Stereo?

Ignorant f*ck

The acronym should be ROFLMFAO... and like I said earlier..... Don't let the door hit you in the ass..... It's just a radio.... rip the old one out and put the new one in....lol Bob

Forget all the ugly posters.

Do not just go to a shop you 'feel' you can trust, but do some serious looking around and find someone who has a lot of experience. I have found Tweeter to have one of the best car audio installation shops around and they do sell probably what you are looking for. Avoid at all cost the local places that are run by what appear to be local rappers and teenagers; you can't trust them not to mess it up. If you have to travel to a larger city if you don't live in a larger city yourself and be prepared to spend the day getting what you want. It may be worth the wait and inconvenience. I have seen some local people install car stereos and butcher the existing wiring such that costly repairs were necesary. A truly good shop won't do that to you.

Just my opinion Don't agree? God Bless America

Hi!

Whoa there Commentator...think about this a second or three... I'm not going to defend anyone here, but take the time to think through the list of things mentioned already.

Although Ian didn't annotate things as to whether or not they are "inside" the radio or otherwise he did give a complete list of functions. Some are internal and others are not. No I don't think they are all correct for your model truck (MP3 playback comes to mind), but of the ones I read over, the only tricky spots are XM if you have it (external tuner module IIRC), outboard audio amps (you almost certainly don't have these and I don't believe Ian mentioned them in his snippet) and the key beeper, which maybe you can live without and that may not truly be in your radio anyway.

If you want to absolutely know, do one of two things: Call Crutchfield. These people know their stuff, even for new vehicles. Or, disconnect your battery, take out your radio and leave it out as you use the truck. Provided you can live without tunes or talk or whatever you like to listen to, you can see what may be affected and it shouldn't hurt a thing.

I'm also not so sure I believe in all this VIN-keyed Theftlock stuff. I've seen pictures of these radios operating from nothing more than a bench power supply...and yes, they were functioning normally and not claiming to be locked up. I also see nowhere (apart from an unpopulated connector for accessories on the back of the radio) where anything but the very simplest serial data bus could exist...and I'm thinking the serial bus in a vehicle would be a complex beast with all the data that must be exchanged.

I do agree with your observation that some of the folks here get to acting like bigshots now and then, but it's interesting to stick around as there are a lot of very knowledgeable folks here who do have good advice and interesting things to say. It's just not all the time that this happens. :-)

William

Hi!

Yes, me too. I like a well balanced sound with a wide possibility of adjustment. The factory radio didn't even qualify for this.

I think I can guess what musical (if you could call it that!) audience this setup was intended for!

Yeah, I listened to a presidential address on the radio shortly after I bought my truck. The presets were awful and the manual controls didn't have a good range.

Dealers will lie to you about this. When I was truck shopping every last one of them did. Why? I don't honestly know, and I will not accuse them of being dishonest. I simply think they do not know what all the radio may or may not be tied into.

If anything, I would again urge you to just try it and pull the radio and see if anything goes missing. It is extremely unlikely that you could break anything unless something catastrophic like a short circuit against metal were to occur.

Some common sense will take you a long way here. If you pull the radio out, you're going to notice a few different connections to it. Not all may be populated. The largest multiwire connection is for power, backup power, speakers, lighting and similar stuff. The other connector right next to it is a form of serial data bus and auxiliary inputs (not that easy to use though as the radio may require a proper data stream or reprogramming to turn them on). This may or may not be populated with anything. Then there is the antenna connector and you should know what that does. :-)

This should get you started.

At one time I had the pinouts and an information page on my web site. Unfortunately, I had a horrific basement flood about two weeks ago that destroyed my personal webserver.

Good for you. Really. And Good Luck to you. :-)

William

Just dont butcher the dash installing it. I just took a junky super tuner out of my blazer some s.o.b. cobbled it up atlest they used an adapter for the wiring. I had to make a plate to mount the radio in and fasten it to outside of dash, oh well it'll be easy to remover if I everhave to.

You bore me:

You coloncheese!

PLONK!

Refinish King

I would just like to remind you that I simply cut and pasted an entire section out of the service manual. None of that information originated from me, nor did I make any changes to it. If Commentator wants more info, I'd be happy to search a bit more and see if I can come up with something that is a bit more to his liking.

Ian

Thanks for the advice, but as I stated elsewhere, I do plan on doing the install myself. Quite frankly, I am not sure I trust any of the aftermarket shops to do it properly ie without hacking up the wiring harness. I see no reason why, even if I can't find a commercially available adapter harness, I can't make one myself. I'm aiming for a "reversible" installation if at all possible.

Hence my questions. I like to know what my options are before trying to jam something in there.

FWIW, the good folks at Crutchfield (thanks to another poster for pointing me to them) have let me know that I would lose OnStar (not an installed option) as well as door chimes. They recommended to me the Metra VT-GMRC-01 GM Class II Data Bus Interface as a way to keep the chimes. Seems a little pricey for what it does, so if anyone has any feedback on this unit I would appreciate it.

Interestingly, they also indicate for each model deck they sell whether it can be installed without cutting into existing support metalwork. Useful as one means of narrowing down the field of decks to consider. They recommended the Pioneer DEH-P4600MP as one such beast, stating no modification required with included kit / harness. Feedback on this deck would be welcome too.

My wife's GrandAm with the 6-speaker setup is actually not too bad with the bass bias, although it is still there. I think that the extra speaker, and the placement of the speakers, helps to smooth things a bit. Doesn't work with the 4-speaker setup in the regular cab, though.

That, and greed. I called a local dealer to enquire about a remote starter for the GrandAM, again not willing to allow a hack and splice shop at the wiring harness, but not having the time or inclination to do it myself. (Prices to follow are in CAD$)

He quoted me $700 installed for a unit I could buy retail for $225. When I checked the retail price, I asked him how he could justify $475 to install. His answer was that I could take it or leave it. And then they wonder why people try to avoid dealerships.

Crutchfield was helpful, thanks. They indicated only OnStar (not installed) and door chimes as being affected.

Common sense, sure. Just like to know as much as possible before going in, and I did recall seeing some posts indicating potential "hidden" uses so I thought I would ask first.

Thanks for the help.

Talked to Crutchfield, see other posts. Quick turnaround on the questions I posed, too.

I don't know about the VIN lock, but I do know the old passcode based theftlock worked as advertised.

I have been reading this group for quite some time, and occasionally posting here. Yes, some of the posters in question are quite knowledgeable and can be quite helpful. If I didn't think this group was a good resource, I would not have posed my questions here.

Having said that, I have also noticed certain of the same posters have quite an attitude problem when challenged on anything. Shrug. Their prerogative, but they shouldn't act all surprised and indignant when someone calls them on it. Being helpful on one occasion doesn't excuse being rude and condescending on the next..

No kidding. If I couldn't do it without butchering the dash, I would find another solution. I don't understand why people will pay so much for a vehicle then hack it up like that.

Thanks but no thanks.

I'm getting the information I need elsewhere.

I have this Pioneer installed in my Z71 pickup,

's similar in specifications to the unit that you refer to. I like itpretty well. It definitely has a better sound than the OEM Delco that was inthe truck.

Brian

I dont get it either why butcer it up, just get a radio that fits the exiting hole i kinda like the original look sort a restrod look i guess lol.

Came accross this site

which led to these guys

They seem to have all the pieces. Their data interface

looks like the best bet I have seen thus far.

Hi!

Ooooohh...Doc's trolling these days?

Never thought I'd see that one happen! :-)

William The Guesser...who had also guessed he'd never ever see the entirety of his basement stacked at the curb...

============== yep, they like to do things like get power from the airbag circuit! :) Does someone allready make an install kit for that truck?

You sound like a troll to me!

Ian

Hi!

Nah...I'm not a troll. (Now how much quicker of a way is there to determine whether someone's a troll or not? ) Seriously, it takes too much time and you've really got to have nothing better in your life to do than to go like a dog after somebody you don't like on Usenet. I have a life and very little free time in it.

If you knew me "in person" as it were, you'd say I wouldn't make a good Usenet troll anyway. I don't have the temperament, time or ability. I'm also keenly aware of the fact that "it's only Usenet" and who you like or hate and who likes or hates you doesn't matter a thing after the keyboard has cooled down and the power is turned off...unless of course some lulu comes after you. (If you care, I still post with my real name because I don't have any good ideas for a "handle" anyways...)

It was a legit question phrased in a rather strange way...I'm rather surprised at all Doc's done and said lately in the group. He's still a great source of advice and knows his stuff no doubt, but now he's got the "attitude" of a veteran ATC member. It just seems awfully odd coming from him...no?

William The Guesser