battmann

iTrader: (9)

I obtained a UU6 ETR radio from a 1983 Trans Am - see picture below. I would like to install it in my 1984 Trans Am, but the backlighting on this radio is white. Is white lighting correct for a 1984 Trans Am radio or did they have red backlighting?
If this should be red, can the lights be swapped out or does the face plate need to be replaced with one that has a red lens for the text?

8t2 z-chev

you are getting very close to the correct radio lighting for faceplate should be orange,with scan1234seek also lighted. The LED display would be red instead of yellow.Should be able to add proper coloration to the light guides or bulbs behind the faceplate-might have make them more reddish so light appears orange after passing through blue tint behind the faceplate text.The LED display might be able to be corrected with a strip of red plastic if desired.A while back,someone on here bought an 84 TA without engine that had the red display radio,and perhaps you could buy it-if I can find the thread I will direct you to it.The '83 DT500 also had red lighting while other '83s were white.

LAFireboyd

iTrader: (3)

I've been following your two previous threads, now this one. I don't know how many people here on TGO were buying brand new 3rdgens back in 1982 and 1983, but I was, so I can provide, at least, some factual information, rather than just guessing, although there will be a little deductive reasoning. So sit tight for the story.

While I was waiting for the L69 to be released to order my 1983 Z28 HO in the spring of 1983, my sales person hooked me up with a deluxe EQ radio for my 1982 Z28. So I ordered my 83 with the simplest, most basic (and cheapest) STEREO radio(mono radios were available too, believe-it-or-not) to make sure the car came with all of the necessary stereo provisions, because my plan was to swap my EQ radio out of my 82 and into my 83, which I did. That basic stereo radio was code YE1 am/fm stereo clock ERS; that's it, no EQ, no other features.

I reinstalled my 82's original radio back into it, then sold the 82. And unless I tossed the 1983's original YE1 radio, then I should still have it. Well, I didn't, and I do.

Yes, in a box for 37 years, used only while driving my 1983 Z28 HO home from the dealer on July 10, 1983, I still have that original YE1 radio out of my 1983 Z28. I run across it from time-to-time when I'm looking for other things, but I can never find it when I'm looking for IT. Fortunately, I just saw it a couple of weeks ago, and this time I made a mental note about which box it was in. So I went out today after seeing this thread, and But I did manage to find it, just for you! And since the car's interior still out of the car, leaving all of the wiring handy, I connected it and lit it up!

First picture, below, no parking lights on, bright display.


Second picture, below, parking lights on, dimmed display:


What else do you notice about the second pic with dimmed display, due to the parking lights being on? Anybody? Bueller? NO backlighting! Apparently not as uncommon as people think, at least, where base radios are concerned.

SO... my radio being, factually, what I say it is, and it is(YE1 code also confirmed on my invoice and window sticker), then the radio you're displaying now, in this thread, is most likely the YE2 radio for a 1983 Camaro, not for a Trans Am. YE2 was the EQ radio, amber display for Camaros. Backlighting, where applicable, would be white for Camaros. Reddish for Trans Ams.

While this doesn't shed any light on what a radio out of a Trans Am would look like, a 3rdgen radio definitely would NOT have had a glossy-face, like the radio in your other threads. UU7, that other radio might very well have been, but the codes transcended all GM cars. It's the radio's faceplate, *****, backlighting, trim, etc., that would've determined which specific car brand it was for. So that radio could not have been out of a Trans Am, nor would your radio in this thread have been.

So I'd say that your search is still on, sorry. And sorry for the story!

battmann

iTrader: (9)

thanks LAFireboyd - i appreciate you taking the time to provide some insight.
i agree with you about the UU7 radio in my other thread. general consensus is that radio is most likely out of a Buick due to it having a glossy faceplate and chrome ***** / buttons.
the radio in this tread was removed from a 1983 Trans Am. you can see in the picture that the radio, heater control and hatch defrost button all have white illumination. the instrument cluster also had white illumination. while i can't confirm this radio is actually correct for a 1983 Trans Am, it seems odd someone would have went through all that trouble to change all those pieces to white illumination if it was originally red. i'm assuming that 8t2 z-chev's statement that non-DT500 Trans Ams in 1983 had white illumination would be correct. i guess the only way to know for sure is if some members here post up pictures of factory 1983 and 1984 Trans Am radios lit up for comparison.
these last few details for restoring my 1984 TA back to stock has really been quite difficult. after i figure out this radio, i still need to find / restore the dash buttons (hatch release and subwoofer), find better condition seat belts as mine are chalky & faded and find / restore the seats back to the original two-tone camel tan pallex cloth. i was able to get correct factory seats for my car recently. they're a little faded (especially the side of the driver seat), but they look way better than the aftermarket seat upholstery that was in there. off topic, but here's a couple pics. you can see how bad the bottom part of the seat belt is. looks awful!

LAFireboyd

iTrader: (3)

I do think the type of radio you have there is accurate and 3rdgen-specific, at least, for 1982 and 1983 Camaros.

The only 1983 Trans Ams I remember ever seeing were the pace cars, and I though they'd featured red. So I'd have thought all other TAs would've also featured red. But if not, then it would appear that GM must've used the same radios in Trans Ams as in Camaros in 82 and 83. I may or may not be surprised by that, knowing GM lol.

It's also possible that a dealer made the swap before anyone bought the car, or at the request of a buyer, because perhaps that TA had been ordered with a base radio from the factory. In that case, the dealer would've used whatever it could get ahold of at the moment, which might not necessarily have been a TA-specific radio. That happened often back then because these 1.5 DIN radios were brand new, and a lot of buyers and most of the dealers hated them, writing them off as being weird and cheap. So dealers ordered a lot of cars with cheap, base radios, assuming the buyers were probably going to swap them out. I got that straight from dealers' mouths. I liked them though lol.

I can't say about 1984, but it would've matched the rest of the dash lighting, right? So what color is the dash lighting in your 84s? Because that would be the color for the backlighting in their OE radios. Wasn't it orange-ish, or something like that?

John in RI

iTrader: (167)

Looks like the solder-in display board light bulb is burned out in that head-unit........

The later (85+) radio red tinted back-lighting was the result of the white bulbs and a 'colored' face-plate. I am NOT SURE about the earlier radios,... just wanted to post what I know to be true about the later style. Another fact: I've also got a mid-eighties Delco UX1 from a Buick T-Type that has red back-lighting,... it uses white bulbs and it's back-lighting is red due to the face-plate.

This is what I *THINK* the year-correct cassette / EQ radio should be in a 1984 Trans AM; picture doesn't show back-lighting, but the red display is shown and I'm fairly certain it was red due to the display circuit board,... not the face-plate.

NoEmissions84TA

iTrader: (1)

Dammit, my car has been parked for so long that I can't remember what the stock radio looked like. My TA is an 84. The radio is in a zip-lock bag in the basement. I'm digging it out tomorrow and will get a few pics.

I looked in all the places that the radio should be ............ and it's not there. Maybe I sold it?

battmann

iTrader: (9)

Thanks for weighing in on discussion everyone. The info is greatly appreciated!

ksr

Wow. A radio - and only a radio - from the days when even a tape player was considered an upgrade.

Hard to remember after all the years. I didn't buy a Firebird until 1990 and of course by then it had the trademark orange backlighting. My prior cars and the family ones that I drove before that were basic stuff like Cavaliers and Sunbirds. I do sort of remember really liking the backlit (in white) radio in my first car, a 1986 Cavalier. It really stood out and looked great to me. Which means that in prior cars like that which I had driven, the lighting wasn't like this and they must have been lighted, if at all, by an external light shining on the radio.

ksr

Those HVAC controls aren't backlit, are they? In the pic, it looks like an external light is hitting them.

I guess the early 3rd gens did have white backlighting.

battmann

iTrader: (9)

those heater controls are backlit.

8t2 z-chev

the radio in reply 6 is the real thing.Red lighting for Pontiac started with 1980 pace cars,then began to appear on several '82 models including the 6000,to include almost all models by 1986.Lighting for '84 and 85 firebirds is more orange than red.

LAFireboyd

iTrader: (3)

Are you talking about the radio I posted, which definitely IS a non-backlit radio, or the radio posted by the Caped Crusader, where it appears only half of the face is lit up?

In the past, you've questioned the validity of non-backlit radios, so I'm inclined to suspect that you might've meant mine. And if so, then remember, this is not some random radio I found, connected, then declared it to be a non-backlit radio. It's been in my possession since my 1983 Z28 was brand new, and it's still virtually unused and "NOS"(mind people, there's no such thing as "perfect" or "mint" in the realm of 3rdgens and their parts), and its history has been completely uneventful lol.

To begin with, IF there's a lit inside for backlighting, it couldn't have "burned out" from not being used. With that out of the way, I drafted two full paragraphs to counter the unlikely ways the bulb could've been damaged, IF there's one so dedicated inside. But even none of that is necessary either, because a simple examination of the heavily-textured faceplate and the topically-applied graphics prove that it's a non-backlit radio. That, alone, should be enough to prove it's not backlit, but we can go into the details if somebody wants to, which they probably would prefer not to lol.

The heavy graphics could even be scratched off, if I wanted to do that, which I don't. Besides, given the radio's excellent condition, even despite it being totally worthless, somebody will want it after seeing this thread.

Even IF my 1983 Z28 magically found its way back to me someday, I wouldn't install this radio back into it. The radio is likely to be way too good for that car now anyway lol. So it will go back into its home of 37 years very shortly, where it's likely to remain until my garage is raided during a mid-21st Century episode of "Storage Wars," where my, then, 65+ year old Formula might actually be worth a couple of bucks. Or, heck, being out in the rural Nevada desert, it might be unearthed someday and mistaken for something "prehistoric," or more likely, "alien."

John in RI

iTrader: (167)

Nope; I wrote about Clint's' radio,....... the display board bulb is the one that should light-up the station pre-set buttons. His earlier audio thread regarding the non-EQ 83 (or so) Delco ( Buick ? ) head unit was the first time I ever saw a non-backlit Delco. I don't have a lot of experience with the 83 and earlier head units,... so I was quite pleased to learn something new !

ksr

I like the orange backlighting in my '88 and in my prior '90s. Always liked that color. The 4ths gen went to more of a red lighting that I didn't think was as easy on the eyes.