Hey everybody. I'm currently working on swapping in an OEM '90 Delco head unit into my '87 bird. The previous owner had removed the original radio and installed an aftermarket alpine unit that I am now removing. I'm lucky in that the wiring was done pretty well and isn't a total hack job. I am however, stumped by two wires.



This is the back of the Delco unit I am installing. Every wire is accounted for and fine besides the yellow 12v constant and orange dash light illumination wires that have their own connector.



The wires in the car that these two are supposed to connect two are missing the female connection and are just stripped wires.



When the Alpine unit was installed, the wire with yellow electrical tape was not connected to anything and the longer wire has a 15 amp fuse.



So basically my question is, which wire goes where? And why was the one wire never connected to the Alpine unit and should it be connected to the Delco unit? Also, do I need to have the 15 amp fuse in place or can I cut that out? Here is one more pic showing the whole setup in the dash. Thanks in advance for your help, guys!

 

Powers

YELLOW-12VDC IGNITION ON 10 A
ORANGE-CONTINUOUS 20A

 

Leave the fuse in place and manually splice the 12v constant to the yellow wire on your harness. You'll have to do some digging on the other wire to verify whether or not it is indeed a dimmer wire. The last thing you want to do is connect that to your HU and smoke it.

1982-87 Pontiac Firebird Stereo Wiring
Constant 12V+ Orange
Switched 12V+ Yellow
Ground Black
Illumination Gray
Dimmer Brown
Antenna Trigger Pink
Antenna Right Front
Front Speakers 4" x 6" Dash
Left Front (+) Tan
Left Front (-) Gray
Right Front (+) Light Green
Right Front (-) Dark Green
Rear Speakers 6" x 9" Side Panels
Left Rear (+) Brown
Left Rear (-) Yellow
Right Rear (+) Dark Blue
Right Rear (-) Light Blue

 

Do you have the UQ7 Sound System??

 

You don't need the fuse, the power lead is already protected by the radio fuse in the fuse block under your dash.

The illumination wire wasn't connected to the aftermarket stereo because most aftermarket stereos don't have dimming functionality built in, they just light up the same day and night regardless of the dash light control.

 

PS, the connector that mates with your adapter is the same as a speaker plug from 80's-early 90's GM cars.