Hello, I recently purchased a 88' GTA in great condition but have a radio issue I am not sure what to do with. The car originally had the Delco sterero cassette with equalizer and steering wheel controls with power antenna, but now has a new Alpine unit that I just don't care for (I prefer to keep things factory if possible) and I would like to have the steering wheel controls operational. The previous owner had the orginal factory stereo that he said was in perfect operation condition - (he just wanted to upgrade to a CD player) that was included with the car. The other night I went to remove the Alpine unit and found out that the plug-in connectors for the factory raidio were cut off rather than using an adapter connector and now everything is hard wired together. My question is where can I find a new set of the correct factory plug connectors to put everyhing back to the original factory radio and steering wheel controls.
Any info would be greatly appreciated.

 

you can find the connectors easily at a junkyard, just look for any GM car that is an 88 or newer, and get them out of there, should be a 21-pin connector.

The harder thing to find will be the steering wheel controls plug, hopefully that wasn't cut. And the radio. The steering wheel control cars use a special, all pushbutton radio. It's only found in GTAs and some Grand Prix's had it. I have two of them, I may consider selling one. Dunno if it works, but it lights up and is locked, and you need steering wheel controls to unlock it.

 

Here is a link http://www.oem-auto-accessory.com/me...ing_plugs.html

Chances are the factory plug for the steering controls is still there, there would be no need to cut it for the aftermarket radio.
Good luck!
Jon

 

Thanks for the help. I looked at the back of the factory radio and it seems as though it takes a 21 pin main plug and possibly a separate 2 pin connector for radio controls? Just trying to confirm what the steering wheel connector should look like and how many pins (wires) it has.

Thanks again,

 

The steering wheel controls are a separate 2 pin. The other (large) one I never took the time to count lol. You're on the right track.

 

You're on the right track. Here's how the system is set up:

Off the controls on the wheel, there is a very short harness. That plugs into a connector on the column, behind the controls (you'll see it if you pull your controls.) From there the wiring travels down the column as part of the turn signal harness and there is a plug off the main dash harness at the bottom of the column that plugs into the connector for the turn signal switch, it's like the last couple pins IIRC. then that runs in the main harness to the radio, I think there are actually three wires, but only two go to the radio, the third is an orange one for lights/power from the main harness.

I'm pretty sure that's how the wiring goes. Keep in mind if your controls connector is cut off of the harness where it goes to the radio, that may be a pain to find, since I think only Firebirds with thaose controls used it. Every other car I've seen w/ wheel controls had a different plug that goes into the radio.