Got my 2007 6-disc head unit today and got done as much as I could . I got shut down early though , the harnesses I need , that I thought for sure would be in stock I had to order . The local place Audio Specialist has been awesome in helping me find exactly what I need . Im soldering together a short adapter harness so I dont have to cut any of my 05 wiring . Gonna use a 05 aftermarket install harness with female connectors and adapt it to a "repair" harness for a 2007 , that will have the needed male connectors to plug into the 07 radio .

In light of having to order the harnesses , I got done a couple things tonite

First verify it does directly bolt in the dash . Yes it does . Alot of people ask if it does ...heres a pic of it on my 05 . MUCH better looking than the ugly 05


Next up . I thought converting the antenna would be a pita . It ended up being very EASY . They had a ton of antenna adapters . I had to use 2 different adapters to get where I need to be .

Metra 40-GM10 ...to convert the GM antenna plug to Motorola F aftermarket type.
Metra 40-CR20 ...which converts the motorola plug to Chrysler/(new)GM snap lock coaxial plug to plug into the 07 HU .



Thats basically all I was able to get done until I get my harnesses . When I get them , get the new hybrid harness made and get the radio in and working I will post a "how to" with lots of pics , part #'s , wiring skematics ect ect .

All of the wiring from the 05 to 06 to 07 is the same , just in different connectors . So this should by all rights work . The only thing that "could " stop it from working is unlocking the new 07 radio with Tech2 . I have the correct 2007 vin # from the car I got the head unit from , so my buddy at the dealer said uploading the updated radio info should not be a problem at all and it should work . Fingers crossed

.....more to come as soon as I get my adapter harnesses

 

I hope this works for you man. This was something that I was going to try until recently. Keep us posted!

 

looks great.. i was thinking of doing the same thing in my 05. whered you get the 07 headunit at?

 

I got thru Strickter auto salvage in Ohio . I found them thru http://www.car-part.com . You basically pick the part you need and this site locates it . I only paid $200 for it , which is awesome because this HU retails for $554 new .

Anyone that is buying one ....just a head up . The cobalt black tie radio's are specific to the cobalt and G5 only. The HHR , Impala , Monte and any other GM that uses this radio will not fit the cobalt .

Pic showing the difference in the curve on the faceplate between the Cobalt version and a HHR version .


These are Cobalt part #'s They are printed on every HU , so u can easily track what u think your buying .

6 disc silver faceplate with pioneer #15284733
6 disc black faceplate with pioneer #22714658
single disc silver faceplate with pioneer #15284732
single disc black faceplate with pioneer # 22714657
Base HU black faceplate part# 22714656

 

Nice work...I've been waiting for someone to attempt this for a while. I'm subscribed and awaiting the final results.

Keep up the good work

 

I was under the impression the DIC now displays on the new head units in 2007's. Is that correct? If so...

-Does that means there are some additional wires in the harness?
-Does the original DIC in the tach stop working?

No other compatibility issues? Such as On-Star or steering wheel controls?

 

The DIC's on the 2007's are still the same . The only thing that changed , is the 2 buttons to control it that were on the dash , are now mounted on the steering wheel . The 05-06 steering wheel controls will work , gm uses the same resistence values for the all the radio control functions on pretty much everything . My car has both onstar and XM , so well see if they both still function . There should not be any issues there at all .

As far as other compatabilty issues , not known yet . Like I said , all the wiring skematics between the 2005 , 2006 and 2007 use the same wires just in different connectors . Im just waiting on my wiring connectors I ordered for the 07 HU to show up so I can finish this up . Then it has to pass the Tech2 test . If Tech2 can do the normal vin/radio update and communicate with the 07 HU while in my 05 , I should be in .

1 more thing , I WAS gonna build a shorty harness to adapt . Ive scraped that idea . Im just gonna pull the terminals out of my 05 connectors and re-install them in the 07 connectors . Reasoning there , is I forgot I cant cut or solder the GMLan data wire . It will look cleaner this way anyways .

 

ok well you got me in this now my gf got a cd player for her 07. Told the 05-06 was the same as 07 well as you and I know they arent. So what harness can be used to make the radio work, every time i hooked it up it freaked out an messed the DIC up. So its now sitting in a box collecting dust til i get my dealer cost on the PAC wiring haha. Any ideas?

 

Im not sure about getting a aftermarket HU in a 07 . Theres a couple guys in here I helped with wiring pinouts for the 07 radio . They used a adapter harness for the HHR to put the aftermarket HU in their 07's . They did have to re-pin the connectors though , the HHR wiring isnt the same as the cobalt , but the connectors are . If u do a search in this forum for u should pull it up , man ...I forget the guys screennames .

 

update?

 

I want to see how this works out, especially if your XM works with the different HU and VIN...

 

Does the 07 6 disc play MP3 CDs too?

 

Im still waiting for the 2 plug OEM 2007 harness connectors before Tech2 can unlock the radio . I tried to build a little pig tail harness because I'm getting impatient , just connecting the power , ground and LAN serial data wire so I could at least unlock it to see if it works . BUT ...... the way I rigged the LAN wire , Tech2 said there was a connection error . My buddy at the dealer said I cant have any splices at all in the LAN wire or it wont read right .

So , I wait for the connectors ...ordered last Thurday . Then will give it another go with tech2 . With the little pigtail harness I made , the radio did turn on and display LOCKED on the display screen .

Edubs - if the HU works in the car , the XM will . The XM modules didnt change . I was told the XM ID is stored in the xm module in the car , not the HU .

BlackSS/SC - yes it does

 

If you do this, you will be my hero. I want that HU so bad!

 

I was gonna tell you to just pin out the terminals... i guess your are now anyway. I think there are two different terminals though. -Nathan

 

If you could do a right up and snap some pics I know alot of people would be happy.

 

Good going, looks awesome. It actually does look better than our beasts.

Will you still be able to use the steering wheel controls. I don't like the new steering wheel in comparison to ours. Can't rest your hand on the bottom.

 

looking forward to the how-to man, im doing this the second you get yours working and the how-to is up

 

Here's another question: the black face and the silver face - are they identical except for the color? i.e. they both play MP3 CDs and both are 6-disc? I'd really like to get rid of all the freakin silver in my dash. I pained the dash trim and I'd love to get the black HVAC controls and black 07 h/u.

 

The ebony face 6-disc is the same as the silver 6-disc , only the faceplate color is different . Theres 5 different HU's . Silver single disc , silver 6-disc , ebony single and ebony 6-disc . All 4 of those are XM , Onstar and MP3 compatible . Then the base ebony HU , which I dont really have any detail on .

Psykostevo- If the 05-06 BCM will communicate with the 07 HU , the radio controls in the 05-06 steering wheel will work . GM uses the same resistence values for given functions in all their radio controls .

potatoe- That was the new plan to just remove the terminals from the 05-06 connectors and re-pin them in the new 07 connectors . Nice , qwik and easy . But , your thought was right ....the terminals are different ( 07 are the same size pin , but shorter ) . Which is no problem , the new 07 connectors I ordered have the wire leads and terminals to plug in the new 07 HU ...BUT , I cant splice or solder the LAN serial data wire . Im thinkin on that one what to do . Ive got about 60 different AMP and Tyco terminal reels at work , its possible we may use the terminal I need ....I couldnt be that lucky You used to be able to buy repair terminals from the dealer , I cant even get the connectors thru the dealer anymore without purchasing an entire dash harness ...grrrr .

For everyone wanting a how to .....the will be a detailed how to , with pics , details and part #'s when I get it thing working .

I got the HU pretty cheap for what it is , so it wont be big $$$ hit if it doesnt work ....but with all the legwork , Im really gonna be bummed if this doesnt work .

fingers crossed

 

sorta off topic but how good are you with hvac controls? i got some ssr contols and i have all the wireing schemes and the wire colors and what not but it looks liek alot of jibberish to me so im concerned about starting to splice

 

I cant see why the lan wire cant be repined. The dealer should sell you the connector ends... Then just cut off your old pins and replace them with the new ones. Part #s 12146447(3) and 12146448(19) that should have it covered. It may be pricey though.

 

I was talking with one of the engineers at work , and after that ....I dont see why it couldnt either . After all its still a voltage on the lan wire , just pulsed . I got my radio connectors today so I will be messing with it tonite and trying tech2 again tomorrow .

EmperorJJ1 - Funny u mention something like that . The next thing Im gonna try to fab in is one of the newer 3 knob Hvac's that have knobs that match the new radio's . Theres no more vacum lines or cables so it will be easy to fab the button and electronics into the Cobalt Hvac base . PM me all the wiring diagrams u have for the Cobalt and SSR Hvac's and I will see what I can do . I just looked at pic of those controls , the SSR looks to have all the same settings , and 3 separate buttons like the cobalt . Should jus be a matter of connect the DOTs .

 

mini update .

Got my new metra 2007 male HU connectors today ( pt#71-2104) Its listed for the HHR , Ion , Solstice and Vue . Since this was in the Cobalt I had 6 spare unused wires . I didnt have to move any of the terminals around though . I had a wire in every slot I needed . I didnt hard wire anything yet until I confirm this is gonna work . In the meantime I temporarily wired everything up using those snap connectors so I didnt ruin my stock wires at all . Replaced the radio fuse with a 15A that 2007 has ( 05-06 uses a 10A) . When I turned the key , I got great news I think . Since its not unlocked yet , it still says locked on the screen , but ...with all the wires hooked up , all the chimes are now coming out of the audio system speakers just like in the 2007's . The Onstar indicator light in the rear view mirror , went from red ( no communciation) to green like it normally is . Those 2 things right there tell me the radio IS able to communicate with the BCM and thats great news

Gotta figure out how to disable the 05-06 chimes that come from that small box on the back of the instrument cluster now . The 07 style chimes and the 05-06 chimes both go off at the same time and arent in synch

Im going tomorrow after work to see if my buddy at the dealer can unlock this biotch .

 

SilverSS/SC hey i was wondering if you can tell me where i can get the connectors and all that to get the radio to work, cause my problem is that i got the radio already from a 2007 tahoe and i thought my problem was getting the radio to work because of the supposebly lockdown that the radios come with but its not true cause this shop around my house that does installations for radio the guy was able to hook it up to this mainframe and powered and no problem didn't say lock or anything so lets just hope that all i would need is the connectors and thats it, i've seen a connector that works from crutchfield but its too expensive their selling it for $150 and i don't wanna pay that.