I know! I have an old car but I’m cheap and don’t spend money on vehicles. But, I’ve been searching for a good diy for remote starter install as my key fob no longer works and it’s about to get cold. Can anyone point me in the right direction for a diy? Since the car is so old, it all has to be hardwired which has me somewhat nervous.

 

I would advise going to local shops and getting pricing on what you’re looking for.

To diy this it can get almost as pricey, do you own crimping tools? Wire strippers? Soldering iron/station, multimeter and test light to find and confirm you have the correct wires etc.

I did a Compustar system a few years ago.

$80 for the Alarm/Remote starter
$50 for Blade-Al bypass, looks like a game boy cartridge and slides into the Compustar CM7000 unit. This is to bypass the transponder.
$80 and up depending on remote kit you want
$40 for weblink connector, use this to hook up the CM7000 unit to your desktop or laptop to configure settings and update unit.

To make connections I solder everything. I also made my own T-Harness to for the main ignition wires. So that portion was plug and play.

-Parking lights
-Door trigger
-Door lock and unlock
-Trunk release
-Brake switch
-Tach wire (needed for remote start)
-There will be a separate harness that comes with the Blade-AL for the transponder bypass

all of those connections are soldered.

If you go to any shop ask them how they make their connections. If they use T-taps then just walk away, never use those in a car.

 

Can vouch for compustar on my 05 ES

 

Any autostarter is probably fine I wouldn't worry too much about brand. I had bought a closeout old model Viper with the 1 mi range and LCD remote for $125 used it for 5 years til I got rid of the car. It's not that cost efficient when you have a competent shop install, but if you get a deal and can install it yourself it's pretty damn cheap to do.

You're right with no harness it's a mess of wires you need to cut/tap. But it's more tedious than difficult. wiring in the transponder key bypass and programming that will be the most difficult.

When I did mine I soldered all the wires that needed to be cut and joined. For tapping I use posi-taps (https://www.posi-products.com/posiplug.html), they are pretty solid and don't disturb the wiring much. Agreed t-taps are the worst!!

The best is to have the service manuals and know how to read wiring diagrams. If you don't have that check the guide at https://www.the12volt.com/installbay...tail/1270.html it can probably get you through. If you are handy with wiring in a car, you can totally do this. I didn't wire up the tach line, most autostarters have "virtual tach" setting where the brain guesses if the motor is running by the voltage output of the alternator. I did not wire the hood switch either, I did wire up the disable switch and I was very careful to disable the auto-start if anyone borrowed the car or I took the car for service. If you do those things the wiring is all under the driver's side dash.