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Radio harness wiring mess

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Old Jan 12, 2013 | 04:53 AM
  #1  
Spaceboy1980's Avatar
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From: TN
Car: 1990 Camaro RS
Engine: L31
Transmission: 700R4
Radio harness wiring mess

I was swapping out my late model delco that was installed by a PO with another that had mounts. When I pulled it out I found a wiring mess and some snipped and wrapped wires along with butt connectors and twisted and wrapped wires with bare wires poking out. Anyone have a wiring diagram for this mess? I need one for the chassis (90 Camaro) and the radio (99 delco unit).

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Old Jan 12, 2013 | 05:21 PM
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From: Wadsworth,Ohio
Car: '83 Z-28
Engine: 5.0 CFI
Transmission: 700-R4
Axle/Gears: 3.23
Re: Radio harness wiring mess

http://www.the12volt.com/installbay/...etail/483.html

I had a newer radio in my '83 and wanted a stock radio put back in. I used this site and was able to get the stock radio put back in. This will give you the stock radio diagram. You may need a different adapter/plug for the delco radio. You can find the adapters/plugs on ebay for around $5.

Last edited by Coyote850; Jan 12, 2013 at 05:34 PM.
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Old Jan 14, 2013 | 02:47 AM
  #3  
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From: TN
Car: 1990 Camaro RS
Engine: L31
Transmission: 700R4
Re: Radio harness wiring mess

Thanks for that link, that will help me a lot.
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Old Sep 8, 2013 | 12:13 AM
  #4  
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From: TN
Car: 1990 Camaro RS
Engine: L31
Transmission: 700R4
Re: Radio harness wiring mess

Just got this sorted out. I had completely forgotten about it until I was swapping out my HVAC vacuum switch.

What I found was:

The illumination was tied to the ignition wire, the ignition wire had part of the insulation stripped off and the illumination wire threaded through it and wrapped in duct tape. It is the top connection in the picture above, was quite amazing under the tape.

The wire for the illumination coming from the car was taped up with duct tape and had bare wire poking out.

Only the front speakers and the ignition wire had any kind of wiring connectors, the rest was just twisted together and either duct taped or electrical taped.

The left rear speaker had the polarity swapped.


I ended up using butt connectors to put it all back together. I normally would have soldered and heat shrunk it, but I was afraid of damaging my console with the iron. There were so many bare wires poking out of tape that I'm surprised the car didn't burn down, what a hack job. ><
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Old Sep 8, 2013 | 11:32 AM
  #5  
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From: St. Cloud, MN
Car: 1984 Trans Am
Engine: LS1383 in work
Transmission: Magnum F - to be installed
Axle/Gears: Zexel Torsen 3.73, 28-spline mosers
Re: Radio harness wiring mess

Originally Posted by Spaceboy1980
Just got this sorted out. There were so many bare wires poking out of tape that I'm surprised the car didn't burn down, what a hack job. ><
That's a perfect example of someone either not knowing what they were doing or just too lazy to do it right. Glad you got it sorted before it became a fireball on the side of the road!
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Old Sep 11, 2013 | 02:14 PM
  #6  
Sn0wm4n's Avatar
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From: Saint Paul, MN
Car: 1991 Camaro RS
Engine: 355ci
Transmission: 700R4
Axle/Gears: 3.55 Eaton gears
Re: Radio harness wiring mess

I am having a similar issue, I pulled out a non working alpine deck which appears to be quite old and I wanted to put in my very nice kenwood deck that I bought last year. Unfortunately the wiring is a mess as well. There are wires not connected to anything, wires spliced to different wires. Does anyone have a stock wiring diagram for a 1983 camaro berlinetta?

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Old Sep 11, 2013 | 02:42 PM
  #7  
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From: Western NY State
Car: 87 bird
Engine: enough to break stuff
Transmission: manual th400
Axle/Gears: 4.10
Re: Radio harness wiring mess

http://www.the12volt.com/installbay/...etail/482.html
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Old Nov 24, 2014 | 01:08 PM
  #8  
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Re: Radio harness wiring mess

Still doesn't really help. I have 14 wires on the replacement harness I bought, and only 13 wires coming out of my dash. That diagram offers a bit of info, but how am I supposed to interpret "Antenna-right front"? Splice the antenna wire to the right front?

I don't get it. Frustrated.
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Old Nov 24, 2014 | 01:09 PM
  #9  
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Re: Radio harness wiring mess

Plus, I have 14 wires to connect on my new harness, and only 13 coming out of the dash.
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Old Nov 26, 2014 | 01:21 PM
  #10  
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From: Western NY State
Car: 87 bird
Engine: enough to break stuff
Transmission: manual th400
Axle/Gears: 4.10
Re: Radio harness wiring mess

pink is the ant wire, right front is just the place on the car, like where it says dash speakers and rear deck. and you dont always use everything, some hu's have amp wire separate from ant. depends what each has
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Old Nov 26, 2014 | 08:28 PM
  #11  
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From: Clark NJ
Car: 1988 Pontiac Transam GTA Notchback
Engine: 2003 Chevy 5.3 Vortec (325 cu)
Transmission: 4L60E
Axle/Gears: 3.27
Re: Radio harness wiring mess

I had a similar issue. I removed the dash and spent 2 weeks replacing all the individual cut wires with new ones out a 2002 firebird dash harness. I redid the factory butt splkices, and where there were terminals, I purchased those seperatly from clipsandfasteners.com

I have absolute faith in my harness now, no electrical issues whatsoever.

Do I recommend it, well only if you like or are good with wires.
Attached Thumbnails Radio harness wiring mess-img_0850.jpg   Radio harness wiring mess-img_0852.jpg   Radio harness wiring mess-img_0853.jpg  

Last edited by alex722607; Nov 26, 2014 at 08:34 PM.
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Old Nov 27, 2014 | 01:51 AM
  #12  
S.O.T.I.'s Avatar
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Re: Radio harness wiring mess

I figured mine out. I printed a wiring diagram and using it plus the diagram supplied by the replacement harness, I got everything wired up correctly. Some wire colors matched, most didn't, but it's all good.
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