Paging Dr. Steveskyhawk for Cassette Bypass Surgery

[Guest steakneggs]

I want to try the temp hookup method but I still don't know which wires to connect. On my '88 big plug I have: 1 red, 1 yellow, 1 black, and 2 green wires. On the small plug I have: 1 green, and 2 black wires w/ a white stripe. On the pigtail I have a common and a left and a right. Please be detailed! Condescending if necessary! Steak

[Vincent Vega]

You only use the small plug.

Unplug it from the tape deck

Black = Ground

Grn/Wht = Right

Brn/Wht = Left

Keep the big plug connected to the deck for communication with CRT.

put a tape in the tape deck.

push play

turn on remote audio device.

[Guest AarOn!]

Hello Tommy. I looked at your diagram from your pictures on Car Domain. I have a 1989 Buick Riviera set up like your Reatta. I was wondering if there is a way to wire this setup and not have to go through it again if the battery has to be disconnected for some reason? If you know of any other ways to wire it so that the CRT does not lose memory once the battery is disconnected, I would gladly appreciate it. I would also know if it is possible to replace the tape deck with a GPS unit. I would like to modernize my Riviera. Any input that you could give is gladly appreciated. Thank you for your time,

Aaron

[DAVES89]

I did the GPS in the cassette deck area. I took a Riv cassette deck gutted it and cut a hole in the cassette players front door plastic to run the GPS power cord thru. The cord goes thru the empty cassette deck, thru the back of the dash and to the power bar mounted under the dash and that is wired into the fuse box. The GPS is attached to the face plate by velcro. It looks good and works well, but the one drawback is that because you look at the screen at a downward angle you don't see the screen as well as if you were looking at it straight on. Kind of like looking at a projection screen tv at an angle. But using the keys on the GPS are very convienant as you rest your wrist on the shifter kob and press away at the keys.

Overall not to difficult a project and a good replacement for the cassette deck. Especially if you are doing the Ipod upgrade.

I will post pictures when I get the car out of storage.

[Guest AarOn!]

Hmmm.....I will try to visit my local junkyard and get a riv tape deck.....I will take my deck out and put it up in storage....it doesnt currently work, but I might sell it a few years from now. I'm also trying to wire an aux input into where the tape deck harness is, but Ive heard that this is only a temporary fix. I need something thats permanent because I plan on keeping my riviera for many years. Its in decent condition, needs a paintjob and some badge letters (Riviera). A/C needs work as well. Just little problems that need fixing, but in the meantime Im going to try and upgrade with the GPS and an AUX input jack....this forum has been wonderful....for the first time I am understanding my Riviera and how its various systems work. Thank you very much Dave!

[gr8scott]

Since I too am on the seemingly never-ending quest of adding CD capability to my '89, I came across at short tutorial at one of the many sites offering a cassette adapter by the name of Coby-CA 747. It might be worth trying by someone who has this adapter:

"I figured out how to get this cassette adapter to work in an auto-reverse tape deck. If you open the adapter and look inside, you'll see a small gear between one of the center teeth wheels and the little assembly that contains the guide wheel near the edge of the adapter that can only rotate in one direction. Remove this small gear. This will allow the tape to spin freely in either direction. If you look at the guide wheel, you'll notice that it can shift to two positions. One that protrudes closer to the outside of the adapter and one that has it sit more inside the adapter. Tape this piece so that it stays permanently in one of these two positions. That guide wheel moving is how the auto-reverse in your tape deck knows to activate. After I made these changes, I found that the adapter worked flawlessly

Additional note:

The small gear, which may take a few minutes to identify, is the only gear in the little assembly directly contacting the larger wheel beneath it (if you're looking at it with open slots on top). It is held down by a screw to the assembly, so just unscrew and put the assembly back."

[DAVES89]

I took a road trip to a different u-pick salvage yard and found an '89 Riv with a cassette deck that had been exposed to the elements. I opened it up and took out the wiring harness that connects to the speaker connection. My thought is that this would give ne a factory quick disconnect.

Any thoughts on this?