Okay so little backstory, got my caprice 6 or 7 months ago completely kitted out with police equipment. Wasn't even sure if Bluetooth would even work,nonetheless aux, to my surprise Bluetooth did work but there's only 2 speakers in the car and the nice 8 inch touch screen that comes with the car is basically useless beyond that. That wasn't going to fly, So i scoured the internet trying to find someone whos swapped the radio considering the whole Hvac and everything is integrated (along with a couple random car setting for lights and stuff...rather useless tbh). Anyways i found basically nothing, so i was in the dark and conceded that maybe i was happy with it. Then i found a chevy SS center console for $200, which was much needed because the stock cop console lacked cup holders and an arm rest. so since i had to take everything apart anyways i decided to take a crack at the in-dash.
Getting the hands dirty
Okay so taking the cop stuff out was rather easy, now comes the fun part. I was ready for all sorts of issues with the radio and Hvac malfunctioning after i removed the stock silver box and screen because that's what the word around town (forums) has been. Here's what the center console being torn apart looked like
- chevy ss cneter consol i scored for 200$
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Wires.. as far as the eye can see
so here you can see we have a mess of wires. Main thing i'm looking for here is the stock usb wiring so i can wire my phone into the chevy ss stock armrest and have my Android auto plug integrated nicely. Second thing is obviously i need my speaker audio + & -. This was a bitch to find because of the sheer amount of wires plugged into the back of the silver box. I'm assuming 30% of them are old legacy functions and 40% are for useless car functions leaving 30% of them for actual practical use i.e. speaker, power etc..Also fun fact none of these color coatings make any sense and are not the same as any manual i can find online? dumb design or fuck up? so what i did was run the radio speakers and start manually unclipping/cutting the wires from the harness until i found the speakers i wanted then wiring them to my 10" double din radio's harness. As for the power that's borrowed from the Cigarette plug which turns on when the car gets power which is what we want, however we also want constant power but that's a later issue. So now we have power and speakers, We could leave it there as that's all we need to make it functional, however i also plugged in the usb which was plug and play after i found it hiding under the passenger seats legs. you can see this ran in my picture above
USB
- usb
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- stock harness
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So now that everything is plugged in i ran the radios microphone to the left side pillar, added the wifi and GPS antennae and ran those as well as some auxiliary USB's that came with it for charging stuff and for plugging in SSD's for movies etc..The main thing we're missing now is steering wheel controls which seems to be more effort than they're worth and the stock radio plug adapter which can be purchased separately but i never use the radio so i probably won't be pursuing that endeavour. Oh and we almost forgot we need a constant power so that our radio is 'always on' low power mode so it doesn't have to do a full boot everytime we start the car. This can be pulled/ tapped from a fuse i just havent had the time or cared enough to find which one. If anyone knows a fuse in the cabin that's always on and easily accessible lmk! so here's the final project put together
final radio UI
- 10" atotot double din radio
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- obd2
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So obviously if you've ever used the stocker radio you would know almost anything is an improvement over stock. Ive had 30$ radios with more functions. This particular radio i chose may be a little overkill for most but i like it for road trips and such. The ability to have 10' navigation maps and radio on the same screen, as well as backup cam, watch movies, clear codes with my obd2 sensor and much more i think its perfect. You can look up on Atotos website to find all the functions, this is the QLED model so 4k movies are extra crispy and my GF can watch youtube videos while driving unrestricted. It also comes with FREE FULL GPS. Oh and if anyone is curious, the HVAC works perfectly still, no weirdness happening there, you just cant see what fan speed you're on (who cares?) one thing i would suggest is changing every available setting you care about in the silver box before disconnecting or else you'll need a tune to change those random car light settings (cant even remember what they are anymore)
So stop wasting your money upgrading the stock trash radio and get an aftermarket one! I've seen someone with a $1000+ radio from Australia that still cant do half of what this can do. for the money of a silverbox unlock and half an afternoon you could easily wire up a double din and they fit right in. you don't need an expensive bezel or expensive wiring mechanics to figure this out, just go for it.
Also am i the only one on this forum with an aftermarket radio? if you have one post it below!
