My aftermarket head unit has been stolen for the second time. I was wondering if the stock head units from like an alero, grand am, grand prix, or sunfire will work in my 2000 base cavalier? Will the bose/monsoon units work or do those systems use factory amps? I dont like the stock cheap cd players that come in the cavaliers. My car came with the first aftermarket head unit that got stolen. I just want to put a factory one in until I can get an alarm and get my driver's door to lock.

My 99 cavalier came with a radio from a grand am(no idea what year) installed in it by the previous owner. I don't have any info on how he did it (I don't think it would be too complicated) but as far as factory radios go I really liked it. It had an eq and wasn't as ugly looking as most factory radios (imo).

What did the radi look like? Did everything light up red and/or say monsoon anywhere on the head unit? Or did the clock part light up green?

Im wondering if I could go to a junk yard and get the factory stereo connector from another car (like a grand am, grand prix, or sunfire) and connect it to my car? Since who ever took my head unit was nice enough to cut the factory connector and now I have an empty space in my dash and bare wires in it. Could it be that easy?

Looked almost like this


I remember the EQ controls were red plastic and lit up(maybe the grey parts were just peeled off?), but the rest was identical iirc.

If the harness from your car has been cut, I would just find the wiring diagram for your radio and for the radio you want to use. Then you basically just need to match the speakers +/- wires and ground/ignition/constant. It won't be as pretty looking as if you had the harness, but it should work.

Im pretty sure the Monsoon radios only work if your car has the Monsoon system from the factory. But Im not 100%.