How do you take a radio out of a 1971 VW beetle?

Answer 1

First off there is a radio wiring diagram for a 1972 super beetle found here basically the exact same as the 1971:

You go under the hood (which is actually where the spare tire goes in the front of our 1972 super beetle). Im taking out an old Kenwood Radio which was compatible with the 1972 super beetle (that's what im working on, but i understand the question here is about a 1971, however they are relatively the same). If you take it out to install a new radio youll need to remove the face plate in the car and modify it with a rotary tool (shave of the existing face to create a standard face that a modern radio/CD player will fit into). also there are little metal markers to keep the old radio in, youll need to bend those off or shave them off to fit a modern radio in the dash.

after this, make sure your new CD player or radio uses14 volt DC power consumption. anything more can mess with alternator power.

use a power amp conditioner directly connected to the batery on a toggle switch or use another 12 volt battery if needed to have extra amps to feed a radio. Know that your bugs alternator may not charge two 12 volt batteries properly however. it depends on if the batteries are hooked up in parallel or in a series. i believe series is the way it will charge properly on a 1971 bug but ideally youd want to run the batteries in parallel for more amps. this might require a better alternator which youll need to shop around for.

Im installing a new Pioneer CD player/usb reader that has 4 speakers (pretty close to the original speakers watt output/power)