Hey guys. I'm sure this MUST have been covered at some point or another...but the search function here daunts me, so I apologize in advanced if I missed it.

I have a 99 Cav. that came with a tape deck. I dunno if these have theftlock systems of any sort or not. I WANTED to nab a replacement unit from the junkyard, preferably with a CD player, but I wasn't sure if that was going to work because of above worry. Anybody know what I'm talking about here? Is that doable?

Thanks!

it would be easier to buy an aftermarket one for 60 bucks and it will work, yes they do have a theft lock that has to be reprogrammed. I threw my factory cd player from my 05 out within 5 days of buying it lol

DJ Beefy wrote:it would be easier to buy an aftermarket one for 60 bucks and it will work, yes they do have a theft lock that has to be reprogrammed. I threw my factory cd player from my 05 out within 5 days of buying it lol

Eh, that's kinda what I figured. Those base-tards. *fist shake*

An aftermarket dealie would probably be a better bet anyway. I dunno much about what I'm looking for though? Is there anything about the new deck I need to be sure of to make sure it's 'compatible' or anything?

just get the right double din adapter for the stereo to go in and wire it up. pretty simple install, should take an hour if done correctly with patience. as for stereo any aftermarket single din stereo will fit.

Thanks a lot for the help Sorry to be noobish about it. I thought maybe the wiring might be different from one deck to another or something.

most decks come with directions saying what each wires does


------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mike wrote:The auto to manual swap is not as involved as you would think.
Get all the parts you need in a pile, and drive the car into it.
They will find their way into the correct places.

yea matching the wires isnt too hard especially if you get the wiring harness adapter for it, makes it super easy, but i prefer to wire it all myself and sauder it all up good and tight. I hate the factory door chimes and do NOT care to keep them in either of my J's.

I'm one of the few that likes the factory radios, if only because they retain the original appearance and are pretty well integrated into the dash layout. Up through '99, if the previous owners didn't mess with the theftlock, they don't need to be programmed to work in another vehicle. And, there are lots of these with either cassette decks or CD players in the salvage yards, cheap. My car came with the top end radio/CD combo, which is the same unit that was fitted to most of the GM line that year ('99). Some vehicle models (like various GM full size trucks, SUV's and even the Malibu sedan) offered an optional remote cassette deck that integrated with the CD radio, but it wasn't available in the Cavalier probably because there wasn't anyplace to put it in the dash. Since the radio is the same and has the jack in back for the remote deck cable, I just got the deck and cable out of a truck model and mounted the deck in the glove compartment. Works fine, and I still have hundreds of cassettes left over from a past life. (Heck, I've still got boxes of 8-tracks!) - Mark

my 2005 factory cd player was gay because the volume turns down with speed going down, isk exactly how to explain it, but your jammin, you slow down at a light and your not lol. someone else with one of these must be able to feel me on this. hence why i threw it in the trash after 4 days and threw in my spare panasonic deck i had sitting there from my mini truck.

Grab a deck of your chosing, the correct adapter to make it fit into the hole (hehe... hole), and get the wiring harness for your car.

---------------------------------------------------------------
Tristatetuners.com
IGOTBANNED.NET
OceanStateDubs.com

you can go to wal-mart and get an install kit and wiring harness for about $20. and even if it is walmart, the quality isn't complete @!#$. i have walmart harness on every car i've ever owned. works just as good as the expansive ones


------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mike wrote:The auto to manual swap is not as involved as you would think.
Get all the parts you need in a pile, and drive the car into it.
They will find their way into the correct places.

DJ Beefy wrote:my 2005 factory cd player was gay because the volume turns down with speed going down, isk exactly how to explain it, but your jammin, you slow down at a light and your not lol. someone else with one of these must be able to feel me on this. hence why i threw it in the trash after 4 days and threw in my spare panasonic deck i had sitting there from my mini truck.

Umm, that''s a feature... it's called SCV - speed controlled volume. It's explained in your owners manual. It also raises the volume as you speed up.

A little advice if you are going to be putting in an aftermarket 1-din head unit:



1. I know we all have budgets, but we also expect things to work nicely, last long, and have decent features. There are TONS of cheap brands out there, but you DO get what you pay for. I heavily suggest looking into these brands in this order:
-Pioneer Premier
-Alpine
-Clarion
-Eclipse
-Kenwood Excelon
-JVC
-Everything else out there

2. Make sure you get everything you need. I have had people call me up to do a quick and easy head unit install and say they have everything. When I get there, they are missing this or that. What you will need to buy:
-The head unit itself(if this is the part you end up forgetting, you need to step away before you start lol)
-The wiring harness adapter.(If you do not need your door chimes to work, you can get the cheap one for a tracker of the same year. If door chimes and headlight chimes are vital, the wiring harness that retains that is slightly more expensive. The expensive harness is the 'right' way to do it.)
-The antenna adapter. This is the thing everyone seems to forget. Your cars male antenna wire plug is different from the female receptacle in the new head unit. The adapter os not that expensive.
-The dash adapter kit. This will give you all the plastic pieces you need to make the head unit fit properly and SHOULD come with instructions on how to do it. It is fairly straight forward and if you are decent at problem solving, it shouldn't be an issue. Keep in mind this adapter kit will probably be a generic GM kit and come with lots of extra pieces for other applications. So use some common sense and problem solving skills to figure out what pieces go where to make it work in your car.
-Crimp connectors and a set of wire cutters/crimps. These can be found cheap, so don't worry. The average every day joe doesn't solder and probably doesn't want to buy the equipment to do so. So the next best way to do it is crimp connectors. The wiring is inside the car so you do not need to worry about having water tight shrink tube on each connection, but you DO want to make sure you have a solid connection and no bare wire showing. The standard insulated crimp connectors will do just fine.(They are usually color coded so it is easy to get the right size[14-16awg] These ones should be red.) NEVER EVER EVER JUST TWIST/SPLICE AND TAPE. NEVER

3. Take your time and do everything right!
-Make sure that you get the wires in the crimp connectors all the way, crimp them tightly, double check. Give each connection a little wiggle before moving on. The only wire crimping you will need to do is connecting the harness adapter to the harness that comes attached to the new head unit. The adapter just plugs into the factory plugs. The only thing you will need to worry about is the 12V switched power wire. The one that tells the head unit to come on. That one, if memory serves me right, is not going to be found right in the stock harness connectors. You will need to run it to a switched 12v source like the ignition switch itself, or the radio fuse location.
-You will be removing the plastic bezel that goes around the cluster, stereo, and HVAC controls. Make sure to take your time and check for every last screw. If a good firm tug does not pull it free, look for a screw in the trouble spot. The last thing you want is to break one of the stock interior pieces just to install your stereo.

There... I am really bored at 4:15AM thanks for giving me something to do.


On the other hand....you have other fingers.

In my family we teach that boys have a God-stick and girls have a Shame Cave. -John Stewart

JLAudioCavalier wrote:A little advice if you are going to be putting in an aftermarket 1-din head unit:



1. I know we all have budgets, but we also expect things to work nicely, last long, and have decent features. There are TONS of cheap brands out there, but you DO get what you pay for. I heavily suggest looking into these brands in this order:
-Pioneer Premier
-Alpine
-Clarion
-Eclipse
-Kenwood Excelon
-JVC
-Everything else out there

2. Make sure you get everything you need. I have had people call me up to do a quick and easy head unit install and say they have everything. When I get there, they are missing this or that. What you will need to buy:
-The head unit itself(if this is the part you end up forgetting, you need to step away before you start lol)
-The wiring harness adapter.(If you do not need your door chimes to work, you can get the cheap one for a tracker of the same year. If door chimes and headlight chimes are vital, the wiring harness that retains that is slightly more expensive. The expensive harness is the 'right' way to do it.)
-The antenna adapter. This is the thing everyone seems to forget. Your cars male antenna wire plug is different from the female receptacle in the new head unit. The adapter os not that expensive.
-The dash adapter kit. This will give you all the plastic pieces you need to make the head unit fit properly and SHOULD come with instructions on how to do it. It is fairly straight forward and if you are decent at problem solving, it shouldn't be an issue. Keep in mind this adapter kit will probably be a generic GM kit and come with lots of extra pieces for other applications. So use some common sense and problem solving skills to figure out what pieces go where to make it work in your car.
-Crimp connectors and a set of wire cutters/crimps. These can be found cheap, so don't worry. The average every day joe doesn't solder and probably doesn't want to buy the equipment to do so. So the next best way to do it is crimp connectors. The wiring is inside the car so you do not need to worry about having water tight shrink tube on each connection, but you DO want to make sure you have a solid connection and no bare wire showing. The standard insulated crimp connectors will do just fine.(They are usually color coded so it is easy to get the right size[14-16awg] These ones should be red.) NEVER EVER EVER JUST TWIST/SPLICE AND TAPE. NEVER

3. Take your time and do everything right!
-Make sure that you get the wires in the crimp connectors all the way, crimp them tightly, double check. Give each connection a little wiggle before moving on. The only wire crimping you will need to do is connecting the harness adapter to the harness that comes attached to the new head unit. The adapter just plugs into the factory plugs. The only thing you will need to worry about is the 12V switched power wire. The one that tells the head unit to come on. That one, if memory serves me right, is not going to be found right in the stock harness connectors. You will need to run it to a switched 12v source like the ignition switch itself, or the radio fuse location.
-You will be removing the plastic bezel that goes around the cluster, stereo, and HVAC controls. Make sure to take your time and check for every last screw. If a good firm tug does not pull it free, look for a screw in the trouble spot. The last thing you want is to break one of the stock interior pieces just to install your stereo.

There... I am really bored at 4:15AM thanks for giving me something to do.

On my 98 cavalier it did NOT need an antenna adapter it fit right in to the aftermarket deck, in my 2005 it did need the adapter. Most brands are overrated. I have used many of them, but most cheaper brands usually have smaller amps, but not always. And since when is clarion or jvs that great? lol Maybe 15 years ago before there stuff became utter junk, now there not so good, theres a few nice brands you forgot to mention, so I would say you post is biased off of your personal opinion.

Also about soldering, the "equipment" can cost as low as 5 dollars with extra solder, and its super easy to do, if you cant solder you should go to a shop and pay half of what your car is worth for someone else to install it. crimp connectors CAN come loose and fall off wich can ground 12v wires out and cause a fire easy, and at the least blow your uotput on your head unit, solder it, its easy.

Also as I mentioned about the wire harness adapter, I always opt not to get it as the factory chimes are just annoying to the driver and anyone else in the car, think before you act and you wont leave your headlights on, and who the hell leaves there car with the door open and doesn't know it? All in all though you posted a good write up jlaudiocav. Oh and also forgot to mention ALOT of decks dont fit in all the way back without a little convincing, for some reason jbody's are the only cars ive ever had a problem with this, really. So just keep the wires clean and not too long and it will fit with the effort, even though at first it might not seem to. Have fun with install.

John Lenko wrote:

DJ Beefy wrote:my 2005 factory cd player was gay because the volume turns down with speed going down, isk exactly how to explain it, but your jammin, you slow down at a light and your not lol. someone else with one of these must be able to feel me on this. hence why i threw it in the trash after 4 days and threw in my spare panasonic deck i had sitting there from my mini truck.

Umm, that''s a feature... it's called SCV - speed controlled volume. It's explained in your owners manual. It also raises the volume as you speed up.

and scv sucks, even if it was barely turned up as it is it would turn it down to near nothing. only time that would be good if you r one of those idiots who sits at a stoplight with your system all the up while your rpms are down and loove to kill there battery, other than that its gay.

BTW.. the chimes aren't part of the deck on the 99 cars.. so ignore the parts about the Tracker harness. You want the 82-99 Cavalier harness, like most GM cars up to model year 99...

It's 00-05 J-cars that need the Tracker harness and lose the chimes... unless you buy a chime module. 95-99 the chimes are generated by the convenience centre.

Thanks for the correction on that Lenko. I have never put a head unit in a 95-99 J.

And as for Clarion and JVC, I put JVC at the bottom of the list because they are far better head units than most of the brands that did not make my list. I also made the assumption that he is on a budget and wants something that will function decently for a low cost, so I didn't name some high end brands like Nak. I gave him a damn good list of companies that make good, solid, affordable head units for a good price. The recomendations were based on personal experience. Not personal opinion. There is a difference. 99% of the time if I take that much time to reply and give advice, it is because I know at least 99% of what I am talking about. Don't talk down to me. It is rude and condiscending, and I don't appreciate it. If you have advice for the OP that I did not list, cool. But don't quote me and tell me I'm wrong about things that I am right about. ALSO, crimp connectors should not fall off if you use the right tool and do it properly. I did say Soldering is the right way to do this type of work, but I also understand some people can't or don't want to solder. I have seen BB, CC, and a couple local Car audio specific stores do worse and sketchier installs than me, especially when it comes to splicing wire. Again, don't talk to me like I have not done this stuff time and time again, and don't talk down to me. As far as not fitting in the back, if it requires you to cut a little plastic bracing, some of us do that. If you are not comfortable doing so, they dash kit comes with a piece that bubbles the head unit out about an inch. Doesn't look as perfect, but is a very easy solution.


On the other hand....you have other fingers.

In my family we teach that boys have a God-stick and girls have a Shame Cave. -John Stewart

You dont have to worry about crimps coming loose. Thats how mines done. I just ran Electrical tape around all of the crimps and wires to keep everything neat and together. Makes putting the head in easier cause all of the wires stay as one instead of turning into a rats nest.

I'd recommend against using electrical tape cause it's a mess if you ever have to cut the deck out...just use zip ties.


'03 Cavalier
DesertTuners.com

Lnhiv (DesertTuners) wrote:I'd recommend against using electrical tape cause it's a mess if you ever have to cut the deck out...just use zip ties.

Winner. If you are holding a bundle of wires together neatly, definitely invest in a baggie of zip ties. Electrical tape gets really gross really quick.


On the other hand....you have other fingers.

In my family we teach that boys have a God-stick and girls have a Shame Cave. -John Stewart

true, electrical tape is good for a quick fix on the side of the road etc, but connectors or soldering is the best way to go with any wiring. If you must use connectors the melt on connectors are better than the crimp on.

my 98 never had chimes with the factory tape deck and now with aftermarket head unit. Either way, no chimes at all. its a base model with the "convenience" package. Also my friends 96 and 99 base and ls have no chimes one has aftermarket head unit one has factory deck still. I think it depends on the package you have purchased the car with. My 2005 base 1sv did, I fixed that real quick.

Lnhiv (DesertTuners) wrote:I'd recommend against using electrical tape cause it's a mess if you ever have to cut the deck out...just use zip ties.

They would probably work better. I've noticed that especially if it gets hot. Just stating what I've done. Its already in now. But if I switch cars I'll do something cleaner like the zip ties.