1972 Radio Wiring

[Patrick H.]

Hello all.

A real question today: On Dad's 72 I am installing a Custom Autosound radio. I have read the Corvette wiring diagrams extensively, and want to confirm the wires before I hook it all up.

PER MY READ, in the three prong plug for the radio the 14ga black wire is ground, the 20ga yellow wire is power, and the 20ga gray wire is radio illumination. Is this correct? Is the gray wire then also hooked up to the main dash dimmer switch too, so that adjusting the dash brightness will adjust the radio light?

Thanks for your assistance. I'm no electrical guy, so I want to confirm this before I connect it up.

Patrick Hulst

[Joe L.]

Re: 1972 Radio Wiring

Patrick-----

You are correct on all of your research and deductions.

[Don O'Connell #33101]

Re: 1972 Radio Wiring

Patrick,

As Joe notes your are correct. Would suggest (if ya don't already have one) adding a simple Radio Shack Volt/Ohm meter to your tools collection. I've fried my share of fuses and a couple of harnesses, so this little device "pays" for itself real quick (and its easy to use) in checking for continuity and power.

Don

[Robert C.]

Re: Wiring in general

I believe, I may be wrong , that in Corvette wiring, ALL ground wires are black, All lighting wires are grey, and All power wires are colored ( red,yellow,green,white,and striped. Am I right, Joe, Terry? Bob Cook

[Patrick T.]

Re: Wiring in general

When I gutted my '57 basket case,(the sorriest looking car you have ever seen) all the wiring had been hacked up and wasn't connected to anything (no motor). So I just yanked the whole mess out and bought a $600 correct wiring harness from Lectric Limited.(Very nice) Since I just didn't have the bucks to buy the correct motor, I dropped in a new 345 HP crate engine from GM. I was chompin at the bit to fire up the engine, but took a deep breath, and thought it only takes 5 seconds to cook a new wiring harness if you connect the right wire to the wrong terminal. The '57 AIM wiring diagram is a poor quality copy and very difficult to read. So I went to Radio Shack and bought a 100' roll of sacrifical 10 gauge blue wire and proceeded to wire up the engine to get it started. Guess what, I must have cooked 25' of that wire before I finally got it right. Something to remember.

[Patrick H.]

Re: 1972 Radio Wiring

Don,

Thanks. I've got a good volt/ohm meter, but some of this electrical stuff is still not in my realm. I do what I can with it, but for me SEEING is believing, not reading a meter. Thus, I tend to follow diagrams and go from there. The meter then can confirm my suspicions, or, in this case, I can ask one of my NDB friends who also has been there before me.

Thanks again everyone,

Patrick

[Terry M.]

Re: Wiring in general

Bob,

Ever hear me say "Never say never and never say always." For the most part you are right, but the real question was whether the grey wire dims the light on the radio. That should be the trivia question for the weekend. We can even restrict it to 1972, like Patrick was talking about.

Terry

[Robert C.]

Re: Terry, Dimmer on radio

Terry, I went out in my dark garage, got in my 65, turned on the lights and guess what? No dash lights. Looked at my fuse box and found the pannel fuse was broken( also it was a pink fuse!) Finally got it all on radio and all. The headlight reostat does dim the radio station plate light. I'm almost sure that if that worked in 65, it also would apply to 72s. See what you made me have to go through!! Bob

[motorman]

Re: Terry, Dimmer on radio

if my memory does not fail me the light dimmer wire in a GM car was the grey wire that plugged into the radio.

http://clemz9@hotmail.com

[Terry M.]

Re: MM wins...

MM,

Se me at some meet to collect your prize.

Terry

[motorman]

Re: MM wins...

i can remember what happened in the 60s but i cant remember what happen last week

http://clemz9@hotmail.com

[Patrick H.]

Re: MM wins...

MM,

We have medication for that .... :)

Patrick