Wow, for some reason I was thinking WAY too much on that... getting an external female connector to hook up, then plugging it in much like you would any AUX input on a newer radio face, lol.

How hard was it to run the wire through the CD holder? Did you have to take out the console to fish it or what did you use to snake it through?

 

you may need to remove console to get the tape deck out, depends on if you can reach the connectors.

i didn't have to remove the whole thing.

i just removed the tape deck and trim, then removed the cd case holder and i also removed the "trays" out of the back of the console for extra hand/arm room.
to fish the wire thru i just used a wire clothes hanger.

no problem, i try to make mods as simple as possible. anything else good ahead and ask away....but you have to post a pic when done...

 

I'm gonna try to do it today... I got a GM engineer neighbor that'll help me with the soldering (he might even know a way to totally reroute the thing). My only problem now is the stupid deck is so dirty it won't keep my empty shell in it. Either that, or since there's literally NOTHING in my tape shell, it's just spitting it back out.

 

i had no problem with the empty shell in mine....might just need so adjusting.
i havent had mine out since i did this mod.

let me know what you find....total tape deck out would be a nice finish to this mod.

 

Well, I went out and bought a better brand tape converter and the thing worked fine. What we believe happened was the motors weren't feeling the right resistance and would pop out the tape believing it to be jammed (the gears in the first one were stripping and without any gave no resistance at all).

After using the new one, I decided that for now, the sound quality is fine. I still can't get the stupid CLR message to erase no matter how many times I clean it or "reset" it, so I figure it might not be long before the thing totally breaks. When THAT happens, I'll probably go ahead with the hardwire mod.

What I did find, though, was that the wires connecting into the system are divided up into power, sound, and data. It's not really a physical link, but an electronic one where the tape sends all its information to the radio which then decodes and plays it. That being said (I didn't find which wires to do this with, but I could in time) if you ground out the data wires to make them believe that there is ALWAYS a tape in the player even if there isn't, you complete the mod YOU did and you essentially hardwire into it. That's the theory anyway.

 

How did you remove the tape desk from the console? I will be doing something similar using USB connector and installing a HD converter in the tape decks place.

 

You just have to pop off the outer cover. I used a small flat head screwdriver to help me with leverage, but the thing should just pull right out with some wiggling - pushing up towards the engine also helps. The tape deck itself has two triggers on each side of it that, when squeezed, will completely release it from the vehicle. Pull it out and unplug the wires.

warthogdriver's pictures can help with what I just described.

 

There is a seller on Ebay who sells factory serviced radios and adds a input jack which keeps all functions working as normal. Plug in your device and power it on and it looks like it activates the AUX input. From his listing he can modify your existing radio. It would be nice if someone was able to reverse engineer this mod. This would be better than hacking the tape drive. At least this was you can have a complete functioning radio and an input jack. See the link below.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/GM-CH...fAudioQ5fVideo

 

that is one freakin' expensive factory radio!

 

Probally because it came out of a Corvette. He has ones for a Chevy for a lot less. If you want your radio modified with a Aux in Jack it is $55 + $15 S&H (Return). If you figure $15 S&H to ship then total cost to add a jack would be about $85.00. I am considering this for the near future as I like the idea of having an added input jack without having to install an aftermarket IPOD adapter and losing my CD Changer and without having to change out the radio. I like my steering wheel controls, the look of the factory radio and I do have the Bose system which I also like. My existing radio is the Bose Cassette with factor CD Changer. I would llike to keep it the same.