I bought my car with a non-working original Bose system. The previous owner said he just forgot to put in the antenna plug in the back of the system. I didn't care much then, but now I really want a stereo. I took the head unit out and it is a mess. It is pretty evident to me that he had replaced the original head unit with an aftermarket one and didn't want to sell it with the car so he tried to throw somethin together. There is electrical taped wires, wires sitting around with no place that I can find for them to go. I am afraid of being screwed by a car audio place who is going to charge me a ridiculous amount to fix it. I want to go with an aftermarket head unit if I am going to be fumbling around with the radio this much. I have seen adapters that Crutchfield recommends for Bose systems that supposedly enhances sound or something. Is it necessary? Also, does anyone know where I can find a nice detailed diagram of the Bose system, specifically the back of the head unit? Any more help or recommendations would be great. Thanks.

 

Buy a haines manual to show you what each wire does. You will also have to but an adapter that allows you to put a single din radio into your din and a half space. You really shouldn't need those adapters as it's a pretty straight forward install if you run new speaker wires.

 

Thankfully many of the headunits from the cardomain store come with that adapter ^_^

The Haynes manual will be useful for what color wire does what too...^_^

 

If you are running an aftermarket HU with the stock Bose speakers, you will need to run a peripheral if there isn't one in there.

 

I purchased a Delco/Bose system for my non-Bose 1987 T/A about 2 years ago. I sent it to a place called Sipple Electronics (George Sipple), he is on eBay as BooBonic.

He modified the radio - the Bose radio has NO amp in it, so he installed one from a compatible Delco radio. Then he sent me a modified adapter so the Bose unit would work in my car.

Once I got the radio and the adapter, it was simple - plug and play, had it working in seconds. I was very happy.

I forget what I paid, but it wasn't too much or I would remember!

Hope this helps...