Add Satellite Radio to your Mustang for about $115

(Maybe even less)

By Fn-Staff

Yep, we're addicted to satellite radio. Two years ago, our 2005 Hummer H2 'family car" came with it and we've since come to love the 150 channels of commercial free music, access to weather and traffic channels and special content that AM or FM radio cant come close to.

The great thing about satellite radio is that you never loose a station on a road trip. Satellite reception is everywhere in the US with open view of the sky. There's no static, no fading in and out. The only place you will loose a signal is in a garage, a tunnel - anywhere you look up and don't see sky.

When it's time to drive the Mach 460 equipped Mustang, we only have five good local FM stations. Boring! Friends around us have been adding new $1200 stereo head units that have satellite radio, NAV, DVD, MP3, and all sorts of other features but we're on a budget here.

Luckily there is a less expensive solution, an "add-on" accessory receiver. There are many of these small units available that support one of the two major satellite radio networks. Prices range from about $70-150. depending on the features you want. Some offer rebates up to $50 when you sign up for long term service contracts. They're about the size of a cassette tape and can easily be placed somewhere in your car with included mounting hardware. Once plugged in they will broadcast over any FM radio, giving you crystal clear music. They can be temporarily or permanently installed, but we'll get to that later.

The two major satellite radio networks are Sirius and XM. Sirius is the one Fords come with and XM is GM's baby. For aftermarket add-ons, it doesn't matter which one you choose, they will work in any car. If we were good "true blues" we would have gone for the Sirius product, but by going with XM we save $8 per month by adding the new radio to our existing XM account the Hummer uses. The stand alone monthly charge for most services is about $12-14. a month. Adding additional radios on an existing account is around to $5-6 per month.

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The Unit

We chose the Delphi Roady 2 XT kit at a local mall store for $79. The system comes with everything you need to operate and install in your car. Additional kits are available to use them in your home or office too. This package has a cigarette lighter plug for power and an magnetic mount satellite antenna. Other minor bits and pieces are included for various mounting scenarios. The unit broadcasts its own FM signal to your radio, which you tune to a specific station frequency to listen.

Installation Accessory Kit

We chose to install the unit permanently. Because of this we intended to hide all the wires and provide a dedicated power connection and antenna hook up. While the Delphi Roady 2's broadcast signal strength is good for a temporary install, we wanted a direct signal connection to our radio for best sound quality. For this, Delphi offers a direct connect kit for autos on their website. It allows you to connect in-line with the factory radio antenna and also includes a power adapter pigtail for a permanent power hook up instead of using a cigarette lighter. The price of the kit is about $25.

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Installation

The first thing we did was locate a spot for the antenna. The instructions suggest the small magnetic puck needs to be mounted on a metal surface to operate properly. We were able to make it function fine without doing so, but we want to be good players here. The instructions suggested that the roof or trunk lid is the optimum spot, but our 2001 Mustang convertible has a plastic rear deck and vinyl soft top. The right fender adjacent to the radio antenna base was considered. It would have worked but looked hokey and we envisioned some rebellious teenager gripping and grabbing it in a parking lot somewhere because he hates his father.

Getting creative, we settled on the windshield header just above the center of the windshield. This location allowed us to run the thin antenna lead behind the weather stripping all the way down into the door jamb. It is totally unseen, wont come out or interfere with the top operation. Score!

Inside, the SN-95 interior was not kind to us. Finding a really good spot for the small receiver that was "just right" was nearly impossible. The area of the center console below the radio and in front of the shifter is a great place, but our car has a ROUSH serial number plaque there. We were not going to forgo that for a $79 accessory. We ended up choosing to locate the unit on the right side of the instrument cluster bezel, just left of the AC vents. This common part can be replaced easily some day should this new toy become obsolete or passé. Following the instructions, we used the included cleaning pad to remove oils and dirt. Then we used the "prep-pad" which chemically tacks up the plastic to accept the self-adhesive receiver mounting bracket.

Once the mount was placed we set about removing the instrument bezel to aid running the power and antenna wiring behind it. You will need a Torx bit socket or screw-driver to remove the bezel. Remove the two screws, pull off the headlight knob, and just pull on the bezel, it pops out.

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Power lead and antenna wiring

Routing the wires up to the spot where the receiver area took time and patience. It is always good to try and bundle them together, taping them so you only have to feed them through the mess once. Behind the glove box and radio, you can zip-tie the antenna and power leads to existing harnesses to keep it from falling down in your way another day.

We removed the shifter and radio bezels by carefully prying them away from the dash with our fingers. This is easily done, but never use a screwdriver as it will mar or crack the plastic. Just gently work them loose, they are held on by spring clips. The removal of these pieces was all it took to give our hands the room to work the wires.

Plugging the antenna wires together with the modulator box was a snap as the diagram was printed on the box. We found the positive power lead for the radio and spliced into it. This way the unit will power on when we start the car and go off when we shut it off. Consult a wiring diagram for your year of car as Ford seems to change wiring colors every year or so. We found a nearby bracket for the ground wire.

After all the wiring was done, the excess cabling neatly wound and zip-tied to some piece of abstract plastic, we set the two plugs for the receiver just a couple of inches from where they will connect. We carefully snapped the bezel back into place making sure our connector wires were not pinched. While the bezel was still loose, the connections were made to the receiver and the slack was adjusted to look tidy. The Torx screws were tightened back into place and headlight knob reinstalled. High tech huh?

Activation

Once the unit was installed, getting it up and running was a snap. The unit was powered on and programmed with our various preferences like the display color to match the Mustang's lighting and the FM frequency we wanted the radio to use when tuning to the satellite receiver.

Making sure the car was out of the garage and able to get the signal, we called the XM number in our literature. After some account set up rituals they sent a signal over the satellite to activate the receiver within 10 minutes and the unit came alive with stations. A few minutes later all 30 station presets were programmed with music, news, weather, and select TV channel audio feeds. Life is good.

This installation was for a 2001 Mustang, but the process would be virtually identical for any car that has an FM radio!