I have an 86 trans am with factory performance sound package. The two sets of speakers are still installed in the rear sail panels. The PO removed the factory unit and put a jensen radio in it and it looks to have been wired with an amp at some point. I have a Pioneer head unit and Polk 4 channel amp i was thinking of wiring into the car, but not sure how to go about doing it with this set up. Is there a way to wire up the speakers and use the factory amp to run the subs or should i just wire everything up to the Polk amp and forget the factory amp and gain switch? The PO cut the harness instead of getting an adapter harness so i will have to chase wires regardless of what i do

 

Your question , having two possible answers based on one's opinion , can be distilled into these two options ; originality VS modern components .

Now to me , since it sounds from your post that your not chasing the originality angle here , the answer is simple , use your Pioneer & Polk , and might as well get some modern speakers for the Polk to drive while your at it .

I say this because if your looking to use your Pioneer VS a factory head unit , and I can pretty much bet your Polk amp is far more powerful than the factory amps are , there is no good reason beyond the loss of the cool looking dash gain control to use the old stuff . If a banging system is the ultimate goal mixing your new radio with the original amps & speakers is gonna end up with it not banging like ya want it to , and you'll soon be installing the bigger amp & speakers anyway .

PS , if you do have the factory head unit that the PO replaced with the Jensen , It'd be best to keep all the factory radio parts in a box somewhere in case you or a future owner ever decide to use the original system .