tim72

Ordered kick panel speakers and went all out with the pioneer speakers. Very nice set and looking forward to installing. After pulling out the original kick panels I found the hidden area where I lost a few tools that fell down in the fender behind the cold air vent. Of course this is a plus and what I found was some light surface rust I can hit with some rust inhibitor. I spent a lot of time trying to fish them tools out with coat hangers and what else. could never figure out why they olds put a secret compatment there? lol!!!!

Lady72nRob71

This is where one of those magnetic retreival tools come in handy!
I had one and never used it until I started working on cars.
Used it yesterday in fact...

Oldsguy

Be sure to update on the sound of those things...

colby

Let us know how they sound, I'm thinking of going that route also. Who did you get them from?

stlbluesbrother

Hi,

Is there any concern about the new panel/speaker interfering with the emergency brake on the driver's side? On my 70 Cutlass, the emergency brake nearly rubs the original kickpanel.

Mike

Olds luvr

As to the kick panels. I ordered mine without speakers and used Infinity component speakers with the seperate tweeters for clearer sound and the sound is great with the cross overs. As to the fitment with the emergency brake since I did not go with a shallow mount speaker (that is why most places sell them with speakers as they have a low profile) I did run into an issue with my grills on the speakers hitting the pedal pad. I ordered some low profile speaker grills and still use my non shallow infinity speakers with no issues. Infinity makes a shallow 6.5 to use as well that is a pretty big upgrade over the low profile speakers that are paired with the kick panels. I bought mine from vintagevibes.net and they have some other cool things like a dual voice coul speaker to fit in the dash and replace the single center dash speaker

Good luck

Olds luvr

Here is a thread that I did for my old convertible with the infinity's that I did have in the kick panels

https://classicoldsmobile.com/forums...-interior.html

1971 442 convert

I would be interested how they sound Tim as I just ordered some, also, the center speaker and had my original radio rebuilt to todays standards complete with the ipod plug in. Just waiting for it all to arrive.

tim72

Will be about a week guys before I Get it all back together. Decided to replace the carpet and reupholster the front buckets. It seemed easier to take the buckets out so I could crawl my 57 year old body under the Dash. Also allows a good look at the floor boards which are great! Still have original paint. A little surface rust just on the drivers side I will address with por15. I found it a little concerning that there was some moisture in the jute padding. Anybody have an explanation?

1971 442 convert

OK keep us up to date Tim
I was checking out your ride it's looks real nice.
What size tires and rims do you have on her?

tim72

I have 15 x 7 in the front and 15x8 in the rear. I had the rears taken apart and rewelded to add the 1 inch. This allowed me to put the wider tire on the back. Although you can not see it driving the people behind you can and it just adds that extra look to the rear of the car going down the road. Also have the 442 bumper and trumpets which sets the Olds apart from any other car in my opinion.

1971 442 convert

I thought so, your pic is far back but I really liked how your rims and tires fill the wheel wells.

tim72

Work in progress ! Ain't that the truth! nice car! how does the stereo sound?

Olds luvr

Tim, These photos were from my old convertible which was the blue car in this thread. As to the black one I do not have the car together. If you look for my thread "interior gutted with questions" you can see the current state of the car. I have the same panels just new speaker setup and different amp. I expect my sond will be great but when the car gets back together I will let you know. Thanks for the compliments

Lady72nRob71

What side is it on?
Hopefully the heater core or AC drain is not leaking.
Anyone ever get in with wet feet?

tim72

Interior gutted is what I am looking at now. all this starting from a faulty oil pressure gauge. Go figure. Another couple weeks to get back together. Decided to do the headliner and fix a couple other wounds. Same ol sam ol take something apart for the quick fix and now the interior is sitting all over the garage floor. lol!!!

tim72

I do have an xtra set of 15 x 7 rims.

RickH

All sorts of info about kick panels with speakers in them, but it looks like most of them were put in with different speakers than you can buy all assembled from Year One or Parts Place.

Have any of you put in the ones from Parts Place or Year One and used the stock radio that came in your car? Sound decent? I have the original Am/FM Sterio Radio in my car and don't want to try and spend the next six months trying to swap out the speaker up under the dash. I think it's a little crispy, but still works.

Sampson

X 2 on this. I am interested in how this set up sounds and if there are any clearance issues with e brake peddle.

QMaster

I bought the Year One panels with Ken Harrison speakers. Hooked them up to the Sony unit that came with the car & I was not impressed. Am now in the process of installing a Retrosound stereo and Polk speakers - after I get the dash put back together. I will try to update all on how it turns out.

boese1978

I bought and installed the ones from Year One- Pioneer. Did not use them for the factory system- kept that all original and separate. With my 2 10" sub s in the trunk and a decent deck it sounds awesome, even with the top down and on the freeway.

pusatekm

I too am looking at installing the USA-630 stereo with kick panel speakers. Right now I have a radio shack stereo that I put in back in the 90s with some jensen speaker that sit on the floor in front of the seats. So tacky. But I kept the original radio and I still have the 8 track player mounted under the dash.

I would like to know:
How the kickpanels sound with the USA-630?
Is there enough bass or do you still need a subwoofer?
Anyone put a sub under one of the front buckets?
Can you hear the stereo from the back seat?

I have a convertible and I saw one at a cruise that installed speakers in the panels where the top frame sits when it is down. He used white grills over the speakers to match the interior, it didn't look too bad, but I don't want to cut my car up just for a stereo. I have a set of speakers that previous owner (I have had it since 87) put in the top well. Can't even hear them. I can't think of anywhere else to put speakers in a 72 convertible.

boese1978

With my kick panel Pioneers and the 2 10" subs & Amp in a removable box in the trunk and the JVC Deck I can blast it so loud you can not have a conversation in the car, regardless of the top being up or down. No room for spare tire, that is the compromise. If I go on a longer trip I remove the sub box and toss the spare in.

Fun71

I use the kick panel speakers up front and 6x9s in boxes in back for bass. I put the boxes on the rear seat or floorboard when the top is down, or they can drop into the well behind the seat when the top is up. The sound reflects off the rear window and sounds pretty good that way. The 6x9 wires have RCA style connectors so if I have rear seat passengers and the top is down I can disconnect the boxes and put them in the trunk.

White_Knuckles

Those looking for goodness retaining the factory stereo may have a couple considerations? Should your Delco buddy want to stay in the dash, it should provide a true two-channel, stereo output. No mono "fader" styles get to play here. FM capture should be decent and your antennae needs to be functional meaning, tall factory masts often work best. "Shortys" or 9" trick antennas sometimes add station capture problems. Modern heads have killer phase-lock and digital tuners for FM-drift hatters.

The biggest problem getting quality sound with an old radio is the amplifiers had wimpy outputs (no bass response) and questionable E/Q. So you install your new killer kick speakers, roll on the radio to be greeted with blech, blat and squawk. Ugh, not a great upgrade. Okay, here's the fix -

You need an external amp to take over audio delivery. Find a quality, true 100w, 2-4 channel (4 if you run rears) amp that accepts speaker level input and includes built-in adjustable E/Q. Set your factory radio to full treble, route the L/R speaker outs to the amp inputs (not RCA line level!). The amp outs will drive 2-4 speakers. Adjust the bass, mid, and treble at the amp E/Q. Done. Hide the amp under the dash yet keep your old-timey radio.

pusatekm

So I ordered the 630-2 from Boise Radio. It will be here on Wednesday 6/19. I looked at buying the kick panels too but I stopped. It looks like you lose the two air vent ***** on the kick panel. I don't want to do that. Already freaked out about things that aren't stock. Is this true? Do you no longer have the chrome pull *****? I am going to have to find some other way to put good speakers in this car. Poop.

kbdecatur

I just bought some kick panels from opgi w/o speakers i added pioneer speaker to mine and i have a pioneer head unit in the glove box i was just riding last night on the highway with the top down and they sound great..

jmt147

kbdecatur - which Pioneer speakers did you install?

kbdecatur

6 1/2 3 way model # TS-A1675R.. Best buy 59.00 a set.

QMaster

I finally got my dash back together with a new Retrosund Model Two stereo. I replaced the Ken Harrison kick panel speakers (Year One) with Polk Audio DXi 650 2 ways, and put some Polk Audio DXi6500 components in the back - as there were already holes cut in the sides for speakers from the last owner. I added a 150 watt amp to drive a pair of 6.5 inch ADS subs (left over from the '90s) to give me a little punch. It sounds great even with the top down. The Polks are marine rated so they can get wet just in case). The small subs leave me with a useable trunk!

The only problem I had was that the Polks are deeper than the Sonys and were interfering with the top cylinders. I added a roughly 1" spacer per side and the top works fine now.

mv213

Glad I did a search before starting a new thread. I have my passenger seat out of the car right now thanks to this issue: https://classicoldsmobile.com/forums...tml#post655425

So I figured I might as well put in kick panel speakers while the seat is out and I can run the wires. I think I'll try the Pioneer model. I also decided to upgrade my door panels to Legendary while I have one out, no sense putting it back in right now until the new ones get here!

4speed455

I bought the kick panels without speakers. The plastic is a lot shiner then the old ones. Before I install them I'm going to paint them with SEM landau black so they match better.

mv213

I'll plan on doing the same. Hey, this is my 200th post!

Faherty442

I have infinity speakers to install in similar moulded kick panels, but the metal panel behind the kick panel needs to be cut out to accommodate these deeper speakers. Any problems or experience with this issue? Thank you. Tom

Olds luvr

Hello Tom,

I did not need to cut mine. They are a little snug but once the panel was screwed in they were fine. I can see the need if you have certain speakers that would be even deeper then the ones I used. As to cutting it, I do not know what the risk(if there is a risk at all) would be. I will tell you that I would have cut mine if I had to.

Good luck