Installing a stock CD player from a '99 S-10 into an '89 Blazer.

[Ron]

Here is a little write-up on how I installed a 2nd generation stock CD player (from a '99 S-10)
into my 1st. generation 1989 S-10 Blazer.



My '89 S-10 Blazer had a stock am/fm cassette player in it when I bought it. The radio worked good but the cassette player did not play correctly so I decided to figure out how to install a stock CD player from a later model S-series truck into my blazer. I did not want an aftermarket deck since this truck was a daily driver with no alarm or tinted windows to ward off a theif.

Here is a picture of the stock am/fm cassette player.
http://i245.photobucket.com/albums/gg73/2000s10v6/Stockcassettedeck.jpg

Here is how I did my install:

First thing I did was remove the stock cassette deck and see what kind of plug was on the back. The wire harness was not the same as the newer stock cd player so I went to the junkyard and clipped off a stock wire harness from a later model S-10 blazer (I think it was a 1999 or 2000)

http://i245.photobucket.com/albums/gg73/2000s10v6/StockBlazerwireharness.jpg

[Ron]

Next I went to wal-mart and picked up a Scosche wire harness for my '89 Blazer. (Part # GM01) This harness is used for plugging in an aftermarket deck into a factory wire harness.

http://i245.photobucket.com/albums/gg73/2000s10v6/harness.jpg

I began searching the internet for the stock wiring colors for the newer Blazer. I found this information in a sticky on this very site. I used that information to label the wires in the wire harness I got from the junkyard. Now that I knew which wire was for what I spliced the Scosche harness and the junkyard harness together.

http://i245.photobucket.com/albums/gg73/2000s10v6/Harnessessplicedtogether.jpg

The newer CD player was about 1" deeper than the cassette deck.

http://i245.photobucket.com/albums/gg73/2000s10v6/StockontopNewonbottom.jpg

[Ron]

The air vents for the a/c run down behind the stock cassette deck and they needed to be modified to gain some depth for the deeper CD player. I tried using a heat gun to soften the plastic air duct so I could bend it in some to gain the depth I needed but it did not work very well. I ended up using a dremel tool to cut a piece out of the air vent so the CD player would sit back farther.

These pictures show how far the radio bezel stuck out before cutting the air vent.
http://i245.photobucket.com/albums/gg73/2000s10v6/IMG_0760.jpg
http://i245.photobucket.com/albums/gg73/2000s10v6/IMG_0761.jpg

[Ron]

Air vent cut
http://i245.photobucket.com/albums/gg73/2000s10v6/IMG_0736.jpg
http://i245.photobucket.com/albums/gg73/2000s10v6/IMG_0737.jpg
http://i245.photobucket.com/albums/gg73/2000s10v6/Cutairvent.jpg

[Ron]

After cutting the air vent
http://i245.photobucket.com/albums/gg73/2000s10v6/IMG_0763.jpg


Once I gained the depth I needed I used some spare Fat Mat sound deadener I had to seal up the hole in the air vent.

http://i245.photobucket.com/albums/gg73/2000s10v6/FatMatusedtosealthehole.jpg

Now I went ahead and plugged in the wire harnesses I spliced together and plugged in the CD player. This is where I hit a little snag because the blazer's antenna would not plug into the CD player's antenna spot. The hole was a bit too small so I used a small punch to ream the hole a little bigger so the antenna would plug into it. (sorry, no pics of this)

Now I turned on the CD player and checked to make sure everything worked like it should. I checked the bass, fade, treble, balance, radio, CD player, clock, and all other fuctions and they worked fine.

[Ron]

Now that I know everything worked it was time to mount the CD player. The stock mounting holes for the cassette deck were not even close to the CD player mounts so I had to make a bracket to hold the CD player in the dash. It is a crude bracket but it works.

http://i245.photobucket.com/albums/gg73/2000s10v6/Fabbedupbracket.jpg

Now all I needed to do was put the radio bezel back on and crank it up!

http://i245.photobucket.com/albums/gg73/2000s10v6/Alldone.jpg
http://i245.photobucket.com/albums/gg73/2000s10v6/99S-10cdplayer.jpg

Night shot.
http://i245.photobucket.com/albums/gg73/2000s10v6/IMG_0772.jpg


I hope this information will help out a fellow S-dimer in the future.

[Answer069]

wow that looks great Ron!!!!!! Looks just like it came from the factory that way!!!

[Ron]

Thanks! Factory was the look I was going for. I like having a cd player and 12 fm station memory buttons.

[iowncrap]

that looks great, you did a good job with it.

[HankHill]

Great job. Very clean looking.

[Ron]

Thanks everyone.

[bonecrushins10]

what they didnt have cd players in 89 ? :devil:

[Ron]

what they didnt have cd players in 89 ? :devil:


I searched ebay and the oldest stock cd player I could find was from a syclone but they wanted $350 for it :eek: They weren't going to get it from me!

[steve]

Nice work! For future reference they make antenna adapter to fix your problem.

[Ron]

Nice work! For future reference they make antenna adapter to fix your problem.

Thanks Steve. I know there are adapters but I didn't want to order one and wait for it, or drive around town looking for one.

[Tricky]

That is really good Ron, well done................youve now got me looking for a radio/cd for my First gen.
Anyone got a decent one for sale and willing to send to the UK???????