Forgive me, for I am about to sin (hack dash...)

[redz 1970 K5]

I didn't want to do it, and I even tried to keep it intact. I am going to hack a virgin dash so I can get a DIN style chassis in the stereo spot.

First, I spent weeks on ebay to get a decent Sony twin shaft style radio to replace the stock radio that came out. I got it installed, and was very disappointed with the sound. The onboard amp of those older units cannot touch a modern head unit. 3-4 watts RMS just isn't going to cut it and the receiver wasn't that great. I also wanted a CD player to boot, which these of course are only cassette.

I was about to buy a decent 4 channel amp, and a nice FM CD changer today, JUST to keep the dash intact. The amp and CD changer JUST to keep my dash intact would have cost me around $400.

I had a moment of clarity and said FORGET IT!!!, and just bought a nice Alpine CD/MP3 head unit with 16w RMS x 4 for $179. I get much better sound for 1/2 the price at the sacrifice of a hacked dash. It's not like my truck will ever be a show truck or a concourse favorite. It's a driver and a hauler.

Ahh, confession... makes ya feel better doesn't it?