confusing head unit wiring in an 84
 

im trying to get my aftermarket cd player in my 84 trans am. i have the wiring diagram and all the right color wires are in the car but orange and brown are connected to this mysterious black connector. i dont know what it was from because i bought the car this way. should i chop the black connector off and wire it to my adaptor like that? it seems odd that its those two wires that have the black connector, brown is for the left speaker pos and orange is for the +12 volt battery wire. any insight into this problem would e apreciated, thanx

http://img93.imageshack.us/img93/4363/s50302236kr.jpg

Im a bit of a nerd when it comes to stereo's, buit I always run my own wire. especially if the factory harness looks wired like your does.

MY suggestion woud ne to NOT use the factory wire, and re-wire yourself. Ground, Pos constant, Pos switched, remote turn on (If running amps) and speakers. but thats just me. :)

Twist-and-Tape is not really acceptable for installs. Fix that while your back there. It could save you a lot of time and money down the road.
It doesn't look like you have the rest of the stock harness, do you? Is the black connector the factory connector? If it the stock connector is still there go out and drop $15.00 bucks on a harness. Don't cut out the stock harness if it's still there.

true, tape isnt ideal, but it held fine in my last car for almost 3 years unlike those dumb twisting wire cap things that vibrated loose after a 1000 miles. and i dont have the tools to sodder sooo ill take my chances :( the wires were chopped when i bought it so im hooking it directly to the adaptor for my cd player, tho i do have a replacement adaptor that i thought i needed but didnt.

:yup:

You can get a set that comes with a crimper and crimps. Not that expensive, and may save you from having to go back over things.

Butt connectors or any crimp connectors arent really ideal either (IMO) ive seen them corrode or a crappy crimp cause some problems after a few months.

IMO everything should be soldered and shrink wraped. You get an excellent connection, its solid and 100% permanent.

well im a very poor at soddering and i dont have the tools so thats not an option but the crimps are deffinately a good idea, ill get a pack later today :)

any more suggestions on what do do about the connector? im gonna chop it today if no one can tell me why i shouldnt....

The brown wire is just a ground and you do not need to use it. If your just cutting and taping then cut the orange wire and connect it to the constant. If you check out the adapters you can buy at autozone you'll see that they come with one large plug-in for the three factory plugs that look about the same and a small plug for that one and the only wire used is the orange.

As robmonte said, only the orange wire is used in the 2-wire connector. Here's a diagram, http://www.installdr.com/Harnesses/GM-Wiring.pdf.