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[99RegalGS]

Done!! 2002 Rendezvous radio! (same as a 2004 Regal radio..)


Well.. Almost. I still need to check a few things and reassemble.

I've been wanting to do this swap for awhile now, but with the rumors of needing the 04 BCM I kinda but it on the back burner for over a year.  Finally I convinced myself that it would work. So on Tuesday I bought a radio out of a 2002 Buick Rendezvous.  I would have liked a radio out of a 04 Regal but they didn't have any correct ones with CD and Cassette. Yeah, I know, you never use cassette's anymore, but the radio looks funny with the dead space!!

Here's the radio: (I may attempt to swap in my Monsoon cassette door later)


It isn't perfect though. There are some issues that I've noticed so far, but none of the issues affect the radio/CD playback.  Here are some of the issues I've noticed so far..

One thing for sure that needs to be modified is the radio slot. The harness connects in a slightly different spot.  So the connectors hit the back of the slot before the radio is in all the way. Easy fix. Will supply pics of the process, as I haven't done this yet.

I'm pretty sure the diversity antenna system won't work. The good news is that radio reception seems fine at the moment with the diversity wires disconnected.

The back lighting isn't working. Not sure if it's a radio issue or a swap issue, as the display does dim properly.

Steering wheel controls arn't working right now. There are 2 pins for this on this radio vs. 1. so it may be in the wrong spot..

The radio doesn't shut off like normal with the ignition. It will stay on for a few seconds, then turn off. But it doesn't completely turn off. It will turn on and off for awhile. Not sure what's going on here... It will eventually stay off though. lol

Enough of the little things. Here's what's better about this radio!

-RDS!!!
-Reads CD text!!
-Speed compensated volume! (maybe, haven't verified yet)
-Traffic search thing..
-P-type scan! Scan for the type of music you want to listen to!
-maybe more yet!

Hopefully I'll get a few questions answered tomorrow/finish the install!

[99RegalGS]

So far today I modified the back bracket of the radio to allow clearance for the radio connectors. So now it's in place like it needs to be.


I did figure out a few things this morning as well.
-the back lighting does work, there is a separate ground for this. I need to add that.
-I did put the steering wheel radio control wire in the wrong spot. but now that I fixed that they still don't work properly. not all the buttons work, and the buttons that do work do different things. so yeah...
-speed compensated volume does work.
-the radio on off thing only happens in acc or when the retained accessory power is active. still need to figure out how to get this working properly.
-I need to connect an amp present wire to the radio. I think the internal amp does something different when it's connected as it seems very loud and has way more bass then it used to. the good thing though is that there is a wire in the correct spot at the amp. but it doesn't make it all the way to the radio. I need to fine out how far up this wire makes it towards the radio..

That's all so far. I'm going to relax for a few minutes then head back out and start tracing that wire.

[3100MPFI]

One thing I can help you with is the steering wheel controls (kinda).

GM radio's tend to be independent of the steering wheels.  What I mean by this is that I have an OLDSMOBILE AURORA radio in my 1995 Cutlass Supreme, but I am using a 1997 OLDSMOBILE SILHOUETTE airbag.  The Aurora steering wheel has both RADIO, and CLIMATE CONTROL buttons, but the SILHOUETTE AIRBAG has only RADIO.  Even though my airbag is only radio controls, the radio interprets the signals it gets as if it was an AURORA airbag (which is the same as the Cutlass Supreme one) and not as a SILHOUETTE airbag.

Both sets of buttons on my left do nothing at all (those are the climate control buttons on the CS/Aurora), and on the right side, the volume button works fine (which is the only button the same between the cars), but the bottom button does different things.

I have heard that there is a way to pull it all apart, and put in different resistors, but since I eventually want to put in the digital climate control, I am just going to leave it alone for now, and eventually get me a Cutlass Supreme airbag.

[SofaKingWeToddDid]

why not just go aftermarket? if not the deck, then an amp and speakers...

i dont understand why you guys step up to better OEM equipment. it doesnt make sense to me, with the money you spend on it, or the time... you could have a decent aftermarket setup...

[3100MPFI]

In my area, if a theif walks past your car and sees an aftermarket head unit, they WILL break into your car.  In my 1990 Grand Prix, STE, I have have everytihng aftermarket, but that is because the radio sucked.

In my gold car, I have not done anything with it yet.

As for my Green car, getting stock replacments was cheaper than getting aftermarket.  I swapped in a complete BOSE unit.  I paid only $25 for the speakers and amp.  As for the head unit, I paid $125 for it on ebay, but I wanted the stock head unit seeing that it is not only both AM/FM/cassette/cd, but I am one of those people that if I have a 2 din radio in the car stock, then I want to keep it 2 din.  Nothing looks gayer to me than seeing a car that originally had a 1.5 or 2 din radio, and they put a 1 din it it's place.  

In the end, I tell people to do what they want.  They are the only ones that have to live with it.  A lot of people have condemned me for putting the BOSE setup into my 1995 Cutlass Supreme, but I only did it for myself.  I am happy with it, and I don't care what other people's opinions about it are.  I have not once regretted putting the Bose setup into my car either.

[SofaKingWeToddDid]

I am one of those people that if I have a 2 din radio in the car stock, then I want to keep it 2 din.  Nothing looks gayer to me than seeing a car that originally had a 1.5 or 2 din radio, and they put a 1 din it it's place.

i agree 100% with this.
BUT why not keep your stock HU and add an amp and surround speakers?
i can understand that some headunits give you more options, like the radio text, or cd text...   so then thats when the need for that entails the replacement of the HU and its where i agree with 3100s statement, replace it with something the same size. (unless you drive a regal, and the OG radio was 3" X 3") lol thats when you replace that bitch with whatever you cut into the dash.  hahaha i dunno though i couldnt understand going thru all the work to swap another stock deck in there... especially if you have to wire anything extra instead of plug and play stuff...

[99RegalGS]

Thanks for the tip on the SWC. There's still one thing I'd like to try. The new radio is wired differently for the SWC's.  There's the power wire and a signal wire.  Verses a 12v fused source, and just a signal wire to the radio.  I'm not sure if the newer radio voltage is lower or whatnot. So that may be causing the problem. I need to measure the voltage coming out of the radio first to confirm of deny this claim..

I went with factory so I can have the look and the security (as 3100mpfi described) of stock.  I don't have a single problem with the power output or quality of the factory system. This radio cost me $65 shipped.  And the only other thing it cost me was time, as I spent quite a bit of it planning this swap. Also, I need this radio so it can communicate with the HUD.

I do have the radio fully installed now. I ended up having the amp sense wire already at the radio. It just wasn't labeled in the end view diagram I had. The color of the wire also changes, adding to the confusion.  

Here's a pic of the final install..

[SofaKingWeToddDid]

well it looks like it belongs in there, i wont lie.

[99RegalGS]

Well, I got the steering wheel controls working tonight.  The voltage out of the radio was different.  The radio output for the SWC's is 9.5v vs the 11.5-14.5 volts it got from switched power.  The only thing that isn't correct about the SWC's is the AM/FM button and Scan button are switched. Every other button works properly. They are switched because they are switched on the Rendezvous. A Regal/Century radio would probably be the best bet for the swap because of this.