47-55.1 stereo install in AD cab, my ideas

[leegreen]

check engine.....seems obvious now, had me stumped.

[leegreen]

Well here is Plan A for the gauge locations. No layout I tried with only 2 gauges made me happy, so I put three holes. Tach, wideband and maybe a clock. Gauges in picture were just handy in the horde.


The headliner will follow a curve something like the lower blue line at right side. I'll probably tip a curved flange on this piece and make companion pieces to transition out to door top windlace at either side.

The bead rolled details more or less match the bottom of dash. The face may get some detail later, once the headliner location is mapped.

I'm happy with the visibility, it is right above the rear view mirror. I might in future angle them towards driver, just for the cool factor.

[leegreen]

more progress:

This is aluminum, probably do a brushed finish with satin clear on top to keep fingerprints off. The two end pieces were tricky, there is a lot of curves going on there. The ends will be more or less permanent behind the headliner future me will figure out. The center piece will be removable without disturbing headliner.

I'd like to incorporate two small gimble mounted reading lights, like in a airplane or RV, but haven't spotted ones I like yet, most options are about 4", I want 2" or less. So far the best option seems to be those little 1" penny clearance lights with clear lens.

[mobileortho]

Looks great. It really like the way you made the speaker mounts behind the seat.

[Tempest67]

thanks for sharing, I enjoy seeing everyone's custom touches.

keep us posted.

also, those 1 inch penny lights (Princess Auto) are bright

[dsraven]

great to see a pic with it sitting in place and the rest of the cab as well. that puts it into perspective better.
will you hinge the panel and use screws or dzus fasteners to keep it closed?
good choice to use aluminum, its easier to do the sheet metal bending.

[leegreen]

Thanks for the words of encouragement.

There needs to be a flange at the top of these pieces to support the edge of the headliner, the flange will be more or less parallel to the roof. I'll back that flange with a strip of steel for rigidity and screw holding power.
The two outer pieces slip under the windshield trim and windlace, and will get a couple pop rivets. The center does not fit under window trim, screws into windshield header where you see the clecos. Removal will be undoing screws then dropping front and sliding out from above headliner.

[dsraven]

slip a strip of plastic or thin weatherstrip between the aluminum and steel and it will stop a bunch of electrolysis from causing erosion. otherwie great planning. looks awesome.

[dsraven]

stainlwss fasteners may also help. plastic washer under their heads helps with them trying to remove the clear coat. some of those C clip body fasrener may be an idea so the screws simply screw into those instead of the aluminum.
sorry, I am sure you knew all this, as you seem like a seasoned veteran and obviously know your way around old vehicles, but sometimes the lurkers gain the knowledge so it does somebody some good somewhere. lol.
keep posrting those pics. I am currently away from home so appreciate the pics from you guys.

[leegreen]

I hadn't even considered electrolysis, but I was going to paint any steel parts.

Do think it is much of a concern inside the cab?

[dsraven]

I was involved in a new fire truck purchase and it was specified on every point of contact between aluminum and steel that a plastic shield be used between the parts. some of those got missed on the steel door handles that fit up to the aluminum doors and the paint was peeling off all around them due to electrolysis that started there. it doesn't matter if it is inside or outside as the metal doesn't know the difference. you have probably tried to remove a steel bolt that was installed into an aluminum housing, at some point in years past, and noticed it had "white powdery stuff" in the threads. thats the stuff that forms from electrolysis. if building it from scratch it doesn't take much extra to include some sort of deterrant. a thin sheet of plastic or rubber is all it takes. rubber would help curb any rattles that may come up.

[leegreen]

I do have some corrosion experience, rebuilding a 70 year old truck and all!. Had not thought much about aluminum to painted metal contact, but I can easily put some of that paint protective plastic film between pieces. Thanks

Kind of OT for this thread, thinking about making door cards with this pattern:
I think black is out for the color, looked good in sunlight but it just disappears inside the cab where I already have too much black.
The other sample is aluminum. I'm finding it a bit to shiny although it does not show much glare in the picture here.

The back of the black piece is the satin of new steel sheet, did not take a picture, but I keep looking at that side and thinking maybe a dull silver paint. Then I could do the piece on dash that hides stereo and the center of glove box beads to match.

[dsraven]

I would def use a satin finish on the dash area, it has less glare. for the door panels I like the satin aluminum look on a black interior. like you said, too much black inside makes it a dark area and light gets sucked up. you can't find anything you drop. I would suggest to do a clear on the bare aluminum, if you go that route, so it doesn't rub off on everything and then have shiny spots or leave your elbow black. a lighter shade of charcoal may offset the black well too.
nice job on the beading, looks great. do you use a soft roller underneath, like a skateboard wheel or something? Lazze had a video that showed him doing a motorcycle tank side where he used that technique with what looked like a fairly pointed upper die, like a tipping die.

[leegreen]

Princess auto carries this, they call it an art die. They carry a reasonable selection of dies now.
My roller is from them as well, just the usual cheap 18" thing like harbour freight used to sell.
You have to make them more rigid so the two arms don't walk back and forth under load or you wont get nice results. I also strongly recommend replacing the crank with a steering wheel, unless you have a 7+ foot arm span. With the wheel, motorizing no longer seems like the priority I initially thought it was.
Lots of info online on modifying these.

[leegreen]

Had some perforated 1/8" aluminum, hammer formed some speaker grills for the rear:



I was surprised how easily it shrank around the hammer form. You can see some of the holes at the edge changed shape.


Got a support flange behind the console. Getting the rolling, twisting shape close enough really kicked my butt.

[dsraven]

the grilles came out great. I like the metal grilles oer the plastic grilles any day.
your console looks awesome, like it was factory. great skills you have.

[leegreen]

Got a chance to move this forward a bit.

Finished rear speaker mounts, trimmed up the grills, got everything mounted.
Will add some screws once I decide what the back panel for cab will be.



Got the head unit mounted and trim back on. Everything works and it sounds pretty good, considering I have less than $100 Can in speakers and head unit.



I'm not sure I have found my final color for the dash speaker grill cover. Was the factory chrome glovebox door two tone paint? Anyone have good samples of the colors? There is not enough paint left on my glove box door to tell.

Will update this thread with the overhead console completion, hopefully soon.

[leegreen]

adding a picture to reference the size of the factory speaker opening vs a DIN stereo head. Blue line here is the opening for factory speaker

[Klorne]

First of all, I apologise, I know this is an old thread.
I have the radio delete plate in my truck and want to make it flip up like you've done with your radio cover. Does yours stay up while driving and does it rattle when closed? Was thinking it might need a little spring or something to hold it in place.

[mr48chev]

Originally Posted by Klorne

First of all, I apologise, I know this is an old thread.
I have the radio delete plate in my truck and want to make it flip up like you've done with your radio cover. Does yours stay up while driving and does it rattle when closed? Was thinking it might need a little spring or something to hold it in place.

No apologies needed on this thread as it has been an on going thread with new ideas or updates added.

The way a radio delete plate is made it might be a real challenge to get it rigged to hinge up as you would have to affix a bracket/hinge to it Something that works like a Pinto or Mustang II hood hinge does. Looking though cabinet hinges I'm thinking that you would have to make your own hinges or modify a small strap hinge.

[mr48chev]

To finish that post that was not letting me type anything else. you would have to have a hinge that worked like the MII hood hinge in that it was fastened to the dash and the loop in the arm let it swing up and around the edge of the dash but it sure isn't going to leave you room for much of anything in the way of sound system controls.

[leegreen]

Mine stays in place with metal on metal friction that can be adjusted by tweaking the edge where two pieces overlap. The pivot is a sheet metal screw snugged up, tacked in place and ground down. It works better than it sounds.

There are some pictures in another thread how it went together but I'll add some here

[leegreen]

I'd welded up the original stereo holes years ago, never wanted a stereo there.

More recently I took the skin off a caved in glove box door and made a new center panel to take the place of the speaker grill and ash tray.



then I picked up this old ash tray door and got inspired by how it works


and fiddled about with some CAD

[leegreen]

I made a skin to fit under the new dash panel

You could bend this over your knee, but I already had the gokart slick setup

took some careful dremel work to cut corners


did some figuring how far back the head unit had to sit for clearence

[leegreen]

detail of the hinges


the extra two hoes I thought would be needed for a spring, like the ash tray had that would over center to hold it open. Turned out the just tweaking the edge near the top hole in picture would provide enough spring/interference. This also means that I did not need the bottom hole for the spring or the relief cut in inner part of hinge to accommodate it - but I'd already made it that way.

I dimpled the bottom hole over a socket and then filed the inner piece of the hinge until the dimple acted as a stop so the door would not fall down too far when open.

the other side

I'd used quite light metal for all this (22g) so folding over the edged here added some strength

the inner piece with hinges was spot welded to the center dash panel