Formy

Ladies and gentlemen. The CD has now gone the way of the Dodo. If you have an I-pod you can probably use it in your F-Body. These devices will allow you to use your I-Pod through the steering wheel controls on your stock head unit. This will work on 1996-2002 Firebirds and 1997-2002 Camaros with the "TAPE/AUX" button on the head unit. Please remeber that this will only work if you have an external CD changer and your stock head unit. However I do believe it can work if you have an in dash CD player on your stock head unit.

This what you need for the conversion. The item on the left is AUX-POD which connects to the factory stereo interface. The item on the right is the vehicle specific cable for the connection. For our F-bodies it is AB-GM9:


The first thing you need to do is take the radio out by disconnecting it. Just be careful because you may not have the necessary slack to move things around. I had to really wiggle mine around:


In this pic my finger is pointing to the red connection that controls the CD changer. This has to be unplugged and you need to plug the connection from cable AB-GM9:


After that is connected everything else goes back together. There is plenty of room for the interface and cables to fit. Just be careful not to pinch anything. You have the option of drilling a hole for the cable to go through the mini storage space or you can opt to just run it under the A/C control unit.


Now you have room in the trunk for more stuff:


It sounds awesome people. The direct connection makes the sound incredible to listen to. What I love about it is that it leaves your hands where they need to be: ON THE STEERING WHEEL!!!

Please note that by doing this conversion you lose the ability to use your CD changer. If your car is a manual like mine it does not interfere with your shifting. You can PM if you want to learn the place where I got it from. They are the cheapest place around online. You can get it all for under $150.00. Mine came in and it looked used but it works as advertised. I hope this helps out my F-Body brothers and sisters.

dirtbag

iTrader: (2)

I did this, but hardwired it through an Alpine adapter. The iPod sits in the glovebox out of sight. I can control the iPod through the headunit and see names of songs, playlists, artists... etc.

SmokeySS

iTrader: (7)

Cool. I was thinking about something like this. If I got one of those pocket filling subs (stealth enclosure) then doing this at the same time would be perfect.

erikthegoalie

iTrader: (29)

i just ordered an aux pod and interface cable for like $160..i think its totally worth it considering that you can just plug your ipod into the cable and control it from your radio...sick..plus you cant beat the sound man...fm traNSMITTERS suck

99SeanWS6

iTrader: (8)

so it only works on the headunit that has the tape player and the CD changer? mine has is the CD player one. i really wanna get that hook up for mine. where did you get it from?

WhiteBird00

iTrader: (4)

It may or may not work on your 99. The CD head units changed mid-year in 99 - the early ones couldn't have a CD changer (or external adapter like the AUX-BOX) but the later ones could. So it would depend on whether you have an early or late model radio.

Tudds

iTrader: (4)

Would this work on an 02 SS with no CD changer in the back? I got an ipod yesterday and that FM transmittor works great sometimes and sometimes it sucks so bad.

TKO52

iTrader: (3)

i too have no cd changer and would love to get one for my ipod, but will it work

WhiteBird00

iTrader: (4)

The AUX-BOX (and AUX-POD which is the same thing with an additional iPod adapter) will only work as a standalone device. If you have an external device such as a CD changer then you must disconnect it before connecting the AUX-BOX. So, yes, it will work for those who don't have a changer.

As far as F-body models that it will work with... it will work with ANY of the cassette head units as well as CD head units manufactured AFTER the middle of the 99 model year. Since it is difficult (if not impossible) to tell if a 99 CD head unit is an early model that won't work or a late model that will work, you're really safer to go with a 2000 or newer head unit.

irnbru83

One way to tell if your TA is a first-half year 99 is if it has the blue tinted wing mirrors.


I have a second-half year, but the original owner screwed up and got a blue tinted one put on the left side when it broke b/c the Shop said that was the one for '99s. O well, now i hav eone of each colour


I'm about to install an almost identical device in my '99 with just a CD-player head unit. I'll let you guys know if it works or not.

irnbru83

Ok yeah it worked on mine.

I don't have an AUX button, but turns out you just push CD/PLAY twice to turn it into CD-changer mode.

By the way... I have something plugged into the CD-changer port, but I don't have a CD-changer to my knowledge... where would it be lol? In the boot?

WhiteBird00

iTrader: (4)

Camaros have a CD/AUX button and Firebirds have a CD/Play button. Both do the same thing. Having the button doesn't mean that a changer is supported. All Monsoon systems have the harness for the changer installed from the factory whether or not they actually have a changer. That is the extra plug on the back of the head unit. If you have a changer it is mounted in the cubby space on the left next to the t-top storage or on the side of the trunk in a convertible.

Just because a 99 is "second production" (made later in the year) for the mirrors doesn't necessarily mean that it is also "second production" for the head unit. Different parts were updated at different times during the production run. The only way to tell if the '99 CD head unit supports an external changer (other than just trying it) is to open it up and check the stamp on the CD drive circuit board. The ones that support the changer are stamped E-8276A-1 and the ones that don't support the changer don't have the "A" in the stamp code.

irnbru83

Ok
Just made sense to me that they'd save up all the changes and just produce one second production. bad assumption i guess.




Well, the cubby to the left of the T-tops is empty, so what would've been plugged into the CD-changer port when I pulled the HU out?

WhiteBird00

iTrader: (4)

Nothing actually. Cars that didn't come equipped with the external changer had the changer harness plugged into the back of the radio. It runs down the left side of the car and the other end is taped to the left hatch speaker harness. This makes it very easy to add a changer - just mount it and plug in the factory connector (you don't even have to pull out the radio because it's already plugged in at that end).

Just for information...the CD head units prior to late '99 still had the harness plugged in at the back of the head unit. It was designed to control an external cassette tape deck that was never offered on F-bodies alhough it was available on other GM models.

irnbru83

Thanks for the information, good to know.

JasonWW

iTrader: (2)

So does this device use the built in Ipod D/A converters? I'm assuming it does.

It does sound neat and if your still running the stock radio then you probably don't mind the sound quality loss.

Oh yea, the CD is not dead, it's just that this younger generation doesn't know any better as far as what sounds good. MP3's CAN sound very good if encoded properly, just not through the I-pods analog outs.

WhiteBird00

iTrader: (4)

This younger generation? Man, I feel old if CDs are an outdated form of media. I used to buy my music on 45 singles ("records" doncha know).

JasonWW

iTrader: (2)

I'm talking about the kids who grew up on MP3's. They also tend to build the boom systems that are all noise and no quality and think, "Yea, this sounds so good."

I'm not trying to be a snob as I listen to MP3's and am building somewhat of a boom system myself. It's focused on killer quality though. Now if you were running the digital out from the I-pod to an Alpine HU or something, that can be a different story.

This is just my opinion, though. It's not gospel.

I think this product is a good idea, BTW. It's just the CD being dead comment that bugged me.

Mike02Z

iTrader: (13)

Hehehe, I hear ya. I still say records sound better than CD's! I still use my turntable. When I went MP3 I HATED how it sounded. The only acceptable way for me to use my IPOD was to rip all my music in Lossless. I needed the 80 GB IPOD just to rip my 300 CD's and 50 albums. It still won't fit it all.

arctic snap

Will that stuff work with other Mp3 players, like Creative's, or just IPODS??