A year ago, I converted a cassette deck head unit from a Grand Prix into a Bluetooth-enabled device. (Details here: Project BT). Radio and Bluetooth have worked great for the past year, but I was getting the itch to try and improve the sound a bit. Thanks to theraymondguy's posts about making the most of stock speakers (here), I decided to scratch the itch and good junkyard shopping for a set of better speakers. Along the way, I wanted to grab a version of the Delco radio with the 7-band equalizer. My belief - possibly divorced from reality - was that the upgraded CD/Equalizer model would have a chance of providing higher sound quality than the more base-model cassette deck.

While the speaker hunt ended up taking two trips, and I might still return the Sony XPlod 6x9s and buy new 6 1/2" speakers, I found a good CD Deck. The CD reader does not function properly - reads a disc for about 5 seconds, then spits it out with an E20 code. The interwebs point to a focusing issue with the lens, with cleaning being the only real repair before replacement. I took the deck apart twice, cleaning first with rubbing alcohol, then a second time with just a microfiber cloth. Still same error, so likely something more serious wrong with the laser/lens. To adapt to an auxiliary input or Bluetooth, the CD player has to begin reading a disc, so I'm not able to modify it yet. I felt that was ok, as I'm usually listening to the radio when on my trips in the Trans Am, searching for 80s or 90s music. No big deal at this point.

Prior to installation, I decided to strip the front cover and give everything a deep clean, removing 20+ years of grime. I took a pictures to make sure I put it back together properly, thought these might be of use to anyone who is wanting to use one of these decks.

My Bluetooth deck - push in the cassette to turn on the BT and connect it to the phone.

The CD/7-Band EQ deck, pulled from a 2002 Grand Prix. Aside from CD player, everything is functioning correctly.

Once the faceplate has been unclipped from the chassis, remove the six screws that mount the PCB to the plate. You need a 3mm socket.

Backside with the PCB removed. The clear parts allow the light to disperse over the labels (BAL/FADE, etc)

After a soak in hot, soapy water and gentle scrubbing with a tooth brush, I let the parts dry in the Texas sun for about 30 minutes.

Powering up the deck with my benchtop power supply to make sure all the lights worked. Picture also shows the modifications needed for the deck to mount into the radio pod.


Reassembled and installed. My preference has been the more period-look of these Grand Prix radios over an aftermarket solution.

The cleaning really helped the white lettering on the buttons "pop." Each was a little grimy from the years of finger presses. Only special tool required is a 3mm socket to undo the PCB. For an unrelated project a few months ago (repairing a Nintendo 3DS for my daughter), I had purchased a set of micro-tools on Amazon. Came with all sorts of small screwdriver bits, including a set of small sockets. Worked perfectly for this job.

I'm going to keep my eyes open for another unit that might have a functioning CD player so I can add in the Bluetooth. Might also lean towards an aftermarket deck in the future, just really wish the manufacturers would make one that doesn't look like an arcade game going on the whole time. Haven't found one that seems like an aesthetic match for our cars.

 

Nice. ...that looks really good. ...and I agree with the aftermarket not providing a great aesthetic solution.

 

Thanks! I was working Sunday and Monday on installing more sound deadening in the car. Had previously done the doors and the right rear quarter of the car from when I had areas exposed for other projects. Decided to remove all the rear plastics and apply KillMat to the sail panels, gas tank area, left rear quarter, and trunk well. Will be eventually pulling all carpet to replace, so left the seat area forward untreated. Took the car out for a long spin with my daughter yesterday and very happy with the sound quality. The KillMat really helped with deadening the vibrations and lessening the road noise. We also had the windows up and AC blasting because we are in the middle of a typical Texas summer heat wave.



Up close picture of the passenger sail panel

Now that the sound quality is improving, I'm already feeling myself going down the slippery slope of additional enhancements - adding a hidden amp for better speakers, maybe a sub box in the trunk well... Uh Oh!

 

Very nice. ....I'm planning on adding sound deadening to the doors and rest of the car when the interior is out for the upcoming LS swap. Heard very good things, especially with having the doors done. It is a slippery slope that I've slid down before! -and probably will again, lol

 

The doors make a HUGE difference, at least in rattle reduction. I did those several months ago to reduce rattling and was extremely pleased with the results. The doors now make a vault-like "thunk" sound when closed. You'll be pleased. They Kilmat is well-priced, or at least it was when I bought it last year.

When I pull the whole interior out for new carpeting and paint, I plan to lay down a layer of noico foam over the kilmat for additional insulation and sound deadening. That is for later.

 

Agreed, a factory Delco looks so much better, just recently replaced the Supertuner with this on out of a 96 Sunfire

 

That looks great! Hard to find a tape deck with equalizer. I looked, and only could find CD versions. With the equalizer, the sound quality seems to be better than the standard units. That's just my novice opinion, though.

 

Found this head unit in Facebook marketplace for $25, The sound quality is much better than I expected thought the tape players sound quality isn’t good, I’m going to try cleaning and demagnetize the tape head but I probably won’t use it as a tape player that much as I’ll be using a Bluetooth cassette player adapter.

 

Working with a Delco part# 16228062, Sound quality playing the local radio stations sounds really good but the problem is playing tapes, I have to turn the volume to maximum to get any sound out of what's playing on the tapes, I have tried multiple cassette tapes and also have a new cassette deck/ Bluetooth adapter and the problem follows. Any suggestions as to what could be a possible fix?