HI,,
I'm TRYING to re-install a Bose radio in my IROC....The original radio was gone when I bought the car
I bought a HU ,on E-Bay....supposedly it works
My first question is..
What is that black wire on the left side for?
Also,the speaker wires are cut off,what /where do I attach the bare wire that is run with the wires?
Any help would be much appreciated
Later
Steve

I have no idea what the black wire is for. Do you have a power antenna or something? To get those wires attached, you are probably going to need to find a factory plug somewhere, maybe a junkyard, maybe a dealer, maybe you won't find one. I don't know. Did the car originally come with Bose? If not, you're probably going to have a bit of trouble getting it all to work. Are your speakers the stock speakers? The Bose Head unit may not like aftermarket speakers and may overheat powering them.

It would be unique, and cool to have the Bose, but I think the most straight forward way would be to just get an aftermarket and wire that up

The car came with the Bose system from the factory...its just a weekend(if that) cruiser,thats why i'm trying to get the small things back to stock
I think that black plug has something to do with the 'shielding" around the speaker wires...but thats just a wild guess on my part
Thanks for the help...keep it coming
Thanks in advance
Steve

Maybe it goes to a factory amp somewhere in the car? the 2 vehicles that I've worked on with Bose had multiple amps mounted on the back of the seat in the trunk (not sure where they'd be on the Thirdgen though.

I think its semi-important that the speakers are stock then because IIRC Bose has 8 ohm speakers, and aftermarket ones are 2 or 4 usually. You'd need to be creative with your wiring if they are aftermarket unless the amp in the head unit can handle variable loads...I'm rambling now...

The stock Factory Bose Speakers/amps are still in the kick panels/rear hatch,along with all the wiring to the HU...minus the plugs at the end...GRR
The previous owner installed dash/rear sail panel speakers when he put in aftermarket HU
I'm just want to go for "factory"look....in the interior
Thanks again
steve

Have you ed this form yet? There's allot of Bose info posted here. If you still have the amps in the car that's one headache out of the way. Do you still have the bose speakers? If not you'll need them with the Bose amps. The original speakers for the Bose are 2 ohm if I remember right. Most after market are 4 ohm. If you search the Electronics form you may be able to find the wiring diagram. If not you may be able to get some one to post if for you. You should be able to find the harnesses at the junkyard or from Metra, they sell them as reverse harnesses.

I always "search"..I've seen the abuse some people get!

Thanks for the help so far...The Bose system was still intact...(except the radio and a couple plugs to the radio)when I bought the car..
I just need a few heads-up on what the stray wires are for..HEHE
The last time I messed with a car radio..it was a AM/8 track ...
Thanks
Steve

what stray wires do you still have?

The black one thats hanging out of the left side in the picture
I believe the pink one(on the right) is relay/ant
and the 2 wire white plug on left is the usual clock/dimmer power or whatever

Hope that helps
Steve

Is the black wire have two wires come out of it. If so this may need to lead to the factory amp. If you can tell me the colors of the wires I can let you know what Speaker they go to for example the purple and purple black go to right rear Speaker. Also I know when the fourth-generation monsoons Speaker's system came out the 6 1/2 was a four ome dual voice coil Speaker. I hope this helps.

Its a single(maybe 16 Ga) clear/white color wire...with a steel single strand running on the outside of white casing,inside the black(somewhat like an antenna co-ax)
I'm guessing maybe it has something to do with the "shielding" on the speaker wires that the Bose systems have
hope i didnt confuse the subject more!
Thanks again
Steve
Btw..The single steel strand..STOPS before the plug
The plug is for a SINGLE wire

Did mean to say you didn't search, just checking. I would try and post for "wiring diagram for Bose radio in a 87" over in the electronics . There's a fellow over there that's always posting factory wiring diagrams, he MAY have something for you. If not, someone there may be able to help more then 'maybe it's for this', or 'I think that goes here'. I think a factory diagram would be the best thing in this case. That way you know what wires are what, and their colors. It would be a shame to damage that radio hooking up something wrong.

dude if you go to autozone or pepboys you can get the haynes for these cars for like 10 bucks..... why anyone would even try to work on their car w/o them puzzles me...... if you still need the diagram tomorrow i will post it here but for now im too lazy to go into the below 50 degee weather FL is having and find the book in mah car and then scan it then upload it then post it

Why would I use a Haynes..I have the factory service and the elect. supplement for 87.
I regret ever askin anyone what this wire is for
Thanks anyways
Steve

becuz............. its for more than just wiring.. but if you had the wirng diags why are you wasting our time lookin it up when you could...... the haynes has every wiring diag that you could need. both the regular and bose option diags are in it

did you find out how to hook it up or did you give up:shrug:

I gave up...the car is stored untill spring anyways...I think I'm gonna try a couple different boards
I just was trying to get an idea how badly my original harness has been hacked..
Thanks anyhow..
Merry Christmas
Steve

I bought a Delco/Bose AM/FM/CD unit for my '87 TA which is a non-Bose car. The guy I bougth it from (George Sipple, Sipple Electronics - I posted his contact info somewhere on thirdgen.org recently) knows ALL about how these radios are set up.

He has all the proper adapters, etc. If you don't need one from him, he is a nice guy and will probably tell you what you need to know.

If you can't find where I posted the contact info, let me know and I will dig it up for you.

For the record - my T/A is a weekend car, and I am very happy that I have a factory radio in it (even though it was an option that my car didn't orignally come with). It's also less likely to get stolen as it looks factory.

Good luck!

Thanks for the heads up...I saw your post already,and noted the guys contact info...i've found a couple people that seem to be very good with these Bose systems...its pretty much on me ,untill I get the car out of storage
Thanks
Happy New Years
Steve

Steve,

I just read your initial post again, where you said the factory radio was missing when you bought the car, and the harness is cut, etc.

Was your car a Bose car to begin with? Check you RPO codes to be sure - if it wasn't, that could explain the trouble you're having. If that's the case, you would need to send your radio to Sipple Electronics or some similar place and have it modified to go in a non-Bose car (not a big deal, they did it for me). Then get a wire harness from them, as well as an adapter to go from a Bose head unit to a non-Bose car.

Because my car was non-Bose, in addition to modifying the head unit to have a regular amp, they also gave me a wire harness adapter that made all those connections work.

Of course, if your car was Bose before, then maybe all your troubles would be solved by ordering a replacement hardness or connector?

Just a thought.

Happy New Year!

- Rob

It had the Bose system from the factory,everything BUT the Head unit and the connectors at the end of the harness by the HU were left in place
All I really needed to know was what that crazy black wire coming out of the one side is...From what i can gather its some type of ground for the speaker shielding they ran around the wires
Thanks
Steve

I looked through the firebird service manual and it looks like that wire is a ground wire. Keep in mind the camaro and firebird bose setups are radically different, but on the firebirds it looks like that black wire is a ground feed to the subwoofer and the it grounds to the chassis somewhere down the line. I hope this helps, I don't have a camaro manual to look through.

Yes...Thank you,that helps a lot...If only to reassure myself that I'm on the same page as someone else.
Thanks again
Steve