So I'm taking the system out of my brother's car because he's selling it. Turns out that the person who installed the head unit chopped off the factory harness, so I have nothing to plug back into the stock radio. It's a 2000 Alero. Does anybody know if a junkyard will let me go into a car and cut off the harness and just buy that? I figured they're probably going to make me buy the whole fregan stereo to do that, and I don't need the damn stereo.

I realize I could just call and ask, but I'm lazy. Thanks for the help.

-Brian

 

I bet they would let you do it...cars in junkyards get stripped down to almost nothing.

 

Or you could call around local shops and ask for a Metra 71-2001 or other factory rewire harness from another brand, Most places don't stock em, but worth a shot.

 

Oh, I didn't even know Metra made stock harness replacements. I could probably find this online then. Thanks.

 

Eh...I called up a few junkyards, no luck. I found the Metra thing on Ebay, but it's going to cost over $20.00 with shipping. It's probably not even worth that, because the HU is an Alpine 7893, and there's one of those on Ebay going for $35. It might be up to $50 or $75 by the time it sells. Haha...

 

Damn Metra makes factory rewire harnesses too?

That is AWESOME. I have a better way to repairing hack jobs now.

Find a junkyard that lets you pull what you want...just go there for something else and snip it. Sneaky, but whatever.

 

Well, I called the one by me in Sussex county and the one out by Tannersville, PA, and they both said they don't have an Alero with that particular stereo. But come to think of it, the amplifier is internal and there is no external changer or anything, so it probably doesn't matter which stereo the vehicle has. Hmmm...

I could also try Newark, but I don't feel like driving all the way down there for this crap

 

If you want to call the ones around central jersey, I'll see what I can do about going to get it

I'm in East Brunswick.

 

...or you could bug Don to include the metra harness the next time he orders

 

^^

 

Or you can just let the stereo go and make ur bro upgrade

 

we can't all be cooly circuit city installers y0

 

Well I might just let it go anyway because it's not worth much anymore, but he's actually not replacing the car. He's just selling it because he moved to the city and is all mass transit now, so he just wants the money for this car.

 

Ahh... might as well let it go then. No need in going through all the hassle

 

haha, I just called the junkyard out in PA again...they want $35. ****ing theives, man...

 

dude just pay 20 bux for the thing its not that expensive...

 

Ha ! Nuttin cool about bein a CC installer...

 

'Cept gettin paid to do nothin during summer here. Like yesterday...worked for 7 hours - did 2 sat radios and 1 cd player. The other 4+ hours I spent bs'ing or walkin around the store talkin to people.

 

If you don't mind sharing, how's the pay there?

 

That's like me, here, right now. Cept there's nowhere to walk.

 

Hey Don, I realize you don't even have your 7000 anymore, but did you ever find out anything about the steering wheel control wiring?

 

Depends on location. The Tampa/most central FL areas, installers start at 9.25/hr, but theres some Georgia stores I know of that start every position in the entire store at .75/hr higher than here, so Id say for installers it could start anywhere between 9-11 an hour depending on how expensive it is to live in your given area. I know we pay more than BB, but BB also puts merit/pays a little more with MECP whereas CC doesn't anymore. Even so, one of my installers worked at BB for a year before us, and he said one of his guys over there just took the practice test a ton of times so he could pass and didn't actually know anything, so it really doesn't mean much, at least for CC/BB shmucks like myself