Has anyone had experience installing a modern stereo head unit in the dash space where the factory stereo goes? The previous owner took a thin piece of the original face plate and used that as a pressure mounting bracket for the pioneer head unit he purchased And tied the back of the unit to the dash with old electrical wire in knots. Any better install recommendations? If not I may just block it off and put one elsewhere. Thanks in advance.

 

Got one in my 67. There's usually a threaded hole for a stud or screw to mount the rear on a strap or bracket, but it's not always necessary. Ignore the floor mats.

 

Must we?

 

They don't make twin **** radios any more, so something either gets holed, or it's in the glove box or floor. Try not to cut anything of the cars; it's better to take the original plate off and get a repro to cut.

 

 

LOL yous guys!

 

If your dash is not cut out like fleming442. I used my factory deck in the factory spot. Mount the deck low. Just to the left of center. Under the dash. There are metal box type mounts. You can disguise them in many ways if you need to. Kleenex dispenser. Fake vents. Etc etc. Cutting the dash is one H of a commitment. You can't bring that back.

If you are looking for a shaft style radio. Don't buy junk. The new stuff that is out is unreal junk. I would do some research on on shaft style decks. Try and look for ads etc.
One thing that happens by the way on aftermarket shaft style radios is people don't put a back brace on them. The weight of the radio held by just the shafts. Not good at all. If you have ever felt the weight of the factory radios and why they had the braces that they do you get it. That is one of the number one reason that shaft style radios/decks went away. Well that and the Compact Disc...

 

A Metra installation kit for 87-98 Chevy trucks' AC vent delete plates match the ribs in the lower section of the dash.

Also, before the butthurt starts, this dash had a broken speaker grill where the small gauges are, so nothing was ruined that wasn't already. Future plans are to make a mold and carbon fiber blank from another good one I have.

 

Pretty much. Personally, I can't stand newer head units. My black 1985 D88 came with one. Tiny buttons with obscure labels that require you to read the manual any time you want to do something. And don't get me started about needing to take your eyes off the road to adjust it. Sorry, but it's hard to improve on two ***** and a handful of large preset buttons. All I do is play MP3s from my phone anymore, so I've gone to either having the stock radio converted or using a hidden system that connects to the phone with bluetooth.

 

You can still buy a two **** style radio with blue tooth but IMO they aren't worth it. See here:

https://www.classiccarstereos.com/SE...r:ss_model:442

I have an older Kenwood KD-BT562U from Crutchfield with an external mic and Blue Tooth. The only problem I have with modern units is they are impossible to see in a convertible on a sunny day. Most also come with a remote control which makes it a little easier. If you purchase a modern radio you can easily fit it by modifying your radio insert. Buy a 69-69 insert that was already cut and save your old one if it isn't cut already in case you want to install an original radio at some point. I probably have one that's already been modified if you're interested

FWIW if you've ever purchased from Crutchfield you'll be happy you did. I've only been steered wrong by them once and they let me return my purchase with no questioned asked.

 

Sigh. Now that I’m getting older, I know exactly what my dad complained about years ago.

I agree 100% with you. I HATE having to scroll thru several pages of menus to get to a certain function. I HATE the graphics and crap they put on the screens. The buttons and single **** are way too touchy for use while driving, and as you pointed out, takes entirely too much attention to use.

I had Kenwood 2 **** cassette deck in my car probably 20 years ago, and a Pioneer in my dads 81 GMC. Both were easy to use, both could be controlled without much driver attention, so of course they stopped making them.

As for the OP question, on my 69 (same dash layout of your 68) I had a machinist buddy make a “radio delete plate” that bolted in place of the factory plate, but with a cutout for the DIN radio.

you can see the aluminum plate, and the radio installed in that plate.

 

I totally agree with this too. I was previously able to delete all the screens that didn't apply (Sirius, XM, Pandora, iheartradio, aux). Unfortunately once you disconnect the battery you have to figure out how to do it all over again. It's really an over-complicated PIA. I keep the radio directions (a 32 page PDF) on the home screen of my my phone for reference....

 

Rather than hack up my dash, I installed a double-DIN deck in a box mounted on the transmission hump ahead of the console and added kickpanel speakers. Bonus points for retaining factory AM radio functionality and if I want to revert to a strictly factory look, the head unit comes out in ten minutes' time and nobody's the wiser.

Downside: nothing to do with the deck, but the Custom Autosound-supplied kickpanel speaker housings have a resonant buzz that I have been unable to quiet.

 

Try driving a 720 megawatt powerplant with all that **** in the way. And naturally when something went wrong the touch screen you needed was never up. And depending on which knucklehead gamer operator had been on shift before you, you'd have to scroll thru 20 or more screens to get to what you needed.

I guess that's one upside to wind and solar. Doesn't take any skill or licensing to operate those.

 

Have you tried some MDF mounting rings?

 

Thanks everyone for the tips. A friend of mine has a correct 68 am/fm radio I’m going to get and install. After doing some research, Most likely I’ll get a Bluetooth amp and just attach my speakers to it and do that. Thanks again for the help though guys!

 

I put a retro autosound long beach model in my cutlass. It’s not a powerhouse. But it works really well with some good speakers and the bluetooth connectivity is the best of any stereo I have owned. I can park the car in the garage and two weeks, when I start it up and the bluetooth picks up right were we left off in the playlist.

 

I installed 6 Focal speakers, a 12" JL Audio sub and a 500 watt 5 channel amp with a Classic Car Stereo head unit and love the sound and ease of use. No crazy menus to deal with. Once the setup is done....plays like an old school unit with the channel memory buttons and etc.


Old school two **** head unit....

Amp...

12" sub woofer....

 

Your set up looks really clean.

Is that that the fuse for the amp? Is the battery located under the hood or in the trunk? If it's up front I would move the fuse as close to the battery as possible.

 

Thanks. Yeah....battery is up front and I know to always fuse at the source but my feeder cable from the front was a little short so I added a second fuse in the truck for a neat splice of two red feeder cables. So....I have two fuses....one at the source and one in the trunk. It works for now and I used the supplies I had on hand.

 

Completed.....

 

That's cool. Would hate to see anything bad happen. Looks like you have it covered.

 

No. I'll have to look into it. Thanks!

 

The trunks on these cars really work well with a sub. Looks like you did a clean job. Nice work. Good choices on your speakers amp etc.

 

Just don't sound like this!

 

That is so so common. We would put boxes etc in junk cars and then people would go what's that noise? Um maybe your piece of crap car?