Radio wiring harness

[jht3]

when i bought my '88 m3 there wasn't a radio installed, which works for me. this way i can install exactly what i want the way i want. there was an aftermarket stereo in there at one point and a lot of stuff got hacked up.

i pulled my dash and i cant find ANYTHING that resembles the factory wiring harness. from what i understand, the radio harness is a seperate piece. where does it plug in and what does it look like? i do have a small harness in my box of parts i got w/ the car, dunno what it does. i'll try and snap a pic tonight and post it up.

i am going to run all new speaker wire, amp turn-on wire, and rca's to the trunk, so at a minimum all i'll need is constant 12v, ignition 12v, and ground. maybe something for the dimmer. i suppose i could splice all this stuff from other wires in my dash. if i did this, where should i splice from?

[PanamaE30]

constant 12v - hazardous lights.
ignition would be one of the other auxilary switches.

grounds you can find everywhere.

That's what I did IIRC

[jht3]

constant 12v - hazardous lights.
ignition would be one of the other auxilary switches.

grounds you can find everywhere.

That's what I did IIRC

hmm....and all those wire gauges are thick enough? i know the cig lighter +12 is very thick.

the hazard and other switches would be very easy to splice into. and yea, ground is very easy. i could splice the dimmer from one of the three backlights. splicing might be the easiest way

as for the factory method, anyone got pics of the harness or know where it plugs in?

[PanamaE30]

I haven't had any issues.. Cigarrette lighter is a good option.

I'm moving an Alpine unit (forgot the model and my car is kinda far to check) and i've never had any power issues.

[AndrewBird]

If you are worried about the guage of the wire, just run a new one from the front of the car to the dash. It isn't hard and you could run any guage you wanted.