'97 Chevy Monte Carlo Steering wheel controls

[Zach85 10+ year member]

Hi,

I am possibly getting a 97 Monte Carlo Z34 from a friend of mine. It has the factory Steering wheel controls on it for the factory head unit. Once before he wanted me to put in a CD Player for his car, but the steering wheel controls wouldn't work with the aftermarket unit, and so we took it out and put the original unit back in. Is there any sort of adaptor kit for this situation to make a factory steering wheel controller work with an aftermarket unit? I think someone once told me that there's a way to get it to work, but I don't recall who, nor do I know where to get such adaptor kit. Please help me out, thanks!

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[Untouchable11 10+ year member]

yeah, there is a site that I am actually looking at, because I may need one for a 2002 Monte Carlo..

http://bestkits.com/SearchResults.aspx?mk=Chevrolet&mkid=4&md=Monte%20Carlo&mdid=131&yrg=1995%20-%201999

It is under Peripheral Electronics Add-A-Heads..

 

[Zach85 10+ year member]

wow, quick response! Thanks!!!!!!!

Anyone else who has site URLs for these kits please list, am looking for best price!

 

[Zach85 10+ year member]

it just occured to me:

the way the Steering wheel "talk" to the head unit is by IRA Signals. That's why an aftermarket CD Player will not work with any steering wheel controls, because most, if not all, will have IRA signal panels on them. That's why you'd need an adapter... and I remember what this "someone" told me now... he said that you'd need to drill just a tiny hole into the dashboard somewhere to put the IRA signal thing for the steering wheel to "talk" to. I used to think the Steering Wheel controls were wired directly to the head unit behind the dashboard, but I guess I was wrong. well, thanks again for your help