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Dead Simple Aux Input for 83 Factory Tape Deck/Tuner/EQ/Joystick
Hi Folks,
I searched like crazy and got a lot of inspiration from older posts here. GREAT forum, many thanks.
So here is a very simple plugin auxiliary input for any 83 FB with the Tape Deck/Tuner head unit, Equalizer, and Joystick thing. Besides the super clean audio, it is completely reversible to maintain that bone stock goodness.
If your system looks like this, then this easy to fabricate cable will work perfectly.
You just build a straight through DIN cable and piggyback a stereo 3.5mm plug (or adapter of your choosing) onto that pluggable cable. The "Aux In" cable is the blue one:
I suppose if it's got the DIN cable to the EQ from the head unit. You might get lucky and the pin assignments might be the same. I used to a bread board setup to prototype the new hardwired DIN Aux in cable. That way you can test the signals as they go in and come back out of the EQ, and you can also easily probe for battery/accessory/lighting/ground voltages.
This is my setup for testing in the car. The rows of punch connections are bussed, so you can plug/unplug bare wires for different tests.
hmmm. I'm thinking that if you can wire in RCAs, then wiring in a Bluetooth or wireless adapter is going to work the same. Something like this simply plugs in via RCA: Bluetooth Audio Adapter Bluetooth streaming
Saves having the wire hanging out the ashtray.
The other point to make is that it should be possible to wire a modern external 4 channel amplifier off the factory balancer/fader (which also has front and rear DIN outputs). This paired with better speakers and aux input off RCA would drastically improve audio with completely stock appearance. And the balancer/fader and the EQ should both still work too. This is exactly what I'm planning on doing...
Similar kind of thing can be done with the stock Clarions in the SAs. I made one and run my
ipod through it for great sound. See this thread for the details:
hmmm. I'm thinking that if you can wire in RCAs, then wiring in a Bluetooth or wireless adapter is going to work the same. Something like this simply plugs in via RCA: Bluetooth Audio Adapter Bluetooth streaming
Funny you say that . I've since switched it to BT also (with a 3.5mm stereo jack plugin module).
You might need an audio ground loop isolator to get rid of the alternator noise once you power the BT module (or your smart phone/mp3 etc.) from the car's 12V supply. I did!
Similar kind of thing can be done with the stock Clarions in the SAs. I made one and run my
ipod through it for great sound. See this thread for the details:
Funny you say that . I've since switched it to BT also (with a 3.5mm stereo jack plugin module).
You might need an audio ground loop isolator to get rid of the alternator noise once you power the BT module (or your smart phone/mp3 etc.) from the car's 12V supply. I did!
Tom
Thanks Tom for the tip!
For those interested in an aftermarket amp, you could simply mount it under one of the seats or in the rear storage bins and run the RCA cables through to the joystick fader. You would then use 2x 5-pin DIN to RCA adapters for the front and rear RCA outputs on the joystick fader/balancer. These adapters are about $5. I have read that output voltage on DIN is different to RCA so there might be some line-level issues, but I don't think would be a problem on a decent high powered amp. For reasons of authenticity and reversability, you could probably even keep the rear amplifiers, DIN cables and original speaker wiring (but leave it all unpowered) and simply run a second set of proper speaker wire directly from the new amp to all 4 speakers.
I haven't actually done this yet, but I don't see why it wouldn't work very well. I'm sure someone else has tried it on here. I will post it up here when I get around to doing it.
Found this link for gslse premium . anyone chime in with thoughts?
Good writeup.
In my view, cutting up good condition original door trims and doors is just crazy. These are starting to get rare now and will only get more valuable. This is a completely irreversible mod.
Also, once you go the step of full 6.5 inch component speakers up front, you really don't need anything up back. With good front splits in small coupes, I've found there is usually plenty of mid-bass and mid range and any rear fill just makes the sound muddy. Usually big splits up front combined with just a subwoofer is more balanced.
That said with 4 inch up front, 6.5 inch rear could complement the bass and by hooking in a modern 4-channel amp with proper crossovers and levels you could easily clean up the staging so more normal fader adjustment at the headunit.
Found this link for gslse premium . anyone chime in with thoughts?
G's 3rd Gen,
I am just working off the diagram in your link and guessing at the connectors. But, if you are working with the signals as shown here and trust them (which is presumably the 85, not the 83 system that I have):
Once you confirm the physical interfaces compatible (pig tailed cables or panel mount jacks/plugs? gender at each end?) by looking at your actual components and identifying the EQ connection, then you could get something like this
I am just working off the diagram in your link and guessing at the connectors. But, if you are working with the signals as shown here and trust them (which is presumably the 85, not the 83 system that I have):
Once you confirm the physical interfaces compatible (pig tailed cables or panel mount jacks/plugs? gender at each end?) by looking at your actual components and identifying the EQ connection, then you could get something like this
Yes decent write up. I wouldn't cut my doors up either. I am going to attempt to make an aux cord as you have shown. Adding a bazooka tube would be an interesting feature.Thanks for the insight. G
From the diagram, there are 2 DIN connectors going to the Amps (Front & Rear). Could I get an aftermarket head unit, with 2 preamp outputs for Front & Rear, and hard wire them into the existing wiring going to the joystick/amps? I've seen posts about wiring in an AUX cable using factory setup, but I can't find this specific setup that I'm wanting to attempt. This seems logical to me, but I tend to be quite illogical at times. Please advise.
I see no reason why that would not work. You would also have to supply the 12V "turn on" signal to the factory amps. Not sure which which pin does that, but you could just look for the one that goes from 0V to +12V vs gnd when you turn on the factory head unit.
What is the goal to using the factory amps when using an aftermarket head unit?
My factory 1985 GSL-SE unit wasn't performing well so I went with a cheap aftermarket unit with 25w output. I then used the factory speaker wiring from the head unit to the rear bin. All I need to do was make up a pigtail on the head unit side to use the factory speaker wiring. This is a cheap unit and I wasn't concerned with sound quality.
The goal is to be able to use the joystick. If I wanted, I could use aftermarket amps also, and still route through the joystick.
I think this is very doable with the correct pre-out voltage. Not sure of the tolerance of the factory amps. They could early get over driven and killed with too much voltage.
10-15-15, 04:55 PM
. I've since switched it to BT also (with a 3.5mm stereo jack plugin module). 
