Putting Stereo In 1989 Chevy C 1500
Printed From: the12volt.com
Forum Name: Car Audio
Forum Discription: Car Stereos, Amplifiers, Crossovers, Processors, Speakers, Subwoofers, etc.
URL: https://www.the12volt.com/installbay/forum_posts.asp?tid=24278
Printed Date: July 26, 2025 at 12:08 PM
Topic: Putting Stereo In 1989 Chevy C 1500
Posted By: ringman69
Subject: Putting Stereo In 1989 Chevy C 1500
Date Posted: January 09, 2004 at 7:41 PM
Hey there, Gotta problem. Well Decided to try and put A nice stereo in place of my equilizer in my pickup. Got dash all apart and tore out equilizer. Was only 2 wires going to it. I went and took the Drivers side dash apart and took out the origional radio out and Found a bunch of wires soldered to a circut board. Was wondering where the antenna Cable went to and I need to get it to hook up my radio. Anybody can help me figure out this mess and what wires go where so I can hook up my new radio. Please Help!?!? Thankx! Ringman69
Replies:
Posted By: italnpimp59
Date Posted: January 09, 2004 at 8:03 PM
these trucks are different from installin a head unit in most other vehciles. take the panel off under the steering wheel and look up and to the right. you will see a little metal tuner box. take it out and the harness that connects to that box is your GM harness. so run them to where the equalizer used to be and go from there
-------------
Posted By: ringman69
Date Posted: January 09, 2004 at 8:06 PM
Will the antenna cable and all the necessary wires will be there for all my speakers/power also? ------------- Ringman69
Posted By: fatdaddyjoe
Date Posted: January 09, 2004 at 8:11 PM
yes they will it is all attached to the little silver box you will need a wire harness as well as an antenna extension cable male to female......you will likely have to lengthen the wire harness as well.......
-------------
THE LOUDER THE BETTER !!!!!!
CAN YOU FEEL IT ?????
Posted By: ringman69
Date Posted: January 09, 2004 at 8:13 PM
ok. I have got the antenna adapter thing and I have got the dash kit. now I didn't go and get the wiring adapter thing bc Wal-mart did not have one in stock. SO how hard will my life will be if I just wire it by myself.
Posted By: fatdaddyjoe
Date Posted: January 09, 2004 at 8:15 PM
i would never recommend that a harness makes audio life so much easier.......wait to get the harness you will be glad you did.....
-------------
THE LOUDER THE BETTER !!!!!!
CAN YOU FEEL IT ?????
Posted By: ringman69
Date Posted: January 09, 2004 at 8:17 PM
oh ok! and you say that I have to run longer wires also from that box to the equilizer place also? So That means I have to buy the adapter and some wire too?
-------------
Ringman69
Posted By: fatdaddyjoe
Date Posted: January 09, 2004 at 8:19 PM
yes it makes it alot easier just get some 16 awg wire and lengthen all the wires between the harness and the radio harness....
-------------
THE LOUDER THE BETTER !!!!!!
CAN YOU FEEL IT ?????
Posted By: ringman69
Date Posted: January 09, 2004 at 8:23 PM
ok I just went outside and Looked at this "box" and is it the one which is about 6 inches in length and has like a silver plate on it?
-------------
Ringman69
Posted By: fatdaddyjoe
Date Posted: January 09, 2004 at 8:25 PM
yes does it have an antenna wire going to it as well as a little plug with about 20 wires or so??
-------------
THE LOUDER THE BETTER !!!!!!
CAN YOU FEEL IT ?????
Posted By: ringman69
Date Posted: January 09, 2004 at 8:28 PM
well I DO know that I followed the antenna cable and it goes past the equilizer hole and contines left past all the wires from the climate control and then goes down and I cannot find it past there. Probably am looking at the tuner box. Looks hard to take out. is it?
Posted By: fatdaddyjoe
Date Posted: January 09, 2004 at 8:31 PM
usually they are not that bad just be careful not to tug on any of the wires to hard.if you spot the antenna wire you are home free...good luck
-------------
THE LOUDER THE BETTER !!!!!!
CAN YOU FEEL IT ?????
Posted By: ringman69
Date Posted: January 09, 2004 at 8:33 PM
Aliright. another question.... is ALL the wires hooked up to it all go to the radio in some way. and I looked at all the other wire adapters in wal-mart and it has a plug on one end. Where do you plug the plug in at and what wires go for power and what ones go for the speakers?
-------------
Ringman69
Posted By: fatdaddyjoe
Date Posted: January 09, 2004 at 8:36 PM
they are all color coded to your aftermarket radio plug red to red yellow to yellow black to black and so on the plugs you take off the tuner box will only fit in the harness one way and after all is wired you will plug the other end back in your radio....
-------------
THE LOUDER THE BETTER !!!!!!
CAN YOU FEEL IT ?????
Posted By: ringman69
Date Posted: January 09, 2004 at 8:40 PM
ok should I just remove the antenna cable and the plug from the tuner box and then replace it with just the adapter plug and run wire from the adapter to the new radio with the antenna cable, and then plug in the antenna cable into the new radio. Now what do I do with hooking up the speakers to the new radio?
Posted By: forbidden
Date Posted: January 09, 2004 at 8:40 PM
If you buy the correct plug for your vehicle, all of the wiring for the speakers and power connections are contained in this plug. There is also no need to lengthen either the antenna or stereo wiring as well, they are easily long enough to be rerouted to the dash cavity where the new stereo sits. Disregard all harness that used to plug into the hide away module (the silver box). I mean the harness from the eq / tape deck to the module, the harness from the radio to the module, these are not the correct harness. The harness you want should be located on the very top of the hideaway unit, either remove the unit or if you can bend your hand in ten directions, you may be able to remove the harness from the module. The plug will loook similar to this harness manufactered by Scosche, it can be found at www.scosche.com model # GM02. ------------- Top Secret, I can tell you but then my wife will kill me.
Posted By: fatdaddyjoe
Date Posted: January 09, 2004 at 8:44 PM
some of them are not long enough wires also dont this need an antenna reducer as well????
-------------
THE LOUDER THE BETTER !!!!!!
CAN YOU FEEL IT ?????
Posted By: ringman69
Date Posted: January 09, 2004 at 8:47 PM
Well I did buy this adapter thing for GM 1988-2002. it is suppose to work for my pickup and should work for my radio right?
Posted By: forbidden
Date Posted: January 09, 2004 at 8:49 PM
You will sometimes need an antenna adaptor, again see model # MDA1 on www.scosche.com. Not all of these GM pickups had the mini size antenna end, look and you shall see. I have lost count on how many of these trucks I have done and I cannot remember even one time that I had to extend the lines, get that harness unplugged from the module. Make your new harness first with the GM02 and the new cd players harness, plug it into the harness under the dash, reroute the harness, you will have more than enough length to make it. ------------- Top Secret, I can tell you but then my wife will kill me.
Posted By: ringman69
Date Posted: January 09, 2004 at 8:51 PM
awesome man, thankx a lot! I"ll check it out tomorrow and if I run into any problems, I"ll check it again. Thank you again! ------------- Ringman69
Posted By: forbidden
Date Posted: January 09, 2004 at 8:52 PM
Your welcome.
-------------
Top Secret, I can tell you but then my wife will kill me.
Posted By: ringman69
Date Posted: January 10, 2004 at 1:30 PM
hey there again. Took out that tuner box thing and unplugged thoes wires from it. Didn't have any cash on me so I decided to try and wire it up myself. Cut the black plug in and on some combonation got power to the radio and when I turned on the key, it gets power for like 5-6 seconds and then shuts off. I put a C.D in it and it took the cd from em and now it won't even turn on when I turn the key. What did I screw up now? ------------- Ringman69
Posted By: philaf
Date Posted: January 11, 2004 at 1:45 AM
omg.. you couldn't just spend the $15 or so to do it right? and now you're wondering why you're having problems... AVOID CUTTING STOCK PLUG AT ALL COSTS! did you cut the wires right at the plug? if so, go to a junkyard and pull the plug from a similar truck and put yours back to stock condition. then go buy a harness.
Posted By: ringman69
Date Posted: January 12, 2004 at 6:22 PM
no I left some room just in case of that kinda slip-up. Well damn wal-mart hasn't got that harness in for 2 weeks straight, and I am ready to bitch. damn ppl!
Posted By: ringman69
Date Posted: January 12, 2004 at 6:26 PM
u know where else ppl stock harnesses? I tred o-reileys and parts plus, and the closest they come to radios and stuff is the antenna, which is B.S! any place else anyone?
Posted By: forbidden
Date Posted: January 12, 2004 at 7:40 PM
Pretty much any car audio shop, best buy, future shop, circuit city....... ------------- Top Secret, I can tell you but then my wife will kill me.
Posted By: ringman69
Date Posted: January 12, 2004 at 9:56 PM
ATTENTION ALL READERS:!!!!!!!
I went to www.installdr.com and got the color codes from the, and I decided to think, for once, and wire it right, well then I took forbidden's advice and check all the fuses. Sure enough the radio fuse was burnt up (prolly because of accidentally touching the 12 volt hot to the ground wire) replaced it, took a deep breath, turned the key and wholey sh*t it got power! followed the instructions to wire up the speakers and the thing works like a charm! Thankx to all that helped out in my cause to figure out this thing!!!!!!!!
Sincerely,
Ringman69
Posted By: ringman69
Date Posted: January 17, 2004 at 5:16 PM
hey! Ringman here again! Gotta 'nother question 4 yas! Ok, I got 2 10 inch subs one MTX one pioneer. I am gona wire it up to the radio I just put in. What all materials do I need and how big of an amp should I place in this beast to prevent installing a new high output alternator? ------------- Ringman69
Posted By: forbidden
Date Posted: January 17, 2004 at 5:31 PM
You need to post up the model # of the subs so we can find the proper box and amp to match. As a general rule it is not a good idea to mismatch subs in a vehicle, I would recommend use one or the other. Do not wire the subs to your cd player, they must have an amp!
-------------
Top Secret, I can tell you but then my wife will kill me.
Posted By: geepherder
Date Posted: January 17, 2004 at 9:44 PM
Different make/model subs require different size enclosures, and have different acoustics. This is why Rob suggested installing one or the other. Rob, I don't think he was going to directly connect the subs to the deck- he asked what amp he should use. Run some RCA's and a remote turn-on lead (blue wire with white stripe on your new radio's harness) from your deck to your amp.
Posted By: ringman69
Date Posted: January 17, 2004 at 11:15 PM
ok well I got an box with the subs and they have been used before, so they got all the hookups and stuff installed in the speaker box. I also got a pair of RCA cables that is optional on my CD player. SO like to get some good "boom" with out speading money out my ass, how high of a amp sahould I plant in this baby without getting a high output alternator?
-------------
Ringman69
Posted By: customsuburb
Date Posted: January 18, 2004 at 3:37 PM
Depends on what subs you have and what box they are in. If they came with a manual it should tell you the reccomended continuous power your subs like. If they didnt come with a manual check on the back of the sub's magnet, it might say there. Also if your sub is in a ported box the subs will probly like about 100 watts continuous power less than what is reccomended in the manual. If you tell me what subs you have i can reccomend and amp for you.
-------------
Posted By: ringman69
Date Posted: January 18, 2004 at 8:22 PM
ok this box is home made I bought from a fellow of mine. no manual or anything, they are rated at 350 watts a piece. they do have tweeters and blowers in the box built in. now what do I need for cables, amps, and stuff?
-------------
Ringman69
Posted By: customsuburb
Date Posted: January 19, 2004 at 4:24 PM
So your saying its a full range box that has two woofers and two tweeters on it and that its ported. If this is your case then you will probobly want a 2 channel amp to power your box. you will also want an amp wiring kit from someone like Stinger or Streetwire. An amp kit includes an rca cable ,a power cable (you connect this to the red positive terminal on your battery) a ground cable which you attach to the amp and then the chassis of your car, a turn on lead ( which you will have to run to your new cd player so your amp will turn on when your radio does) , and various connectors you can crimp onto the end of the power ,ground ,and turn on lead cables. If your woofers handle 350 watts max you wont need that big of an amp. Probobly only a 125 watts continuous X 2. Rockford Fosgate makes one. The Punch 301S brigdged to power your two woofers will output 150 watts continuous to each woofer. You can run your tweeters off of your head unit which should give them plenty of power. Since you didnt mention anything about midranges you will just have to use your dash speakers for that. If you do have midranges in your box then you can for instance get a four channel amp and use 2 of its channels for the woofers and the other 2 you can use for the midranges and tweeters. Hope this helps you. -------------
Posted By: return2punkokc
Date Posted: February 08, 2004 at 5:25 PM
I just wanted to add on to this post. I have the same truck and was wondering how to install a stereo myself here. I am glad I found this place with the lead on teh schosche parts. I just ordered the following parts from sounddomain.com Scosche GM02 Car Stereo Wiring Harness Scosche GM1482 Car Stereo Installation Kit Scosche MDA1 Antenna Adapter After I ordered I found this Part # SCOGM1518B. It is a little storage place that can go in place of the stock radio.. Just wanted to pass on and say thanks.
J
|