- DISCONNECT THE VEHICLE BATTERY. Nothing ruins a day like shorting
out major portions of your car electrical system :^).
- Remove the dome light -- the cover snaps off with a little pressure
from front and back, the base pulls out, and the two-wire clip pulls off.
- Remove the Left sunvisor (3 screws)
- Remove the left A-pillar trim (it just "pulls" out, is
held in by two clips)
- Remove the lower dash by doing the following :
- First you must remove the dash. Start by opening the glovebox,
ashtray, and drivers door, and remove the fuse panel cover.
- Remove the four screws holding in the ashtray. Pull it out, and
unplug the light.
- Remove the black bezel around the speedo cluster. It is two screws
pointed up, then pull it out to disengage it from the "prongs" holding it to the
grey plastic below.
- Remove the following screws :
- One on the left side beneath the black cluster bezel removed above.
- Similar screw in the "fuse panel" that is screwed into
the side of the air vent
- Total of 4 screws along the bottom of the dash pointed straight up.
- One screw pointed straight up that is inside the "ashtray
area" basically below the right side of the radio.
- Now just YANK on the panel, it should come loose from the prongs
holding it in and practically fall in your lap! Installation is the reverse of removal.
Lower Dash, Sunvisor, Left A-Pillar Trim, and
Radio Removed in David Smith's SS
- Remove the radio, but only AFTER you have written down (or
remember) the "theftlock" code in the radio if you have it set. Radio is removed
by removing the two screws holding it in from the front (will be obvious once the lower
dash is off) and pulling it out. Unplug the 20-pin connector and antenna from the radio.
Procedure to set this code is located in your Owner's Manual.
- Disassemble the console base from the main body -- turn it upside
down and back out about 12 T-10 torx-head screws. Open the cd holder door all the way and
separate the two pieces. At this time, remove the 6-wire harness from the console that
runs from front to back (plugs into the display at the front, and has a dangling blue
connector at the back).
- Now is the time to build your wiring harness for the console
display. To do this, take the 6-wire harness from the step above, and cut all the wires
approx 6-12" from the BLACK connector on the harness. Also, cut off the BLUE
connector at this time (approximately 6 inches from the connector) and set it aside for
later
Cut off FIVE 8-FOOT lengths of the 18ga hookup wire, and also ONE 12-FOOT length of wire.
If you are lucky enough to have the wire in the various colors listed above, cut the
12-foot length from the PURPLE wire and 8-foot lengths from all the other colors (one
length of each color). Solder in the wire lengths to the matching color on your split
harness (i.e. the connector plus 6-12") and the other ends of the wire lengths to the
SAME COLOR from what you cut off above. When you finish, you will have the original
black/red connector with 5 wires that are approx 10.5 feet in length (8 feet + 2.5 feet
for original harness wire length) and one wire that is approx 14.5 feet long.
For reference, here is a list of the pins in the black connector, wire color matching the
pin, and what the signal is that runs thru that wire :
| PIN NUMBER on Black/Red Connector at Compass Display |
COLOR of Wire at Compass Display |
FUNCTION of the Wire |
| 5 |
BLACK |
+12V with ignition |
| 6 |
WHITE |
Ground |
| 7 |
GREEN |
Vehicle Speed Sensor (VSS) |
| 8 |
PURPLE with YELLOW STRIPE |
Ambient Temp Sensor Feed |
| 9 |
ORANGE |
Interior Lights Dimming Feed |
| 10 |
RED |
Interior Lights Feed |
Completed Wiring Harness for the Compass/Temp
Display Unit
- The top piece is covered in headliner fabric, which in my case did
not match. (Get a gray one if you can!) I removed the old fabric, which does not come off
easily, and then spent about an hour removing the glue/foam that was left with 3M adhesive
remover. What a mess. Note that if you get the matching grey console from David, you can
SKIP this step!!!
- Now you're ready to fit the base. Hold it up in the position you
want it (it fits perfectly between the sunvisors, like it grew there) and draw a pencil
outline from the inside edge of the base.
Take a very sharp X-Acto knife or a mat knife
with a new blade and (gulp!) cut your headliner on the pencil line. Take care at the front
of the headliner near the rear view mirror because six wires, for the mirror and its
courtesy lights, run directly underneath it. No need to cut past the dome light hole --
console fits flush past where the dome light mounted. CUT CONSERVATIVE HERE : you can
ALWAYS remove more headliner material, but it is pretty hard to undo if you cut too much!
Also, take some of the bigger scraps here and set aside : they are perfect for gluing
later on the "inside" of the upper console to fill in the gaps near the dome
light (will be obvious when you have the console).
Ed Runnion
cutting his headliner. Yikes!!
- Fit the base up into your new headliner hole and trim the edges of
the hole until the base fits snugly up into the hole. The sides of the Astro base do not
match the contour of the Impala headliner, but they slip nicely up into the hole you've
created so that the base fits almost flush at this point.
- Remove the base from the hole and trim the plastic front mounting
boss so that it matches the angle of the steel windshield header on the Impala -- it'll be
at about a 45 degree angle. Once you've done that, the console base should fit snugly up
against the header and in your newly cut hole.
Now comes the tricky part -- you will need to
fabricate a rear mounting plate that attaches the center rib of the Impala roof (where the
dome light used to mount) to the two rear attaching points of the console. I used an
aluminum plate which I hacksawed to size and drilled to two screws and 2 rivnuts. Two
short sheet metal screws held it up to the roof rib, and two rivnuts, mounted downward, so
the console mounting bosses, which are under the dome light lens, would have a solid
connection. Note : Ed Runnion got away with just mounting the rear of the console directly
to the cross-brace above where the dome light USED to be, but still recommends doing it
David's way in hindsight.
Pic of mounting brace near domelight, wiring
splices for light wiring, and optional epoxied wood mounting base (for inside the CD Case)
on David Smith's car
- One more scary part -- now I drilled into the windshield header,
with visions of slipping and making a nice ventilation hole in the outer roof skin. I
drilled a 3/8" hole and mounted a rubber-encased 10/32 nut, the kind that cinch
against the sheet metal as you tighten down. Use a drill stop, which can be made from any
old piece of tubing, to limit your drill bit's penetrating length, and you'll remove any
worry of seeing sky. Then I mounted a short piece of threaded 10/32 rod in the rubber nut,
bent it slightly so it would match the angle of the mounting hole in the console, and used
Loctite blue to make sure it wouldn't back out. Note that Ed Runnion did this with a
10x1" sheetmetal screw WITH THE TIP CUT OFF and it worked fine just drilling a small
pilot hole for the screw (using a drillstop of course!) and putting the screw in
afterwards.
Kevin Headlee took another approach to the above
two steps. To quote from him : "I used 10-32 nutserts in the roof braces at the
windshield and roof light area. These work great because if you are slightly off on your
hole position you can thread in a screw and use pliers to slightly bend the support to the
exact angle to match your hole. This will not distort the roof, and allows for a factory
quality mount that allows for fast console removal. "
- Made my daily pilgrimage to the parts store (Pep Boys) and picked
up a roll of headliner material, exact match for ours, for $7. (Such a deal!) Cut it out
along the same lines as the old piece, used spray adhesive and in about 10 minutes had the
console base covered. Make sure, if you're as anal-retentive as I sometimes am, to cut the
fabric on the same bias as the Impala's headliner. (Tiny stripes in our head-liner run
from door to door, rather than from windshield to backlite, so I matched this pattern on
the console.) Note that if you got a MATCHING console from David, you can SKIP this step!
- Now, wire in connectors for the console lighting. Use either a 3 or
4 wire connector that can be easily disconnected yet can handle the current AND is also
insulated (a 4-wire trailer lighting connector works VERY well here), and then just
"plug" in the console lighting while mounting it. All of the lighting wiring is
in the 4-pin black square connector on the console. Snip off this connector, so you have
just the four wires from the console (orange, black, red, purple).
Solder up one end of the connector to the 4 wires from the console (lighting harness). If
you are using a 3-pin connector, then solder both the red and orange wires in the console
lighting harness to the same pin on the connector (since both are gonna be the same signal
of +12V at all times).
Take the matching half of the connector and solder it up to the following wires on the
car, matching up the pins/signals of course! Note this differs on the 94 Impala SS from
the 95-96 Impala SS (not sure on other B-bodies or other cars)
1994 SS
| COLOR of Wire in the Console Wiring Harness |
FUNCTION of the Wire |
COLOR of Wire to connect it to on the car (cross-car lighting
harness that runs along the B-pillar roof brace) |
| BLACK |
FLOATING when dome light is off, GND when it is on |
WHITE |
| PURPLE |
Ground at ALL times |
DARK BLUE |
| RED |
+12V at ALL times |
ORANGE |
| ORANGE |
+12V at ALL times |
ORANGE |
1995-1996 SS
| COLOR of Wire in the Console Wiring Harness |
FUNCTION of the Wire |
COLOR of Wire to connect it to on the car (cross-car lighting
harness that runs along the B-pillar roof brace) |
| BLACK |
FLOATING when dome light is off, GND when it is on |
DARK BLUE |
| PURPLE |
Ground at ALL times |
BLACK |
| RED |
+12V at ALL times |
ORANGE |
| ORANGE |
+12V at ALL times |
ORANGE |
- Time to install the 6-wire console harness now. From console to
radio, it will run as follows : from the console front, along the front of the headliner
(tucked up in there) to the left A-pillar, down the a-pillar (behind the trim), down thru
the SMALL hole between the a-pillar and dash, and then split with ONE wire (the longer
purple one) going out thru the grommet near the convenience center to underhood, while the
other 5 wires are tie-wrapped to the underdash main harness to run towards the radio and
eventually to the back of the radio (whew!). Reread this a few times, and it'll make more
sense.
Start up at the top center of the headliner. Feed the black/red connector thru your
newly-cut hole in the center-front of the headliner (with a few extra inches of wire to
spare), and run the wires under the headliner towards the left A-pillar. Once they come
out at the A-piller, reinstall the left sunvisor (3 screws). Next, run the wires down the
A-pillar, and then snake them thru the small "gap" between the base of the
pillar and the dash (my car had a "foam block" here that simply pulled out to
show the gap, other cars may differ). Once the wires are thru this hole and are coming out
under the dash, reinstall the A-pillar trim (it just "snaps" back into place).
Now, take the ONE longer wire (purple) and run it out into the engine bay. Do this thru
the rubber grommet that is located on the firewall near the big plastic unit (convenience
center) that holds the flashers and a bunch of relays. If you haven't run a wire thru this
grommet before, take a SHARP punch or blade and put a small hole in the grommet to feed
the wire thru. Once the wire is fed thru, it comes out on the firewall below the brake
booster in the engine compartment. Pull the wire thru completely, and tie-wrap it
underdash to other wiring if you can. Once in the engine compartment, run it along the
left fenderwell (either in existing looms or factory looks) until it is alongside the PCM,
and then run it approx 1 foot further out and cut it.
Take the OTHER FIVE WIRES from the console, and run them along the other underdash wiring
bundle that crosses the bottom of the dash. I zip-tied it to this bundle in 2-3 places so
it would be secure. Once you get it over to the radio, run it up to the back of the radio
and thru the hole in the back of the dash where the stock radio harness runs. pull the
wires thru snugly, and cut them approx 6" past the front of the dash (this should
leave plenty to work with).
- Now, time to hook up the harness that you just routed. First, start
with the purple wire in the engine bay. If you look on the side of the PCM, there is a
connector on the side (C100 in the 96 Impala FSM) with 6 wires into it. Two of the wires
from the FRONT of the car into this connector are LtGreen/Black and Yellow (Pins J &
K). These wires run to the temp sensor connector located at the front of the car near the
hood latch brace. You'll notice that there are NO wires coming out of the back of this
connector (towards the rear of the car) on pins J & K.
Unplug this connector, and on the firewall-side connector pry off the tab (either grey or
tan, depending on the year of the car) on the connector (prys from each side). Remove the
"plugs" (little rubber things) that are in pins J and K.
Take the blue connector (with approx 6 inch leads) that you cut off of the console wiring
harness above. Press in on the white tabs thru the side, and remove the white plastic
piece that helps hold the wires in the connector. Using a paperclip, push in and
"release" the tabs (from the side of the connector with the pins) holding the
purple and green wire pins in the connector.
Now take these two wire/pins and put the purple one into Pin J of the connector C100. Yes,
it snaps right in!. Do likewise with the green wire into Pin K. Once both pins are snapped
in, seal them into the connector with the silicone caulk, and reassemble the connector.
This is a bit of extra work, but give a nice "factory quality" connection
underhood for these signals.
Solder the PURPLE wire you ran from the console to the purple wire put into Pin J on the
connector C100 above. Then, solder a small extension wire on the green wire on Pin K, and
crimp a lug onto the other end. Attatch this lug to a GOOD ground somewhere (I ran it to
the lug nearby above the headlamp unit). This completes the underhood wiring. Also, plug
in your Ambient Temp Sensor at this time to the blue connector at the hood latch brace,
and mount the sensor on the brace so that it doesn't interfere with the hood, latch, or
grille (there is plenty of room to do this, it isn't hard).
Now, time for the other five wires at the back of the radio. The pins on the back of the
radio are labelled 1-20, with the top row of pins being 1-10, 11-15 being unused on the
Impala (used to hook up those neat steering-wheel controls and rear seat radios in other
GM vehicles), 16 being the VSS, and 17-20 being speaker wires. For reference, this is
pages 8A - 150 - 0 thru 8A - 150 - 7 in the 1996 FSM. Hook the wires from the compass to
the radio wires as follows :
| PIN NUMBER Black/Red Connector at Compass Display |
WIRE COLOR at Compass Display |
PIN NUMBER at the connector on the back of the Radio |
WIRE COLOR at the connector on the back of the Radio |
| 5 |
BLACK |
9 |
YELLOW |
| 6 |
WHITE |
5 |
BLACK with WHITE STRIPE |
| 7 |
GREEN |
16 |
DARK GREEN with WHITE STRIPE |
| 9 |
ORANGE |
7 |
GRAY |
| 10 |
RED |
6 |
YELLOW (BROWN in 9C1's) |
You can "lineman splice" the wires into the radio wires, or just get lazy like I
did and use the 3M "quick splice" connectors for these wires.
Note that on the 94 SS, the Vss signal (Dark green with white stripe, pin 16) is NOT in
the radio harness. Instead, you need to connect it to the Dark Green with White Stripe
wire (also Vss) that is in connector C200 under the dash (approximately above the drivers
right knee) at pin D8.
Shot of David Smith's Wiring Splices of the harness at the rear of the radio.
Now, the point of "electrical truth"
:^). Remove the compass display from the currently disassembled console, and hook it up to
the black/red connector for it in the car. Reconnect the vehicle battery. Turn the key on
the either the "ACC" or "ON" position, and your console display should
now light up! Note that the compass will probably NOT be correct : you will have to
calibrate it later according to the procedure listed below. Also, when you turn on the
parking/head lights, the compass display should dim just like the radio display, and be
adjustable in brightness. The temp displayed should be correct, or at least pretty close
(may be higher if you are like me and the temp sensor was sitting in the sun before you
took this reading). Note that if you have an OPEN CIRCUIT problem with your wiring, or the
sensor is not connected, it will read "OC" for the temperature. If you have a
SHORT CIRCUIT problem, it will read "SC".
Assuming that the console display works, turn off the key and unplug the display (put it
back in the console). Also, RE-DISCONNECT THE BATTERY AT THIS POINT!!!
David Smith's Display unit passing the "Moment of Electrical Truth"
- Reinstall the radio (remember to plug in the harness and antenna!),
and then reinstall the lower dash.
- Put the console back together -- it's lip will help hold the new
material down. Then test-fit it, trim as necessary, and mount. When you mount it, BE SURE
to plug in the compass/temp display as well as the map and dome lights! I thought I needed
one more mounting location, so I epoxied a piece of oak to the inner roof panel,
pre-drilled it to accept a sheet metal screw, and then drilled a small hole in the inner
panel of the cd holder portion of the console. Note that Ed Runnion did NOT need this
extra mount point, and John "AK" Snyder did but put his above the garage door
opener holder instead. Use your best judgement here.
Hook the battery back up, and test to make sure
the dome and map lights are all working.
Another pic of David Smith's installed console.
Note that David covered the "gaps" in the side of the console by CAREFULLY
peeling back the carpet at the gaps, putting in some "wood splints" there (made
from wooden kitchen sppons!), CAREFULLY re-gluing everything, and then installing. Nice
job!
- Assuming everything works, now you need to go find a parking lot
and perform the following Compass Calibration Procedure (from a 96 DODGE Ram manual of all
places, but it works fine for us!) :
- Find a parking lot where you can do some WIDE 360 degree circles.
Heck, it'd even work to drive around the edge of a parking lot. Important thing here is
you MUST be able to make at least 2-3 circles, and EACH "circle" must take at
least 15 seconds or so. In other words, tire-smokin parking lot "donuts" will
NOT work here, but you might do a couple anyways just cause it is fun :^)!
Once you are ready to circle, press down the
"on/off" button and hold it. WHILE HOLDING THAT BUTTON, ALSO press the
"US/Met" button (so you are holding down BOTH buttons) for approx 5 seconds. The
display will say "var", which is your queue to set the "variance" for
the compass. You set the "variance" by releasing the buttons, then hitting the
"US/Met" button to scroll thru the different variances. Once you get to the
correct one, hit "On/Off" to set it into the compass. A map showing the variance
to be used for various geographic locations is listed below.
- Next, repeat step 2 again with the buttons, but this time hold the
two buttons PAST when the word "var" shows up, and eventually the word
"cal" will light instead. Once the word "cal" comes up, start your
driving in circles. After anywhere from 1 to 3 circles, the compass will calibrate itself
and the word "cal" will go out. Once this happens, your compass is calibrated!
- Enjoy your newly-installed and fully working Astrovan Overhead
ConSSole Mod!!
