89 SHO's are different-What SHO headunits will work in one?

[Trusty89]

It seems that the 89 SHO is a peculiar animal when it comes to the sound system. I have a premium sound system and my second 89 headunit crapped out. I'd like to get a new Ford unit that just plugs in. What years will fit?

And I definitely DON'T want another 89 unit. Those just plain suck.

 

[jelloslug]

The wiring itself is the same (for the most part) as all 1st and 2nd gen cars. The big difference is the mounting for the radio and the lack of a 2nd DIN opening for the slave CD player. The '89s have a bolt in radio and the 90-95s use the 4 hole "snap in" type of mounting. I would suspect modifing a snap-in radio to fit the '89 would not be that hard though. If you use the new stye of radio (2nd gen style) you will either need to wire in a switch to turn on you existing amp or change the black amp to a 2nd gen one (it plugs right in). The 2nd gen radios cannot turn on the 1st gen amps.

 

[FordLover]

I had to run an extra ground wire into the factory power plug to get my gen 2 radio to work with my gen 2 amp on the 89. I don't know why, but it works now.
-Martin