I am putting an aftermarket radio and speakers in, and am wondering what color wire is the power signal for from the original. Is it turned on with the key? am at the starting stages of wiring in my pioneer unit and am interested to know what is what.

33 minutes ago, Maxwell said:

I am putting an aftermarket radio and speakers in, and am wondering what color wire is the power signal for from the original. Is it turned on with the key? am at the starting stages of wiring in my pioneer unit and am interested to know what is what.

 Your HOT is the small plug on back of stock radio. Check with a tester, key on/off.   Big plug with multiple wires are your speaker wires.  

yet the blue wire runs to the rear and plugs into the deck speaker and has a gray wire to that plug as well. I'll get pics shortly 

1 minute ago, Maxwell said:

yet the blue wire runs to the rear and plugs into the deck speaker and has a gray wire to that plug as well. I'll get pics shortly 

Gray is your common to all speakers in your system.  Does your original radio work?   You can sell that online.  Check Ebay for going rates, then buy the manuel for the car.

I don't think my stock radio works, tried hooking speakers to the stock radio and go nothing, no signs of life. these are what I have. are those three plugs. my other question is for a more modern replacement, would I put the backlight wire also to the power wire?

 

one of my older friends on facebook said yellow was power

So you only have 2 speakers?  One front, one rear?   Should be 2 in rear package tray.  3 total.   NO do not plug radio light into your hot. You'll blow all your dash lights.  Should be a seperate wire for backlight on new radio.  Again, check with test light to find your HOT 1st.  If nothing test hot, check your fuses.  

aight. I haven't started wiring. but yeah., it had one deck speaker in the dash and rear

It has a center speaker up front in the dash, and a rear one to the passenger side of the rear deck

My guess would be the green/black  as black is always a ground. Been many years since I've messed with radio swaps.  Do remember a thin plug for GM radio hot.  BUT CHECK IT 1st bro. 

I appreciate the help tho. Not very good at wording things in google and my ability to search isn't great when I've been fried. Was working on my friend's second gen ram and helped him put a new trans mount bushing. Not fun. And I mostly need the key signal as I won't be using the stock wires for the speakers. For shits I'm trying some speakers I had. Old NEC speakers, just placeholders plus I have the wiring ran and have basically no budget to get anything as I don't have income and nobody has donated to the gofundme I have going for this car.

We all start somewhere.  Find the original hot for the radio.  Do you have a tester or someone to borrow one from?  You will want to use the original hot wire to run your new radio, that way it won't accidently get left on and kill your battery.   If your interested in this stuff,  apply at a car repair garage N work your way up as you go.  Everybody needs help right now.  Just get your foot in the door.  Even dealerships need guys to clean up and get used cars ready for sale N make some pretty decent cash.  They will be happy to teach you what ya need to know.

my issue is I need to fix this thing as it's my only hope for transportation to get a job, there's not much where I live for work. I want to go into detailing or a tire shop. Probably gonna get a cheap harbor freight test light when I can

I still need to get 2 speakers for the kick panels as that's where I want to put them

Test lights are only a couple bucks.   They clip to a ground and when you touch the solid end, it lights a small light in the handle.  Tells you if you have power in that wire or not.  This is a must for any electrical work you do on the car.  Does it run/drive?

It runs, and should drive. I need to get some tires on it as the ones it has are crap, and none are matching, and one's blown and shredded. I have tires for it but no money to get it mounted and balanced

 

I suspect the yellow wiring is the switched ignition power. The gray is ground. The other connectors are for your speakers. Stock GM Delco radios never had constant 12V power. Today's modern radios want dual power sources, a constant 12V source directly to the battery (to maintain the clock and station settings in digital memory), and a switched ignition source to drive the rest of the radio. So be careful wiring.

Like Justa suggestions, validate it with a multimeter or test light.

Here's a video of it running. No tires on it atm but yeah. Gonna get some work done soon, most likely body work to the front of the hood so I don't cut my fingers as the release lever is next to sharp metal

 

ok so I replaced my coil as it was arcing bad, and when went to start it it didn't start and something was smoking, anyone can tell me what goes to what side of the coil leads? the top one is negative the lower towards the valve cover is positive. I have my suspicion that the wires are not on the right one and I need to know what goes where, and before anyone says look it up. I can't find a wiring harness diagram for the car. at least without buying one

If that's wrong,  (if it's smokin, it's wrong)  there is only one other way to hook it up.   Look close and each post is marked   +  or  -  on the case.  Next time check and mark which is which when installing.

Wait. looked at your pic's a lil better.  You have a hot coming into the coil, other side (wire) goes to the points.  Looks like you hooked up the condenser wire.  Which should hook up on the side or the inside of the distributor. 

JustA is right, power from ignition switch goes to positive terminal. negative terminal goes to the distributor, and so does the condenser , looks like you havent hooked the wire from the distributor to the coil 👍

I am getting the condenser coil today as it's not super expensive, also gonna look into a carb kit as it probably could use it, considering all the grime on it, as well as tuning the screws on the front doesn't do much unless I run them in to about 1 3/4 turns out. Anyway, what kit do I need as I am not great at finding out exact info? (Ps I'm not good with wording on google search and I'm only 22

Backup.... Did you find the points wire from the distributor that goes to the coil?  Is everything hooked up correctly and the car running again?   Stop....  1 thing at a time. Figure out distributor prob's before moving on to something else. It did seem to be running and idling fairly well in your vid.   A couple bucks spent on carb cleaner, a small wire brush set from auto parts or hardware store (looks like toothbrushes)  and your old toothbrushes work very well to clean small spaces.  Cover top of carb so nothing can get inside the motor.  Start at the top and work your way down cleaning the motor.  Let the cleaner soak for a couple minutes, then start with the brushes.  Finish with a hose once everything is done. (make sure No water get's inside the motor through the carb) Not only makes it much easier to work on, but will show you where anything might be leaking from once clean. 

what smoked was the long black wire that goes into the distributor, the only thing possibly dead is a condenser coil. I am just asking what rebuild kit to look for for the future. as I just put fresh plugs into it and the ones that came out were a little fouled. and after hooking up everything right it's still dead, which confirms what I thought about the condenser coil being dead. I want to be able to properly tune it, and where it's getting to be cold outside I'd rather have the gaskets and stuff vs freezing my hands off working with a dirty carburetor. 

If your points wire is fried, there is a good chance your points are welded together.  Have you checked them?  Your picture doesn't show your points wire hooked up at all.  Replace the fried wire and make sure your points still move inside your distributor cap.  The 2 fingers that touch together should have both contact surfaces smooth N clean.  If not, replace the points as well.  Check the contact area on the inside of the cap as well.  Where the rotor shoots the spark to the cap.  You can clean these contacts and rotor end with fine sandpaper,  Same with the points contacts if nessary.  Make it run again before you move on.  

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=How+to+relace+points+in+a+GM+distributor&docid=608004186295307677&mid=A971CD3BE6FA0306F7EAA971CD3BE6FA0306F7EA&view=detail&FORM=VIRE

 

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=How+to+relace+points+in+a+GM+distributor&&view=detail&mid=72C549DCCFC9DE57B80672C549DCCFC9DE57B806&&FORM=VDRVRV

 

Notice the location of your condenser.....NOT hooked up to the coil.  Inside the distributor.

well points aren't welded together and the only thing that looks off about it is that one wire that looks a little melted and shiny

You can see the carbon buildup on the face of those points.  Should replace those or at least clean both sides. Did you find the U tube links helpful?  They show you how to clean points and where the condenser is suppose to go. No mention from you on the condition of rotor and cap, but from the rust on the screws it can't be good.  Did you replace the melted wire or hook it back up to the coil?  One of the sidebars had a link to show you how to test your coil.   Hook everything back up and have someone turn the engine over from the key.  Pull the coil wire (middle one) and put it next to a ground leaving a Little gap.  With the engine turning over and everything hooked up right, it should throw a spark