Practically everybody and their uncle have installed a car stereo. These are a few that I’ve done which stand out.
Jump to: Tundra Eclipse Install ’57 Olds Retrofit ’64 Porsche ’97 Cherokee (separate page)
Wes’s Toyota Tundra
My buddy Wes came across a free stereo system that included an Eclipse flip-out LCD head unit, an Eclipse CD changer, a fairly large power amp, and a 2x12 subwoofer. He came to me and basically said “I have all this stuff, how do I get it in my truck?” I took one look at the series of 30 amp ATC blade fuses on the amp and told him that the first thing he needed was a power capacitor. That, and some very heavy gauge wire.
All the components required to do the install cost almost as much as a decent stereo would have cost, but what he got was much more than that. The job required taking a good deal of the interior apart, but since it was a pickup truck, that wasn’t too challenging. It’s also worth noting that we did the whole install while the truck was parked on the street because neither of us had a garage. A long extension cord for the soldering iron and heat gun, and we were set. It was a tight squeeze fitting all that equipment under the seats, and Wes ended up slightly shimming the back of the seat to get enough clearance for the capacitor.
The stock speakers were retained in this installation. This is mostly because they cost more to replace, and weren’t included with the free stereo. They have lasted for a couple of years so far with no problems. As long as they’re not rotted or completely blown out, I’ve been surprised with the relative resilience of stock speakers.
This picture was taken with a cheap, plastic lens disposable camera, so that’s why it looks like it was taken in a swimming pool.
The amp, changer, and capacitor installed
For what it’s worth, we later installed a set of JBA Headers and a Borla exhaust system in the truck. I’d like to say that now it’s loud inside and out…but it’s not. The Borla system combined with dual cats is pretty quiet. It’s only loud inside the truck. Wes never turns that damn stereo down! 1957 Oldsmobile Delta 88
Classic cars in good condition are always a dilemma when it comes to stereos. One of the cars I worked on when I worked at Ashley Construction was the ’57 Olds. It had ~36,000 original miles on it. The original tube radio was shot, and made a horrible buzz when it was switched on. I tested all of the tubes before I reassembled it and realized that the buzz was the output transformer vibrating. There were three options: get the AM tube radio repaired, install a reproduction with a faux face, or get the old unit converted to a digital tuner and amp. I was more for one of the first two options, but the boss wanted to go with the third.
I took the amp section off and sent the unit to Electro-Tech for the conversion. Basically what they do is install a digital tuner and amp, which are controlled by the original knobs. The only outside differences are the new wiring harness and a small LED installed in the face, which is hard to see when it is off.
It took a number of weeks to get the unit back, and I had a number of problems with it initially. I installed it in the car with new speakers and it sounded terrible. The sound was heavily distorted and was far too soft. It turned out that there were two wires switched in the harness, and they had installed a resistor with the wrong value on the volume potentiometer. The volume pots in the old stereos are log pots, and the conversion board needed a linear input.Their “solution” was to add a resistor to the pot to change the range of the log pot. They suggested I simply cut out the resistor. This brought the volume back to a reasonable level, but it had the logarithmic behavior. Overall, I was pretty disappointed with the conversion. Definitely not worth the ~$400 it cost.
The original AM radio with attached tube amp
Along with the stereo, I installed a set of Pioneer 6x9’s. Someone had already installed a rear speaker, so I was able to do the install without changing the look.
1964 Porsche 356c
This was another one of the cars at the same job. It wasn’t quite as involved, as is only required replacing and rewiring speakers. This was one of those fancy imports that had gone to a shop 30 years ago where they used an air chisel to cut holes in the doors to put the speakers in, and ran wires through the doorframe with no grommets.
The door wires got a housing and some grommets, and all the speakers were replaced and wired to minimize the load on the amp. The stock stereo only had an output for one speaker, so I combined the four speakers to put the same load on the amp as the stock two speakers.
As was the case in the Olds, I didn’t really feel bad about changing the look of a stock classic because it had already been changed, and the owner didn’t want to pay for stock reproduction. Besides, the holes in the door panels were already there and would have required new door panels.