Once our November camping trip was done, the Bus went into semi-retirement for the winter, & it was time for some projects. Speedy Jim (of RAMVA fame) had posted about some NOS Mitsubishi AM/FM radios going cheap on eBay that would fit the DIN radio opening in air-cooled VW's. I think they were originally destined for a '94 Eclipse or some such.
I couldn't resist. Imagine, FM radi
o stations, and
a
clock!
The radio arrived a & proved to be NOS & uninstalled as advertised, but required no unlock code. It came without a harness, & I was stumped as to the correct pinout, but I posted to RAMVA, & Speedy Jim came to the rescue again with a wiring diagram! With no ready local source for the tiny female spade connectors, I got to work improvising. I ground off half of a regular connector, soldered & heat-shrinked it, & tightened the crimp a bit. Fit just fine. Made up my own harness using different colors, and stripes made with liquid electrical tape to keep things sorted.
As it turned out, the opening needed just a little bit of trimming, & the radio slid right in. Such a nice fit that it's been doing just fine without any additional support behind the dash. Following Jim's diagram, I hooked up speakers, battery, & ignition/accessory power. Originally, I tied ignition/accessory & battery togather, & wired them to a battery source, but that left all radio functions on all the time, & the battery would start to get tired after about 3 days parked. I eventually ran the ignition feed through a pushbutton lamp switch I installed in the dash next to my auxiliary fan switch. When the switch is on, the radio "thinks" it's getting an ignition/accessory feed, but when it's off, only the presets & the clock are powered. I can listen to the radio any time, ignition on or off, just by pushing the switch, even though early VW's don't have an accessory position on the ignition switch. I know, I know, only air-cooled VW geeks know or care....
I couldn't resist. Imagine, FM radi
o stations, and 
a 
clock!
The radio arrived a & proved to be NOS & uninstalled as advertised, but required no unlock code. It came without a harness, & I was stumped as to the correct pinout, but I posted to RAMVA, & Speedy Jim came to the rescue again with a wiring diagram! With no ready local source for the tiny female spade connectors, I got to work improvising. I ground off half of a regular connector, soldered & heat-shrinked it, & tightened the crimp a bit. Fit just fine. Made up my own harness using different colors, and stripes made with liquid electrical tape to keep things sorted. 
As it turned out, the opening needed just a little bit of trimming, & the radio slid right in. Such a nice fit that it's been doing just fine without any additional support behind the dash. Following Jim's diagram, I hooked up speakers, battery, & ignition/accessory power. Originally, I tied ignition/accessory & battery togather, & wired them to a battery source, but that left all radio functions on all the time, & the battery would start to get tired after about 3 days parked. I eventually ran the ignition feed through a pushbutton lamp switch I installed in the dash next to my auxiliary fan switch. When the switch is on, the radio "thinks" it's getting an ignition/accessory feed, but when it's off, only the presets & the clock are powered. I can listen to the radio any time, ignition on or off, just by pushing the switch, even though early VW's don't have an accessory position on the ignition switch. I know, I know, only air-cooled VW geeks know or care....
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