I know I need the adapter for the larger sized hole in my dash, and I know I need the new wiring harness, but what else will I need? I'm about to go pickup the $229 JVC cd head unit with motorized faceplate and try to install it myself (gotta learn sometime). The guy in Best Buy said something about needing "caps" and I also read something somewhere about needing an antenna adapter (or is that part of the wiring harness?)

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

-'91 Firebird

Oh, also the my car has a plastic trim plate covering the screws around the stock deck that's in there at the moment. How do I get it off without breaking it? Thanks!

 

in most cases all that you need is the wiring harness. faceplate adapter to accept the 1 din when all f-body's have a 1.5 din hole. depending on the head unit will determine whether or not you need to get an antenna plug adapter and the guy at best buy was talking about caps he was talking about capacitors. unless you are getting new speakers with the head unit i wouldnt really worry about it. You ususally place them right where the speaker connects so unless you want to start taking apart If you are replacing the speakers then the capacitors are used as filters to usually filter the lower frequencys so that the interior speakers wont have to reproduce them. which in most cases at high volume levels will cause them to distort. They in most cases are called "bass blockers." You can buy the caps or i think that best buy has "bass blockers" you can buy that are the correct size. In microfarads (units for capacitor) If you go to a Radioshack and find a half-way competent salesman there then they will know what you want to do and they should give you the 1000uF Cap which is what most people get. (It's also the same size as the cap that is put into the special "bass blockers" package that best buys sells and its about 17 bucks cheaper.) Good luck. Also look into getting an amp for your interior speakers its a very good investment!

 

Thanks a lot for the info.

On my wiring harness I have an extra Orange wire, is this normal?

I currently have Orange w/white going to the other Orange w/white stripe, but there is just a plain Orange hanging around with nowhere to go. It says "Illumination / Dash Light" on it. The two orange+whites say "Dimmer."

 

I know that i didnt use a harness (save money) I soldered my connections. If i remeber correctly I didnt use that wire or the dimmer wire. It's perfectly fine. If you remember whenever you turned on your lights the stock radio's lights and display would dim. Unless your radio has that feature dont use that wire. The plain orange one might be the +12v but i dont remember now. If you already have everything that you need connected to the harness i.e. power,ground, Acc, Remote(for an amp), LF, RF, LR, RR. If you have all of that and you memory works correctly on your radio. then you dont need those wire's. I think that they were designed with the stock wiring harness for the delco systems that they put in the cars. So if you got a couple of extra wires but you have everything connected that your radio needs i wouldnt worry about it. :cool

 

Check out Crutchfield. You may pay a little more, but they'll give you everything you need to install it and a great set of directions. Plus I think I saw somewhere they are offering free shipping for a limited time. I have bought some stuff from them and they are a first class operation. Like I said, you pay a little more, but they give you everything you'll need.

 

ok, alittle clarification... all aftermarket head units have the same ant plug. your car shouldnt need the adapter. you just need the harness and mounting kit. using caps in the area discibed above are always considered bass blockers. thats what they do, they block bass. if you still have the stock speakers, thats when you should use them, especially on your front speakers (4x6s). and if you are gonna use them, you connect them in-line on the positive lead of the 2 speaker wires for each speaker you are going to put them on. best buy sells them for $9.99/ pair. i should know, i work there. they are a good investment if you plan on just using your stock speakers. its not really necessary on aftermarket speakers.

you dont really need to hook up either of the orange wires. they dont change much and there is just more that can go wrong. i would suggest not using either. all you need hooked up is the yellow (constant), red (accesory), black (ground), and the 4 speakers (8 wires)- white, grey, green, purple. you dont need to hook up the blue unless you have a power ant or an external amp.

 

you will need a dash kit,wiring harness, and you WILL need an antenna adapter if the car is a'91 the antenna end is smaller than the aftermarket radio socket

 

OK, no one has mentioned anything about shrink wrap, solder, or butt connectors and crimper/strippers. Also a decent compliment of basic tools, including a torx set to get some of those pesky interior/dach panels/bezels off, and a metric socket set. That about covers everything you should possibly need....some of it ya prolly already got. Don't forget the small stuff now...

 

excellent point made

 

Dude, I just threw a stereo in my 87 TA two days ago. Its easy as ****... I used a Mounting Kit, and Wiring Harness... I don't know if you need the antenea adapter, but I didn't. All I did was match the wires up and electrical tape them togather, it works fine. Its really easy to do, take off the plate around the radio, take out the 4 screws to remove the old stereo, insert new one in big hole and plug and play... easy. And don't worry about the orange wire, its a dimmer.

 

I keep hearing about a mounting kit? What is in one of these and where do you find them? Cost? Since are stock units are larger will these alow us to use different head units? I'm rather new to the sound system world. Thanks...........

 

The installation kit can be found almost anywhere, from Walmart, to Best buy and everywhere in between. It allows you to use a DIN sized deck in a DIN and a half slot. Also I suggest the harness kit too, so you don't hack your factory harness, and they are alot easier if you ever wnat to remove the deck before you sell the car. Total estimated cost for both.....$30. Plus like I mentioned above, wire strippers, but conectors, and basic tools. Unless you want to solder and shrink wrap all connectons