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?

[1LoC10]

what about putting it in a center council? mines alreay cut for a newer radio when I bought it.. but I wish it had an old one there even it was just for looks

[redz 1970 K5]

Well, if it was a true classic 69-72, I sure as heck wouldn't touch it, but we are just talking about an 88 suburban run of the mill truck here, just like the other hundreds of thousands out there.

I considered the center console idea, but I really like things simple. Nice indash unit that sounds great and can play MP3s. I don't want to have to flip a lid to access it or build a center console otherwise.

[84 400]

YEah if you had a 67 to 72 that you cut you might get shot by some one on here ha ha ha ! Mine is cut and while i like the older looks it came that way so there is really nothing i can do.

[cliffsta]

Well, I hacked my factory bezel, but that was OK since it was rather trashed.

However, that cherry 84-87 bezel I just bought, yeah... it'll be going under the knife... errr Dremel... in the next 6 months

[watahyahknow]

i put the knife on the radio once , it was one of those removable front radio cd/cassette player i took of the holdingplate for the front of the radiobody theres this strip of copper leads that need to be reconected to the radiobody to get the front to light up again, i made a multicore cable (like a flatcable for the computerharddrive) going from that to the actual radiobody soldered all the leads onto that .
i put the radio under the seat out of site since i had a cd chainger i didnt needed it to be reachable .
the front of the radio i put over the original radiodelete on the dash .... no hacking required just some soldering , it might be worth a try if you have an old radio like the one i mentioned

[magnethead]

I still have a dual shaft radio (kenwood) and it sounds great in my truck, gets plenty loud with all 4 doors wide open. cheap pioneer front speakers and lightening audio rear speakers.

[harnalien]

i cut my dash (<----sounds better than hack, ) last week to put in a sony gt 400. cut my doors for 6x9's too. It was the best thing i've done so far. it looks good. will post pics soon. my truck will in no way every be a show truck, and my concern is not going to be about the dash when/if i sell it. it's what i wanted, so i did it. if you do everything based on the idea of eventually selling it, then you wouldn't do anything to it. what if you think joe next owner won't like the color you do, are you not gonna paint it? i say, cut it, install it, rock out, and keep it moving.

[piecesparts]

I put an Alpine unit with a graphic equalizer in my dash and it fit just fine. The dash is still functional and good looking. I figured that I would never return to the two post radio world and went all the way.

[N2TRUX]

Don't be skeert-

[75sierraclassic]

One of the first things I did to my 75 was hack the dash and put in a good stereo. I actually had a dual shaft radio that came out of a school bus but it wasn't cutting it. Hackin is the only way to go, unless you put a stereo in your globebox or center console.

Sorry to hijack but, pieceparts, that is an awesome custom audio set up. For the speakers in the doors, did you cut holes in the sheet metal or just build up a box on the outside of the door? I'd like to see some more pics of your install if you have any. I'm always trying to figure out how to get my trucks stereo to sound better.

[86swb]

Mine is also cut out for the new stereo w/disk ect. But unlike the '67-'72 you can get another bazel off of e-bay and could fix it so you could put an OE radio back in if you decided to. The bazel hides the cut out and there is now strong glue that body shops use to glue metal to the truck instead of welding. One body shop told me he seen a vedeo of the glue being put between two 1/2 inch steel plates then ran a chain from two 18 wheelers and the chains broke but the bond did not. So you could glue in a back plate to put in the OE radio. Do not remember what the glue is called but a lot of body shops use it and was told also the car manufactures also us it like on the outter edge of the doors is glued together and not welded today where it wraps around.

[redz 1970 K5]

Done deal... Cut my dash with a dremel and cutoff disk last night, installed the Alpine CDE-9582 head unit along with Sony Xplode 3.5" and 4x10" speakers. It is a good looking fit, no complaints at all.

I even replaced all of the instrumentation bulbs too while I was at it.

I still need to dial this thing in. It is trying to send too low bass frequencies to my speakers and they don't sound good. I can setup the bass and treble center frequencies though with this head unit, so it should be ok.

Thanks for the words of encouragement!

[wedgemon]

Originally Posted by piecesparts

I put an Alpine unit with a graphic equalizer in my dash and it fit just fine. The dash is still functional and good looking. I figured that I would never return to the two post radio world and went all the way.

I hacked several and never looked back.

HIJACK ALERT!! Piecesparts - you still have the coolest interior!! Have you ever done a picture laden write up on it??

- Dave

[boatpuller]

yeah i kinda worried about hacking stuff at the start of mine,but then you realize,how stock is this thing anyway..most are not,and never will be.so i don't worry about it anymore.

[cliffsta]

Originally Posted by boatpuller

yeah i kinda worried about hacking stuff at the start of mine,but then you realize,how stock is this thing anyway..most are not,and never will be.so i don't worry about it anymore.

That's exactly how I felt. I was kinda worried about ruining a factory truck, then I realized it was anything but factory. And now look at me, about to cabswap