my friend just got a 97 taurus and it's go the a/c and radio in one big circle. Not too friendly for an aftermarket stereo. There's probably a simple solution for this but i'm unaware of one. Any help would be great.

You can go to your local audio store or on the internet. They sell faceplates that have the air conditioner knobs on it, with a square hole in the middle of it for a aftermaket HU. I bought one for my car ($75), the CD Player (125$) and installation ($50). It came out quite nicely.

The Generation III 96-99 has the oval faceplate with the controls.

The actual radio is in the trunk on the drivers side.

Scoshe and Metra make a complete kit for around $60.00 that you ahve to buy. It includes faceplate,which has the climate controls.

All you do is pop out the faceplate disconnect everything

Run the wireing harness down the side back to the trunk and plug it in.

This keeps you from having to rewire the speakers.

everything connects to the new faceplate and your stereo.

The way Ford designed it sucks but the kit actually makes putting an aftermarket player in it quite easy.

If you have any skills you should probably be able to do it in under 2 hours.

Mike
:smokin: