' to watch reactions when Playing the first part of that track,   if you've heard it you will understand 

 

but I am restricted to am/fm in my 89 ....  with blown speakers and all....... 

[Pete M]

try to get one made in Japan.  see the link in my signature to find Jeremy's breakdown of all the old radios.  

[ghetdjc320]

First consider the size. There really isn’t room for a double din full depth radio. Even with 3D printing, the underlying dash and defroster duct would need to be heavily modified. It’s not impossible, but it’s a ton of work. If you’re keeping single DIN, a clean stock unit fits the bill. Though I would add an aux input so you can keep your options open. Retro is nostalgic but functionality is key. You don’t want to have to convert your favorite tunes to cassette to be able to listen to them. When you spend 10 minutes fast forwarding and rewinding to find your son on a 15minute drive, it gets old… 

[derf]

3 hours ago, ghetdjc320 said:

First consider the size. There really isn’t room for a double din full depth radio. Even with 3D printing, the underlying dash and defroster duct would need to be heavily modified. It’s not impossible, but it’s a ton of work. If you’re keeping single DIN, a clean stock unit fits the bill. Though I would add an aux input so you can keep your options open. Retro is nostalgic but functionality is key. You don’t want to have to convert your favorite tunes to cassette to be able to listen to them. When you spend 10 minutes fast forwarding and rewinding to find your son on a 15minute drive, it gets old… 

I remember the days of cassette players in cars.  Mostly, I would just let the cassette play and not bother trying to find a specific song.

 

Even now with MP3 playlists, I just let the list play.

 

Of course, I spent a bunch of time making mix tapes followed by mix CDs, now MP3 playlists that only have songs I like.  It's work up front but it's a good way to avoid having to deal with fast forwarding or reversing cassettes.

[Ωhm]

4 minutes ago, derf said:

Even now with MP3 playlists, I just let the list play.

Shuffle

 

4 minutes ago, derf said:

now MP3 playlists that only have songs I like.

I'm up to 900 songs now and still growing. I call it MyMusic. Two sticks, one for my ride, the other for my TV.

[derf]

9 minutes ago, Ωhm said:

Shuffle

 

I'm up to 900 songs now and still growing. I call it MyMusic. Two sticks, one for my ride, the other for my TV.

I have a good 40 years of CDs accumulated.  Going on 850 discs.  Ripped under fair use with the original discs as backup.  I have a dozen playlists with easily over 1,000 songs.  Playlists are grouped by genre so I can change which one I'm listening to depending on my mood.

 

I find that many vehicles can't do shuffle right on thumb drives.  But it's not hard to connect the phone (wired or wireless) to the car's stereo.  And PowerAmp is a decent app for playing my playlists.

 

Still, I'm planning a cassette deck for my Comanche build and I'm going to revive my old mix tapes.  Maybe even record some new tapes.

[75sv1]

 

17 hours ago, llhat said:

 

Thumbs UP...    have this on a flash drive I play in my 15 JGC...  along with hours of other songs.........   sort of eclectic mix !!!

 

now IF i  had a thunderous sound system, would be 'fun' to watch reactions when Playing the first part of that track,   if you've heard it you will understand 

 

but I am restricted to am/fm in my 89 ....  with blown speakers and all....... 

Kix "Atomic Bombs' is what I want to play to blast people. Anyways. The Head Unit that will go into my Avalanche has the ability to store CD tracks. Well, I think it does. Not sure on how many tracks. 

[TheNerfsmith]

6 hours ago, ghetdjc320 said:

First consider the size. There really isn’t room for a double din full depth radio. Even with 3D printing, the underlying dash and defroster duct would need to be heavily modified. It’s not impossible, but it’s a ton of work. If you’re keeping single DIN, a clean stock unit fits the bill. Though I would add an aux input so you can keep your options open. Retro is nostalgic but functionality is key. You don’t want to have to convert your favorite tunes to cassette to be able to listen to them. When you spend 10 minutes fast forwarding and rewinding to find your son on a 15minute drive, it gets old… 

One of my good friends had a $#!&box 2nd gen dodge ram (yes with the v6) and a solution that he found was to buy an adapter like this which slotted into the player. In the experience we’ve had with the adapter it plays audio decent enough for listening. 

[pizzaman09]

I can appreciate liking to listen to tapes.  I have a 70s vintage Pioneer tape deck in my Sprite that I listen to tapes in when I drive.  I'm thinking about upgrading it to a 90s tape deck as the Pioneer has eaten too many tapes for my liking and the radio only has manual tuning that can't quite make it down to 88.5 which is a favorite local station of mine.  

 

Go for it, part of the charm of driving older vehicles is getting the experience of being in the time period.

[Pete M]

nostalgia is good and all   but I now rent infinity songs through spotify and can never go back.  my playlists are constantly expanding as I find new and old stuff to add  

 

plus you can get bluetooth tape adapters so it's kinda like the best of both worlds? 

[ghetdjc320]

Agreed, you can keep the nostalgic look, feel and even performance, but add an aux or Bluetooth input and not just a cassette adapter as that relies on the cassette player working properly. No reason to limit your selection to only radio or tape. 

[Pete M]

I rock a 92 XJ radio in my 06 CRD using Jeremy's bluetooth connection.    (the white cord is a retractable power cord for my phone)

 

 

because, why not    

 

 

 

[Ωhm]

On 11/4/2025 at 10:17 AM, derf said:

I find that many vehicles can't do shuffle right on thumb drives.

 

True, I've seen songs with the same title but with different artists, play back-to-back, in a row.