The center speaker that is under the dash needs to be replaced. As I look under the dash I see A/C ducting in the way to get to the speaker. Has anyone replaced the speaker and what challenges do I see in undertaking this effort.

 

Do you have the factory service manual? The instructions are on pages 15-3 to 15-5, and they consist mostly of diagrams. If there's hoses in the way, disconnect and move them. Apparently the radio itself also has to be removed to get at the speaker.

 

Jaunty thanks for the info. yes I have the service manuals. The installation of a new radio and speakers (front and rear) is to be done by the Geek squad at Best Buy. I just wanted to make sure what they would be getting into in taking on this task. I guess the vacuum hoses would have to be labelled prior to removing them so they can go back into the control assembly in the right place. Is removing these hoses a simple task? What about the vent ducts? Do these have to be removed also. Are they easy to remove and put back.

 

I don't think it should be necessary to remove any vacuum hoses. Those are small, flexible, and easy to push out of the way. I replaced the center dash speaker on my '67 Delta, and it was pretty simple. It wasn't an A/C car, so the under-dash ducting was likely simpler than will be on your car, but I didn't have to remove any ductwork, either. I'm sure anything they have to remove will be easy to put back. These cars were not complicated.

Frankly, between you, me, and the grand piano, I would do this job myself, rather than farm it out to Best Buy. It's what makes owning an old car fun. These cars are amazingly easy to work on, and getting at the rear seat speaker on a convertible couldn't be simpler. With the top down you have all the room in the world to work. I replaced the rear seat speaker on my '67 Delta, which was also a convertible.

Whoever does the job, you're probably going to run new speaker wire to the rear speaker because the original wiring is probably a single wire where the vehicle chassis was used as the return for the circuit. A modern radio will want two wires to each speaker. So you'll have run some wire under the carpet and under the door sill, perhaps, and, again, this is the fun. In doing it yourself, you'll know it was done right.

I have replaced or upgraded audio equipment on many cars over the decades, and there is little that is more satisfying that getting the installation all buttoned up, turning on the new radio for the first time, and hearing that great sound through the audio system that I just installed.

Just sayin'.

 

If they do have to remove duct work there is a risk they will damage the factory cloth/paper hoses with the wire inside. Especially if they don't know these hoses are not available reproduction.

 

Jaunty, thanks for the encouragement. Since I have A/C I snapped a shot of the ductwork behind the dash. Looks like to remove the radio the plastic duct work would have to be removed. It already has some tape on it probably from the last time someone replaced the original radio.

 

There's obviously already been some "aftermarket" work done under your dash. All bets are off now as far as what was done and how much it matches original configurations. It might behoove you to go through all of the ductwork and make sure it is present, properly connected, has no leaks, etc.

John (2blu442) mentions the possibility of damage to the ducting if it is not carefully removed, and that is certainly true, but you can buy replacement ducting. I needed new ducting for my '67 Delta, and I just bought some of the correct inside diameter from amazon. You can buy flexible duct hose there all day long. Just cut it to fit.

This is just a small sample of what amazon has.






I've also used "emission hose" as ductwork. It's meant to be used under the hood connected to the air cleaner, but it works just fine as heater/AC duct hose as well. It's flexible, comes in different diameters, is easy to cut to length, and it's made of metal, so it'll last forever. All of this ductwork is hidden under the dash. It's not visible, so what does it matter if it's not 100% original if it works?

 

The Geek Squad at Best Buy were very helpful and managed to replace the radio and speakers on my 1968 Olds 98. Since I had the annual tech support, it included free installation of radio and speakers.

This was the old radio in the car that did not work.

This was the new radio from Classic Car Stereo that they installed. To remove the radio from the back, they had to remove the A/C duct.

The rear speaker located in the rear seat back

was replaced with Kicker CS speakers.


The fron

The front speaker under the dash was not accessible without removing a whole bunch of ducts. They did not want to touch it and I did not force them. They installed two 4" speakers in the kick panel.
If you remove the carpeted kick panel behind it is a metal plate. They cut a 4" hole in it to place the speaker to keep it flush with the kick panel.

 

So you have a speaker in each kick panel and the one in the rear seat. That's three speakers, right:? How are they wired up? I presume the two kick panel speakers are wired as left and right. How is the rear speaker connected?

 

How did they seal the kick panel speakers? Possible to have gotten into the air plenum area which would be open to atmosphere.

 

The rear speaker has two speakers in it - one left and one right. You can see it in the picture.

 

OK. I didn't realize those were each a different channel.

 

They cut a 4" hole in this metal plate to insert the speaker with 4 screws from the front to mount the speaker. The kick panel was then screwed to the this panel and the speaker grill with 4 screws.

 

If they were able to acess the under dash speaker, it would be the same set up.

 

Just make sure a water shield was installed on the kick panel speakers. That plate blanks off the kick panel floor vents on air conditioned cars and is open to the plenum on the back side.