Nothing wrong with the car, per se, but my old JVC tape deck bit the dust. This one is so old, you pull out the whole head unit when performing "theft prevention". It even has a carrying handle! No wiring harness, you have to splice all of the wires yourself.

Which brings me to my next question.

How the hell are you supposed to connect a new stereo without a wiring harness? Seems like everything I look at needs one. Is there one for an '83zx?

Even if there is, I suppose you have to wire that one the hard way just to use the new stereo, right?

Sometimes I miss the old days.....

 

It's simple.. you have a constant positive, keyed positive, ground, automatic antenna, antenna and a positive and negative for each speaker... what is so hard about this, I have yet to figure out.

 

That's not the hard part. I know how to do all of that. Maybe I phrased my question wrong...

Is there such a thing as a "new" wiring harness for these cars? The old stereo didn't have one and it seems like all the new stereos need one. I was looking at several models last night, none of which had any wires hanging out the back to be connected. Just a port to connect a wiring harness. I am capable of connecting the harness to the existing wiring.

 

Typically when you buy a new deck, it comes with a "wiring harness" that plugs into that port that has just short wires on the other end. You would splice those into your car's wiring.

 

Sweet. Thanks!!!

 

Got a JVC KD-R300 for the tunes. Not a great stereo, but it'll do the trick. Should look nice in the dash, too! I can match the dash light green for that added touch... $79.99 at Best Buy!!!

 

In my 79 ZX I use an Alpine CDA-9831 CD/AM/FM/WMA/MP3/XM Etc... I can change the buttons to match my dash backlight... thats the only reason I bought it cheesy but sounds damned good

 

Sounds like your stock harness has been hacked. The new stereo will come with pig tails for the stereo end - you just need to mate it up to the hacked side.

As a side note for those with the stock harness intact there is TWO Metra kits for the ZX - make sure you have the right one before you order/buy one. The second one is fairly uncommon and mine was on backorder for over a month....

 

Fric--

Yeah... This will be the 3rd aftermarket stereo in this little piggy. Some stereo shop put the 1st one in, I did the 2nd one, and will do the 3rd. I have some really nice (don't remember the model number off the top of my head) Pioneer 6x9s behind the seats. They could use an amp...meh... I don't bump the tunes too much.

One of these days, I'll get the dash speakers replaced... just not today.

 

Well... dammit x2!

I had a good really simple wiring diagram I printed from here (not the sticky in "Interior and (whatever the hell it's called)" forum.) Now even through searching, I can't find it. Needless to say, the new stereo looks really pretty in the dash, but I got no tunes. Must've missed something, somewhere. I'll try using that one... but I'm not sure my wires in the car are the same colors as that diagram.

sigh...

 

i have a kenwood excelon cd player in my 82 280zxt i ran brand new wire to the front speakers 16 g the doors hold one 6.5 or 6.75 speaker im useing a two way speaker sounds better . i ran about 15 foot of 16 gauge wire to two kenwood 6x9 speakers in 6x9 boxes to the rear hatch sounds pretty good then i put in the old school plexiglass black duel kenwood ten inch subs to a old school kenwood ps 301 t

 

If your looking at the one I did, its for a 1980 ZX so the colors could very well be off (I made a small mistake on one wire which is noted under the picture too lol) Just do what I did and get a volt meter and your FSM Wiring diagram!

 

Ok. It's in and wired correctly, finally! I'm pleasantly surprised how well the stock dash speakers are taking the load being that they are 27 years old.

Now...tweak time. Whee........!

 

Dammit x3

I need to find a constant hot wire under that mess. Black/red? I don't have a volt meter, it got broken in the move.