2000 Mach Stereo Help

[Canuckcleaner]

Hey Guys,

I'm hoping for a stereo guru here. I bought my car in May and from the day I bought it the stereo had to be turned on and off and would turn on with the Ignition which drove me nuts but it's a stereo so I figured I'd wait until she was off the road which brings me to today. I pulled the bezel and pulled the stereo out. Now I know these Mach systems are somewhat complicated but I'm lost!!!

The only factory harness that's been hacked is the speakers which I can fix. I will purchase a proper harness to reinstall again however there is multiple female harnesses in the dash which I'm assuming are for the amps in the back.

Question one
Can I utilize the factory Mach system and still keep the amp and sub in the trunk?

Two
What, where , how , why are those harnesses in there and how do I use them if I need too?

I've attached pics.







This is the only harness that is hacked.

[Laffs]

What is in the car right now? Aftermarket deck, speakers and sub?

You can use the factory Mach head unit with a mono amb and subs, if you have a line converter to send signal to the amp. However the factory mach speakers are amplified, not sure if that will effect the signal to the line converter. However I would avoid this, the factory head unit is garbage IMO. I ditched all the Mach stuff from mine, using and installer harness just to provide the power, ground and switched power the my head unit, new wiring from HU to amps, speakers and subs. Mixing and matching with Mach stuff is annoying, or was when I did it.

The plugs you are holding look like the plugs for the factory CD changer and the one that's cut up looks like the plug for the factory head unit.

[Slick_89_Hatch]

I just used the Metra (sp?) harness to wire in my aftermarket deck with the stock amps and speakers....makes the install super easy. Then just added a amp and sub. Need to have a head unit with Front, Rear and Sub RCA outputs.

[Canuckcleaner]

Thanks fellas. I'm going to run the metra harness for sure